LAL News
Changes to UK visa regulations
The Home Office and UK Border Agency have introduced new entry criteria for some students from non-European Economic Area countries who are applying for entry into the UK under the Tier 4 General Student Visa (GSV) route. Other visa routes including the Student Visitor Visa are unchanged.
Full details of the General Student Visa and Student Visitor Visa can be found on: www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk/studyingintheuk/ and the official UKBA visa site: www.ukvisas.gov.uk/en/. We recommend you check these sites regularly as the rules for application change periodically and these sites lists all requirements to obtain the General Student Visa and Student Visitor Visa.
In addition to the change of the Student Visa system on 22 February 2010, which discontinued the use of visa letters to support applications, the British government has announced some additional changes to the General Student Visa starting on 3 March 2010. In particular, the level of English required for some students on courses lasting more than six months has been raised, unless students are government-sponsored.
We have presented answers to common questions about these changes at www.lalschools.com/torbay
Free course and upgrades!
We're waiving the tuition and registration fees for our Budget English course at LAL Torbay, making the course completely free - and offering current students at Torbay an upgrade if they join the free course.
Existing students at LAL Torbay who choose to join the free course on 01 March instead of their regular afternoon lessons will be upgraded to Premium courses in the morning, and be offered two weeks of small group lessons in the afternoon from 29 March.
LAL Torbay regularly offers low-cost tuition programmes several times a year, but this year they are absolutely free. We're waiving the tuition and registration fees for our courses starting on the 01 March, 19 April and 24 May.
This course is part of our teacher-training programme. This programme, for the qualification of Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA), is a Cambridge University validated course for training teachers who are new to teaching English as a foreign language - and these trainee teachers need practice.
Students who attend the Budget English courses are taught by the trainee teachers and qualified teachers.
The Budget English lessons are taken as either 2 or 4-week courses consisting of 3 hours of lessons a day. Each day the students will have 1 hour with a qualified teacher and 2 hours with teachers-in-training who are closely supervised by a Cambridge University approved trainer. Students MUST attend for the full 3 hours each day.
To take advantage of this great special offer, ask at the Academic Office in room 1.01 or e-mail torbay@lalschools.com.
Shaun Fitzhenry
We are pleased to announce the appointment of Shaun Fitzhenry as General Manager of LAL South Africa.
Shaun Fitzhenry became General Manager at LAL Cape Town in December last year, following Karl Rutti's retirement from the language travel industry after many successful years in Cape Town.
Shaun joins us after four years as owner/manager of a language school he established in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Prior to this he spent five years teaching English to business people in Hamburg, Germany, a year in Taiwan teaching teenagers and pre-schoolers, and two years as an accredited tour guide in Cape Town. He holds a BA in English and History, a postgraduate teachers’ diploma, and spent 12 years teaching English as a second and first language in the South African state school system.
Shaun is South African born and bred, and grew up on a farm in the arid Karoo region. He is passionate about the country and committed to its future. For the time being his wife and children remain in Port Elizabeth while he commutes between the two cities.
