We’ve been enjoying some amazingly sunny weather here in early March (a whole week of sunshine, which is very unusual for this time of year!). The colder months of January and February seem like a distant memory, but lots happened in that time!
New Year Video
The year began, as always, with our traditional New Year video, which we filmed at the end of 2024 and which featured our staff and students singing our song, ‘The 12 Days of Lewis’. If you haven’t already seen it, check it out on our YouTube channel!
Staff Meal
Another January tradition is our annual review and staff meal. This year, we enjoyed a lovely Chinese meal at M’ Dim Sum – see our photo below!
Cultural Week with our Juniors
As well as adult classes, we welcomed several junior groups from Spain and Italy, all of whom stayed for a week. Most followed our popular Cultural Week programme where we blend English tuition with culture-related project work. Students visit places of interest, such as the Tudor House Museum, the SeaCity Museum with its exhibition on the Titanic and the historic city of Winchester.
They develop their language skills and cultural knowledge further in the classroom, and work towards a presentation to showcase what they have learnt. We’re always really impressed with what our students achieve in just a short time! The week typically ends with a trip to London, which for many is the highlight of their stay.
Adult Courses
We also welcomed an adult group from Japan. The purpose of their stay was to visit English primary schools to introduce Japanese culture to local children and they spent a week at the Lewis School to prepare for this. This involved working on their script and developing their presentation skills through language training and practical tasks.
In a lovely exchange of language and culture, they practised by teaching our group from Spain how to make origami flowers and birds, and how to write their names in Japanese… all done in English!
Highlights on our adult social programme included a trip to the beautiful city of Bath on a chilly day and a cream tea in Southampton.
This winter we also welcomed several trainee teachers onto our CertTESOL course, which of course means… free lessons for our students! Many of our students and friends signed up to join the classes, which took place both online and face-to-face at our school. We wish our trainees the very best of luck as they approach the end of their course to become qualified English language teachers.
Valentine’s Day
The most famous day in February is of course Valentine’s Day, and this year we celebrated with a video, a special offer and a noticeboard where staff and students shared nice messages on heart-shaped stickers. In our video, we ‘shared the love’ by passing a cuddly heart cushion around the school and introducing our special offer. You can book 2:1 online lessons for the price of a 1:1 (meaning you can invite a friend for free!). This offer is valid for any 2025 online course – you just need to book by 31 March 2025.
Spring is Here!
One of the joys of being at Lewis School is the park opposite, and it’s always lovely to look for signs of spring. We look forward to exciting times ahead and will be back with another diary for March and April.
Until then, take care and enjoy your English!
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