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We are Looking for a Restaurant Manager - Is it you?

Restaurant/Brasserie Manager, Portsmouth

We are looking for an enthusiastic, passionate, hard-working and committed Restaurant Manager to help us launch, staff, publicise and run successfully and profitably a brand new brasserie restaurant that is part of the LSI Portsmouth building and is shortly to open in the heart of Portsmouth’s university quarter.

This is a fantastic opportunity for a Restaurant Manager with energy and ambition who has the drive and passion for delivering great food, outstanding customer service and helping us host evening cultural and social events. 

As Manager, you will look to maximize the financial performance of the brasserie as well as the quality of food and service and to manage individual team members’ training and development. The Manager will report directly to the Principal of LSI and also to its owners, who will have specific events and services they will be running in the brasserie. You will need to be not just a manager of a team, but also a flexible team player who will work closely with LSI’s Principal and other staff to ensure the vision for the restaurant, combined with its profitability, is achieved.

Bring us experience of managing people and driving business performance, together with a passion for great food and great service and a love of success and in return we’ll share a piece of our success with you. 

Your main responsibilities will include:

• Day-to-day management of the restaurant and team, particularly the Head Chef and waiting staff
• Providing excellent customer service
• Doing regular stock-takes and ordering as necessary
• Handling deliveries
• Maintaining the condition of beer and wine and food stocks
• Overseeing or liaising with the kitchen
• Keeping up to date with licensing legislation, liaising with the Principal of LSI and relevant authorities and taking overall legal responsibility for the premises
• Enforcing health and safety rules
• Adhering to budgets, increasing profits and managing cash flow and finances

Essential

·      Experience of managing or co-managing a restaurant, bar or café

• License to serve alcohol
• Excellent presentation and front-of-house skills and interpersonal excellence
• Excellent understanding of the catering industry and best practice within it
• Ability to work up to 6 days a week when required and the flexibility to work unsociable hours
• Complete working knowledge of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages
• Knowledge of administrative and IT systems and procedures for running a restaurant/café/bar
• Knowledge of suppliers within the Portsmouth area
• Excellent team management skills, including leading by example and setting high standards
• Good working knowledge of Health and Safety and Food Safety
• Excellent communication, time management and organisational skills
• Flexible and enthusiastic approach to the role
• Passion for delivering exceptional customer service

·         Ability to work under pressure with a smile on the face

Desirable:

-       Previous experience of running or overseeing evening cultural and social events

-       Network of known and trusted local suppliers of food and drink in Portsmouth

-       Good contacts in the local community of Portsmouth

-       Cultural awareness and sensitivity when dealing with international students

Starting salary - £24,000 plus generous Profit-Related Bonus.

Applicants should send a CV and covering email explaining why you are interested and suitable for the role to the Principal of LSI Portsmouth, Andrew Edwards: Andrew@lsi-portsmouth.co.uk by Wednesday 24^th January. The role will commence as soon as possible and the first task will be to recruit a Head Chef.

Our New Social Programme Organiser Has Arrived.

We are delighted to welcome the lovely teacher Catherine Barker to her new position as LSI Portsmouth's Social Programme Organiser.  She has taken over from Belle who has changed positions in the company.  LSI Portsmouth has a fantastic social programme for our students, visiting many different places on the south coast, and as you can see in the photos below, the students certainly have fun!
We know that Catherine will do a fantastic job, as we can already see the evidence in the photos, and wish her all the very best.

Students and Teachers in Court in Portsmouth!

Just recently the 30+ class went to Portsmouth Crown Court as part of the crime theme week. We were inspired by one of our students, Lisa from Germany who is a corporate lawyer. Lisa is at LSI to improve her English before she starts her new job.

We sat in on the sentencing of seven men found guilty of drug dealing. We listened to the prosecution barrister (lawyer) give his summary of the evidence against these men to the Judge. We found out that they had dealt hundreds of thousands of pounds of drugs in Portsmouth. We heard lots of details like the £500 a month leased Audi TT they used to take the drugs from Manchester to Portsmouth. We also heard about the grandmother in Manchester who looked after the drugs in an orange bag.
Neil Powney

“For me, as a lawyer, it was interesting to see a criminal trial at a British court, to see a hearing with completely different habits.” (Lisa from Germany)

“I was a little bit nervous before we went into the court, just in case we saw a murder trial. It was very impressive to see eight barristers all wearing their wigs at the same time.” (Mariko from Japan)

“Learning English in an unusual daily situation is an incredible way to improve a lot of vocabulary. I’m very happy to witness a case in a British court and see the barristers wearing white wigs.” (Lilly from Peru)

“Yesterday we went to the crown court. I was looking forward to going there with the class. I was wondering why we had to pass through a control like at the airport.

So, when we were in the crown court room I checked the situation and got an overall view. Neil told us before that the trial was for drug dealing. There were eight accused, young lads. I felt sorry for them, then I asked myself what life will bring them in the future? Starting life like this is really bad, and getting out of it is hard.” (Manuela from Switzerland)

“Yesterday we went to a real English court and looked at a real meeting of the court. As one of our class said, it was like a theatre – very strong judge, prosecutors in the wigs, no phones, no photos, keep silence, very interesting atmosphere. But what is interesting, I didn’t feel pressure so much, because there it was not crowded, there was fresh air and comfortable seats, like a theatre. What a shame that photos and videos were forbidden.” (Ekaterina from Russia)

What is the Best Thing about England? We Asked, Our Students Told Us.

I Love England Because

As a teacher, when you ask students questions you often have an idea what they will answer, but more times than not, they will come up with something completely unexpected. For the last month or so we have run a little ‘campaign’ on Facebook where once a week we have asked our students what was their favourite thing about certain areas, for example, the best thing about Sundays, favourite place in Portsmouth and why they were learning English, that sort of thing. We made it easy, they just had to answer with one word. Some great answers came back. Someone said you need the English language in the same way you need a passport (which of course isn't just one word ;-). To the question about Sundays? The best things were; sleeping, leisure, relaxing, shopping!

The post that we got the most answers to was the question 'What is the best thing about England?'. The responses were so varied and really interesting. At the top of the list were LSI Portsmouth (thank you ;-), Portsmouth, the People and well ‘everything’. 

Then we came to a wide variety of things, politics, history, culture, language, London and all the changes that are happening at the moment. 

This really appears to go to show that the reasons we think people come to England might not necessarily be the actual reasons, or maybe the reasons they have stated as being their favourite they have discovered as the best things since coming here. Whichever it is, it is good to know that England has so many good reasons to visit.  Can you add any?

(For privacy’s sake we blanked out the names and pictures of those writing – if you want to see the actual post then please visit our Facebook page.)

Why Our Students Love LSI Portsmouth

We asked our students what they thought of LSI Portsmouth and why they come here - and it sounds like they don't like LSI Portsmouth - they LOVE it! Do have a watch, it's really lovely.  

Thanks to both Melinda and Nicole who helped with the filming.
Look our for our next one about why students love Portsmouth.

BRAND NEW - New Logo for 2017

LSI Portsmouth has decided to start the New Year with a new-look logo, just to refresh our brand image a little as we begin 2017.

So – why, you may ask, have we decided to do this? Well, firstly many of our students and also agency partners around the world having been telling us for some time that our old logo 

was old-fashioned and needed to change and that 3-dimensional logos are something rarely used these days if you want to appear modern. So, we wanted to appear as modern as we feel we are! Also, in the marketing world, experts often repeat the mantra that you should refresh your brand and image at least every 5 years or run the risk of not appearing current and up-to-date.

We realised we had two options if we were going to do this:

1. To get a totally new logo with no connection to our past in look or image

2. To base a new logo on the past logo, but change it in certain aspects

So we took advice from agencies and other schools and asked for tips and also contacts for who might be good at taking a fresh look at our logo. We were pointed towards a website where many designers would take your brief – what you were trying to achieve, who your business is, what the core values and ethos of the school is, etc. – and then create logos in competition with each other and the one you pick is paid once you’ve made your decision. Although there were many very nice designs, we didn’t feel that any of them was quite what we were looking for.

We then asked two companies who are already working with us and have done nice design work for us already to have a try and one of them came up with different colour versions of what would eventually become our new logo for 2017 – this one:

What we understood that we wanted to do through the process was to actually build on the past, not break with it, so this informed the final decision. LSI Portsmouth has a long and well-known history and also had a recognisable image, whether people liked the logo or not. So we wanted to keep that connection to the past, not say we are entirely different, but to show that we are evolving over time, modernising if you like, not rejecting the past entirely. I think it’s important to know not just where you want to go, but also where you’ve come from and to incorporate that thinking was the final inspiration for the decisions we took.

With a new logo and also a new website, which is coming soon in 2017, we hope to attract more potential students and clients to our website and to encourage more people to come and study at LSI Portsmouth. These days, in times of increased competition and tougher market conditions for attracting students to come and study in the UK, it’s not enough to be a great school, which I know we are, we have to get people to know about us and be attracted to finding out more about us in the first place. A rebrand and new website will, we hope, put many more students in touch with us, who will then want to book a course with us.

The new logo we have chosen will, we hope, connect those that have known us a long time with our long-standing reputation, but also show we are moving forward, not standing still. We retain that symbolic link in our logo with speech marks to encapsulate in essence what it is we do, which is facilitate better communication. At least – that’s what we hope we do, amongst many other things. We hope you like it! Please ‘like’ it below if you do J’

Best wishes to you all

Andrew and the team at LSI Portsmouth

A Day In The Life of Swiss Student Fabian

Recently we had the  lovely Fabian from Switzerland come and study with us.  Just before he left he made this amazing video for us, showing how his student day went. We asked him to tell us a little bit about himself, why he needed to speak English fluently, why he wanted to learn English in the UK and how his English course in England helped him with his job.

"My name is Fabian, I am 24, and I come from Zurich in Switzerland.  I work as a journalist for a Swiss TV-Channel, and also sometimes on a radio station.  My job was part of the reason why I came to Portsmouth so I could improve my English. I've stayed for about two month and I've had a brilliant time in Pompey. I've met a lot of people from all over the world and had a great time with them. I liked the school a lot! I've had cool teachers who made learning entertaining." 

Thank you so much Fabian.

10 Tips to choose your Pre-sessional course

It is not easy knowing how to choose the right course to help you gain entry into the university of your choice.  Below, our Pre-sessional Director of Studies Robyn gives you 10 of the most important points to think about when choosing your course.

 1- Experience: Look for how long the institute has been running their course.

2 - Location: Is it in the same city as the University you want to go to? For example if you want to go to the University of Manchester, look for a course in Manchester.  This will save you money because you won’t need to move again, and you will be familiar with the city.

3 - Cost: How much does the course cost? What is included in the cost? How big will the classes be? Are your books included? How many hours per week will you study?

4 - Opportunities:  How many opportunities will you have to practice? How many essays will you write and get feedback on? Will you do presentations? Will you have lectures?

5 - Direct Entry: Will you get direct entry to the university or will you have to take another IELTS exam?

6 - Pass Rate: How many students pass the course every year, and if students fail what are the reasons they fail?

7 - Relationship with the University: Does the Pre-sessional course provider understand exactly what is needed by the university?

8 - Accreditation: Does the course provider have inspections that check the quality of the courses they provide? For example British Council or BALEAP accreditation schemes.

9 - Staff Qualifications: Do the teachers have for example an M.A. in Applied Linguistics or a Teaching Diploma (i.e. DELTA).

10 - Student Feedback: What do past students think about the course, is it good? What do other people say?

We hope this helps you with the very difficult decision.  If you need any more help, then do get in touch with us.  If you would prefer to watch Robyn explain the points, watch her here explaining in a video.

If you would like to read this in another language please click below:

In Arabic
Chinese - (China / Singapore / Malaysia)
Chinese -  (Hong Kong / Taiwan / Macau)
English
Thai               
Vietnamese

An Executive Student's Experience of Portsmouth.

One of our Executive Students recently made a little video while he was staying with us. We think it is really interesting to see Portsmouth and LSI through the eyes of a students.

Thank you to Lothar for taking the time to do this for us, we really appreciate it.

Pre-Sessional Writing Tip 4 - Using Hedging Language

The fourth in our series from the fabulous Pre-sessional team - this time focussing on using hedging language.

Looking Back Over 2015

2015

What a fantastic year we have had this year. Happy, sad, funny and interesting. Here is a round up of all the fabulous things we have been involved in this year.

January:

We started off the year discovering how many languages in total our teachers speak, with a great little info graphic. Then came the sad part where we said goodbye to our lovely Bill Phillips, a hugely popular teacher who has been with the school for 20 years. He decided it was time to stop, but he is now a host family. We also had some of our staff start on a management course. Probably one of the most fun things to happen in the school this month was some of our teachers started learning Arabic with Arif.  See stories here

February:

In February, we welcomed back an old friend, a student who attended the school over 25 years ago. And we said a temporary goodbye to Hannah who started her maternity leave to have her and Adam’s baby. We were delighted to hear that Allan Gray’s (who used to be the marketing director here) G Boutique hotel had won yet another award.  See stories here

March:

We launched our first quiz, ‘What type of student are you?’ which proved very popular, and we finally launched our new study centre, with Becky telling us on video what was available. We also had another rooftop interview this time with Belle telling us about the LSI Social Programme. As always, the generous side came out for Comic Relief day and there was a charity cake bake. See stories here

April:

In April we had a celebrity visit us in the executive centre and gave us a lovely interview. Paul Rosenmöller is a well know TV face in Holland, dealing with hot political topics. There was also a great little story about LSI’s involvement with Karaoke.  See stories here

May:

Once again the LSI team were out supporting charity, this time with a fun run in Oxford along with a lot of other language school’s teachers and students. However mostly May was dominated by the General Election. One of our teachers Jeremy made a lovely presentation which explained how are elections are carried out in the UK.  See stories here

June:

In June we finally revealed the long awaited reveal of LSI’s fantastic facelift. For months we lived in a building covered by netting and scaffolding, but it was most definitely worth it to finally see the fantastic new face. Once again we focussed back on the many language skills our teachers have by showing an interview with two of our bilingual teachers.  See stories here

July:

Quite a few events of note happened this month. Firstly our sweet little Ellis I Bear arrived at the school, hoping to go travelling with as many people as he can. Lovely Hannah (teacher and marketing lady) had her baby, and then the incredible Americas Cup race event happened in Portsmouth.See stories here

August:

Yet another charity event happened in August, this time football. A wonderful video interview with Amelia and two lovely Arabic students and another big event in Portsmouth; Victorious Festival.  See stories here

September:

England was agog with Rugby mania but closer to home was a milestone in LSI’s history. This year we reached the grand old age of 30 years! We decided to celebrate it this year with two parties and a video showing the journey from where we started to where we are today.  See stories here

October:

The Halloween theme seemed to dominate most things in October. So to continue with the fun theme we made a quiz for people to find out how well they knew Portsmouth. This proved incredibly popular and was taken a few thousand times. Amelia interviewed two wonderful Chinese students and our Vice Principal and his band headlined a refugee charity gig.  See stories here

November:

Joel rounded up a very successful year for him by being promoted to GE/Exam ADOS. One of our teachers had a surprise (to us) wedding. We had not one but two charity events, one was a bake off in aid of the most wonderful charity in this area – the Rowans Hospice, the other was the Great South Run which not only included teacher Jenni (running for DEBRA), but also two Swiss students, who talked with Jenni in an interview about their experience. Finally, being November, it couldn’t pass without a visit to the traditional fireworks display held every year in Cosham.  See stories here

The Great South Run with Jenni, Lara and Annabelle.

At the end of October, thousands and thousands of people joined together to run ten miles for fun and for charity. The seafront was filled with runners, supporters, charities and volunteers. 

One of our teachers Jenni trained hard for months before to run for a charity very close to her heart DEBRA and with such determination managed to raise over £750 for her cause. Her passion for the event persuaded two students in her class to also join in on the run.  Here is their story:

To see more details about the run click here to go to the official website

LSI Portsmouth is 30 Years Old this Year

This year LSI celebrates its 30th birthday.  Here is the story of how we started and where we come from.  We are very grateful to Peter Gray and Allan Gray for all their hard work, along with Lea Brophy who now joins Andrew Edwards in helping to keep LSI Portsmouth the wonderful place it is today.  Thank you to all our amazing students and thank you to all our amazing teachers and staff, without all of you there would be no us.

The Rugby World Cup

We asked Leanne to write a piece about the Rugby for anyone who doesn't understand.  

THE RUGBY WORLD CUP IS HERE

I first got into rugby back in 2001 on my gap year in New Zealand. Rugby to the New Zealanders is like football to us.  It’s a part of their lives, they live and breathe it. While I was there I totally got swept up in the thrill of it.

In the beginning I remember annoying my Kiwi friends with endless questions like ‘what’s a scrum?’ ‘What’s a ruck?’ ‘What’s a try?’ ‘Why is he kicking the ball and not passing it?’ and so on. Pretty much like the typical football question of ‘What’s the offside rule?’

Once you get it, or nearly get it, it’s fast, furious and truly exciting. Men charge at each other like bulls, there’s mud (and sometimes a bit of blood!) flying here and there just to get the ball over the line to score a try. It sounds barbaric but trust me it’s thrilling.

If you are lucky enough to watch the All Blacks (the New Zealand team) live, it sends shivers down your spine when they perform the haka. The haka is a long line of powerful rugby players chanting and performing their warrior dance daring the opposition to take them on.

So if I were you, I’d grab some mates, head to the pub with a big screen and soak up the fun and atmosphere! Go the All Blacks.... or Go England!!!!!! 

Many thanks Leanne.

It's Festival Time - Victorious Festival Portsmouth

It’s festival time!!

If you are currently in Portsmouth, and have been for a walk around the seafront and common area, you may have noticed that huge tents have been put up, a massive stage is sitting in the middle of the common, and large green fences are cordoning off the area. This is because this weekend, Portsmouth is hosting Victorious 2015, a huge music festival which is expected to welcome 120,000 spectators!

The poster that we have up in the school for the students

The main stage will be on Southsea common, with the castle stage being located in the magnificent grounds outside Southsea Castle. There will also be an acoustic stage, a real ale tent, and a massive silent disco! The festival is a really exciting event and one of the newest festivals on the British festival scene. The star-studded line-up includes some massive names in the music industry, such as Ray Davies and Texas, and there will also be loads of local talent to discover.

Each year, the festival has got bigger and better, and this year will be the most exciting one yet!!! We strongly recommend that if you are lucky enough to be in Portsmouth this weekend, you buy yourself a ticket! They are available from Belle in room 305, or you can head down to Meat & Barrel on Palmerston Road. Alternatively, you can buy your tickets online at http://goo.gl/7IPHZu

For more information about the festival and to see the full line-up, please visit http://www.victoriousfestival.co.uk/

Kicking Off for a Good Cause

Last month, as part of the LSI Social Programme, we entered our very own football team into an 'all day' football tournament, to raise money for the Feel Yourself Campaign, which aims to promote awareness in younger men and women about the importance of checking for breast and testicular cancer. To say we were going in as the underdogs was certainly an understatement having never really played together before. However, the players were focused, ambitious, and ready to work hard. Our team comprised of:
Sercan (Turkey)
Thomas (Swiss German)
Patrick (Swiss German)
Basim (Saudi Arabia)
Abdullah (Saudi Arabia)
Oscar (Colombia)
Abdulrahman Kicking Off for a Goo(Saudi Arabia)
Kazuki (Japan)

The group also included one of our teachers, John Hick, who was the team manager, with Belle as photographer, and a whole group of fans. The team looked absolutely fantastic wearing our specially printed LSI Portsmouth t-shirts, in the school colour of royal blue, and after a 30 minute warm-up, the team were ready to play their first game.

For their first game, the team was quick-paced and eager, but their formation lacked structure and they required a stronger tactical approach. Under the shrewd coaching of the team manager, John, the team quickly found their footing, and managed to narrowly beat Rocker Soccer FC with a 2-1 result.

The team then went from strength to strength, with another win, an unfortunate narrow defeat, and finally a complete victory over Strong Island Records, defeating them 10-3!!! The huge goal difference from the last game meant that LSI Portsmouth came top of their league, and qualified for the semi-finals.

For our semi-final game, we faced ILDFC, and really put on an impressive performance. When the final whistle blew, it was a 3-3 draw, and the game went to a penalty shoot out. Our goalkeeper Sercan was incredible and managed to save a few shots, before going on to win the final penalty!!! (6-5 pens)

During the final game, the team were incredible, but again the game finished on a draw, and the team had to once again face a penalty shoot out. Although the team were so close to claiming victory, we had to settle for second place, being defeated by Tobacco Dock, 2-3 on penalties.

After the tournament, the crew headed to a local pub for a buffet, some drinks and to receive their 'runners up' medals. John even scooped the Manager of the Tournament award, which was thoroughly deserved. It was such a wonderful day out, a great opportunity for our students to meet local friends, and to raise money for a brilliant cause. To the LSI Portsmouth football team, well done for your amazing efforts, and for helping raise money for the Feel Yourself Campaign. Also, a huge well done to Sercan Temel, our goalkeeper, and Man of the Tournament!

To find out more about the charity, please visit http://www.feelyourselfcampaign.org/

Definitions:
underdogs - A person / team expected to lose
understatement - saying something less than it is.
quick-paced - fast
formation - the assembly / arranging a group
structure - something built or constructed
shrewd - astute / perceptive
footing - established position / stability
impressive - admirable
claiming - to say it is a fact / to take it as a right
to settle - to agree / to accept
headed - a direction
runners up - to come in second place

We Had a Facelift - The New Face of LSI Portsmouth

LSI Portsmouth is a beautiful large eight storey 1930s Art Deco building.  While it is a lovely building, it does take a lot of maintenance, for which we have to thank Terry and Adam for managing.  Over the last year we have had a major redecoration project on the outside of the building.  The pictures below show some of what was involved.  The builders Mark and Rick with the help of Andy have done a fantastic job (and been great fun to have around), and we are now delighted to unveil the FABULOUS new face of LSI Portsmouth.

The big reveal!  We are so pleased with the new look.

Going back to the start, when it was very cold ...

 Mark and Rick braving the cold.

All covered in scaffolding and netting.

We got used to seeing paint everywhere!

And more paint!

Andy, Mark and Rick - proud of their handiwork.

Just so you can see how the look of the building and the surrounding area have changed, here is a picture from when we first moved into the school.  Note the cars driving past the building!  Now we have a fantastic cafe at the base of the school, new signage, and a beautiful pedestrianised area, but of course with that come new traffic signs ;-(

Approx 1998-9

Today! 2015

Looking for New Teachers to Join Us!

More Information Here

Revamped Study Centre - All systems Go.

LSI Portsmouth is always trying to ensure our students have the best facilities possible to make their stay and their study as good as it can be.  
With this in mind we started last year to upgrade our study centre.  Over the year we have completely revamped the centre with brand new computers, brand new furniture, lots and lots of new study materials, free Guided Online Learning and the addition of plug-ins for mobile devices on the desks ;-) (we try and think of everything ).  Added to this we now have teacher support available every day.  Becky Scott heads the team of teachers of Joel, Anisa and Tom, and in the video below gives a brief overview of what is available for our students in the lovely new centre.

Here's a short video from Becky to explain what you can do in the centre.

Below are a few pictures showing the transformation over the last year.  
With thanks to Adam, Nick, Nicki P, Man from Taylor Made, Becky, Joel, Anisa, Tom, Terry and everyone else who helped the process along.

Adam doing his thing

Nick playing with cardboard

Nick in the picture again ;-) with Nicki P

Man from Taylor Made setting up the computers 

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

All the new computers

Showing the Teacher support station