News comes in from Glynne Williams from London School of English that this year is one of the most popular ever for the school. Students are enrolling in droves and there are unprecedented numbers of students at their Holland Park centre. For anyone looking to study with London School of English it’s the age old adage ‘book early to avoid disappointment’.

One course they are keen to encourage is the Communication Skills for Bankers which has signs of increasing popularity. This is a course that LSE only runs 3 times a year, and the next one starts on the 5 June. This 1 week intensive course is specially designed to help the modern banker communicate more effectively in English.

The course is 30 hours long, with a maximum group size of 6 meaning that you can get the most from your classes. For the first time they are running two groups in June and there are just a few places left. If you are involved in the Financial Sector, already have an intermediate level of English, and are looking to improve your command of the language in everyday business situations this course is for you.

Fees are: £890 plus booking fee. For more information feel free to drop me a line on: james@answerenglish.com

Jimmy Goddard, a good friend of mine from school, aims to break two World Records as he attempts to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in a specialist arm powered hand bike.  At 19,335 feet (5,895 metres) Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania is the tallest mountain in Africa.  If Jimmy gets to the top he will be the first paraplegic to reach the summit unaided.  If he completes this task he will smash the current record held by Jon Amos, of 16,040 feet of unaided ascent using arm power only.

Jimmy is taking on this challenge to raise money for the Back Up Trust, a spinal injuries charity.  The Back-Up Trust is a national charity that works to enable individuals to regain the independence, self-belief and motivation that paralysis takes away. Through Back-Up’s programme of outdoor activity courses, events and peer support it provides opportunities for people to prove to themselves that paralysis needn’t be a barrier to a full and active life. Back-Up receives no government funding and so relies entirely on voluntary donations to continue in this work.  If you would like to sponsor Jimmy on his record breaking pursuit click here.  For more information go to: www.pushinghigher.com

We wish Jimmy the best of luck!

Name: Jamie Drysdale
Job Title: Public Sector Management Consultant
Age: 27
From: Edinburgh

How long have you been in London?
Since 2001

What were you doing before this?
Studying in St. Andrews University.

Why did you come to London?
Mainly for the job opportunities but many of my friends were down here and it seemed like a fun place to live in.

What did you hope to achieve?
Start my career and do something interesting.

What does your job involve on a day-to-day basis?
Speaking to people in the NHS (National Health Service) and figuring out solutions to challenges they face.  On a typical day I will spend time talking to the people I manage, doing analysis, reading literature & data, and reviewing work done.

What responsibilities do you have?
Project management, implementing ideas and solutions.  Sounds very dull, I guess, to many people but there is some really interesting stuff we get involved with as well.

What are the best bits?
Currently I’m doing some research into the effects of drug trafficking, looking at it from all angles including that of the traffickers.  I try to look at their business perspective as a sole-trader, their strategies, motivations and operations.

And the worst?
Number crunching, Data analysis.  I’m not a numbers person.

What is the typical package (salary + benefits) for your job?
The starting salary for a Public Sector Management Consultant is typically £20k including pension and holidays entitlement.  As many people come from the public sector Consultancies have to be competitive in terms of the benefits package.

Do you have to have prior experience?  If so, what helped get you the job?
Not as such, but I was lucky enough to have done an internship during my University holidays in Washington, DC and I think this certainly helped me.  Other than this a decent degree result is vital.

How did you go about getting it?
Having sent in my CV and covering letter I was invited to a full day graduate assessment.  This included 2 interviews one at the start and end of the day, and a group work exercise.

Any tips you could give our readers?
Do as much research as possible be it on the Internet, speaking to friends in the same industry or people at the firm you want to work for.  If you don’t get invited back to a second interview don’t be disheartened it is all good experience.  Make sure you do your homework, so that when you are in an interview for a job you really want you don’t let yourself down. 

What, if any, lessons could the readers of AE Blog learn from your experience?
When moving to London don’t necessarily be too picky on what you want to do.  Be realistic not just on what you are capable of but more what is available at the time.  The more selective you are the less chance you have at getting a job.  When you get a year’s experience under your belt then you can think about moving into another job that interests you more.

With this experience, what do you plan to do next?
Gain more commercial and management experience.  One day I would like to rise to director level.

Who needs the European Cup when you’ve got tickets to Hard-Fi’s gig at Brixton?  They simply tore the place apart with their anthems ’Stars of CCTV’, ‘Living for the Weekend’ and ’Hard to Beat’.  With a sprinkling of new songs, a cover of ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ and pretty much every song off their last album, this was slick indy rock at his best.  Hard-Fi positioned themselves as poets for their own generation.  Move over Embrace, these will be the songs sung this summer during the World Cup.

Hard-Fi were supported by Billy Bragg, the eighties Poet come Singer-Song writer, who got the crowd warmed up with his tune ‘A New England’ and calls to defeat the British National Party.  ‘I don’t want to change the world, I’m not looking for a New England, just looking for another girl’.  Thanks to Lynsey, Oli and Mel who came down with me for a fantastic night.  To see more photos click here

Hundreds of women taking to the streets of London with just a bra up top to cover their modesty might sound to many like a pre-pubescent fantasy.  But this Saturday 15,000 women taking part in the Playtex Moonwalk 2006 have a far more serious message.  These brave women will be walking around London in their best brassieres to raise money and awareness for Breast Cancer Charities. 

According to the Walk the Walk website ‘Many men and women who have never power walked or been involved in any sort of fitness before are becoming ardent walkers. It appears that Walk the Walk is achieving its goal of encouraging women and men to become more aware and responsible for their own health and wellbeing.’ 

This is a great cause, last year they raised over £5 million pounds.  We wish all those taking part the best of luck!  To read more about Walk the Walk and how you can get involved click here

Last night we had the second of our trips to the Swing Dancing night at the 100 Club.  We had an awesome time and were joined by the BBC Strictly Dance Fever dancers!  It is a load of fun and we welcome anyone that wants to get involved, meet new people and get swinging!  Check out more photos clicking here

Tomorrow night we are off to our first gig event to see Hard-Fi, in my humble opinion, one of the best British Indy bands around today.  As a ‘going out’ anthem ‘Hard to Beat’ literally takes some beating!  All tickets have been taken now to the concert at Brixton Academy, so remember for next time, to get in there early to avoid disappointment.  I’ll let you know how we got on on Thursday.

The language school industry has until recently been largely an unregulated sector.  The British government is now concerned that some colleges are assisting overseas students obtain visas by booking them onto courses that either at worst don’t exist or at best do not make attendance compulsory.  This is naturally a concern for the government, the sector at large and of course ourselves at Answer English.  I would like to state categorically that Answer English only works with schools that are accredited and inspects each language school that we work with.

According to the Guardian ‘Last year, in an effort to tackle this, the Home Office and the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) launched the Register of Education Providers. Since January 2005, only students applying to schools listed on this register have been awarded visas, and schools are obliged to tell the Home Office if students do not arrive.’  There are moves to make accreditation compulsory for all language schools and even the possibility of merging the various accreditation bodies into one. 

Whatever the outcome of these moves by the government, Answer English seeks to assure students, their families and friends that we only work with schools in London with which we have regular contact, have inspected personally and meet our own high standards.

To read more from the Guardian’s article by Mian Ridge click here