The Berkeley High School Judo Program and LSI, with the help of  Brazilian Senseis Newton Casemiro,  American Dan Augustine,  found a very nice way to teach and learn about  American, Brazilian and Japanese cultures.

LSI  Berkeley students participated in judo lessons and taught American high school students about Brazilian disco dancing and typical food, as well as Japanese origami, sushi and many other interesting cultural activities. It was a great experience for both our LSI students and Berkeley High School.

The results are out, and LSI is pleased to let you know that Zurich, Vancouver and Auckland all ranked in the top 5 cities overall for quality of living. Zurich came 2^nd behind Vienna, and Vancouver and Auckland were tied in 4^th position. Why not take the opportunity to come and study in one of the Top 5 cities in the world!

We are also pleased to announce that Frankfurt ranked 8^th, Toronto 15^th , San Francisco 30^th , Paris 33^rd , Brisbane 34^th, Boston 35^th , London 38^th , and New York 49^th !

LSI New York students now have the opportunity to live in newly renovated and furnished apartments in Chelsea, one of Manhattan’s most popular downtown neighborhoods. Galleries, clubs, restaurants and shopping are all just outside the door. And LSI is just 20 minutes away by subway. This new residence provides single rooms with shared kitchen, bathroom and living room, as well as a roof deck where you can hang out with friends. The LSI apartments in Chelsea are a really welcome addition to the great New York accommodation options we have to offer at LSI.

Helen Davaran, school director at LSI Berkeley, will be leaving us after 27 wonderful years at LSI. Helen wanted to send the following message to her many friends and colleagues at LSI.

Helen Davaran

“I am writing to tell you that I will be stepping down from my position as Director of LSI Berkeley at the end of April. I will continue working on some projects for LSI from home on a part-time basis until the end of the year.

When I began at LSI Berkeley, in February 1982, I could never have imagined that I would have remained for 27 years. I thought it would be a temporary assignment, and my husband and I would return to our life and teaching in Iran, where we had lived for almost 7 years, prior to and following the Iranian revolution; I actually lived very close to the American Embassy throughout most of the American hostage crises, which was quite an exciting time. Obviously we never returned there and stayed on in Berkeley.

Time really does fly! When I first arrived at LSI, Berkeley was the only LSI school in the USA. I have had the opportunity to be involved in the growth and development of the USA schools with San Diego opening in1989, followed by Boston and New York. As some of you may recall, we also organized and operated very successful summertime programs on various college campuses in Florida, Los Angeles, as well as in New York City in those early years. Additionally LSI itself has grown worldwide and become internationally recognized and accredited.

I want to thank all of you whom I have worked with; while I will miss the daily interaction with my colleagues, as well as with our wonderful students and agents, I am looking forward to taking it easy and enjoying some free time. Hopefully I will have the opportunity to travel and perhaps visit with some of you in the future.

Again, a big thank you to all of you, and please feel free to keep in touch with me. I would love to hear from you.”

As a parting farewell , LSI Berkeley held a party for Helen. Why not see how the party went by viewing our YouTube video.

Good news for any potential student wishing to come to the UK to study ; it seems that applying for a student visa has never been so simple. In the past visa applications could be fraught with unforeseen problems causing considerable heartache to disappointed applicants. The new points based system, introduced at the beginning of April, attempts to rectify this uncertainty by setting out clearer guidelines.

A spokeswoman for the UK Border Agency outlined the benefits of the new system.
“The UK has a lot to offer international students. Now they see whether they are eligible for a visa before they even apply – making the system much clearer and easier to understand. The aim is to make the application process more transparent and straightforward.”

From the 1st April Students will need to provide evidence of the following

1. A visa letter from the school where the students intends to study.
2. Evidence of qualifications required as preconditions for course enrolment by the sponsoring school. The UK Border Agency require that language students have at least an elementary level of English (for the General Student Visa). If at beginner level students can only apply for a Student Visitor Visa.
3.  Proof of sufficient funds to maintain themselves in the UK.

Students will also need to decide which type of visa to apply for. For adults aged 18 or over, there are two main categories: a general student visa or the student visitor visa. A student visitor visa (SVV) would be suitable for students wishing to study in the UK for six months or less and who do not wish to take up any employment whilst in the country. With the general student visa however, a student can study in the UK for up to 12 months (or more in some cases) and is permitted to work. Watch the video below to learn more about the new General Student Visa or ,to read more about all adult student visas and the child student visas , please visit the UK Border agency website .

Crucially only reputable language schools licensed under Tier 4 of the new Points based System will be permitted to act as sponsoring institutions on student applications. Students will thus benefit by knowing they are applying to bone fide teaching institutions where they will receive an excellent education.

As a company with a long established reputation in the provision of quality language courses , Language Studies International has received licenses for all its UK schools: LSI London Central, LSI London Hampstead , LSI Cambridge, and LSI Brighton.

Something to consider before booking a course with LSI: as the new Points Based System requires a visa application for each licensed institution, if you are intending to split your studies between several of our UK schools you may need to apply for a visa for each school before your arrival in the UK. Please contact our schools directly if you have any queries regarding this.

As a company, Language Studies International  likes to think that taking a course at one of our many language schools is more than just a learning experience ; it is infact a moment in your life that you will treasure for many years to come. We recently received the following message from  a student who studied at LSI London Hampstead over ten years ago. Judging from her comments below, she obviously enjoyed her time in the UK.

“Hello! The other day I found the website of LSI. My name is Kyoko Hida from Japan. I was at LSI Hampstead for about 2 months to study English, it was a decade ago. Although the time I was there was many years ago, I still remember how wonderful your school was. I felt like my dear old home to know some new information about LSI on the internet,  that was why I contacted you.

I enjoyed my stay in the UK very much, especially at your school as all the people there were very nice.The English classes were sometimes very difficult for me to understand, but at least I could enjoy the international atmosphere. And also the English sentences and words I have learn there are still very useful to use my English skills for everything.

I know that it is late to send my thank-you, but I do appreciate all the people there very much.”

At Languages Studies International we like to encourage all our students to take an active role in the many aspects of  life at LSI. This includes welcome contributions to our blog pages. Read below student Nik Vogt’s account of what he learnt on a recent trip with LSI New York.

Our reporter - Niklas Vogt

“Last Friday we took a trip to the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens. It was very interesting because I had never seen that before. In the museum you can see how they produced the first movies. You can see many cameras and other very cool artifacts. It was really nice to see that. Another very interesting thing that you can see is how they produced the first movies and how the producers were able to get the pictures in motion. You can learn how they worked behind the screen and it is also possible to have some interactive experience because it is possible to create stop-motion-animation or edit the sound effects on some movies. I think that helps to understand the work of the producers.

Another important point is that you can see the first political campaigns.In the 1950s television emerged as a mass media, so the presidential candidates began to sell themselves on TV. It was very interesting to see which kind of sentences they used. In fact they very often used phrases or short fragments like “I have a dream that one day” which people will remember. You can see that the political candidates also do the same today.

I think it was a very nice trip and I hope we can do something like that again!”

According to an English tradition, Friday the 13th is considered unlucky… but not this year and certainly not for Comic Relief !

Started in the UK in 1985, the international charity Comic Relief is already well known for fund raising for worthwhile social projects mainly in Africa. This year the UK branch of the charity selected the 13th of March as its focal point for a huge gamut of fund raising events. A staggering £60 million pounds was raised !

Following on from Comic Relief’s call to Do something funny for money , LSI teachers and  students certainly joined in with the spirit of the occasion.  Donning their red noses, iconic symbols of the charity, students at LSI Hampstead took part in a variety of events aimed at raising money for Comic Relief. The events ranged from fun auctions where students bid for free One to One lessons, to selling an astonishing array of international foods made by the LSI students themselves, to more sedate quizzes where students were asked to identify their teachers from a series of youthful photos. It was an incredible day with much fun being had by all and an amazing £167 was raised during all the havoc and mayhem.

We’d like to say many thanks to the wonderful generosity and spirit of fun of all the teachers and students at LSI Hampstead.

In February 2009, LSI London Hampstead hosted a group of ten students from Panama. For the majority, it was their first time to the UK and they were justifiably excited to live and study in London for four weeks. During their stay, LSI organised an extensive programme of activities for their afternoons and weekends, which included visits to the main attractions in the city (British Museum, Tate Modern, Science Museum, Tower of London), West End Musical nights (We Will Rock You, Wicked) and trips to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, Bath and even a 3-day trip to Paris.

On their arrival, they had the opportunity to experience a snowy London, which they greatly enjoyed as it was the first time they had seen snow!

On their return to Panama they sent a heartfelt thankyou letter and this picture. They loved their stay so much that they all bought the same t-shirt! Thank you, Panama! We hope to see you soon!

Many visitors to London will know  the UK’s capital city benefits from relatively mild Winters. In recent years, this has been increasingly true with well known Spring flowers appearing in February rather than in April. This year though,  has bucked this trend.

In February, London received around 12 cms of snow, turning the city landscape into a beautiful winter wonderland. Unused to such quantities of snow , the London Transport system failed to cope and many LSI teachers and students had to arrive at school on foot. The LSI London Hampstead school luckily has a large garden and our students took advantage of this by indulging in snow ball fights and building a huge snowman.

“I come from a hot country and I don’t see snow like this before. I love it. Please snow more,” commented an LSI student from Brazil.

“It’s not all work here at LSI. It’s great to take time out and have fun, ” said the LSI London Hampstead school director, Tania Valentin.”Plenty of opportunities to learn some different kind of vocabulary for the occasion!”

London has sadly returned to normal after the excitement of the snow, until the next time ………