Page 9 - ELG1601 Oct Issue 440

2016 ELAsia Pacific Page v

Best buys in the British Isles? London

Language Studies International, Hampstead (1 on map)
Language Studies International, London Central (2)
TTI Camden (3)
KKCL, Harrow (4)
Melanie Butler checks out the top private language schools which cost less than £12.50 an hour Central England Twin London, Greenwich (5)
LSC Stanton, Bayswater (6)
Lake School of English, Oxford Clubclass, Holborn (7)
CES Oxford The English Studio, Holborn (8)
Cotswold International Language School SKOLA English in London, Soho (9)
Scotland Nottingham Academy Edgware Academy, West End (10)
ECS Scotland, Edinburgh Central England spreads west from London to Bristol, London is a little smaller than Singapore, but has nearly
CES Edinburgh and north to the borders of Yorkshire. The main ELT twice the population. There are more good-value schools
Live Language, Glasgow centre is the famous university town of Oxford, home in London than in any other city in the UK. And they are
Edinburgh Language Academy to our top best-buy school in the UK, the Lake School spread all over the city. The main location for language
of English, which is ranked joint second-best school schools is now in the central university area between
Scotland makes up 30 per cent of the land mass of Great in the country, based on its British Council inspec- Bloomsbury and Holborn, where Language Studies Inter-
Britain but has only 10 per cent of the population. Even tion reports, and CES Oxford in a delightful village just national’s central London school is found. There are also
when you are in one of its two major cities, Glasgow and outside the city, which scores in the top 20 per cent. bargains galore in Bayswater, Soho and Edgware Road,
Edinburgh, you are near the wide open countryside for Those who like the idea of studying in a picturesque all minutes from the main shopping centre.
which the country is famous. Or you may prefer to stay in country town should consider the typically English But, as Londoners will always tell you, this is a city
town, either in vibrant, friendly Glasgow – the largest city in town of Cirencester in the beautiful Cotswold Hills. of villages, with each part of the British capital having
Britain outside London – or the capital Edinburgh, known Further north, you can choose to study in Nottingham, its own character. Just a short bus ride from the centre
as the Athens of the North for its classical beauty. Three which though a major student city has only handful of are residential areas that were once country villages,
EL Gazette Scottish Centres of Excellence make it into our language schools. like Hampstead – home to Language Studies Interna-
list of best buys: ECS and CES in Edinburgh and Live Lan- tional. They still have village greens, quaint shops and
guages in Glasgow. a community feel. Others were bustling small towns,
like Camden, home to TTI and a
mecca for students, and leafy Har-
East of England row. Others, like
North of England Studio Cambridge Greenwich, are
historic towns
International House Newcastle Language Studies International in their own
Scarborough International Cambridge 4 1 3 right.
9
LILA, Liverpool Central Language School, 10 2 7 London
CES Harrogate Cambridge 6 8 may have a
St Albans School of English 5 reputation as
The north of England is growing in popu- expensive and dan-
larity with language students, but school The east of England lies directly north gerous but its host
Edinburgh prices have been going up too. So if you are and east of London on a flat fertile plain. families are cheaper
looking for a best buy choose the lesser- The bread basket of England, as it is some- than those in Beijing
known cities of Newcastle, the best party times called, is made up of six counties: and it has a lower level
city in the country and home to our Centre Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Bedfordshire, of violent crime than
of Excellence International House Newcas- Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire. There Amsterdam and Dublin.
tle, or Liverpool, perhaps the friendliest of are surprisingly few language schools in
the new EFL destinations. Two destination the region, although there are a few in his-
popular with British tourists also boast
Newcastle Centres of Excellence at very reasonable toric cities such as St Albans, which is half
an hour from London. The main centre for
prices, Scarborough International in the language schools is the ancient university
delightful seaside town of that name and town of Cambridge
the CES school in the exclusive spa town Most language schools are within walk-
Scarborough of Harrogate. ing distance of the medieval centre of
Cambridge, though everybody in Cam-
Harrogate bridge rides a bike. Some schools are
clustered just to the north, including Studio
Cambridge, which is an EL Gazette Centre
of Excellence. Others are just to the north
of the centre, close to the new university of
Liverpool Anglia Ruskin.

Llangollen
Nottingham South-East England
LSI Portsmouth; Portsmouth Language College;
CES Worthing; Loxdale English Centre, Brighton;
Lewis School of English, Southampton; Winchester
Cambridge Language College; Southampton Language College

The south-east of England is the most prosperous
area of the country outside London. It stretches
Oxford St Albans from the south of the estuary of the river Thames to
the New Forest National Park just east of Bourne-
Cardiff Cirencester mouth. It is famous for its coastal resorts as well
as historic inland towns such as Winchester, the
Bristol ancient capital of England. Many people live in this Can you
Winchester area and travel to work in London, which is within
an hour by train from most south-eastern towns.
Southampton Worthing Lewes It has good international transport links including prove it?
Bournemouth ferry ports, the Eurotunnel and two airports, Lon-
Portsmouth Brighton don’s Gatwick in the north-east of the region and
Southampton to the south-west.
Most of the language schools in the area are
on the coast. Brighton is perhaps the best-known Then we’ll
centre for language schools, including Loxdale
English Centre. Known as ‘London by the sea’
it is a fun university town and a lively seaside
resort. A few miles away is the quiet and very print it.
South-west England is made up of four the region, however, is Bournemouth in safe resort of Worthing, home of a CES school.
counties: Dorset, Devon, Cornwall and Dorset – a lively student town with twelve Just beyond Worthing is the historic naval base
Somerset. Bristol, close to Wales, is the kilometres of sandy beach, and home to of Portsmouth, the only city in Britain set on an
historic capital of the region and is a schools such as MLS College and ETC island. It has an affordable standard of living and Get your story heard
major university city with a large media International. Devon’s capital, Exeter, a growing number of language schools, including
industry and a small but growing number is another university town, and seaside the second-best-value school in Britain, Language
of language schools. Bristol is unique in resorts Torquay, Brixham and Paignton Specialists International. Just west of Portsmouth EL Gazette
that half of all its language schools are offer the safest host families in the coun- lies its sister port, Southampton, another univer-
Centres of Excellence, including Interna- try, with everyone checked by the local sity city, which is famous as a centre for luxury www.elgazette.com
tional House Bristol. The EFL capital of social services. cruises.

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