Give your New Year’s Goals a boost!

Goodbye December 2018, welcome February 2019.

Who said that new year’s resolutions must start in January? If procrastination is something you want to get rid of this year, then February sounds great (you know, baby steps).

We are all capable of coming up with new year’s resolutions in January but let’s be honest, after the Holidays stress, thinking about new projects isn’t at the top of our list of priorities.

Good thing is that we have another 11 months to get back on tracks! Sure, the first month is filled with good intentions, from the Veganuary, to the Dry January challenge, if you decide to follow the newest online trends. But your New Year’s resolution doesn’t need to be advertised, posted, tweeted or shared to be effective.

Taking up a new hobby, subscribing to the gym, drinking more water, bullet journaling…you name it!

As far as English is concerned, though, allow us to give you some ideas.

Independently on what your needs are, at ELA we can create tailored courses accordingly:

Are you considering enrolling into University but have some doubts about your English Level? Don’t have the chance to travel? Give our Distance Learning IELTS a go!

Our 4-week online distance learning course allows students from all over the world to reach their IELTS goal through an immersive experience, while comfortably sitting at home or at the office.

Do you work in the Tourism and Hospitality field? Are you a manager or a receptionist working in the Tourism and Hospitality sector? Would you like to step up your game and aim at a higher job position? We offer a wide range of courses approved by the Confederation of Tourism and Hospitality.

Would you like to be employed in the education system? Would you like your teaching experience to be recognized and used to enhance your career opportunities? Enrol now in our Trinity CertTESOL course. Little time on your hands? Don’t worry: we also have part-time lessons! Our Director of Studies will answer your questions at dos@elacademy.co.uk.

You’re new in town and fear to be judged for how you speak English? Difficult for you to attend an English course in the morning? We got you covered with our Free English Lessons. You’ll only have to commit for a couple of afternoon hours, from February (Monday to Friday), for a month. What are you waiting for? Contact us to learn more.

Remember that you always have time to grow as a person and in your profession. Whatever English level you start from, it will always be a powerful weapon to carry.

And since we are approaching the world’s most famous romantic love’s celebration, gift your partner with an English course by taking advantage of our exclusive 25% discount! Contact us now!

10 English expressions to spread your Christmas spirit with!

So, you think you know Christmas, eh?
This worldwide known celebration has many familiar traditions, from dear old Santa and his reindeer, to snow angels and tree decorations. But there is so much more in the unexplored Christmas world than meets the eye!

Thanks to this guide, you will learn new Christmas vocabulary to impress your friends and family.

1. HOGAMADOG(n.)

A huge ball of snow built up by rolling a small ball of snow around a snowfield.

2. BELLY-CHEER(n.)

A 16th century word for fantastic food, or a grand feast.

3. YULE-HOLE(n.)

The hole you have to move your belt buckle along to after you’ve eaten an enormous Christmas dinner.

4. KEDGE-GUTTED(adj.)

Made to feel sick through overeating.

5. ICE-LEGS(n.)

The ability to keep your balance while walking on ice.

6. OBLATION(n.)

The act of offering or receiving a gift.

7. YULESHARD(n.)

Someone who still has things left to prepare and finish on Christmas Eve.

8. KIRSMAS-GLASS(n.)

A drink made to toast a house on Christmas Day.

9. SONROCK(n.)

A cosy chair beside a fireplace.

10. SNERDLE(v.)

To wrap up cosily in bed.

These expressions may sound new to English language learners but they are the perfect ice-breaker during the Holidays!

Trinity CertTESOL: How to Become an Internationally Qualified English Language Teacher

Thinking about an exciting profession?
Fancy living abroad and experiencing other cultures first-hand?
Want to learn a useful new skill?

Our Trinity CertTESOL qualification at ELA-Edinburgh is exactly what you need. It is a globally-recognised English teaching qualification, with which you can gain employment in thousands of schools around the world. Having the Trinity CertTESOL qualification shows you are a serious English language teacher and that you have the skills which schools look for.

People take our course for many different reasons: some are looking to start their career in English Language Teaching, others wish to look for work for a temporary period of time, others already have teaching experience but need to be qualified to find work, others are looking for a total career change.

Whatever the reason, the CertTESOL course can help you. It is one of the most prestigious, highly-respected English Language Teaching qualifications in the world, and is often a requirement for obtaining employment in schools. It also recognised by governments, NGOs and multinationals. If you are planning to go abroad to teach, it is necessary to maximise you chances or working for reputable school. The Trinity CertTESOL is the way to do this.

The course requires a great deal of dedication, time and effort from you. You have to ensure that you are willing and able to make these commitments. The 4 weeks are incredibly challenging with a large, intensive workload, and full of ups and downs. But our tutors will be there to help you through. All our former trainees agree: It is not easy, but well worth it.   

     

What we offer:

• 6 hours of assessed teaching practice. You will teach real students under the guidance and observation of your course tutors. This is the most daunting part of the course for most people, but our highly experienced industry professionals are there to help you through this. And when experience how rewarding this experience can be, you won't regret it.    
• The opportunity to learn the methodologies of the English Language Teaching Profession, putting these into practice in your own lessons. 
• Experience in creating and producing your own materials
• In-depth instruction from course tutors who are dedicated experienced teachers.
• a competitive price: currently it’s £980 at ELA-Edinburgh. The registration fee is £80. Candidates should pay their moderation fee of £143 payable by the end of the first two weeks of the course. 
• The opportunity to profile a learner by interviewing him/her, analyse their language ability and subsequently give a 1-2-1 lesson. 

Course Content:
The CertTESOL is made up of 5 units and involves 130 timetabled hours, ten of which are a combination of observing experienced teachers and teaching real volunteer students from a variety of different countries. In order to be awarded the qualification, trainees need to pass all 5 units. Again, don't worry - our tutors are there to help you every step of the way!

On the course, you will receive input sessions about particular aspects of English Language Teaching, then implement these concepts into your lessons. Examples of these input sessions are:

• Lesson Planning and Staging: This is a basic component of teaching which is very important. This is how you decide what is to be the focus of your lesson and how to achieve your aims. We will teach you the principles of lesson planning and different ways of structuring lessons.
• Time and Tense: Tense is one of the fundamental grammatical components in English. We will look at various ways of presenting this concept to your students and providing them with effective practice.
• Phonology: An introduction to the phonological system of English which is represented by symbols which you will need to know and use throughout your teaching career.
• Receptive and Productive Skills: Teaching speaking, writing, listening and reading are quite different to teaching vocabulary and grammar. We will show you how to structure these skills lessons and give you techniques as well as ideas for skills content for your future use as a teacher. We will also look at the sub-skills of these four main skills.
• Board work and Visual Aids: Using your board is an important part of teaching - You probably remember from your schooldays! Different types of visual aids contribute to engaging and stimulating lessons for your students. 

At ELA-Edinburgh your day will normally be:
09:00-12:15-methodology and language input sessions with your trainers
12:15-13:00 Lunch
13:00-18:00 Lesson planning, teaching and observations.

Nearly everyone who has done a CertTESOL course remembers it as an intense but extremely rewarding 4 weeks. In other words: expect a great experience but be prepared to put in a lot of hard work!

Non-native teachers
We have had many non-native speakers on our course, but they need to do a pre-course interview with the Course Director before being accepted on to the course. To participate, Trinity trainees need IELTS 7.0 in all skills, or equivalent, but it is the course Director who has the final say!

If you feel your level of English may fall short of this, don’t worry. ELA has purposefully designed intensive courses to prepare you for the CertTESOL.

Remember, as you’ll be participating in an educational course you might qualify for the Erasmus+ Programme, specifically designed for lifelong learning.

If you still haven’t made up you mind, have a glance at some of our earlier blogs for ideas of great places to jet off to when you’ve finished your course at ELA-Edinburgh.


Contact us: info@elacademy.co,uk - +44 1316220738

Trinity College London CertTESOL - Your passport to the world

·       Want to travel?

·       Love language?

·       Enjoy meeting people from different cultures?

·       Would like to teach?

Then the CertTESOL is for you.

At ELA-Edinburgh we offer a four-week intensive course that leads to this internationally recognised qualification.  Former trainees work in places such as Spain, Hungary, Italy, USA.

Our highly experienced and qualified tutors will train and support you throughout the course.  You will have methodology and language input sessions in the mornings and assessed teaching practice (TP) with overseas students who are working in Edinburgh in the afternoons.  TP is one of the highlights of the course, and trainees nearly always rate this as their favourite part of the course.  TP students come from a wide range of backgrounds, cultures and countries and are a delight to teach. Rest assured that by the end of the course you will have acquired all the skills you need to survive in the classroom in any country in the world.

CertTESOL - Teaching practice 

Still interested? Send an email, or come in and see us in Edinburgh, and we can talk you through the course in more detail. ELA staff are friendly and welcoming and visiting the school will give you the chance to see some of our students and facilities.

Course applicants will have an interview with the Course Director and if you are accepted onto the course, you will be sent a pre-course task and the course handbook to prepare you for the course.  Applications are welcome from everybody who has university entrance qualifications. A first degree is not essential. If you are not a native-speaker you will need IELTS 7 or equivalent. 

There are still a few places left on the next course, which runs from 8^th October to 2^nd November. If Edinburgh is too cold for you at that time of the year, then you can already apply for the May/June 2019 course.

There is of course the small matter of fees, but our prices are amongst the most competitive on the market:  £980 for the four- week course, which includes the interview and pre-course task. There are no hidden extras, such as photocopying, printing, etc.  

There is, however, an £80 registration fee.

See you in October!

The Importance of Training for Cambridge Exams

A question that we are asked on a regular basis is ‘How does this exam reflect my level of English?’.
It is a very fair question, and, unfortunately, the answer is that it actually might not.

Whether it is for university, work, or just for the personal challenge, the Cambridge exams often represent the pinnacle of difficulty in English language development.
They are not easy to achieve and bring with them a sense of satisfaction unobtainable in any other area of language development.

But does it reflect your level of English? Not necessarily…

Passing an exam is somewhat different to achieving the language to enable you to order dinner at a restaurant.  Most language development occurs to improve communicative ability, not impress an examiner.  Unfortunately, that is not what is needed to pass the Cambridge exams.

The exam is divided into the four skills – Speaking, Reading (and Use of English), Writing and Listening. Each skill will test your ability to use/understand various areas within each skill but they follow a very specific structure.

The reading paper will test your understanding of general information and ask you complete multiple choice questions – along with completing a text by inserting multiple paragraphs.
The writing paper will ask you to write two pieces of text – typically one will be a report and the second one will be a choice. The listening paper, much like the reading paper, will ask you to analyse spoken texts and to fill in empty spaces. All of which aren’t really skills we utilise in our daily use of English, therefore, in order to pass these exams, specialist training is a must.


This does not mean that it is impossible to achieve a high standard of English without doing an exam, but it does mean that it is remarkably difficult to achieve a certificate of fair representation of your English level without first studying the nuances of the exam.

Glossary

pinnacle – the most successful point; the culmination.

nuances - a subtle difference in or shade of meaning, expression, or sound.

---Sign up for the Cambridge English Exams at ELA-Edinburgh.

Whether it is Preliminary, First, Advanced, Proficiency or Business Certificate, preparing for a Cambridge English exam does not need to be an arduous task.

At ELA-Edinburgh we will provide you with the training and support required to achieve your desired score.

Trinity CertTESOL - Your Gateway to the World

Challenging, engaging, fun, intensive, inspiring, rewarding, enlightening, fast-paced and multi-faceted!!
These are just some of the adjectives volunteered by our trainees.

Do they make it sound appealing?
Do you want to travel?
Are you looking for an international English language teaching qualification?
Can you cope with an intensive four week course?
If you answered YES to all the above, then the CertTESOL is for you.

Our next course runs from 8th October until 2nd November 2018 and there are still a few places left.

Participants enrol on our CertTESOL courses for different reasons:

• some are looking to launch a career in language teaching 
• some want to work while on their gap year
• some already have teaching experience but need a qualification
• others just want a career change

Whatever your reason, the Trinity CertTESOL can help. It’s one of the main qualifications in English language teaching and recognised world-wide by schools, governments, NGOs as well as multi-nationals. Doing our ELA/Trinity course means you can move into the next phase of your career with confidence or move abroad knowing you’ll work for a reputable school.

What we offer:

• 6 hours of assessed teaching practice
• the opportunity to profile a learner by interviewing him/her, analyse their language and subsequently give a 1-2-1 lesson
• experience in creating and producing your own materials
• a competitive price: currently it’s £925 at ELA-Edinburgh

Course Content:
The CertTESOL is made up of 5 units and involves 130 timetabled hours, ten of which you will spend observing qualified teachers and teaching volunteer students from many different countries. You need to pass all five assignments to be awarded the qualification, but our experienced and highly qualified trainers will support you every step of the way.

At ELA-Edinburgh your day will normally be:
09:00-12:15-methodology and language input sessions with your trainers
12:15-13:00 Lunch
13:00-18:00 Lesson planning, teaching and observations.

Nearly everyone who has done a CertTESOL course remembers it as an intense but extremely rewarding 4 weeks. Reading between the lines: expect a great experience but be prepared to put in a lot of hard work!

Non-native teachers
We have many non-native speakers on our course, but they need to do a pre-course interview with the Course Director, before being accepted on to the course. Trinity trainees need IELTS 7.0 in all skills, or equivalent, to participate, but it’s the CD who has the final say.

If you feel your level of English may fall short of this, don’t worry. ELA has purposefully designed intensive courses to prepare you for the CertTESOL.

Remember, as you’ll be participating in an educational course you might qualify for the Erasmus+ Programme, specifically designed for lifelong learning.

If you still haven’t made up you mind, have a glance at some of our earlier blogs for ideas of great places to jet off to when you’ve finished your course at ELA-Edinburgh.

Thinking about moving to Edinburgh

So, you are thinking about studying in Edinburgh? Good choice! Edinburgh is one of the most captivating cities in Europe, with students and professionals alike travelling here with the intention of staying for a few months but wind up staying here for a few years. ‘Multi-cultural’ is a word that is used to describe a lot of different places, but Edinburgh? 

Edinburgh wrote the book on ‘multi-culturalism’.

If you are thinking about relocating either permanently or temporarily, then here are ten things that you should be aware of before you arrive.

Doctors

Possibly the most important item on the list is healthcare. Scotland has famously free healthcare and registering with a GP (General Practitioner) is a straightforward process.  Once you arrive and you have your accommodation organised, just walk into any clinic and sign up.

Transport

Getting around Edinburgh is nice and simple. Our bus service is very reliable and our many taxi companies will help see you home whatever the hour.

If you are planning to leave the city to explore Scotland, then you should check the national rail service because you might be legible for a discount card.

Accommodation

Prices in Edinburgh vary by location but it is no secret that Edinburgh is an expensive city to live in.  As a general rule, the closer you are to the city centre, the more rent you can expect to pay. That being said, the areas surrounding Edinburgh are beautiful and the bus links are excellent.

There are options for traveling inside of Edinburgh aside from the busses, such as the many taxi companies and tram service.  If you wish to travel away from Edinburgh and explore the country, then, depending on your circumstances, you may qualify for a discount rail card.

Eating Out

Edinburgh, as mentioned before, is a wonderfully multicultural environment and nowhere is it clearer than in its restaurants.  The variety of places to eat is simply staggering and they are not just restricted to the city centre. If you miss your country’s cuisine, Edinburgh may be able to provide you with the delicacies from your home in one the great variety of international supermarkets.

Of course, if you wish to experience traditional British food then perhaps a traditional pub is just the ticket!

Cultural Immersion

Edinburgh has a vast history which has been chronicled into its very buildings. From the narrow, winding streets of the ‘Old Town’ to the masterful creation that is the ‘New Town’, Edinburgh’s architecture is a delight.  Everywhere you turn you are reminded of a beautiful, but harsh, past that graced this city. 

Even Robert Louis Stevenson, one of Scotland’s greatest writers, once remarked:

There are no stars as lovely as Edinburgh street lamps.

So what do you need to do to get here? 

Well, if you are planning to study then you will probably need IELTS or TOEFL.  Or perhaps you are looking to settle here and become a British Citizen, if so then you will probably need to do SELT.  

At ELA-Edinburgh, we offer a number of courses that can help you achieve your goals of relocating to Scotland.  Our exam focussed courses will cover all of your university requirements and if you are intending to stay then we will be very happy to help. 

Glossary

Captivating – really beautiful

To wind up – to come to a destination that was not planned

To write the book on something – to be the first expert on something

Aside from – not including

Staggering – (adj) to describe something very positively

Just the ticket – used to describe something as perfect, often used for foo