Tuesday 24 June 2014

Our Pre-sessional leavers ceremony June 2014

60 very hard working students received their certificates on Friday at their leaving ceremony.  They have all worked so hard, they really deserve to do well in their chosen futures.  Their teachers must be some of the hardest working teachers ever seen -  dedicated, passionate and all of them caring so much about their students, everyone, students and teachers deserve a huge pat on the back and big congratulations! 


Thursday 19 June 2014

See how brilliant it is being in Portsmouth - a 4 minute video!

Two of our teachers; Alan Daysh and Sue Hodgson have made a video to show what great places Portsmouth and Southsea are to visit. They are hoping that potential visitors and students to LSI will be able to get a feel of what Portsmouth has to offer, being in such a brilliant location by the sea, right on the south coast.  It was filmed over a bank holiday weekend in early summer, and then condensed into four minutes.  Alan composed the music, Sue edited the video, with both of them filming. Alan is never happier than when playing music, and Sue is never far away from a computer, they say they have caught the film making bug and have many more projects in the pipeline!  So far it has proven very popular getting over 1000 views on YouTube in less than 3 days.  We hope you like it!





Monday 16 June 2014

Look! - Our New Study Centre! It is beautiful!


We are continually striving to help our students practice their English, either when here or when they leave.  We are delighted to open the doors of our brand new Study Centre.  We have completely overhauled our general students self access centre, installing new furniture, new computers; which give access to our Guided Online Learning system as well as revamping the library, and now have teachers in attendance to offer guidance and advice.

Below you can see the progression, from a pile of boxes to the beautiful study centre that we have now!

Adam and Terry 'planning' ;-)
The cupboards are here - but...
Still lots of work to do
Nick is a great 'box folder'
Brand new computers!
Adam the 'bag filler'

Getting the library set up: Nick R, Nicki P

From left: Nicki P, Anisa, Joel, Becky, Tom

The team in charge: Tom, Anisa, Becky and Joel

Wednesday 11 June 2014

Meet Amelia


We have welcomed to the team this month Amelia Gibson, who will be working in administration.
She has very kindly agreed to answer some questions for us to get to know her better.



Amelia are you local to Portsmouth?
I was born in Southampton, raised in Dorset and moved to Portsmouth three years ago for University studies. While I am not a 'local' I feel like I know the city pretty well, it is where I have gained most of my independence.

Where have you been for the last five years?
I was studying for my A-Levels in Dorset for a part of it, then in 2011 I did a 'round-the-world' trip for a few months to get a taste for travelling, I then attended university for the rest of the time. The last five years have helped me develop quite a lot - I have had some of the best experiences of my life within them.

How long have you been doing this job? 

This is the first time I have ever worked in a language school, so this job is very new to me. It is going to be a steep learning curve, but everybody seems supportive, so I am hoping I will settle in nicely.

Have you worked abroad?
I haven't worked in any other countries other than England, however, I have travelled quite a fair amount as I mentioned before. I would like to try working in another country some day, I think it would be a very interesting experience!

Amelia do you have any hobbies?
I run my own photography business specialising in weddings and events. I also paint, draw and write. I enjoy travelling and I am teaching myself guitar. I have been learning Spanish and I have recently started taking martial arts classes in Wing Chun.

Where would you say is your favourite place in Portsmouth?
It has to be the seafront. I don't find anything more relaxing than sitting by the sea at twilight. I often take a wander down there to unwind. I'm so lucky to live so close to the seafront that I try to make the most of it as often as I can.

And finally, what is the one skill that you have really worked hard to get good at?

I have worked hard to establish myself in the photography field, I have been working at it since I was fifteen years old, and I am still learning now tricks and techniques and improving every day. I like that it can keep developing with you, but you can still maintain your own style.

Thank you so much Amelia, we look forward to seeing some of your pictures in the future and getting to know you better.

Monday 9 June 2014

No Ordinary Class, No Ordinary Superman!


Our latest CAE Exam group came to the end of their course last week and decided to celebrate in style!

Superman in the middle is actually the Director of Studies for Exams Lewis Richards!  (Not really how we remember exam classes from school is it ;-)



We are looking forward to starting our next Cambridge FCE and CAE classes in two weeks.













Friday 6 June 2014

The Red Arrows Flew Past!

Portsmouth has always had huge connections with the Navy and therefore D-Day had an enormous impact on the city.
This week in Southsea there are all kinds of commemorations for the 70th anniversary of the D-Day Landings.  From the school we were lucky enough to have a really great view of the Red Arrows display (it has to be said quite a few classes stopped for about 20 minutes to see the amazing RAF pilots in action ;-)).  Below are a few shots of what we were lucky enough to see.

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To see all the pictures together go to our flickr page

Tuesday 3 June 2014

Results of our Photo Competition - Wow!

We asked our Facebook and Instagram followers to send us their favourite photos of Portsmouth, as you can see from the gallery below - there are some really stunning images.

It was incredibly difficult to choose a winner as they were all just amazing, but we felt the ones below were really special - so without further ado;

Winner - 1st Place - Marc



2nd Place - Ariana


3rd Place - Yumy



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If you would like to see the pictures all in one place, then go to our Flickr page