She's the best!

If you have been sending emails to the school recently asking questions about courses, accommodation, social activities, London underground, the weather, IELTS exams... or anything else... you will have been in contact with Alejandra.
She is a one-woman army who fights with all her energy to get the best for her students. Sometimes there's a phone call from a student who says "I sent an email and you haven't replied yet."
"When did you send it?" asks Alejandra.
"10 minutes ago."



Alejandra is from Argentina and originally came to London in 1999 to study at Camden College of English with her boyfriend. Three years later she came back to take a Cambridge exam and the boyfriend had become a husband. And they're still here!

For the last four years she has been working with me in the office - and even though there are times of stress (moving to the new building, busy summers with lots of accommodation requests, British Council inspections), Ale is always positive.

So if you are coming to study here, be nice to her and if she looks stressed make her a coffee (with milk and one sugar!).

Stuart

Rain Stops Play

Just one minute away from the school is one of the most famous shops in London. For the last 175 James Smith & Sons has been selling the accessory that signifies the British... umbrellas.
Since I started teaching in 1988, I have always enjoyed telling my students that I don't have an umbrella, that I have never had an umbrella and that I will never have an umbrella. The reason for this? I'm a Londoner!
I don't consider rain to be a problem or a nuisance. It's part of life and not worth making a big fuss about. Rain happens.
Whenever we arrange something on the social programme our students always have one question: What happens if it rains?
My answer is always the same: We will get wet.
So yesterday we had a walking tour of Bloomsbury and it didn't rain. Today, Rob has taken a group of students to watch the tennis at Wimbledon. We have planned trips to go to the beach at Brighton and to watch Shakespeare in the open air Globe theatre. Over the summer we will also have picnics, football matches, trips to Oxford, music festivals... and all of them will be outside.
In fact, the only time rain is a problem is when I'm watching cricket. Of course, the most English of all sports, cricket, can only be played when it's not raining. And this sums up the character of the English - optimistic, open to challenges and not entirely realistic. Who else would invent a game less suited to their environment?
This afternoon I popped out to get a sandwich and the heavens opened. Monsoon. A deluge. As I ran past James Smith & Sons getting totally drenched I wished that I had an umbrella. Oh well.