Everyone is welcome!

This week we've had a wonderful English course for 15 psychoanalysts from Germany (pictured with teachers Rebecca and Ash), preparing for their annual conference in London. Studying six hours a day, they looked at academic papers, presentations, social English and a bit of grammar. And they finished the course with an analysis of Shakespeare's King Lear before going to the Globe to see the play.

Some of them attended last year, so it was a pleasure to welcome back some familiar faces as well as meeting some new people.

No two weeks are ever the same in a language school, as we say goodbye to the psychoanalysts we are preparing to welcome over 30 seventeen-year-olds from Spain on Monday!

Moans about Zones

Why are all our students so obsessed with London's zones?

I have no idea about the different areas of Madrid, Rio or Seoul. I couldn't tell you which part of Tokyo is the best to live in or where I should stay in Berlin. Is it good to be in the north of Rome or the south? I haven't got a clue!

And yet our students are always asking us for accommodation which MUST be in zone 1 or 2. Do they really know London?

So, maybe what everyone needs is an explanation of the zones!

Firstly, I have never met a Londoner who has ever mentioned zones. Seriously, if you ask someone from London where they live the answer will be: Finchley or Ealing or Clapham or Hackney. Nobody will ever say, "I live in zone 3."

The zones are just concentric circles designed by London underground to make it easier to have different fares for the underground and buses. Nothing more and nothing less.

And yet our students are convinced that zone 1 is heaven and zone 5 is hell!!

London is an enormous city, the biggest in Europe, and it is not designed to be nice in the middle and worse the further out you move!

There are some lovely parts of zone 2 and some which you wouldn't want to stay in and I can say the same about zone 4 (where I live!).

I'm sure that what our students really mean is that they don't want a long journey or to use public transport... but that's part of the fun of being in such a big city. Or maybe they think that the "centre" of London is the only place to visit. Of course, London makes things even more confusing by having two centres; the City and the West End.

The best way of thinking of London is to imagine lots of little villages squashed together. Each village is self-contained and has its shops, pubs and restaurant... and each has its own very special atmosphere. So, Chelsea, Hoxton, Westminster, Hampstead, Brixton and Golders Green are all parts of London that you may or may not want to visit or stay in... but not because of the zone but because of what makes them interesting.

My advice... stop moaning about zones, stop thinking that London begins and ends at Piccadilly Circus and fall in love with this great big, messy, noisy, busy, wonderful city!!

Stuart Rubenstein
Principal

London is so cheap!

Are you visiting London this summer? Maybe you are coming to the UK as a tourist or to take an English course at a school like Language in London.

When you pack your suitcase... don't bring with you all the stereotypes about how expensive this city is. The first thing to remember is that all the major museums are free! This is our present to all visitors to London. You can go to the British Museum, British Library, Science Museum, Tate Gallery, National Gallery, Natural History Museum... and not spend one penny!

You should also go to one night of the BBC Proms. This is the biggest musical festival in the world and takes place in the beautiful Royal Albert Hall. Every night there is a different concert, mostly classical, and it costs only £5.

And if you want a taste of real English culture then go to the Shakespeare Globe theatre, where tickets are also only £5. This summer you can see King Lear, A Midsummer's Night Dream and the Merry Wives of Windsor.

As a passionate Londoner, I want our students to experience all these things, which is why our Cultural Experience programme is a language course where all the lessons take place in London's museums and galleries... a great way to be a student and a tourist at the same time.

I'll keep you posted with reports of all the great things we will arrange for our students this summer as extra social activities.

Regards,
Stuart Rubenstein
Principal