Enjoying spring weather on the south coast of England
Saturday 30.03.2019
Departure day and it was a gloriously sunny one for the group’s final hours in Seaford. The sea looked like the Mediterranean and the students had a relaxing time before they met at the Martello Tower to say goodbye to their host families and to take the coach to Heathrow Airport .
We have really enjoyed having them with us, and they have been a credit to their school and to their families. We wish them well in the future.
Friday 29.03.2019
A big day for everybody as they visit the capital today, to see the sights and sounds of London . They are catching the train to Victoria Station before taking in the sights of Tower Bridge, Tower of London, Big Ben, Parliament, Downing Street and Buckingham Palace. Then they are probably going to visit Covent Garden.
It’s a lovely sunny start to the day, and this should continue all day. With temperatures around 16 degrees, it’s set to be a fantastic day.
Please check out the superb work done by our students. They had a project to feed back on their experiences this week. You can see their presentations below the blog.
Thursday 28.03.2019
School’s out! It’s the time of the week when the English teachers have to say goodbye to the students. This will be difficult to do as they seem to really like everyone in the group. 🙂 The students are polite, well-behaved and they study hard in class. This makes it particularly tough for us to choose our Students of the Week. The awards go to the students who we feel have benefited most from their time here and who have participated in everything and used their English as much as possible. We announce the winners after presenting certificates to everyone.
The group loved Brighton so much that they are going back for a second visit this afternoon. They want to re-visit some of the coolest places, like the pier and seafront, as well as have some more time mooching around the trendy Lanes area. It will be a relaxing few hours, before they head home for dinner. They then need a rest and some sleep as it’s London day tomorrow!
Wednesday 27.03.2019
Food is on the teaching menu today, as the students discuss various foods and how to describe them. They will also be creating their own menu. It’s always good to hear their views on English food. It was one of the stereotypes that was discussed yesterday. The usual feeling is that ‚it isn’t as bad as I expected‘. Whether this means it is good or that the students had REALLY low expectations, we’re not sure. 🙂
After lunch it’s time for sports, and we’ll be down at the Salts, the big sports field in Seaford, where we will be teaching the group how to play Cricket . Some people say it is too complicated to understand, but it’s not really. We have a simplified introduction to the rules, and everyone usually understands how to play. Some take longer than others, but that usually depends on how good they are at listening, rather than how ’sportingly gifted‘ they are.
Cricket is a world sport, and because it is the national sport of India, it means that there over a billion fans. Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa and the West Indies are all hugely passionate about the sport.
Tuesday 26.03.2019
Someone has been finishing their dinner! The weather continues to make us all happy, and we are delighted to report that we have blue skies and sunshine here on the coast. The Discovery Tour went really well yesterday and the group really got into what they were doing. They seem very competitive, and this helped them overcome their nervousness at asking people to do things like dance in the street. 🙂
Lessons today will focus on stereotypes, and we’ll be interested to hear what the students think is stereotypically British. Is it all tea and fish & chips? Also, what is typically Austrian and how do the two things compare? Students will write a questionnaire and find real people to ask, before presenting back their findings. It’s a good way to get the students to look at the world around them and see how a lot of things can be very different yet very similar at the same time.
The afternoon programme is a trip to Beachy Head , which is the most impressive of our coastal chalk cliffs at 165m high. The group will look around the top before taking a gentle walk down the path to the town of Eastbourne . There will be butterflies, birds and probably newborn lambs to spot on the way before the reach the promenade. This runs for a couple of kilometres along the sea, and makes for a lovely stroll on a sunny day.
Eastbourne itself is a small town which has kept a great deal of its traditional charm, and has a greener seafront than most seaside resorts. The centre is small but has enough to keep our students busy. The shopping centre has been refurbished and is now more attractive than ever for those seeking books, souvenirs or gifts for someone at home. Maybe even something stereotypically British? 🙂
Monday 25.3.2019
Monday morning and the weather is still sunny. It will make the journey to school more pleasant, as the students start to arrive for their English lessons. We have Dean and Melanie teaching this week, and as usual, we expect our young learners to be full of energy and motivation. We hope to channel this into helping the students feel confident and fluent using English, both in the classroom, and outside.
After school, we’re heading across to Seaford , where the afternoon programme will be The Seaford Discovery Tour, which involves students answering questions and navigating the town. Questions encourage the students to stop and look around them, thus getting a better overview of Seaford as a town, as well as discovering lots of its history. The second part of the quiz is the Bonus Challenge Round, where students gain bonus points by asking local people to do some rather wacky things. These include taking interesting photos, making videos of local people giving directions and also teaching people an Austrian dance (and filming it!). 🙂
It’s a beautiful day and we expect temperatures around 13 degrees. Perfect for being outside. If you would like to keep track of our (usually ever-changing) weather, the best place to check is here.
Sunday 24.03.2019
Wow, what a glorious spring day, as the sun shone all day and it felt almost warm! You could even say it was almost ice cream weatheris perfect for today’s activity…a day in the seaside city of Brighton .
It’s hard to know where to start with things to do in Brighton, but after their train journey across from Seaford, there was a whole day to explore the Pier, seafront & beach, the Lanes, The Pavilion and the shops and cafes of the city centre. Brighton is often seen as the coolest city in Britain, and is famous for being Green, cosmopolitan and funky. You can take a virtual look at the city here.
Saturday 23.03.2019
At 9.30pm, the group of 18 students and Prof Katharina Renath and Prof Claus Wutte from GRG Ödenburgerstrasse arrived at the Martello Tower in Seaford after their journey from Vienna. It was dark and chilly, but – unusually for Seaford – not windy.
After a quick ‚hello‘, they were introduced to their host families and taken back to their new homes for the week. We wish everyone a pleasant stay here, and hope that they collect a lot of good memories.
