The things I liked most are definitely the staff and teachers.
What I can say about the staff is that they are very kind, helpful, efficient and professional. In addition to this, they are also very friendly and easygoing (Eli, Ivan, Victor, etc.). Moreover, I have enjoyed their company at “pub nights”, when students, teachers and staff usually meet up and have fun.

As for the teachers, they are really prepared (it’s not so easy to find skillful and cool teachers such as Andy and Jo!) but what stands out is their way to connect with students and to get them involved in classes in an enjoyable way.

In short, I would recommend this school to everyone because I had such a great time here (something not very usual when you study!).

I’m Alexis and I’ve been teaching at EC Brighton for seven months. I qualified as a teacher in 2007 and have taught in Taiwan, China and Sicily. I love travelling and really enjoyed living abroad and learning about other cultures. I also like learning languages, particularly food vocabulary (it’s very useful!)

I enjoy meeting students from all round the world at EC Brighton. I like to try and keep my lessons varied, and sometimes do project work with my classes. At the moment my Upper Intermediate class is making a magazine. I’m really impressed with their work!

In my spare time I enjoy drawing, painting, reading, going to gigs and spending time with friends. I also do a bit of freelance writing for music, art and literature magazines and websites. It seems most things I enjoy doing are related to English in some way, so it’s the best subject for me to teach!

If you study ESL abroad at EC Brighton, you will meet people from a variety of cultures and backgrounds in a very friendly school.

Last week was very busy at EC Brighton, we received a lot of new students, so we were working hard all the week. Due to this reason, I decided to travel during the weekend to enjoy it. I knew that I would like to get to know other historical places of England, so I looked for a trip with these characteristics.

Last Saturday I was very excited, I was going to Windsor and Oxford, two very famous places for different reasons all over the world. The first place is known as one the favourite residences of the England’s Queen where the Royal Family spend much of the holidays. The second one is one of the most prestigious universities in the world.

Windsor is close to London and it is a beautiful historical English town. I arrived there early, where I spent the time with a tour around the most important places of the town. In addition, I had the chance to go to the Windsor Castle, the favourite residence of the Queen. It is about 900 years old and it is the main attraction of the town. I watched the Royal Guard change, which represents one of the traditions of the British monarchy.

After my visit to Windsor, I went to Oxford, the oldest university in the UK. Also it is one in the top five best universities in the world. Furthermore, there are some interesting museums to visit, like the Ashmolean Museum and the History of Science Museum. Some very famous movies such as Alice in Wonderland and Harry Potter were filmed there. I visited the amazing Christ Church, used for inspiration as Hogwarts, and the place where Harry Potter was filmed. I really enjoyed this time there.

To sum up, it was a very pleasant experience to get to know these places. I think that study ESL abroad at EC Brighton gives you the opportunity to travel all over the country as Discovery Tours offer you some interesting trips that you can book at school!

“If you want to learn English, you won’t find a better place than Brighton, and if you decide to come to Brighton, EC is the best option. You will find an absolutely friendly atmosphere in this school. In my first day, I was feeling a bit nervous, which is normal. However, I got use to it much more easily than I had expected because all the staff and students behaved as if they had known me for a long time.

If you want to learn English while having a great time, study ESL abroad at EC Brighton is the best choice. There is a lot of variety of activities like playing football, bowling or pub night. It is great! Also, if you stay in a host family, which I recommend to improve your English, you’ll see they do their best to make you pleased. To make the long story short, I had an unforgettable experience at EC Brighton and I’m sure you will have it, too” – Baris Van

“Before coming here, I didn’t think I would have such a wonderful experience like this in the UK. If you want to improve your English while you’re having fun; absolutely, the best place is EC Brighton. All teachers, staff and students are amazing. Also people living in Brighton are quite interesting. From the beginning till the end I never felt myself alone. I’ve another family in Brighton, it’s like a dream. The best five months ever. Thank you for everything to all teachers, staff and friends”  - Sezen Yilmaz 

Last Saturday I was lucky because I could travel to Cambridge and Greenwich. I had to wake up early, but I was very excited because they are a very famous places and I will go to see them. It seemed that would be a good day due to the nice weather.

Firstly, we went to Greenwich where we saw different interesting places: The Royal Observatory, Greenwich Palace, the Maritime Museum and Greenwich Market. In addition, we enjoyed some great views of London from this place, where we could take some very nice pictures of the city.

At midday, we travelled to Cambridge, the world’s most famous university. It has a very important and interesting history. It has a very good reputation all over the world and not everybody can study there, because it chooses one by one all its students. I was surprised about the nice architecture of all of its buildings, which were very beautiful. The campus is separated into different colleges, and each one has its own architectural style.

I really enjoyed doing a punting trip over the river in Cambridge. This trip consisted of a small boat and tour guide. It is a very relaxing experience that helps you to see different places and the history of the university.

In conclusion, it was an unforgettable experience that I would like to recommend if you are interested in seeing more of England. You don’t need to study in Cambridge to explore this lovely place. You can enjoy a great day visiting these places.

This gives you two more free days to enjoy the amazing festivals in Brighton during May.

Brighton Festival has thousands of events involving music, drama, comedy, arts and food. you can see what’s on at http://brightonfestival.org/ but it is better to follow them on twitter @brightfest so you will never be bored ! Many of the events are free !

Brighton Fringe is the alternative festival in Brighton. A “fringe festival” is not mainstream and offers many weird and wonderful events. For me Brighton Fringe is more interesting as it really shows what a beautifully diverse city Brighton is. Check out what’s on in the Fringe at http://www.brightonfringe.org/ or follow them on twitter @brightonfringe. As Lou Reed sang – why not “Take a Walk on the Wild Side” ?

“Fringe” means “the edge” which is why it’s also used for the name of “the edge” of your hair that overhangs your forehead.

Since my arrival in Brighton, I was interested in doing this tour because I wanted to travel to Stonehenge, an important touristic place in England. In addition, this tour includes visits to Bath and Salisbury Cathedral, so I knew that I was going to visit different important historical places in the south of England.

First, I went to Salisbury Cathedral, the second tallest cathedral in Europe. It is placed in a different situation that it was supposed to be originally. It was built in the XIII century and it is a gothic style construction.

At midday I travelled to Stonehenge, which is near Salisbury. It was crowded with people from all over the world. Its history is very interesting, but has some question that are not answered yet. I had a good time there looking at the stones.

Later I went to Bath, a very beautiful city where the most part of the houses are built with the same material, so all of them have the same colour. To be honest, this is the part of the tour that I enjoyed the most. I visited the Roman Baths and it was amazing. It dates from Roman times and it was the place where the rich people went on holiday to relax on its waters. Nowadays it is the most important touristic place of the city. After that, I had a walk around the city where I could enjoy viewing nice places in Bath.

To sum up, it was a great day due to the interesting places that I could visit. If you like historical monuments, you will enjoy this visit a lot, so don’t miss this tour, where you can enjoy some great moments.

Before arriving in the UK, or any other English speaking country to study a course, you may think your level of English is Intermediate as that’s the minimum level of English expected when studying in most countries. Being an intermediate student of English means that:

-          You are able to describe people, agree and disagree in a conversation, request specific information and talk about a variety of topics.

-          You can write an informal / formal letter and a story, using a number of standard written expressions.

-          You are able to listen for specific information and understand clear natural English spoken at a moderate pace.

Furthermore, studying an intermediate level English course in Brighton at EC will give you the opportunity to consolidate the language you know so far and also to explore a new set of grammar and vocabulary.

This is one of our students, Batu, 22, from Turkey. He started in Pre-Intermediate five months ago and is now in Upper-Intermediate. Here, he gives us his testimonial.

Batu: from Pre-Intermediate to Upper-Intermediate

How did you feel when you first arrived at EC?

I was really nervous at first and I was particularly scared about speaking.

What did you do to improve?

My teachers were very understanding and supportive. They helped my confidence and encouraged me to speak in class. I borrow books from the school library to improve my vocabulary and I always try to speak to other students in English. My listening has also improved a lot. I couldn’t understand much at the beginning. Make friends with students from higher levels! This is good advice. I also love joining in the social activities, especially Pub Night!

What’s your favourite thing about studying here?

Because there are different nationalities, we have to speak English. I’ve made so many friends from different countries and you can learn about their cultures and food! Everyone is so friendly and I have more time for socialising. I only have one month left and time’s flying. I don’t want to leave!

Finally, what’s your favourite English expression?

‘When nature calls!’

Brighton has been declared the world’s first One Planet Living City ! The city’s Sustainability Action Plan meets the requirements set by Bioregional who are working with companies and city’s from 50 different countries to try to make sure we use only enough resources provided by “one planet earth” rather than “three and half planet earths” as is the case at the moment. The Sustainability Action Plan includes initiatives relating to  Zero carbon, Zero waste, Sustainable transport, Sustainable materials, Local and sustainable food, Sustainable water, Land use and wildlife, Culture and community, Equity and local economy and Health and happiness.For more details read this article in our local newspaper the Argus

http://www.bioregional.com/news-views/news/b-h-one-planet-city/

We should all be happy and proud to be in such a green city !

Last weekend I travelled to Portsmouth and Isle of Wight. I woke up early in the morning and saw that it was a sunny day, so I knew that this would be an exciting day because the weather was so good. Before we got to Portsmouth, from the coach I could see Arundel, which has a castle and a cathedral.

I stayed in Portsmouth for two hours, and I could see the beautiful harbour of the city. It has many different naval museums and historical boats, so I enjoyed this very much. In addition, Portsmouth has a very interesting building on its harbour called “The Spinnaker Tower”, which has a height of 170 metre (560 ft) and where you have great views from his top. Unfortunately, I didn’t go up to the top because I wouldn’t have enough time to enjoy the views from the tower, so I preferred to stay in the shopping centre looking for interesting offers.

After that, we took a ferry to the Isle of Wight. I enjoyed the crossing a lot because I had a very beautiful view of the city and I took some beautiful pictures inside the boat.

I arrived at the Isle of Wight at midday and I was on coach trip around the island and the tour guide explained to us the main information about the island. I saw in a village in the middle of the isle the Godshill church, which has an interesting history. In addition, near this church, there are many houses which are dated from the XV century, so I was surprised because they were very well conserved and beautiful.

After that, I travelled to the most famous part of the isle, its cliffs. I walked along the promenade above the cliffs until I arrived at The Needles (a row of three distinctive stalks of chalk that rise out of the sea off the western extremity of the Isle of Wight), where I enjoyed with the views before I decided to return to the coach and eat some ice cream.

In conclusion, it was a very beautiful day because I discovered new interesting and exciting places near Brighton; and I enjoyed the trip very much. The good weather helped me to take some nice pictures and to enjoy these places. I recommend this trip on a sunny day, you will have a very pleasant time.