Latest News from English in Chester

Morio Kamata

30 July 2008

It is with deep regret that we announce the recent death of Morio Kamata, an ex-student and wonderful friend of English in Chester. Morio was a long-term student at English in Chester in 1985. On his return to Japan he helped the School in many ways and regularly convened meetings of ex-students. In 1993 he edited the first magazine of the Japanese Association of Chester Students. Richard said, "I will always remember this kind and wise man and the many happy times we had together when I visited Japan". Our deepest sympathy goes to Morio's family.

Course Vacancies Update

30 July 2008

It is a busy summer and there are only limited vacancies on a few courses during August. September will be a busy month but we have vacancies on all our courses from Monday 25 August.

Visit Chester & Cheshire Tourism Website of the Year 2008

12 June 2008

English in Chester have won the Visit Chester & Cheshire Tourism Website of the Year award for the second time! The award ceremony was held at Chester Racecourse last Friday. The judge commented: "It's a simple but excellent site with superb accessibility. Very clean and easy to navigate, well thought out with all the essential detail and written with the target audience in mind". Congratulations to all staff involved and our web designer Nick Day.

New Interactive Map

10 May 2008

Today we have launched a new interactive map of Chester on our website. You can view photos of the city and find out about some of the attractions Chester has to offer.

New Principal

3 May 2008

On 1 June Nigel Paramor is taking over as Principal of English in Chester from Richard. Richard continues as a full-time working Director of the School with a special responsibility for Marketing. Harriet Parker continues as the Academic Principal of the School. Together Nigel, Richard and Harriet comprise the Senior Management Team at English in Chester.

IALC Workshop in Munich

2 May 2008

Richard, the Principal, attended the IALC (International Association of Language Centres) Workshop in Munich on 24 and 25 April. This is a major annual event where the world's top language centres meet leading educational agents. In the picture from left to right are Amy Baker (Editor of the Language Travel Magazine), Kevin McNally (Hampstead School of English, our partner in the Two-centre Programme), Christina, a Spanish agent and Richard.

Taxi Transfer Prices

1 May 2008

Due to steep rises in the price of petrol in the UK, we are regretfully having to increase our taxi transfer prices to and from Manchester and Liverpool airports. For bookings taken after 1st May 2008, the price will be £33.00 for pick up from the airport and £31.00 for the return journey from Chester back to the airport. Students must request and pay for their transfer in advance.

New 2-centre Course - Chester and London - the perfect combination!

28 March 2008

English in Chester is running a new 2-centre General English Course with Hampstead School of English which will give students the opportunity to come and study in two very different places in the UK. If you want to come to the UK for a long term course this is ideal for you! For more information please email either study@english-in-chester.co.uk or info@hampstead-english.ac.uk.

English in Chester wins Accessibility in Focus award!

13 January 2008

Nick Day, our website developer, has just won the commercial category of the national Accessibility in Focus award for English in Chester's website. The awards, sponsored by some of the biggest names in the web industry, recognise websites that have been developed to be accessible and usable by a broad range of people with different abilities. The judge praised the ease of information access, range of accessibility techniques used and thought the site was a "pleasure to browse" - we hope you will enjoy browsing too!

New Structure on Courses for Business and Professional People

11 January 2008

For maximum flexibility on our Courses for Business and Professional People, we offer intensive one, two, or three-week courses starting on any Monday. Clients can follow different combinations of group and individual one-to-one tuition:

Intensive Group Course: 35 lessons in a small group
The Combination Courses:
   1) 30 lessons of group and 5 of individual tuition
   2) 25 lessons of group and 10 of individual tuition
   3) 20 lessons of group and 15 of individual tuition

For more information on this course please click here.

Student Scholarship Winners

17 December 2007

The Prime Minister's Initiative for International Education, commonly referred to as PMI2, recently organised a "Let Your English Grow" competition. English in Chester offered three scholarships for three different courses. Elena Skorkina from Russia has won a Course for Business and Professional People, Camila Ferrari from Brazil has won a Cambridge Exam Preparation Course and Zhiyu Bin (David) from China has won an International Foundation Course. We look forward to having our winners here studying with us in Chester!

Wedding Bells!

14 December 2007

Richard Day, our Principal, attended a special wedding in Spain at the beginning of December. It was the wedding of two students who met at English in Chester in 2006! Rocio from Mexico was attending a 4-week General English Course, and Javi from Spain was on a 2-week Teacher Training Course organised by the Junta de Castilla y León. The wedding took place in the beautiful 13th century Cathedral in León and Richard also met several ex-students at the reception!

2008 Brochures

8 October 2007

Our 2008 brochures are now ready. We also have a new separate Executive courses brochure for next year. You can download or request our brochures online.

The Great Gorilla Run!

5 October 2007

Laura, one of our teachers, recently joined hundreds of people dressed in gorilla suits to run 7K through London to help save the animals from extinction. It was a wonderful and crazy event to raise money for the Gorilla Organisation. The school and all the teachers generously supported them and they were able to raise lots of money for the cause. ooooOO aaaaAA aA

Prince Charles and his wife Camilla visit Chester!

19 July 2007

The Prince of Wales, who is also Earl of Chester and the Duchess of Cornwall are visiting Chester today. They will be visiting the University of Chester to attend a showcase of volunteering and community projects. Charles will also be awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters in recognition of his personal commitment and dedication to the Prince's Trust, and the promotion of its work and mission as the UK's leading youth charity.

The university's Vice-Chancellor, Prof Tim Wheeler, said: "We're delighted their Royal Highnesses are able to visit the University of Chester to celebrate the impressive achievements of approximately 300 students and 30 staff, who each year share their free time and expertise with over 200 charities, companies and organisations such as schools, hospitals and emergency services."

English in Chester's teenage centre is based on the University of Chester's campus and our students are eager to catch a glimpse of the royal couple!

Charles and Camilla will also be visiting the Cheshire Military Museum and the Shire Horse Centre in Tarporley. (Adapted from Chester Evening Leader)

Horse Racing in Chester

9 May 2007

Today is the first day of this year's horse racing season at Chester Racecourse. Months have been spent preparing the turf, the horses, the jockeys, not to mention the racegoers' outfits and the stage is set for the first race of the season. There are an average of 21,000 people who attend each race day and the season runs from May to September each year. English in Chester is located just the other side of the Roman Walls which overlook the Racecourse and our students love to go and watch the spectacle.

Website Update

6 December 2006

Today sees a major update to our website. We have introduced two exciting new features: site zoom and audio narration. Using the links at the top of the site you can zoom the site to your preferred reading level and, on selected pages, you can listen and follow along with an audio narration. Our search engine has been significantly improved with spell check and "best guess" features and we now have a site map. It's now even easier to book a course online too - you can either access the application form directly or use the new course dates & fees pages which will guide you through the booking process. Our video has also been updated with a subtitled version and a transcript so you can follow along with Cornelia on her day at English in Chester!
Further information about our new features and website accessibility can be found here.

England's Northwest Tourism Website of the Year 2006

26 October 2006

English in Chester was the winner of the Website of the Year award at the recent high-profile England's Northwest Tourism Awards event organised by the North West Regional Development Agency. Read the full press release

2007 Dates & Fees Now Online

13 September 2006

Our 2007 dates & fees are now available on the English Language Courses section of the site. We are currently developing an online booking/payment system which will be available soon. We have also updated our Course Information Sheets for 2007.

A Student's View Video

15 August 2006

Join Cornelia as she takes you on a video tour through a typical day in the life of an English in Chester student. Watch A Student's View Video

Stay In Touch & RSS Feeds

11 August 2006

Our Stay In Touch feature is now online. Every two weeks Harriet, our Academic Principal, will publish some news from the school and a short interactive lesson for students who want to refresh their English. A few of our previous lessons are now online.
Click here to practise your English!

Make sure you stay up-to-date with the latest news from English in Chester by subscribing to our RSS feeds. Feeds are available for Latest News and our new interactive Stay In Touch feature for online English language practise. Find out more about RSS

New Course in 2007

31 July 2006

Next summer we are running a new English language course for university students from around the world. Many topics related to British and Multicultural Studies will be included in the course, which will be run on the University of Chester campus. Visits associated with the chosen topics and also a half-day and a full-day excursion each week will be included in the programme.

2007 Brochure

31 July 2006

English in Chester's 2007 brochure will be available at the end of August. If you would like a copy please e-mail the School.

For 2007 we are producing 3 brochures:
Courses run at English in Chester
University-linked English Language Courses at English in Chester
English in Barbados (available in late September)

IALC Membership

4 July 2006

English in Chester has just become a member of IALC - The International Association of Language Centres. IALC, which was founded in 1983, is a recognised quality symbol in language study abroad. IALC unites leading independent language schools under the banner of excellence and we are proud to be a member.

Visit Chester & Cheshire Best Tourism Website 2006

12 June 2006

English in Chester have won the Visit Chester & Cheshire Best Tourism Website 2006 award! There were 8 nominations, which were narrowed down to a shortlist of 3 by a panel of industry experts. We found out that we had won at an award ceremony on Friday night at Chester Racecourse. The judges looked at all the websites from a consumer point of view, and chose English in Chester particularly because of how our site catered for the visually impaired. Congratulations to our web designer Nick Day.

Brand New Computer Suites!

26 April 2006

We have just installed 12 brand new computers in the main school and 5 in the Language Training Centre for our students to use in lessons and in their free time. We also have WiFi for students who want to bring their laptops with them.

English in Barbados

12 January 2006

For English in Barbados, our holiday courses in the Caribbean have started well with students from Italy, Switzerland and the Czech Republic. Why not escape the winter weather and join them?!

International Foundation Programme

12 January 2006

Our International Foundation Programme started on 09 January with students from Giorgia, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and Iran. This 24- week course is linked with the Business School at the University of Chester.

30th Anniversary

12 January 2006

English in Chester celebrates it's 30th birthday in July this year! We will be organising a special event to mark the occasion with our students at the time. If you have studied at English in Chester and have any stories or photos of your time here with us please send them to us and we can feature them on our website.

TOEIC

7 December 2005

English in Chester is now an established TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication) centre offering regular TOEIC Preparation Courses and the exam every month. Companies use the test to evaluate non-native speaking employees' level of English in the workplace. For more information, please get in touch with Sam at study@english-in-chester.co.uk

English in Barbados Website

26 September 2005

Our holiday courses in Barbados have been running for over a year and to celebrate our success we have relaunched our English in Barbados website.

EnglishUK Fair 2005, Brighton

15 August 2005

Richard (representing English in Chester) and Hannah (representing English in Barbados) will be attending the EnglishUK Fair at the end of August. If you are an agent attending the fair and want to make an appointment just send us an email and we'll send you a request.

Summer Courses

29 July 2005

We are enjoying a very busy summer here. The School has been full for several weeks. This year numbers on the Vacation Courses for Teenagers and on Teacher Training Courses have been particularly good. From 8 August we will have vacancies on all courses.

Summer Courses

6 June 2005

There are no places available on the following courses:
Vacation Courses for Teenagers and General English for Adults in the weeks commencing 4, 11 and 18 July.

Places are currently available on other courses and at other times during the summer.

Summer teachers

16 May 2005

We still have some vacancies for qualified, native, EFL teachers to teach teenagers and/or adults during the month of July. For more information and an application form, please contact Harriet Parker, the Academic Principal.

Open Weekend

14 April 2005

Another successful open weekend for agents has just concluded. This year we hosted agents from Germany and Italy. The weekend started with dinner at The Fat Cat and on Saturday we spent a day in Chester introducing the School and the City and we spent the evening in one of Cheshire's pubs. On Sunday the agents, including a visiting agent from Japan, together with some of our students went on a tour of North Wales with Busybus.

English in Barbados

13 April 2005

Our first course is running at the Southern Palms Beach Club on 18 April for 2 weeks with students from Switzerland and Bulgaria. If you are interested in having a 'study' holiday on the beautiful island of Barbados at any time of year, please contact Richard or Hannah.

Open Weekend for Agents

4 March 2005

We still have some places left for our Open Weekend for Agents from Friday 8 - Monday 11 April. It is an ideal opportunity for you to see Chester, the School and to meet some of our staff. If you would like some more information or to book your place please get in touch with Richard or Hannah.

New Website Launched

24 November 2004

Our website has been updated with a fresher image and 2005 dates and fees. We would like to know about your experience of browsing our new site - if you encounter any problems or have any comments please click here to send us your feedback.

International Foundation Programme & Academic Year Abroad Programme

15 November 2004

English in Chester and University College Chester have had a number of meetings recently to develop a strategy for the promotion of the International Foundation Programme (IFP) and the Academic Year Abroad Programme (AYAP) for university students. 10 January 2005 sees the next intake for the 24-week IFP and the AYAP begins on 18 April 2005.

English in Barbados

14 November 2004

Richard and Hannah are in Barbados running the first English in Barbados course. The academic team have spent the last two months developing teaching materials for this unique programme. The first students are from Switzerland and Germany. In the middle of November some leading European educational agents will visit Barbados to get a first-hand impression of the programme and facilities.