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| The grand opening of our new Durban school! This exciting new school has now officially opened its doors to students. Situated in the heart of Durban's trendy Florida Road, where there is an array of restaurants, bars, clubs and shops, all within a safe and vibrant atmosphere. The school is on main transport routes to and from the central business district, beaches and major sporting facilities that are all located within a 5 minute drive from the DCC.    school building Durban Communication Centre have now also finalised their new School Residence which will open in Mid January 2006. This new Victorian style residence is in close proximity to the school and students can enjoy their breakfast in its extraordinary garden. For those who want alternative options, we would recommend the Florida Park Hotel as one. The hotel is also situated on the stylish Florida Road and therefore in walking distance to the school. All rooms are available in both double and twin single beds and are air-conditioned and have en-suite bathrooms. In January, Durban is buzzing with exciting activities, one of them being the A1 Grand Prix. This is the first in Africa and is a major highlight for this oriental city, bringing in a large amount of tourists. So why not start your year afresh by being a part of this incredible adventure and feel the heat of the African sky on you! This is something you surely will not regret! back to top |
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| Interview with Tracy Brylewski, Managing Director at FLC You have been Managing Director of the Florida Language Center for 6 months now – please introduce yourself and your team! My name is Tracy Brylewski and I have been with FLC for 6.5 years now, moving from Director of Studies to Managing Director. Reservations team: Yvonne Hanis, Reservations Manager, Amanda Garvey, Reservations Specialist. Host Family Coordinator: Margaret Kiernan. Studies Department: Diana Silberman, Director of Studies, Mary Sturm, Assistant Director of Studies, and a group of fantastic instructors. Receptionist: Toni Murphy-Joaudi What are the benefits of a language travel programme in Florida and Fort Lauderdale? Florida is a beautiful place to visit all year around. Fort Lauderdale has warm weather always, so it is perfect to visit at any time. The location allows visits to interesting places such as Everglades National Park, Miami and Key West, Disney World , Kennedy Space Center, etc. It is the perfect place to have fun while learning and practicing one's English. What does a typical day at FLC look like for students? Students typically take classes in the AM until around noon. After that, some groups head straight for the beach or shopping and usually meet up in the PM for some type of activity in the local area. Our Activity Director plans fun things for students nearly every day of the week. The weekends often include excursions to Key West or Orlando (Disney World), while others visit The Bahamas (only 45 min. flight).  Bowling  Everglades National Park What are the main changes at FLC for the 2006 season? We are really working to improve our activities and excursion possibilities. We hired an Activities Director in October and students have enjoyed daily activities. Our goal is to continue to improve this throughout 2006. What leisure activities are available to students at FLC? Some leisure activities have already been mentioned above. Some other examples include movie and pizza night, limo night (a limousine is rented and students are taken to Miami!), bingo night held at the school property, bowling night, watching a play at the local performing arts center, Everglades National Park, shopping in Miami at the famous South Beach and Lincoln Road, Miami by Night tour. What accommodations can students at FLC choose from? Students may choose to stay with local host families, the high quality school residence at the Fairfield Inn Marriott which is held on the same property as the school, or the Shore Haven Resort which is beach front and about 2 km from the school. Does FLC accept Academic Year/Semester students outside of the dates published in the brochure? Yes. We really encourage long term students and will accept them any Monday of the year. What do you like best about your job and your daily interaction with the students? Every day is new and different. I enjoy working with people from various cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Our student population is so diverse and each person has something to bring to the environment of the school. The students are really motivated to learn English and often stop by just to chat and tell me how their day is going. No other job in the world would offer me this opportunity to meet so many wonderful people from different cultures. What advice to you have for students coming to FLC? Bring notebooks for the AM and sunscreen for the PM! :-)  Studying outside  Beach In 2005 the school relocated to its new home within the Fairfield Inn, by Marriott hotel complex. What are the advantages of this set up for our students? One major advantage is that the school residence is located on the same property as the school. Students can relax after breakfast and not have to commute anywhere to school. It is right there for them! For students not staying at the school residence, it is still convenient. Its central location allows easy access from all host families and our other hotel on the beach. Students have access to attractions of downtown, FL’s equivalent of South Beach, swanky Las Olas Boulevard and enjoy the benefits of staying near the stylish beach resort of Lauderdale-by-the-sea. FLC runs both teenager and adult programmes in the summer on the same site. How do you organise this in order that the adults are not inconvenienced? We keep the teenagers and adults separated. Of course, teenagers and adults are not in the same classroom nor do they stay in the same part of the student residence. We divide the school into areas for adults and areas for teenagers. In addition, the teenagers attend a different schedule than the adults, so they do not have the same break times and get out of class at different times. What are your hopes for FLC in 2006? My hope is that we continue to offer quality English language programs to people from diverse cultural, educational, and linguistic backgrounds. We are constantly updating our curricula and improving our activities program to meet the educational and leisure needs of our students. You can contact Tracy Brylewski directly at tracy.brylewski@lalgroup.com. back to top |
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| Change of TOEFL and TOEIC test dates in Florida The TOEFL testing format has changed and we have just received word from ETS (Educational Testing Service) that now all TOEFL tests will take place on Friday or Saturday. For those course dates that the test is scheduled on a Saturday, clients will need to fly out on Sunday instead of the Saturday. Please click here to see which courses this applies to. ETS has not announced test dates for June to December yet. But we will keep you informed. To clarify, the course dates printed will remain the same and do not have to be changed, only test dates. The TOEIC test dates have also been changed. As a result we need to change four of our 11 course dates scheduled for 2006. Please click here to find out which courses have been re-scheduled. back to top |
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| Link up with University of Malta means conditional acceptances for academic students We are delighted to announce a collaborative venture with the prestigious University of Malta. IELS has joined forces with Malta’s leading higher education organisation in an initiative which means that students successfully attaining the relevant IELTS scores at the school will have the chance to enter the University – subject to appropriate home country qualifications. General Manager, John Dimech comments: 'This is an exciting development for our school as it guarantees a coherent higher education pathway for bona fide students seeking to achieve a high IELTS test score in order to progress to a prestigious higher degree programme at the University of Malta'. For entry to the academic year starting in September 2006 IELS has a wide choice of alternatives, including the Academic Year and Semester Programme with January and April starts as well as IELTS programmes starting throughout the year. For more on the University of Malta and its range of courses please consult http://www.um.edu.mt. For additional information on this initiative please contact John Dimech directly – john.dimech@lalgroup.com or our Asia based Marketing Manager, Barbara Walder on barbara.walder@lalgroup.com. back to top |
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| Malta hotels & residences – wider choice, greater availability, more flexibility (see new 2006 pricelist) In Malta – as in many language travel destinations – we are experiencing a shift in the demand for a wider variety of accommodation alternatives. While host families remain a popular choice for students the demand grows year on year for ‘residential’ alternatives - be they for groups or individuals, adults or teenagers. By working closely with our partners in Malta we have come up with a wide choice of residential/hotel options designed to meet the requirements of language students. In practice this means that by working with our school in Malta you have the renewed commitment and assurance for 2006 of the following improved levels of service. • Availability of the services you require, even for last minute bookings!For example in the event that your first choice of residential accommodation is not available we will endeavour to place your student in accommodation of a similar standard (or better!) at no extra cost! • More shared room accommodation will be available at many of the hotels and residences offered both for adults and teenagers. This option is NOT limited to students travelling together. • We will aim to place students with speakers of different languages in order to maximise opportunities to practise English! • Complimentary accommodation for foreign group leaders • Improved supervision as we will assign additional group leaders to the hotels where our teenager students will be housed in order to ensure maximum care and attention. • We are committed to a ‘same day’ response time to enquiries in order that your clients are not inconvenienced waiting for answers in the peak season. • Detailed descriptions of the hotels and residences are available within the ‘accommodation’ section of the website. There you will find full descriptions of the facilities and services available. • NEW and revised competitive prices providing even better value for money. • Long-term discounts on tuition only are already calculated in the basic prices in the attached lists: 8 - 15 weeks: 5%, 16 - 23 weeks: 10% and 24 weeks and over: 15 • English [Out There!] - this exciting new programme was introduced at the LAL schools in 2005 and research carried out at our school in Malta revealed that 94% of students would recommend English [Out There!] to a friend - a statistic that exactly reflects the results of student satisfaction rates in London where [Out There!] was launched by founder and director, Jason West. To find out more about the wide range of hotels and residences available please consult the NEW special pricelist dated November 2006* and available as a download in the agents section of the website – IELS hotels & residences. For more information please contact Isabella Conti on isabella.conti@lalgroup.com or Mary Rose Fenech on maryrose.fenech@lalgroup.com *This pricelist replaces the previous version that was posted on the website. This has now been removed and substituted by the new, improved ‘all-inclusive’ pricelist for 2006. Please amend your records and apologies for any inconvenience caused. For further clarification please consult the paragraph below ‘IMPORTANT CLARIFICATION & REVISIONS’ or contact our reservations team headed by Marx Rose Fenech on maryrose.fenech@lalgroup.com back to top |
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| Malta pricelists 2006 – IMPORTANT CLARIFICATION & REVISIONS For the 2006 season LAL introduced a pricelist in which the fees for both tuition and accommodation were separated – ‘LAL Prices 2006’. In addition for Malta, where a large selection of hotels and residences is available a supplementary pricelist ‘IELS residences and hotels and residences pricelist’ was produced. In this pricelist the rates are packaged together and include both accommodation and tuition. IMPORTANT – a newly revised and comprehensive ‘IELS Residence and Hotels pricelist’ is now available consisting of The adult programme in Sliema with all-inclusive rates for host families and the Mercury residence More attractive rates for the Cambridge exam courses The adult programme in Gozo – a new centre and accommodation More competitive rates at a variety of well-known hotels in the vicinity The teenager programme in Gzira and Sliema offering a selection of homestay, residences and hotels NB – This pricelist is now available in the downloads section of the website within the agents area. LAL Prices 2006 Please note the following clarifications and revisions Lower rates for ‘private tuition’ (compared to what was published in the LAL Prices 2006) 10MTL/24EUR a lesson The cost of a return transfer is included in each of the weeks quoted. In order to arrive at the correct figure please deduct 10MTL/24EUR per week for each of the weeks booked after the first week. Please note that this is the basis upon which invoices will be calculated when they are issued by our reservations staff. Should you require further clarification about the above please do not hesitate to contact our reservations team headed by Mary Rose Fenech on maryrose.fenech@lalgroup.com. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused. back to top |
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New Sales & Marketing Manager at FLC – Ms. Ilona Alves  Florida Language Center warmly welcomes Ilona Alves as Sales and Marketing Manager effective January 2, 2006. Ms. Alves was born and raised in Mexico City, Mexico from Swedish and German parents. Thus, she is fluent in English, Spanish and German and has a working knowledge of French and Swedish. She holds an MBA in International Business from Devry University in Florida. Ms. Alves has been in the travel industry for 13 years working in various areas from travel agencies to cruise lines to hotels. Her travel experiences encompass 97 countries! Please give her a warm welcome. Her e-mail address is: ilona.alves@lalgroup.com back to top |
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| Major redevelopments of school building and residence in Torbay Refurbishment at our Paignton school is rapidly transforming the building. New entrances have been punched into the building, and the new Adult Lounge and Common Room are taking shape, The façade of the school is being refreshed, and a new garden will soon appear too. We are on schedule to reopen on March 6th 2006.  work in progress: TLC exterior  work in progress: TLC interior In the meantime all students will follow their courses at our long established Torquay site. All transportation between Paignton and Torquay will be arranged and provided courtesy of the school. For those that don’t know, Castle Chambers (the name of our Torquay School) is a grand, imposing listed building, ideally located in central Torquay, enjoying views across the parks and ideally located within 2 minutes of the main shopping centre including a wide selection of restaurants, coffee shops and bars.  artist's impression of the new TLC front in Paignton Students studying at Castle Chambers will continue to enjoy a normal service with a fully staffed reception, bookshop, tuckshop, learning resources, internet facilities, large classrooms, and a leisure programme. Clients who have already booked to attend TLC from mid-September to mid-March, will be assured an identical level of service, with the added bonus of experiencing the two neighbouring towns of Paignton and Torquay. Our intention is to make TLC a modern school of the highest quality, operating at the cutting edge of English language course provision, whilst maintaining and building on our reputation for student care and responsive customer service. In time for the summer of 2006 the completed renovation will enable us to consolidate all activities onto the one Paignton site. Through the use of designated areas and timetabling both adult and teenager programmes will be run separately leading to an improved quality of service for our students and partners. Matilda House residence has now been upgraded with an improved kitchen and a new dining/lounge area. The capacity has also increased from 17 to 24 students. The first floor has now five twin rooms and the second floor six rooms all with double beds. The residence will continues to house four showers and five WCs.  Matilda House  New dining room at Matilda House For more information please do not hesitate to contact our reservations and marketing team headed by Kerstin Doerfler and Jules Bowles respectively (kerstin.doerfler@lalgroup.com and jules.bowles@lalgroup.com). back to top |
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| Searching for a new Business Development Manager to join the LAL marketing team An exciting new position has become available within the LAL Group international marketing team. We are keen to recruit a Business Development Manager whose responsibilities will be to develop the groups network of representation in both new markets and with new partners in existing markets. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience of sales and marketing in the language travel sector and will have direct knowledge of at least two of the following markets – Eastern Europe/Russian Federation, Latin America and the Middle East. We are looking for a driven individual who is a team player capable of effectively promoting the diversity offered by the LAL Group of schools. Highly motivated, results driven and effective communication and presentation skills are essential. The position will be based either in our head office in Munich or elsewhere in Europe and will combine an attractive base salary plus annual bonus opportunity. Interested candidates should write to Chris Nolan, LAL Group, Marketing & Sales Director on chris.nolan@lalgroup.com back to top |
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SPECIAL OFFERS for Cambridge exam courses March 2006 TLC Special Offers SPECIAL OFFERS IN FLORIDA SPECIAL OFFERS IN SOUTH AFRICA |
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| LAL’s website updates for 2006 have been completed! Please take the time to browse through our newly updated website and find all the relevant information for the 2006 programmes at all of our five schools. Enjoy! back to top |
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