Then and Now - What a difference 15 years makes!

Recently we were looking through some old photos of the school, and were struck by how different the school is now from when we moved into this new building. We moved in here in 1997 so the photos on the left are from around 1998 ish and the photos on the right were taken this year (2014). 

Left: Peter Letzer Right: Joanne Mouland, Elly Easey

Left: Allan Gray, Ceri Tipler. Right: Students Iréne and Laurence

Left: Allan Gray, Cliff Sands (by the photocopier Bill Philipps) Right: Nicki Pring, Tara Montgomery, Caroline Gwatkin

Plus another staffroom: Michael Baldwin and Shelton Humpleby

Left: Lisa Marsh and Najat Gray Right: Anna Rita Deriu

Anyone who hadn't been to the building in a long time would really see an enormous change - as you can see!

Rooftop Interviews - with Wesley from Brazil and Matt the teacher

LSI Portsmouth has some of the most stunning viewpoints in Portsmouth.  Our new occasional series  'Rooftop Interviews' this week features Wesley and Matt, discussing Wesley's time in England and in Portsmouth, shown from the top of the building overlooking the beautiful Solent.

Be sure to watch the video above, and here are some more photos and details from Wesley. At the moment we have a lovely student from Brazil, Wesley Reuel, who is really making the most of every minute of his time away from home.  He kindly agreed to answer some questions for our blog:

Wesley, Where do you come from and how long will you stay at LSI?
I´m from Brazil, more specifically from Natal the state capital of “Rio Grande do Norte”, my city is known by “City of Sun”. I will be at LSI until the beginning of September, so I have 4 months.

What made you choose Portsmouth?
Because the University of Portsmouth have exactly the same course I´m doing in Brazil, and the city has a good history. I could mention D.Day , Charles Dickens and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

So, why are you learning English?
I´m learning English to have a second language and because I will study one year of Software Engineering at University of Portsmouth through the SwB Program of Brazilian Government.
I already did the TOEFL, because the SwB requires a minimum level to give the sponsorship

Back in Brazil what do you do?
In Brazil I study Software Engineering at Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte also I work to the government of my state in the Department of Transit.

What do you do for fun?
I divide my free time between watching movies and travelling to take pictures, always I prefer do the second one. Register one moment and keep it for the rest of life is amazing. I really enjoy this.

How do you see your future, what are you hoping to do?
In the future I wish to finish my course in Brazil, and then go back to Europe to work in a software company.

Wesley, thank you so much for telling us all this.

Wesley has a flickr page showing some of his pictures (which are amazing) and a blog where he talks about his travels and has photos showing all the amazing things he has seen. - definitely worth having a look at.

Link to his flickr page
Link to his Blog  

Singing Their Hearts Out!

Where else could you find such a diverse group of creative individuals.  It really is quite stunning; authors, actors, artists, musicians, producers, composers, photographers, poets, crafters (and there are undoubtedly some that have been missed) - here at LSI Portsmouth we are incredibly blessed with the people we have in this school.  

A week or so ago one of the teachers came and announced that his class (GE Intensive D5) had written a song and wouldn't it be nice if it was filmed?  He was right! 

So here is Jon D; mad, crazy, lovely Jon D (Dobbin) and his fabulous class of students, with a song they wrote.  Jon is playing the guitar, the students sing and the very talented Dan Pringle produced the music. Enjoy!

A Knight in Shining Armour

A few months ago, a human bundle of energy arrived at LSI Portsmouth for an Executive course.  Massimilano Fanni Canelles!  Max was extraordinary, he just didn't stop.  It very quickly became clear who this man was, and what his passion was.  He is an Italian doctor who runs a non profit organisation that gives aid in war torn countries.  He is so passionate about his organisation, that he spreads this to all those who come into contact.  In fact his home stay (Maggie Paton) is going out to Sri Lanka with him to help in September.

At LSI Portsmouth, we were so impressed with what he does that we are giving over August to his organisation.  The social events we are holding throughout August will try to raise money to go towards the fantastic work.   

Max took a few minutes to introduce himself to readers of the blog::

'My name is Max and I come from Italy. I am learning English because it is important for any business or activity. English is the international language.  I came to Portsmouth because it is a beautiful city where you can experience the real English culture and have good relationships with wonderful people.  

Back in Italy I am a doctor and professor and president of a non government organization that brings aid around the world.'

He was kind enough to leave us with a lot of information and some pictures about his organisation @uxilia.

@uxilia was founded in 2003, an Italian non-profit organization that carries out voluntary activities.  @uxilia dreams of a world where everyone has rights and opportunities.
They work in developing countries and in Italy. Their goal is to create durable and sustainable solutions to end the vicious cycle of poverty and injustice.

They focus their energies on health care, welfare, education, training, micro credit, emergencies, advocacy and the promotion of human rights.

Max here with friends and with Maggie - his homestay.

The following links give more information about his organisation:
http://www.socialnews.it/category/english-socialnews/
http://www.auxiliachildren.org/index.php/en/

This video gives a clear picture of what they are trying to achieve.

We hope anyone reading this will help us support Max with his excellent work.

The Ramblers

For about 20 years or so a group of teachers from LSI have gone walking in the countryside after work on a Wednesday evening (during the Summer months).  Very often the teachers who leave the school stay in touch and come along on the walk and this is their opportunity to catch up with friends old and new.
We thought it would be nice to show a picture of the group on their walk and also to show what gorgeous countryside we have near the school!

From the left: Des, Joanna, Ceri, Fiona, Shelton, Vince, Ginny and Allen.  (Two missing from the picture are Claire and Caroline ;-)

Student life in Portsmouth

When students come to England and to us at LSI Portsmouth, often this is an incredibly important time in their lives, one that they will remember for always.  For some it is the first time they have left home, for others it is the first time they have travelled abroad alone. For all of them it is an experience that is different to their 'normal' life.  We are very aware of how special these times can be, and over the years have had the pleasure of having photos, letters and little videos being shared with us that show how meaningful these moments are.

Recently one of our very special students, Mohammd Bafarhan from Saudi Arabia, left the school.  He had stayed with us for over a year and had really become part of LSI, and it was a very sad day for us when he left.  While he has been having a holiday before returning to go to Portsmouth University, Mohammed made a little video, which encapsulates someone having the time of their life.  He has agreed that we could post it below to show our readers.  There are some cameo photos and videos from some of our teachers and many of the students who have been with us over this last year or so could well find themselves in his video slideshow.
Thank you so much Mohammd for sharing this with us, we wish you only fantastic things for the future.

link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4Mk8bCxjtM

(please be aware there is some 'street' language some might find offensive)

Welcoming Belle to the Party!

Belle Dowber joined us this month as our new full time Social events organiser. We have wanted to make our social programme even more lively and diverse and we think Belle is just the lady for the job.  She popped in to answer a few questions for us so we could get to know her a little better.

My name is Belle, I was born and raised here in Portsmouth, and consider myself a bit of a ‘Pompey girl’. Aside from moving to Brighton for three years to complete my degree, I’ve always been based in Portsmouth.  For three years, I lived in Brighton, where I graduated from the University of Sussex with a first class degree in linguistics. Either side of my studies I’ve been off gallivanting around the globe. I’ve just recently returned from a four month trip, the majority of which I spent travelling around India and Sri Lanka.

On her travels

Being the new Social Organiser? This is the first time I’ve ever done anything like this, so it was a bit daunting on my first day. However, everyone has been so friendly and welcoming; it’s made starting here much easier. I’m really excited about this job, and I’m looking forward to taking the Social Programme to the next level.

I’ve only ever worked in England, but would love the opportunity to work abroad, further along the line. Having said that, does making cocktails on the beach in exchange for free accommodation count as working abroad? In that case, I’ve worked in Indonesia too.

on her travels

on her travels

on her travels

I love cycling my old rusty bike, she’s my trusted companion. I also play the ukulele, even though my repertoire consists of 8 songs. My main passion is travelling, and even when I don’t have the time to take long trips away, I try and squeeze in short weekend trips so I can see as much of this lovely planet as possible.

I love living by the sea, and feel very lucky to be able to enjoy all the perks of living in a seaside city. The area around Clarence Pier, with its arcades and funfair and candyfloss, makes me feel nostalgic, and the tranquility of Eastney beach is always the perfect place to watch the sunset. Right now, I love the buzz around Southsea common, spending long sunny days eating lots of barbecued meat, and playing football or Frisbee with friends.

On the Isle of Wight

What else can I tell you? I nearly began a career as a professional ballerina, and completed all my examinations with distinction, as well as dancing with the English Youth Ballet. At the age of seventeen, I decided that I wanted to follow a more academic route, a decision which I’m very happy I made. Even though I miss ballet tremendously, I’m sure you’ll see my twirling down the corridors, or standing on my ‘demi-pointes’- these things never leave you!

Thank you Belle - we can't wait to see what you have planned!

We are so proud! Graduation Day 2014 MA Linguistics and TEFL

Today was a very special day for some of our teachers.  For the last two years they have been working their socks off studying for their Master Degrees in Applied Linguistics and TEFL, and today they graduated.
So massive congratulations to Lewis Richards, Robyn Brooks, Caroline Gwatkin, Gordon Scruton  and Stephanie Furness-Barr.  Gordon and Steph have moved to pastures new now, however we still love them dearly ;-)
We are very proud of all of you!

Also our new Administration Officer Amelia Gibson also graduated in
BA (Hons) English and Creative Writing degree.

What a fab week we had celebrating all our colleagues hard work!

Art club at LSI - How to paint a landscape

Recently we started an Art Club at LSI Portsmouth on Friday afternoons.  The results from the students were so fantastic that we filmed a class to show our other students what they could achieve.  We are very lucky to have an incredibly talented and skilled bunch of teachers at LSI Portsmouth.  One of our teachers, Alan Daysh, has been a landscape artist for the last 30 years, mostly painting land and seascapes of the Isle of Wight, although he paints a variety of other subjects beautifully as well..

There will be another art class this Friday afternoon - Alan will be demonstrating painting a still life.

Giving Presentations at LSI Portsmouth - the Good, the Bad and the Ugly -

Over the last ten years, on the Executive side of the school, we have created most of our own in-house materials for our executive functional course programmes.  For a long time we have wanted to take this a little further.  At a recent workshop discussing our materials, we finally decided the time had come for us to make some of our own videos to use.  This is our Presentation skills video, that we will use to supplement our presentations courses.  Des (O'Keeffe)  took the lead role on this video, and took to acting like a duck to water.  Two of the audience (Ceri Tipler and Nick Ricard) are already wonderful actors and as you can see in the video do fabulous little cameos.  This is just the first of many that we hope to create, and we hope that it makes the learning process for the students even more special by being made by us for use in-house.

A Change is as Good as a Rest

English UK regularly gives great training opportunities to its members, and recently a group from LSI Portsmouth went to participate in discussions about Change Management. As you can see from the photo not only did they learn a lot but they also appeared to have a very good time!

From left: Andrew Edwards, Angel Ma, George Pickering,
Nawaz (from Liverpool), Rosie Ford, Lea Brophy

Great Quick Tip on Pronunciation from Hannah

Hannah has a great tip for improving pronunciation this week. Hannah is one of our marketing team and also a student welfare officer, however she is also a very experienced teacher, as this tip shows!

If you enjoyed Hannah's tip - don't forget to subscribe on YouTube to our channel so you don't miss new ones as they are published.

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! 

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!

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

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.

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.

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.

Photo Gallery by QuickGallery.com

To see all the pictures together go to our flickr page

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

Photo Gallery by QuickGallery.com

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

Happiness is the Key - LSI Principal Andrew Edwards in the News (and on screen)!

Not only has Andrew appeared in a great article in the EL Gazette this month but he has also made a brilliant little Quick Tips video for our students to help them improve their English.

Our principal Andrew Edwards is in the EL Gazette this month, talking about what he thinks makes a successful business and life.  It's a really nice article, do read it!

If you would like to read the article in a more friendly manner - click here.