Memories from UK January trip

Part of our team (Artur and David) took a 3-weeks trip to the UK in order to establish some contacts in London and to attend an English course in Broadstairs, Kent. During these three weeks this part of the team worked from the UK, following the office's policy to "work to anywhere, from anywhere". DIMSCALE chose once again the English school LanguageUK in Broadstairs, since we had colaborated with this school before.

Today we share a part of this experience through a selection of photos from Broadstairs, Ramsgate, Canterbury and London.

Broadstairs - Viking Bay

Full English breakfast at Broadstairs

Turskish breakfast at London

A walk to Ramsgate, another coastal town nearby Broadstairs

Canterbury Cathedral, in which we attended the religious service and visited the cathedral

Turkish dinner with LanguageUK, in Broadstairs

The Royal Albion Hotel's bar, our favourite place to work in the afternoon

Breakfast with LanguageUK's students, in Broadstairs

Last day in Broadstairs, heading to London

 London:

The City (financial area of London) - Norman Foster

The City (financial area of London)

The City (financial area of London)

The City (financial area of London) - Norman Foster

The City (financial area of London) - Renzo Piano

The City (financial area of London)

The City (financial area of London)

Tower Bridge

A walk in Regent's Canal

London Underground

Millenium Bridge - Norman Foster

Covent Garden Market

Piccadily Circus

DIMSCALE training program - Interview with LanguageUk's director

As we published last week, one of the members of DIMSCALE's Marketing team joined recently an English training program in the school LanguageUk, located in Broadstairs, UK. David talked with the school director (Mrs. Joanna Sessions) about their experience with students coming from companies.

David with LanguageUk's director Joanna Sessions

For how long does LanguageUk exists?

We have established since April 2008.  Just five years!

Why this location? 
Simple,  I live here!  No....... I do really like it here. We are not far from London which is a real plus.  The town is essentially English and in general the people are pretty friendly around here.  I particularly like the area in that it is unpretentious and many people are unaware of what the area has to offer.  There is a good mixture of people living here from all different backgrounds and I think this gives the students a good "all round" image and experience here in the UK.

What are the most common nationalities among students?

I would say that during the winter months we do have quite a few Arabic speakers but they are all from different countries.  Throughout the year - Spanish, Russian and Swiss are probably the most popular.

What’s your experience with students that come from companies? What are their objectives when they come here?

Unfortunately we don't have enough students coming from companies.  We have recently established a very good relationship with a large Dutch legal corporate and in May we will have our second student from this company. We have also received just a few students who have come here with very specific needs.
 
In my experience and certainly nowadays, there is no such thing as "Business English"  -  "English for work",  "Life skills in English"  are probably far better phrases to use when teaching students from companies.  

We do find that many "business students"  already have quite a good level of English (intermediate plus) and it is mainly confidence the students  lack and they need a refresher course.  Sometimes we discover from the need analysis that the students' needs are very specific and we will spend 25 hours attending to this.  The most popular requests are:

• Giving presentations/seminars
• Emailing and report writing
• Entertaining

DIMSCALE training program - English course at Broadstairs

Following its training program DIMSCALE sent an element of its Marketing team for the UK. David will be staying in England for four weeks, seeking to establish some networking contacts among other adult students and to improve his English.

The chosen school was Languageuk, located in Broadstairs, Kent. Languageuk was chosen due to its proximity to London and for being a small school, which we believe that will lead to better results. Given that Languageuk is an international school composed by students from all around the world, it should be interesting to be in touch with other cultures and to be able to some networking by sharing contacts and experiences. This training investment reflects the strategy of DIMSCALE to bet on the presence in international markets, where English is the major business language.

We'll continue to follow David's stay at Broadstairs on our blog.