Winter at BBELS

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A view of the school and the bikes students ride from their houses each morning.

Winter is a great time to come to Byron Bay if you are interested in studying English. The town is a little quieter than usual so it is easier to meet local people and make friends. If you are looking for a job there is less competition among employees for work in the local restaurants, cafes and bars. If you are interested in surfing, some of the best waves can be found in winter. The water is still warm enough to wear a light spring wetsuit, and you might be lucky enough to share the water with the whales that swim through the ocean during winter.

Here at Byron Bay English Language School our class sizes become smaller – many of our students enjoy this as it means more face-to-face time with their teachers. If you are European or South American this is a particularly good time to study because the number of students from your country will be less than usual, this will motivate you to make friends with students of other nationalities.

Many people think that Byron Bay is a summer destination, however the weather is still warm with a blue sunny sky, the beaches are quiet and relaxing … it’s a great place to study 🙂

If you would like to know about our courses please contact us at info@bbels.com.au or visit our website.

 

Meet the Students: Lucas and Joao from Brazil

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Two friends from Brazil: Lucas and Joao

This week we are very happy to introduce you to two students who are loved by all the BBELS staff and students. Lucas and Joao are friends who studied in the merchant navy in Brazil. They then decided to come to Australia to study English so that they can improve their job prospects internationally. They have been studying with us for 16 weeks and are now finishing an IELTS preparation course. We love their positive attitude, good humour, dependability and sense of respect towards people.

Please read below for an interview with Lucas and Joao:

Why did you decide to study in Byron Bay?

We knew that the weather is similar to Brazil, that we could enjoy the day surfing in beautiful natural surroundings. We also knew that Byron Bay is a destination for Europeans rather than Brazilians so it provides a good opportunity to study English. Living here rather than in a big city we can appreciate the smaller things in life, for example sitting on the beach and watching a beautiful sunset. We don’t need all the things we had back in Brazil.

What do you like most about BBELS?

The methodology and patience of the teachers, the mix of cultures, even the building itself. We can go on trips with our classes where we can see more of the Australian culture and landscape and learn English in an authentic environment.

How do you expect the English you have been learning at BBELS to help you when you return to Brazil?

The best companies in the merchant navy are multicultural. You need to be able to communicate with other crew members in English as well as read manuals in English. We hope to prove that our English is good enough to be hired by one of these companies.

What do you like most about the Australian culture?

Australians are generally honest, they follow the rules, it creates a safe environment to live. They are also kind and friendly. People say “hi” to you in shops or in the streets, we are looked after well by the local people.

Both of you have found jobs here in Byron Bay. Can you tell us a little about them?

The work that we do is very different to back home but we enjoy it. Lukas works as a part-time support worker for an elderly woman at her house. Joao works at a local restaurant doing dish-washing. Both jobs help support us financially plus improve our English. We should also mention that we have a second job as cleaners at BBELS.

We genuinely love having Lucas and Joao at the school and we will miss them when they graduate.

If you would like to know more about our courses please contact us at info@bbels.com.au or visit our website.

 

Meet the students: Laisa from Brazil

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Laisa enjoying her 20th birthday with school friends

Six months ago Laisa arrived at BBELS. She is a confident person who loves to talk and laugh. This confidence helped her move from an Elementary class to an Upper-intermediate class in just 6 months. We are very proud of her achievement and so we thought this interview would help inspire others who are thinking of coming to Byron Bay to study English.

1) Could you tell us a little bit about Byron Bay and your experience studying at BBELS?

I studied at BBELS for 6 months, during the entire period of the course I felt very well looked after and welcomed by both the teachers, the administration and all the school staff. BBELS provided me with the chance to be in contact with diverse cultures. The school always encouraged the integration of everyone through activities outside the classroom, such as going out for a coffee or a walk along the beach and weekly activities of sports, surfing and yoga classes. These things impelled us to always get to know more and take advantage of everything that Byron Bay has to offer, that is, being a beautiful, small and cozy town, with interesting weekly markets. It also has a strong sense of environmental responsibility.

Practising some moves …

2) How has your English language level progressed?

When I came to Byron Bay I was in the Elementary level but after 6 months I finished  in Upper-intermediate. I achieved great progress in English through great encouragement, lots of practice, having day-long speaking classes. and a lot of attention and patience from all the teachers.

Graduation day. From Elementary to Upper-intermediate. Well done!

3) What would you say to people who are thinking of doing travelling to Byron Bay and studying at BBELS?

I would say that BBELS is a school that can provide you with incredible experiences beyond the quality of teaching. Byron Bay is a special place with lush nature, a good opportunity to learn English. You can enjoy the magic of Byron Bay. Despite it being a small town there are many tourists so this provides great employment opportunities in the hospitality area.

Thank you Laisa for being such a positive force around the school 🙂

If you would like to know more about our courses please contact us at info@bbels.com.au or visit our website.

Excursion to Broken Head

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Summer may have finished but there is still a lot of sunshine to be enjoyed here in the Byron Bay region. This week our pre-intermediate class spent a beautiful morning at the Broken Head nature reserve where they learned new vocabulary to describe the plants and animals found at the beach.

Looking north to Byron Bay

The class walked through the littoral forest (beach side forest) and then walked into the sunshine where they had a great view to the neighbouring beaches. It’s always such a great experience to take the students outside the classroom and show them the different areas around the region. It is both refreshing and encourages a new type of learning.

If you would like to know more about our courses please contact us at info@bbels.com.au or visit our website.

 

CPE results. Congratulations to Femke.

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Femke with her teacher Kat

A big congratulations to Femke, our lovely student from the Netherlands, who completed the CPE Boost course of study at BBELS. She has just received the happy news of her success in passing the exam.

The Cambridge proficiency exam is a demanding exam and she was nervous about getting through it but Femke worked hard with her teacher to prepare. Well done Femke and good luck with your further studies.

We would also like to  congratulate Kat, our CPE teacher, for all the hard work and dedication that she directed towards Femke during the course. Kat always receives such positive feedback from her students for her caring approach to her classes.

If you would like to know more about our Cambridge Proficiency preparation classes or about any of our other courses please contact us at info@bbels.com.au or visit our website.

Returning students: Rahel and Patrick

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Rahel and Patrick returning to BBELS for a visit

February must be the month for BBELS reunions! This week we received another surprise visit from 2 of our lovely ex-students Rahel Millhausler and Patrick Appenzeller. Rahel studied CAE with us in 2012 and Patrick studied General English in 2014.

Interestingly Rahel & Patrick met at the “Rainy Zurich BBELS Reunion” of 2016 and spontaneously decided to travel back to Byron together. It’s great to see them again as they are so positive and good to have around.

This is Rahel’s 3rd visit to Byron and Patrick was so inspired by his time at the live music parties at BBELS that he decided to learn guitar!

We are very happy to see them again … ROCK ON!!!

Afternoon Elective Classes at BBELS

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 Prue in her Business English class

As part of our General English program we offer full-time students the chance to study “elective classes” in the afternoons. These classes are open to full-time students in the Intermediate – Advanced levels. The classes are very popular as the subjects combine English with practical knowledge and skills that can benefit students in their careers or university courses.

The elective classes that we regularly teach include: Vocabulary and Speaking, English Structure, Australian Studies, International News and Presentation Skills, Hospitality and Tourism, IELTS preparation, Cinema Studies.

This week we have added a new elective class: Business English. Using one of the Cambridge Business Vantage Exam preparation coursebooks this elective focuses on vocabulary and information relating to business and economies in the modern world. It teaches students how world economies operate and helps them acquire the knowledge they need to communicate effectively in a business situation.

If you would like to know more about our classes please contact us at info@bbels.com.au or click here.

2017: BBELS Highlights

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Students from Italy, South Korea, Japan, the Czech Republic, Thailand, Switzerland, Spain

2017 has passed so quickly. It seems like only yesterday that we were meeting our first intake of students for the year.

A year of many nationalities studying together

Over the past 12 months we have had over 800 students come to study with us from an amazingly diverse range of countries, including: Switzerland, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Austria, Russia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Japan, Thailand, Hong Kong, Laos, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Brazil.

Quality Assurance Inspections

Australia has very strict educational organisations that check if ESL schools are providing the best possible quality in terms of lessons, teachers, student services, accommodation. This year BBELS was inspected by 3 organisations (IALC, NEAS, ASQA)  and we passed each inspection with extremely positive feedback. The great comments from these inspections demonstrate our commitment to providing fantastic educational services to our students.

Study Tours

Some students from one of our Japanese Study Tour classes

Winter is the study tour season at BBELS. During this time high school groups come to study with us for 1-4 weeks. This year we had 4 Japanese groups and 1 South Korean group. These young students always enjoy their time here – they study English in the morning and then they join organised activities around Byron Bay in the afternoon. Their teachers were really happy with the level of the students’ English and their participation during outdoor activities.

Cambridge and IELTS Exam Results

 

As usual the BBELS exam teachers did a brilliant job in helping our Cambridge and IELTS Exam students achieve high results. Our exam teachers are extremely attentive to each individual student’s needs. They often work extra hours counselling students, identifying the student’s weak points, and helping students develop strategies to improve in different parts of the exams.

Many of our students still message their teachers to express their thanks and update us on how their exam results helped them. A recent message came from Jule (Germany) an IELTS student who studied in Sarah’s class. Jule wrote:

Hey dear BBELS family!

I studied IELTS at BBELS for 2 months and received my results today! I’m overwhelmed and am very proud to say that I got 8.5! Thank you so much for this perfect preparation at your language school.

Jule from Germany

Educational Excursions and the BBELS Travel Agency

Bush-walking through a  local forest

This year the BBELS teachers have provided many opportunities for our students to use English in practical settings outside the classroom. We have had excursions to local towns, national parks, art galleries and museums. Our activities team also organise regular sport events, art and music classes, cooking lessons during the weekday afternoons and during the weekend.

Our travel agency has also helped 100s of students book discounted flights and accommodation for their Australian holidays. Reuben, our travel manager, always gets extremely positive feedback from our students about the friendly and helpful services he provides.

Come and study with us!

BBELS is a great place to study English, prepare for exams, discover new cultures, make new friends. We provide top quality lessons with very experienced teachers who will improve your English and introduce you to new ideas about the world. All of this can be found here in Byron Bay, a beautiful beach town on the east coast of Australia.

If you are interested in knowing more about our school and courses please follow this BBELS link.  We hope to see you in 2018.

 

 

 

 

BBELS is committed to professional development

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At BBELS our teachers are committed to the practice of Continuing Professional Development (CPD). We have regular workshops to introduce our teachers to new classroom methodologies. CPD is great for our students as it means we are able to consistently provide high-quality lessons to our students.

Over the past few weeks our teachers have been participating in our Peer Observation of Teaching (PoT) program. Here one teacher observes another teacher’s lesson and then provides feedback afterwards. We have found that this benefits both teachers as it requires them to reflect on their own methodologies. PoT exposes our teachers to new ideas and teaching material. It also fosters a supportive environment in the BBELS workplace and facilitates the communication of teaching ideas within the staffroom.

PoT is only one of the many professional development strategies we have for our teaching staff at BBELS. Our committment to quality assurance and a collaborative culture is highly beneficial for our students. This can be seen in our consistently positive student feedback and testimonials (which we will show you in our next post). 🙂

Tell me about you: BBELS student interview

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Noelle and Cassandra

This week our “Upper-intermediate A” class has been studying reported speech. The students perfected their understanding of the grammar point while getting to know their classmates through an interview project.

In this interview Cassandra (Italy) interviewed Noelle (Switzerland). Here is her report:

Noelle is a very nice girl from Switzerland. I asked her whether she currently had a partner and with a big smile her answer was “yes”. She has been with her boyfriend for four and a half years. She added that he was living in Switzerland.

My second question was about her academic life. She replied that after 9 years in a “regular’ school, she had begun studying while working in a travel agency. She worked there for 3 years. She added that she finished her studies with an interesting course directed towards children with disabilities.

After that I wondered if she was practising any sport and how she spent her free time. She explained that she went jogging, that she could play the violin and that she spent her free time with her boyfriend and friends.

My following question was about what the most important thing in her life was. Noelle’s short and poignant answer was her family.

I concluded my interview by enquiring whether she had a dream. Her shining eyes replied for her. She said she had many dreams but the biggest one was to travel around the world.