The LSI Berkeley school recently held a holiday party for its homestay program participants.  There are currently around 80 homestay families, who are all very interested in learning more about world cultures and using the homestay experience as a way of sharing their own culture with the students.

Many families and several LSI students came to the party.  Some families have hosted for more than 20 years, but there were also many new participants.  The night was a way for the more experienced families to share their knowledge and adventures with the newcomers!  During the party, families put the location of their homes on a map to share with students.  They also contributed their ideas to a discussion board.  Some families said: Ideas about learning between cultures:  “I learn so much from each student - the world seems changed again and again by their presence.  I see the world so much more clearly.” Ideas for mealtimes: “Variety is the spice of life; try meals of the home country of the student, as well as American meals.” What is hosting all about?: “Being open to other cultures and a curiosity about the students’ family and hobbies” Another family said, “Warmth and friendliness.”

LSI Brisbane - Excitement is gathering around this year’s Christmas concert, where both staff and students are able to show off their abilities with a variety of songs, sketches and performances.  Some students have been incredibly talented and have included an actual opera singer!  After this we always have a staff and student party in which everyone participates, eats Christmas cake and has a good time.  So Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all at LSI Brisbane!

Santa Claus, i.e. “Samichlaus” visits Swiss children on December 6 every year, and managed to stop by LSI Zurich this morning for the legendary Santa Claus Brunch. 55 students, teachers and school staff enjoyed a traditional Swiss brunch, including traditional Swiss hot chocolate, bread, “Gritibänze”, Croissants and lots of peanuts and mandarins as well as Swiss chocolate. School director Ian Cryer’s daughter was tasked to arrange for contemporary X-mas music, ranging from Girls aloud to Kylie Minogue. LSI Zurich’s X-mas dinner completes a successful year of student activities ranging from pub crawls to cooking nights and TV studio visits. Stephan Lendi, in charge of coordinating these activities was amazed at students’ contributions to the activities: “A Spanish Merengue dancer visiting the school was offering dance classes as part of the activities, which really got people moving!” LSI Zurich will being their 2009 activities for all German language students with an ‘Eat around the world’ activity, where students bring food from their home culture for a buffet lunch, followed by a challenging visit to the Swiss edition of the TV show “1 versus 100″.

postcards on LSI's 'World of Languages'

Over 800 visitors to a Geneva fair have contributed to LSI’s ‘World of Languages’, by drawing themselves and their preferred LSI destinations on postcards, which were later put on a gigantic world map. The fair was organozed by LSI Paris in cooperation with LSI Zurich. “This new marketing concept for language fairs, which was tested in Geneva for the first time was huge success” states the creator of the concept Stephan Lendi. “Over 800 contacts kept three LSI staff busy all day long, while competitors were taking care of about 20 clients each during this entire day” says Emmanuel Viret, school director at LSI’s Paris school. “The French and the Swiss visitors at the fair really have great creative talent!”, says an amazed Christelle Margalho - study abroad coordinator at LSI Paris - looking at the postcard collage.

Our language school in Australia, LSI Brisbane, has been pleased with the result of a recent Routine Monitoring Visit from NEAS, Australia’s National ELT (English language teaching) Accreditation Scheme. The LSI Brisbane report card says that LSI Brisbane meets NEAS Standards and Criteria in all respects.

It goes on to add that the school is professionally managed, with an excellent system of policies and procedures in place. There is a commitment to the provision of a high level of service to the students

Some of the other comments were
 The English language teaching programs are very well organised
There is ongoing evaluation and review of procedures and curricula
There is a wide range of resources available for teaching and teacher reference.

We’re delighted that our school has been recognised as providing good service to students. LSI Brisbane is a great place to LEARN AND LIVE THE LANGUAGE.

In a celebration of grand Australian tradition, LSI celebrated Melbourne Cup day.  The Melbourne Cup is a famous horse race which is noted for its fashions and in particular hats.  It is a great excuse to dress up and our students here at LSI Brisbane and staff made the most of the opportunity.  As you will see from the photos everyone had a great time and we are all looking forward to the next one!

We would just like to thank all involved for making it such an excellent event!

At all our LSI schools we always aim to provide our students with not only an excellent learning environment but also with opportunities to relax and have fun. In our Canadian schools we frequently run our popular movie and games nights. Students get the chance to play interactive games and watch movies whilst getting to know their fellow classmates. It’s great fun as our students at LSI Toronto can testify to.

Here, one of our students, Javier from Mexico, focuses on making a-hole in-one. After school, students can play our Nintendo Wii as an alternative to real exercise. With so many sports to choose from you’ll ever get bored!

For those students feeling a little less energetic, at LSI Toronto, we organise movie nights once a week in addition to a full weekday social program. Here we have some eager students gathered in front of the big screen to watch “Edward Scissor Hands”.Do you have a movie you’ve been wanting to see? Just ask us, (and provided it’s not obscene), we’ll get the movie for you and play it after class finishes. At LSI Toronto, there are always plenty of cultural and fun things to do at the end of the school day.

On October 31st many of the LSI schools celebrated Halloween. Whether studying at our schools in the UK, Canada or USA many students got the opportunity to participate in the many traditions that surround Halloween.

Did you know that the name Halloween comes from the religious festival of ‘All Hallows Eve’? Originally a Northern european pagan festival , All Hallows marked the end of harvest, a time when the spirits of the dead could deliver ill omens on the living. Bonfires were often lit on this night to ward off these evils spirits.

These days however, Halloween is simply a time to have some fun. Why not read on and see what some of the LSI students got up to at Halloween?

In New York some of our students attended the annual Greenwich Village Halloween Parade. Many of the LSI students wore halloween costumes and joined in the parade which featured hundreds of giant size puppets, musical acts, floats, circus performers and thousands of other New Yorkers dressed in costumes of their own creation. The parade stretched for more than a mile and always marches up 6th Avenue through Greenwich Village, a neighborhood known as the bohemian capital of the 1950’s and 60’s, and birthplace of the Beat Movement. The parade is touted as the most wildly creative public participatory event in the United States. Our students had a great time as for many it was the first time they had ever celebrated Halloween.

Perhaps next year it will be your turn to celebrate Halloween at one of the many LSI language schools.

The ghouls and goblins descended on LSI Vancouver on October 31st to celebrate Halloween at LSI’s haunted Halloween party. There were activities like pumpkin carving, costume making and even a haunted house!

Students learned about the traditions of Halloween by working with their teachers to organize and run games, activities and a very scary house of horrors for their peers. There were refreshments like chips, drinks and candy (of course!) and lots of great costumes. Some students that didn’t bring costumes were dressed up by their classmates using everyday things like string, tape, and even toilet paper with surprising and sometimes hilarious results! Students also put the finishing touches on each other’s looks with Halloween makeup and scary hairstyles. Halloween stories were shared, lots of pumpkins were carved and students even bobbed for apples.

Near the end of the day students with the best costumes paraded in front of their classmates for a chance to win prizes – and the admiration of their peers! Since most students had never celebrated Halloween before, it was a great chance for everyone to learn about a fun Canadian tradition!

James Munday, Director of Studies at LSI Brighton

English UK, the prestigious national association of accredited English language centres, has invited James Munday, the Director of Studies at LSI Brighton, to present a talk and workshop at their annual conference in London this November. Although more accustomed to the less daunting environment of the classroom, James has nonetheless presented workshops and seminars for various institutions during his teaching career, and relishes the opportunity.

“It is a real privilege to be invited to speak at such an event. Teachers come to this conference from all over the UK and it will certainly raise the profile of LSI, speaking volumes for the academic excellence we endeavour to develop here. Developing motivation in the classroom is not an easy challenge for teachers and students to meet, but I hope that by sharing some of the tips I have researched over the years everyone can leave the conference with something positive and useful”.