| HILDERSTONE COLLEGE WINTER NEWSLETTER 2019 | Welcome to our first newsletter of 2019! We hope you find time to read about our news and plans for the coming months, and we are looking forward to sharing an exciting and successful year with you. | NEW WEBSITE NOW LIVE! We are delighted to announce that our brand-new website went live from 7th March, and if you haven’t already taken a look, we proudly invite you to do so. We welcome your feedback! As before, it is clear and easy to follow, but now has a fresher, brighter, more modern look which we are sure both you and your students will appreciate. | EXCITING 2019 PROMOTIONS We are pleased to inform you of THREE promotions for 2019, as follows: · Free arrival transfer. This popular offer continues throughout 2019 (excluding the peak summer period), and applies to enrolments of 8 weeks or more. · Free B2 First (FCE) and C1 Advanced (CAE) examination. This applies to enrolments of a minimum of 8 weeks in May/June, leading to the June 2019 exam (taken locally). · Free midweek lunch vouchers. This offer applies to short-stay courses of 2-4 weeks in May or June 2019. Terms and conditions apply on all promotions ? see website for details. | BREXIT For your information, this is the statement issued by English UK regarding the current situation (click here for link) We will of course update all our partners as the situation develops. | WINTER FESTIVITIES We marked the end of 2018 with our annual Christmas party for students and staff. There were the usual highlights: firstly, the amazing buffet provided by our own Snack Bar manager/chef, Kumi; secondly, the mini-pantomime performed by the staff for the students (this year, ‘Sleeping Beauty’); and to finish, a fantastic disco with music to suit all ages! A great time was had by all. | 
| WINTER GROUPS Hilderstone College always has a warm welcome for groups, and we have already confirmed many 2019 groups from the Netherlands, Italy, Japan, Russia, Germany and Switzerland. Many of these are young people attending our increasingly popular TEENAGE SCHOOL GROUP COURSES, attracted by the high-quality teaching and varied social programme. Our teenage courses go from strength to strength, and we have been delighted with the positive feedback we receive from students and leaders. Many of the groups are TEACHERS, specifically here to improve not only their language ability but also their teaching skills, either through CLIL or on our Creative Teaching and Culture option for teachers of English. Recently we welcomed a group from Brazil, pictured here with Lynne Hoenes, our Head of Marketing. Find more information about our Teacher Development courses here | 
| ACTIVITIES FOR COLDER DAYS There’s always plenty to do in Broadstairs and the local area, even in the winter, but there are of course days when you just want to stay in the warm! For this reason, we have started a weekly board games session after class, where students and staff can play games such as Monopoly, chess, Scrabble and even Jenga (not strictly a board game, but a lot of fun!), as well as table tennis and table football. | 
| We also have air hockey, table football and Wii available in our Hilderstone annexe. Other indoor social activities planned for the next couple of months include escape rooms, lazer games, karaoke, dance classes and our regular Student Club Evenings. As always, our weekly cultural and history talks continue right through the year. All these activities have proved very popular, and it is likely they will continue even when the warmer weather arrives! Click here to find more information about what students can do in the local area. | ALUMNI NEWS Congratulations to our recent Cambridge course participants, who all passed their First and Advanced in December with flying colours! It always gives us pleasure to learn of our alumni’s successes at university. 2018 has seen successes in, amongst other universities, UEA, Durham, Nottingham, Brighton, Bournemouth and Coventry. Currently, we know of students at Durham, Birmingham, Glasgow, Bournemouth, Las Vegas and Leeds who will finish their courses this year. We also have our second student in Edinburgh, studying on the prestigious Chevening Scholarship Programme. In addition to academic success, one of our Korean alumni has successfully completed his UEFA licensed football coaching course. Let’s hope that one day he will be coaching a Premier League team! We were delighted to welcome back one of our former long-term students, Janejira from Thailand, who visited us recently to talk to our Pre-University course students about her experience of a British University. Janejira (or ‘Jane’) studied with us for seven months in 2016/2017, and has succeeded on her Masters Course in Fashion Marketing and Branding at Southampton University. Jane talked about her experience with enthusiasm and honesty, and gave our students invaluable advice. Check out our Facebook page for a summary of her talk. | 
| EDUCATIONAL AND MARKETING TRIPS Our Academic and Marketing staff have been extremely busy these past few months, travelling to spread the word about Hilderstone College and to keep up-to-date with developments in the industry. In November, our Head of Marketing, Lynne Hoenes, attended the ICEF Berlin workshop, and St Alphe workshop in Korea in December. She is currently planning her visit to the IALC Workshop in Seville in March. Our Principal, Lee Shutler, attended the ETAS Training Day in Liestal in September and gave two workshops in Weissenburg in Germany. He also spoke at the IATEFL Flying Colours conference in Budapest in October, followed by the IALC UED Turkey Roadshow in Istanbul in November. He has recently returned from the annual ETAS event in Zofingen, Switzerland, and the TESOL Spain convention in Oviedo. In addition, we have now established a team of Outreach Teachers who will represent the College on visits to schools and partners abroad. One of our teachers, Sue, spent a week teaching in Russia (see our blog on the website for some great pictures, including the one below), while another teacher, Rachel, spent a weekend in Istanbul at a workshop. Rachel also gave presentations at TESOL France and at the University of Strasburg. Both were very well received. In December, Sam, our Marketing Administrator, also participated in workshops in Brno and Prague. | 
| So, if you or your clients would like Hilderstone to come to you ? to give presentations, do sample lessons in a school or institution or help at recruitment events, please let us know. We can arrange to send a teacher to you! As you can see, it has been a busy winter period here at Hilderstone College. All the signs are for a successful 2019, and we recommend early booking whenever possible. We are always available to answer any enquiries you may have, and very much look forward to working with you in the year ahead! Spring is a fantastic time to visit Thanet, the sun is often out and there is so much to see and do! As well as the usual selection of interesting places to eat and drink, beautiful coastal walks and boutique shopping, we welcome Easter and May bank holiday festivals. For music lovers April is a special time as, among many others, Coco and The Butterfields perform and Charles Craig brings his funk and soul show to the Hall by the Sea. If art is more to your liking, Ramsgate Art Exhibition runs from the 17-24 April, as well as there being a constant stream of exhibitions shown at the Turner Gallery throughout the season. From May 24th ? 26th Margate Mod and Sixties Festival is a celebration of all things 1960s, with live bands and DJs, local food, vintage clothing and vehicles on display. In June of course, The Dickens Festival comes to Broadstairs. This is one not to miss, as we celebrate the life and times of our own literary sensation Charles Dickens from 21st-23rd June. Expect Victorian themed events, games and costumes and a weekend of fun. | COLLEGE CLOSURE DATES FOR 2019 The College will be closed on the following public holidays this year: · Monday 22nd April · Monday 6th May · Monday 27th May · Monday 26th August The only other time we will be closed to students is over the Christmas/New Year period (Monday 23rd December 2019 to Friday 3rd January 2020). However, please note that the office will be open for your enquiries during most of this period. |
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Hilderstone College
Hilderstone College
Hilderstone College
