Meet our Upper Intermediate English students

This month we will be hearing from teacher Felicity's Upper-Intermediate English class. First let's find out a bit about them:

Esteban
I'm from Quito in Ecuador. Studying English in London has been a great experience so far; you can meet people from all over the world and learn about their cultures, traditions and also practise English with them.

My hobbies are playing football, playing the guitar and also watching movies. I'm going to be here for 4 months and I hope to improve my English in this time, but also make a lot of friends and travel with them around the United Kingdom.

Cheers!

Noritomo
My name is Noritomo Hato. I was born in Kobe. I lived in Takatsuki (near Kyoto, Osaka) before London. I work for a university, I am an administrator. My university was founded about 140 years ago, now it's the fifth largest university in Japan. Travelling is something I enjoy doing, I travel whenever I have the chance. So far I've been to about 90 countries, in the future I'd like to visit more than 100 countries and Antarctica.

Thanapong

University. I have been living in London since August last year. I've got a conditional offer for an MA in Graphic Branding and Identity at London College of Communication. I would have been a freshman this year, unfortunately, I didn't pass the Hi, my name is Thanapong Hariratseree. I'm from Thailand. I am 26 years old. My nickname is Ka-Hnoon which means jack fruit. I graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at SilpakornIELTs exam so I have to improve my English more.

So Yeon
Hi~ I'm So Yeon! I come from Korea which is famous for Kim-chi. The reason i came to England is to learn the British accent and improve my speaking. In Korea, when parents name their babies, each word has a special meaning like in Chinese. The meaning of my name is a bright swallow. Koreans believe that swallows bring good luck to people so I want to be like a bright swallow flying happily in the sky even the weather is bad. I wish you good luck for the future.

Sam (Sang Min)

Hi, I'm Sam! I'm from South Korea. I studied law and management in my country and I have to finish them from September. I came to study English here, especially communication skills. I've been here since January 2010 and I'll go back to Korea in June 2010. I hope to experience something special in London. My hobbies are going swimming and ice skating. There are five people in my family, my parents, elder sister, younger brother and me. I'd like to continue having a good time here in London. Thank you!

Cibele

My name is Cibele and I`m from Brazil. I`m 36 years old and I have 3 daughters. It`s the second time that I`m studying English at International House. I miss my daughters a lot but I need to improve my English for my job.

Jaeho Ryu

I`m 23 years old and I`m from South Korea. I studied English Literature and Business at university. Now I`m studying English at IH London. I hope I will be able to speak fluent English when I finish this course. If I can, it would be really useful and it would help me to find a good job. I like watching football games, chilling out with friends at the Pub and travelling. My course is going to finish in November. After my course has finished, I want to travel around Europe.

Salim

Hi!My name is Salim and I'm from Kazakhstan. I'm married and I've got two children. We have just moved to London and decided to study here. I used to have a business in the org mining field back home and recently made the decision to take two years off. After studying at IH I hope that I'll be able to do an MBA course. It is a really amazing opportunity to study in London and spend time here.

Meet IH London's teachers

We've just added lots of new teacher profiles to the IH London website. Read a bit more about the staff who teach General English, Business English and Modern Languages. Teacher trainers are the members of staff who train other teachers through our CELTA and DELTA programmes. As you'll see, a wide range of backgrounds and interests are represented!

Meet IH London's teachers and teacher trainers

What's it like to train as an English language teacher?

CELTA is a qualification for people who want to teach English as a foreign language. CELTA stands for 'Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults' and it is the most widely-recognised English teaching certificate of its kind. It's sometimes called TEFL or TESOL.

IH London teaches a CELTA training course which can be taken full time or part time. It opens up doors to teaching jobs all over the world.

Read reviews by CELTA trainees who completed IH London's full time March 2010 course

There are lots of differnt reasons for taking a CELTA course. Some people want to have a career break, some want to take a GAP year and travel while earning money, and others may have been teaching English for a while but want a recognised qualification.

CELTA training is very rewarding and motivating, but also hard work. At the end of each course we ask our trainees how they found the programme. The feedback is overwhelmingly positive, and our most recent group of full time CELTA trainees has been no exception.

Here's a highlight:

"I've been a teacher for a while but I didn't realise how challenging and rewarding teaching can be until I got here."

Read reviews by trainees on our March CELTA course

If you are thinking of training to teach English as a foreign lanague, the comments by our CELTA trainees will help you get an idea of what the course involves, and what you can expect to learn.

Visit the IH London website to view all teacher training courses we offer.

New blended learning course for teachers

The blended CertICT is a brand new online and face-to-face international qualification for language teachers who want to incorporate technology into their lessons.

Validated by Trinity College London, the course is delivered online by the Consultants-E and face-to-face at IH London.

Advantages of blended learning

Nicky Hockly, pedagogical director of The Consultants-E, designed the original online CertICT and has been delivering it since 2008. In a Guardian Weekly article, she explains the benefits of a blended learning approach:

"What you get out of an online training programme is valuable in terms of the information and the tutoring, but I still think that there is an element of a person’s opinions and approach to things that can only be fully mediated by the face-to-face interaction."

The blended CertICT is a great option for teachers who like to work collaboratively. The face-to-face segment focuses on the practical elements of the course, such as creating blogs and using software, while the online component is reflective with more theoretical work.

Course overview

The blended CertICT is for qualified teachers and trainers of English and other languages. It will enhance your skills and expertise using ICT (Information and Communications Technology) in the classroom, and give you lots of ideas, tools and techniques to use with your students.

Of the 120 hour course, 50 hours are delivered face-to-face over a two week period. You can take the face-to-face component in Seville from June, in Bonn from August and in London, at International House, from September.

Read more about the blended CertICT at IH London.

Exploring the World

Students in Felicity's Lower Intermediate A English Class reveal their top three worldwide destinations, with hints and tips on what to see and do....

England

London
London is a very interesting and exciting city. It's full of museums, one of them is Madame Tussauds. You must see it because it's really special and interesting. I'd recommend visiting Hyde Park, it's the biggest park in London.

It's really worth seeing.

Personally, I'd go to Portobello Road Market, but I wouldn't recommend it at the weekend because it's too crowded.

You should stay in London for about five days and after that you should go to Canterbury.

It's a small medieval city. It's famous for its important cathedral called Christ Church designed in a traditional English-Gothic style. You should definitely visit the cloister of the cathedral, it's fantastic! The church bell (Bel Harry) is really worth seeing. There is a castle in the city, but it's very far from the cathedral.

Spain

Valencia
Valencia is a city in the east of Spain, it's a wonderful city and it has fantastic weather. Valencia is a small city so I think that you can explore it in 3 days.

On the first day I recommend visiting the City of Arts and Science. These are the most important buildings in Valencia, they are on the Turia River, they are some of the most beautiful buildings in Valencia.

On the second day you must see the city centre it's got great shopping and you should visit "El Barrio del Carmen", it's the old part of Valencia and it's very interesting.

On the third day personally, I'd go to the beach if you want a relaxing day and at lunchtime you should eat "Paella Valenciana", it's a traditional dish from Valencia.

I wouldn't recommend going to "Cabanyal" it's famous for thieves, it's the most dangerous part of Valencia.

Asturias

Asturias is a magical place if you want to relax, it's in the north of Spain.

On the first day you should definitely visit the Art museum, it's really nice and it's got typical Asturian art and craftmanship.

After that you must eat "Fabada Asturiana" it's the most famous dish in Asturias.

On the second day I recommend going to the natural parcs in Asturias, the scenery is stunning, it's a magical place to go with your boyfriend/girlfriend.

Japan

Okinawa

Okinawa is located in the south end of JAPAN. There are beautiful beaches and blue sea.

Personally,I'd like to go to TYURAUMI Aquarium which has the largest water tank of the world.

There are three big sharks and many fish, more than 20,000. It is so beautiful and fantastic!You will definitely be impressed. I'd recommended to have your holiday in OKINAWA.

Osaka

OSAKA is a big city in japan. OSAKA has a lot of local specialities. A typical example is baked octopus,and a meat and vegetable pancake. I'm sure you will take to these local foods.

The people of OSAKA have a cheerful and witty personality. There are many Japanese comedians who are called OWARAIGWININ. You can see their performance on stage.