51 agents from 26 countries took seven fam trips in the UK and Ireland after IALC2016 in Leeds & York, getting to know some wonderful IALC schools and study locations, and in one case, meeting a famous UK politician!
Fam-trip 1 visited CES in 18th century spa town Harrogate, English in Chester in historical Chester and LILA in trendy Liverpool. "The north of England is accessible from France and good value," commented Yohan Duchatelle from Idealangues in France. "In fact it's an attractive destination for a successful language course."
Fam-trip 2 visited CES in Scottish capital Edinburgh and included a "Grand Scotland tour" to a loch and castle. "The Fam Trip was great, and the school does look amazing," said Maria Castro Blazquez from Linguland in Germany and Spain.
Fam-trip 3 took agents to the UK's most famous university cities: Cambridge, home of Cambridge Academy of English and Studio Cambridge, and Oxford, where agents were welcomed by CES and St Clare's Oxford.
Fam-trip 4 headed for London to visit Excel English, The London School of English and Frances King School of English on day one, finishing with a ride on the London Eye. On day two, the group travelled by public transport to Wimbledon where they bumped into Mayor of London, Boris Johnson! They then visited Wimbledon School of English and CES as well as the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum.
Fam-trip 5 set off for South West England, visiting TIS in Torquay, Accent International in East Budleigh, The Globe School of English in Exeter, the English Language Centre in Bristol and Kingsway English Centre in Worcester.
"I really enjoyed my time in Worcester and I'm glad to see the school still offers the same fantastic quality I remember from 20 years ago," said Claudia Hermann from GLS in Germany.
Fam-trip 6 departed for the South Coast, visiting Beet Language Centre in Bournemouth, LSI Portsmouth, CES in Worthing, the English Language Centre in Brighton and Eastbourne School of English in Eastbourne.
Fam-trip 7 flew agents to Ireland to visit Alpha College of English, CES, Frances King School of English Dublin and Emerald Cultural Institute in Dublin, before travelling to Bray to visit PACE Language Institute. On day two, they transferred to Galway for a tour of Galway Cultural Institute and ended their fam-trip with a visit to ACET in Cork.
"IALC fam tour to Ireland was such great trip to discover high quality English schools everywhere in Ireland," said Ayman Abdelhafez from Sindibad in Saudi Arabia. "From Dublin, to Bray, to Galway, to Cork! It's easy to fall in love with Ireland. Irish food, Irish music, and Irish people are wonderful! Many of our students have chosen Ireland upon recommendation of our counselors to study English, and they ended up with extending their course. Those students also recommended Ireland for their friends and relatives."
According to the IALC 2015 Study Travel Research Report, fam-trips are the second most popular way that agents establish a school partnership (after workshops). Seeing the school and location first hand and meeting the staff who look after students inspires even more trust.
All photos of IALC 2016 Workshop in Leeds & York.
Selected fam trip photos on Facebook:
Olga Bashkirova, Director of the Centre for Education & Training Abroad, with London Mayor Boris Johnson in Wimbledon
ACET Active Centre of English Training
English Language Centre Bristol
Frances King School of English Dublin
Frances King School of English London
The English Language Centre Brighton
The English Language Centre Eastbourne
TIS Torquay International School
WSE Wimbledon School of English
Category: Events