ENGLISH LANGUAGE HOUSE
NEWS AND VIEWS
Keeping you updated on our news and what is happening in the UK and in Milton Keynes.
UPDATES
24/02/2021
English UK's Statement
On 22 February 2021, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced how the current lockdown in England will be eased, starting with the return to face-to-face education from 8 March. The Devolved Administrations are setting out how lockdown will be eased in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland along broadly similar directions of travel with varying timetables.
We are calling on the UK Government to work with the UK ELT and wider tourism industries to develop a plan to reopen travel that both protects public health while allowing sectors reliant on inbound international travel to recover.
If there is little recovery ahead of the crucial summer season, these sectors will face a perpetual winter, and many businesses will not make it through.
The Government should recognise the devastating loss of revenue experienced by UK ELT since the outbreak of the pandemic by providing tailored and ongoing financial support to help businesses survive this crisis.
The steps out of lockdown will be driven by the UK Government and Devolved Administrations’ assessments of the trajectory of the pandemic and the rollout of the vaccine programme. English UK continues to monitor the situation across the UK and will support member centres in their response.
Easing lockdown restrictions
We will review and update our English UK Covid-19 secure guidance (member login required) to help you operate a safe ELT centre following changes to government guidance (just published). We understand that you will have urgent questions, particularly around asymptomatic testing and mask wearing.
The Devolved Administrations are setting out how lockdown will be eased in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland along broadly similar directions of travel with varying timetables. We are monitoring the situation carefully and will liaise with member centres in these areas, as necessary.
The details of the plans to ease lockdown restrictions across the UK have been widely published in the media and the full roadmap document for England runs to 60+ pages. We would like to highlight the following sections at this time:
The Taskforce will report to the Prime Minister and work with UK representatives of the travel sector, including airlines and airports. It will report on 12 April, with recommendations aimed at facilitating a return to international travel as soon as is possible, while still managing risk from imported cases and Variants of Concern. Following that, the Government will determine when international travel should resume, which will be no earlier than 17 May. See page 41 of the full roadmap document for more details.
Supporting English UK member schools:
EnglishUK are here to support you.
We continue to communicate with agents in priority markets about the situation in the UK, with StudyWorld summer (Tuesday 16 – Thursday 18 March) as an important platform. As there is more certainty around international travel, we will respond flexibly and provide opportunities for you to connect with your partners.
Our annual conference will take place on 21 May 2021. If the roadmap steps are not delayed, we plan to hold this event face-to-face and online, allowing as many members of our community to take part as possible.
We are calling on the Government to develop a plan to reopen international travel and to provide ongoing financial support to UK ELT to help you survive the crisis.
Keep in touch by following us on social media, checking our Covid-19 hub and joining us for our weekly Q&As at 11:00 each Friday (or watch the recordings later).
On 22 February 2021, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced how the current lockdown in England will be eased, starting with the return to face-to-face education from 8 March. The Devolved Administrations are setting out how lockdown will be eased in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland along broadly similar directions of travel with varying timetables.
- English UK member centres will assess their individual circumstances and review their risk assessments when deciding when and how to return to face-to-face learning. This will not be the same date for all centres.
- English UK member centres will operate safe learning and working environments for students and staff in accordance with Covid-19 secure guidance, which English UK will update in line with published government guidance.
- Member centres are continuing to offer remote or hybrid learning to support students who are self-isolating or who are unable to study in a classroom setting. They are facilitating working from home for non-student facing staff, following government guidance.
We are calling on the UK Government to work with the UK ELT and wider tourism industries to develop a plan to reopen travel that both protects public health while allowing sectors reliant on inbound international travel to recover.
If there is little recovery ahead of the crucial summer season, these sectors will face a perpetual winter, and many businesses will not make it through.
The Government should recognise the devastating loss of revenue experienced by UK ELT since the outbreak of the pandemic by providing tailored and ongoing financial support to help businesses survive this crisis.
The steps out of lockdown will be driven by the UK Government and Devolved Administrations’ assessments of the trajectory of the pandemic and the rollout of the vaccine programme. English UK continues to monitor the situation across the UK and will support member centres in their response.
Easing lockdown restrictions
We will review and update our English UK Covid-19 secure guidance (member login required) to help you operate a safe ELT centre following changes to government guidance (just published). We understand that you will have urgent questions, particularly around asymptomatic testing and mask wearing.
The Devolved Administrations are setting out how lockdown will be eased in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland along broadly similar directions of travel with varying timetables. We are monitoring the situation carefully and will liaise with member centres in these areas, as necessary.
The details of the plans to ease lockdown restrictions across the UK have been widely published in the media and the full roadmap document for England runs to 60+ pages. We would like to highlight the following sections at this time:
- International travel
The Taskforce will report to the Prime Minister and work with UK representatives of the travel sector, including airlines and airports. It will report on 12 April, with recommendations aimed at facilitating a return to international travel as soon as is possible, while still managing risk from imported cases and Variants of Concern. Following that, the Government will determine when international travel should resume, which will be no earlier than 17 May. See page 41 of the full roadmap document for more details.
- Social distancing measures
- Asymptomatic testing
Supporting English UK member schools:
EnglishUK are here to support you.
We continue to communicate with agents in priority markets about the situation in the UK, with StudyWorld summer (Tuesday 16 – Thursday 18 March) as an important platform. As there is more certainty around international travel, we will respond flexibly and provide opportunities for you to connect with your partners.
Our annual conference will take place on 21 May 2021. If the roadmap steps are not delayed, we plan to hold this event face-to-face and online, allowing as many members of our community to take part as possible.
We are calling on the Government to develop a plan to reopen international travel and to provide ongoing financial support to UK ELT to help you survive the crisis.
Keep in touch by following us on social media, checking our Covid-19 hub and joining us for our weekly Q&As at 11:00 each Friday (or watch the recordings later).
30/08/2020
STUDENTS
English Language House hopes to re-open the school for face2face lessons in our physical classrooms in Milton Keynes from September 2020. Students who prefer not to attend physical classrooms come continue to attend our live online lessons.
CANDIDATES FOR EXAMS
30/08/2020
We plan to start offering the paper based Cambridge English exams from September 2020. Please telephone or email us if you wish to sit an exam in Milton Keynes after September 2020.
VISITORS TO ELH
30/08/2020
To keep staff and students safe we now arrange to see and speak to visitors via Zoom. Please telephone or email us and we can arrange a Zoom meeting to speak to you.
HOW TO STAY SAFE
20/03/2020
Coronavirus speads through droplets so people who carry the virus can pass it on very easily to other people. It is a new virus and people do not have immunity to this. The best way to stop the virus from spreading is to take precautions so that you are safe. If you catch the virus it is very important that you are looked after well and you do not pass it on to your family and friends. Please make sure you follow recommendations by Public Health England.
DOs and DON'Ts
We want all our students and staff to be safe. You can see all coronavirus information from EnglishUK here.
The advice from Public Health England is that people who arrive into the UK from certain counties should self-isolate; this means they should stay at home for 14 days and not come into contact with other people until they have been tested negative for the virus.
You can see the list of countries and who should self-isolate here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-specified-countries-and-areas/covid-19-specified-countries-and-areas-with-implications-for-returning-travellers-or-visitors-arriving-in-the-uk
The advice from Public Health England is that people who arrive into the UK from certain counties should self-isolate; this means they should stay at home for 14 days and not come into contact with other people until they have been tested negative for the virus.
You can see the list of countries and who should self-isolate here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-specified-countries-and-areas/covid-19-specified-countries-and-areas-with-implications-for-returning-travellers-or-visitors-arriving-in-the-uk
- Everyone who travels into the UK from a category 1 areas should self-isolate and call NHS 111 to inform them of their recent travel.
- Everyone who travels into the UK from a category 2 areas must self-isolate and call NHS 111 if they feel unwell.
COVID LOCKDOWN IN MARCH 2020
Updated 20/06/2020
On Friday 20th March 2020 the UK Government closed all schools and English Language House stopped its Face2Face lessons in our physical classrooms in Central Milton Keynes.
We moved all our lessons onto an online platform and encouraged our students to continue their learning virtually. We have previous experience of offering online courses so it did not take very long for the school to make this change and invite students to join our live online lessons. Many of our students decided to join and continued to learn. Some stayed in Milton Keynes and others travelled back to their countries. It was lovely to see them all and speak to them during the live online lessons and the students enjoyed meeting their teachers, the friends they made at ELH and continuing to learn throughout the lock down period.
We will now continue to offer our live online lessons to any students who would prefer these but we will also start offering face2face lessons in our physical classrooms in Milton Keynes from September 2020.
We moved all our lessons onto an online platform and encouraged our students to continue their learning virtually. We have previous experience of offering online courses so it did not take very long for the school to make this change and invite students to join our live online lessons. Many of our students decided to join and continued to learn. Some stayed in Milton Keynes and others travelled back to their countries. It was lovely to see them all and speak to them during the live online lessons and the students enjoyed meeting their teachers, the friends they made at ELH and continuing to learn throughout the lock down period.
We will now continue to offer our live online lessons to any students who would prefer these but we will also start offering face2face lessons in our physical classrooms in Milton Keynes from September 2020.
The Latest UK government advice is as follows:
The World Health Organisation has declared the Covid-19 outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, and as a result UK Chief Medical Officers state the risk to the UK public is moderate.
For the latest information on number of cases, risk level, and advice for arriving travellers, see the government advice webpage, which is updated daily at 14:00 GMT.
British people travelling overseas should check the Foreign & Commonwealth Office latest travel advice.
Visitors arriving the UK should check the guidance from Public Health England detailing which countries and areas have implications for visitors arriving in the UK.
The World Health Organisation has declared the Covid-19 outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, and as a result UK Chief Medical Officers state the risk to the UK public is moderate.
For the latest information on number of cases, risk level, and advice for arriving travellers, see the government advice webpage, which is updated daily at 14:00 GMT.
British people travelling overseas should check the Foreign & Commonwealth Office latest travel advice.
Visitors arriving the UK should check the guidance from Public Health England detailing which countries and areas have implications for visitors arriving in the UK.
You can see the recommendations by Public Health England here and some of the guidance which is as follows:
- UK Government Guidance for health professionals, businesses, schools and other organisations
- UK Government guidance for schools and other educational settings.
- UK Government guidance for pupils, students, staff, parents, carers in an educational setting.
- UK Government Travel guidance for the education sector
- Travel insurance information.
- Self isolate, when to stay at home, what to do and when to call 111 for help.
ELH NEWS AND VIEWS BEFORE 2020
2017 AGENTS VISITED ELH
ENGLISH LANGUAGE HOUSE WELCOMED ENGLISHUK STAFF AND AGENTS TO MK AND ELH IN OCTOBER 2017
ELH students and staff during a visit by English UK.
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Staff from the British Council, EnglishUK and agents from abroad visited English Language House on 5th October 2017. Chris and Tatiana took them on a tour of the city and the surrounding countryside, showed them around our lovely building and introduced them to students and staff at ELH. The agents looked around the school, observed some lessons and had lunch with ELH students and staff.
It was a beautiful, sunny day and we all had a lovely time. We hope our visitors enjoyed their day with us and will come back again soon. |
2017 ELH WAS AT STUDY WORLD
ENGLISH LANGUAGE HOUSE WAS AT STUDY WORLD IN SEPTEMBER 2017
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Chis and Tatiana went to StudyWorld at the QEII in London in September 2017. They met many interesting people from all over the world and spoke to them about how fabulous it is to live and study in Milton Keynes.
The QEII is an exhibition centre in Westminster and is very close to Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey.
Here are a few photos Chris and Tatiana took while they were there.
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ELH staff at Study World.
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2016 ELH WAS AT OLYMPIA
English Language House staff spoke at the Language Show, Olympia, London in October 2016
The Language Show took place at Olympia from 14-16 October 2016. Tatiana from English Language House gave a talk on Friday 14th October from 17.00-17.45 about the CELTA teacher training course. She taught a foreign language lesson and answered questions about training to teach English to international students as well as about teaching and learning English in the UK and abroad.
STUDENT VIDEO
ELH students filmed scenes from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet in February 2016
In 2016 we celebrated Shakespeare and ELH students filmed scenes from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
ELH students met in February 2016 on Thursday 11th to find out more about Shakespeare and practice lines from his play "Romeo and Juliet". Then on Saturday 13th February 2016, students met for morning coffee and croissants at ELH and after a dress rehearsal in different locations students filmed some scenes from "Romeo and Juliet". The video appeared in China and scenes can also be seen on the EnglishUK website.
You can watch the scenes they filmed here...
ELH students met in February 2016 on Thursday 11th to find out more about Shakespeare and practice lines from his play "Romeo and Juliet". Then on Saturday 13th February 2016, students met for morning coffee and croissants at ELH and after a dress rehearsal in different locations students filmed some scenes from "Romeo and Juliet". The video appeared in China and scenes can also be seen on the EnglishUK website.
You can watch the scenes they filmed here...
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Cast:
Romeo - Upper intermediate student Juliet - Upper intermediate student Nurse - Intermediate student Friar and Tybalt - Elementary student Mercutio - Elementary student |
THE ELH VIDEO - SCENES FROM SHAKESPEARE
Video of ELH students playing scenes from Shakespeare.
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