Ice skating in London

IH London students on ice

The dark nights are drawing in and the temperature is dropping, which can only mean one thing - it's time to wrap up warm and head to London's winter ice rinks.

There are few better ways to enjoy winter and keep warm in the city than by getting your skates on and hitting the ice - sometimes literally!

Get your skates on with International House London

The Social Programme team at International House London have organised two trips to London's best ice rinks this winter.

• Somerset House Ice Rink
  3:30pm, 22 November 2012
• Winter Wonderland, Hyde Park
  2:30pm, 03 December 2012

Visit the Social Programme desk on the ground floor at International House London to find out more and book a place on these ice skating trips.

Booking, timetables and locations for ice rinks in London 

If you can't make Social Programme dates, or you miss out on a place, there are plenty of options and opportunities to organise your own trip.

Below you'll find information on venues, prices and timetables to organise your own ice skating outing.

• Somerset House Ice Rink
• Hampton Court Ice Rink
•  Tower of London Ice Rink
• Natural History Museum Ice Rink
• London Eye Ice Rink
• Hyde Park Winter Wonderland Ice Age 4 Ice Skating Rink
• Canary Wharf Ice Rink

Ice skating venues around London

Students skating at Somerset House 

You can wrap up like a mammoth to ice skate in front of the Natural History Museum, ice dance around Somerset House ice rink, slip and slide around Hyde Park ice rink, skate under the skyscrapers at Canary Wharf ice rink, run royal ice rinks around your friends at Hampton Court and hold onto your head at the Tower of London ice rink.

All venues provide ice skates as part of the booking, you can take your own if you've got them, some run classes and offer discounts for group bookings.

Ice rings in London start to open in the middle of November and most stay open until early January, one or two until March.

Many venues have other winter events going on and  most have cafes and bars serving food and drinks – from hot chocolate to mulled wine (if you drink alcohol we recommend trying mulled cider too) to warm you up and help you wind down after your time on ice.

Learn a language and experience London

International House London has been welcoming students from all over the world for 50 years. Based in the heart of London we offer a range language and teacher training courses, fantastic facilities and great social activities.

• Find out more about International House London

Corporate social responsibility at IH London

With corporate social responsibility in the news, we asked Alex Hammond from ESL Language Travel which promotes sustainable development within the language education industry, to take a look at what we’re doing at IH London.

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The phrase ‘sustainable development’ probably brings to mind environmental issues. It’s hard to miss the huge debates going on internationally about combating global warming, reducing carbon emissions and energy extraction. But the ideas of sustainable development extend beyond the physical environment and ‘green’ issues. For businesses, sustainability is often divided under three headings: environmental, social and economic.

E-moderating: learning to train and teach online

Since launching last year, our online E-moderating training has become one of our most popular short online teacher training courses. The course is designed for CELTA Tutors who wish to become Online Course Tutors on the new Online CELTA programme - or for any ELT professionals who wish to develop their skills and awareness of how to teach online.

With our next course starting 6 May, we thought it was a good time to catch up with previous course participant Ana. 

In this interview Ana, who is based in Madrid, tells us about her experience and how her view of online training has changed. 

If you are interested in joining our next course visit the E-moderating course page for more information about how to apply.

Our Guide to IH London at IATEFL 2012

This week is the 46th Annual IATEFL (International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language) Conference and Exhibition in Glasgow, Scotland. After the first morning of pre-conference events Twitter is already buzzing with reports from delegates about some fascinating sessions (search for #iatefl).

So far, we've been especially proud to see lots of praise for IH London teacher and trainer Chia Suan Chong who is part of the Business English Special Interest Group. We're looking forward to catching up with her about her research and presentation on 'English as a Lingua Franca – what should we be teaching?' after the conference.

With a whole week of TEFL talk to come, here's our guide to IH London at IATEFL. 

IH London's Own Rock Star!

Watch a video of Tom from the IH London team performing with his band I am a Pilot. He's the one playing the big double bass! We think their song 'Fell asleep in the city' is great and they are sure to be famous.

Let us know what you think!

I Am A Pilot - "Fell Asleep In The City" from Another Lazy Sunday on Vimeo.

And our competition winner is..

Congratulations to Tasha who is the winner of our student writing competition for February.

All the girls are swooning over this letter to the one he loves..