Bristol, as we report on page 16, is the best place to study English in the UK based on British Council inspection results. But, how has it achieved its success?
The strength of a destination depends on its ELT infrastructure and, in particular, on the strength of its training provision. The largest regional training provider is International House (IH) Bristol which has been offering courses in the city for over 25 years, according to Director Val Hennessy.
From an industry perspective, the key training programme is the CELTA, the four-week training course taken primarily by native speaker graduates and the most common of the qualifications accepted by the British Council inspectors. Without a supply of teachers with a CELTA or equivalent, no language centre can achieve or maintain accreditation.
IH Bristol fills the need. “Generally, we run seven CELTA courses a year,” says Val, “and they are always fully-booked. Two thirds of our trainees live in Bristol and most of the rest come from the wider region: Gloucestershire, South Wales, even Oxford. A few come in from abroad.”
For people wanting to find out more, Val and her team offer an Introduction to CELTA course on weekends and even an unusual ‘shadow a teacher’ option where a would-be trainee can follow a teacher for a day.
“Because we are a teacher training centre, our teachers are very used to being observed by trainees,” Val tells me, “and it’s a great way for someone to get a feel for what teaching involves.”
Some teachers intend to teach locally. “We employ quite a lot of them on our summer courses,” Val tells me. “It’s an ideal way to get some teaching experience.”
Others opt to work abroad. “It’s the great advantage of being affiliated to International House, we can help our trainees get jobs in other IH schools around the world.”
IH Bristol has adapted CELTA to train the teachers of other languages employed on the school’s popular evening classes. Some 350 Bristolians are currently studying a range of languages from the more familiar Spanish, French and Mandarin to more unusual languages including Turkish and Welsh.
IH Bristol is community minded. It works with the local refugee population, inviting them to join free courses and sending staff out to teach them.
The biggest growth area is courses for foreign teachers. No longer limited to general summer courses, there is an increasing demand for specialist courses, with two CLIL courses already booked in for 2019 and increasing numbers of tailor-made courses for groups from around the world: Tunisia, China, even a platoon of Eritrean army officers.
“They all love Bristol,” says Val.
