Holiday in England – and rest, and learn English

In the UK, it is easiest to combine the pleasures with the benefits of a holiday or holiday – to relax in the resort city, go on educational tours, improve the level of English.

How to spend time in Shakespeare’s homeland with maximum benefit, and what to take care of in advance, tells Svetlana, who studied at St. Giles in Brighton.

As the summer vacation approached, more and more people thought that they would like to spend their vacations to their advantage. I finally decided to go to the UK for two weeks. It was my second trip to this, in my opinion, most interesting country. For the first time I went for a longer period of time – 3 months – and I have already visited many popular tourist attractions.

This time I chose St. Giles in Brighton Resort. The first day of the school was more of an orientation day, as I only took the classes until lunchtime (from 9.00 to 13.00), and at that time it was necessary to write a test and pass an interview, the results of which are the results of which the students are assigned to the groups.

The content and structure of the lessons depends on the level of knowledge of the language. For example, at the advanced level the most attention is paid to conversation practice. As a rule, there were no more than 6 people and no one who spoke Russian or Ukrainian, which I liked very much.

In general, I would say that this fact is an advantage of St. Giles school, because the largest number of students from Switzerland and Italy, and students from Ukraine or the Middle East I have never met at all.

And if you add to this pleasant and funny teachers, well-equipped classrooms and excellent location of the school – in 10 minutes walk from the promenade and the famous pier (Brighton Pier), as well as across the street from the park with the former royal palace of Royal Pavillon, you get a great combination of study and relaxation!

I chose to live in a host family as the best way to study culture, language and traditional English way of life, which has not changed for decades. Speaking of tradition, when I left home one morning, I was surprised to find two glass bottles of milk on my doorstep.

As it turned out, the host mother is the hostess of the house, ordering milk from the local farmers as a support to local traditions, and they leave the order at the doorstep while taking away the empty bottles. And I thought about it only in books).

The homework assignment was not heavily loaded, so there was enough time to master the program after the lessons. And thanks to wonderful weather (almost all the time it was sunny and warm that is not characteristic for Great Britain), there were many variants: in weekdays it was possible to go on a beach and to be bought, to master vicinities, to climb up to height of 137 meters by means of I360, to visit the oldest Aquarium in Europe, and on weekends – certainly to London.

It is very easy to get to London by train, which leaves every 20 minutes from the railway station. In an hour you’re already in London, and if you’re as lucky as I am, and you’re there at the right time of year, then you’ve got an amazing opportunity to go to the Houses of Parliament and even visit the Queen at Buckingham Palace. The Queen is unlikely to be there, but there’s plenty to see!

From my experience, I can make the following recommendations:

If you, like me, decide to get to your destination from the airport (in my case it was Heathrow) yourself, then at the exit of the airport specify the cost of tickets from the railway station Victoria – they may not differ much from the price of a ticket for the bus, so you can safely get on the bus directly from the airport.

Or buy train tickets in advance, but there is a risk of not being able to catch the train if you are too late at passport control.

On the beach, towards I360, there are 2 seafood kiosks. Prices are affordable, not even in English, and by Ukrainian standards, so that oysters for lunch – this is what you need!

In Brighton, it’s worth a visit to the neighborhood. I only managed to get to Lewes and Seven Sisters Country Park Home. The National Park is a bit like a Ukrainian village), but with access to the sea and white steep cliffs.

I highly recommend you to go to Lüjis: small old doll houses, the house-museum of King Henry VIII’s wife Ann of Cleves House, an old fortress with a beautiful view of the surroundings, beautiful gardens and old pubs.

And also the opportunity to visit the homes of the locals – in the period of Artists Open Houses, some residents open their homes to sell art and handmade objects made by themselves.

It is better to buy bus and train tickets near the school in 1 Shop Travel – there are different options (week, month, etc.), so you can save money. The bus ticket is valid not only in the city itself, but also in the surrounding area (20 pounds per week).

Think of a program for London in advance. So you can buy tickets to various museums and palaces online. There is an option to buy 1 ticket to several palaces or museums at once, which can save you some money.

And the main thing: do not forget that the main reason for your stay in the country is still English. Try to forget about your native language for a while: speak and think only in English, at all tourist sites take the audio guide only in English.