The beautiful beach town of Sitges just outside of Barcelona was the setting for the exciting 2018 edition of the ESL Language Travel Awards! The glamorous gala night took place on November 15th with all of the most important players in the language travel industry in attendance.
The awards are given based on a ranking of scores which combines feedback from our students and staff from the last 12 months. The top 5 candidates in each category were announced as the nominees during the awards ceremony, but of course, there could only be one winner! Below are the highly anticipated results:
School of the Year (English)
Winner: Kings Los Angeles
| 1. Kings Los Angeles | 4.51 |
| 2. Brooklyn School of Languages | 4.50 |
| 3. EC London 30+ | 4.43 |
| 4.Kings London | 4.40 |
| 5.EC Brighton | 4.35 |
| 6. EC Cape Town | 4.31 |
| 7.St Giles International Brighton | 4.28 |
| 8. EC Bristol | 4.26 |
| 9. Atlantic Language Dublin | 4.18 |
| 10. BELS Gozo | 4.07 |
Criteria: 40 reviews minimum, 50% student, 50% ESL Team.
School of the Year (other languages)
Winner: Lexis Seoul
| 1. Lexis Seoul | 4.38 |
| 2. Taronja Valencia | 4.37 |
| 3. CLIC International House Sevilla | 4.23 |
| 4. Genki Japanese and Culture School Tokyo | 4.18 |
| 5. Malaca Instituto Málaga | 4.14 |
| 6. Alpadia Lyon | 4.11 |
| 7. Liden & Denz St. Petersburg | 4.11 |
| 8. Kudan Institute of Japanese Language & Culture Tokyo | 4.07 |
| 9. Escuela de idiomas Nerja | 4.06 |
| 10. Alpadia Montreux | 4.04 |
Criteria: 20 reviews minimum, 50% student, 50% ESL Team.
School Group of the Year
Winner: EC
| 1. EC | 4.38 |
| 2. Kings | 4.37 |
| 3. Lexis | 4.24 |
| 4. BSC | 4.17 |
| 5. St Giles | 4.13 |
| 6. Alpadia | 4.06 |
| 7. ILSC | 4.05 |
| 8. Ideal Group | 4.04 |
| 9. Study Group | 4.04 |
| 10. France Langue | 4.01 |
Criteria: Minimum 5 schools in a group, 50% student, 50% ESL Team.
School Facilities of the Year
Winner: Brooklyn School of Languages
| 1. Brooklyn School of Languages | 4.70 |
| 2. EC New York 30+ | 4.48 |
| 3. Lexis Seoul | 4.46 |
| 4. Kings Los Angeles | 4.46 |
| 5. EC Brighton | 4.44 |
| 6. EC Bristol | 4.43 |
| 7. Kudan Institute of Japanese Language & Culture Tokyo | 4.33 |
| 8. EC Dublin | 4.31 |
| 9. Enforex Málaga | 4.26 |
| 10. International House Barcelona | 4.20 |
Criteria: 30 reviews minimum, 70% student, 30% ESL Team.
Accommodation of the Year
Winner: Alpadia Montreux
| 1. Alpadia Montreux | 4.41 |
| 2. International House Newcastle | 4.39 |
| 3. Kings London | 4.37 |
| 4. Institut Européen de Français Montpellier | 4.36 |
| 5. EC Montreal | 4.31 |
| 6. CLIC International House Sevilla | 4.21 |
| 7. EC Cape Town | 4.19 |
| 8. BSC Oxford | 4.14 |
| 9. BELS Gozo | 4.11 |
| 10. Alpadia Lyon | 4.10 |
Criteria: 30 reviews minimum, 70% student, 30% ESL Team.
Teaching Programme of the Year
Winner: BELS Gozo
| 1. BELS Gozo | 4.82 |
| 2. Kings Los Angeles | 4.75 |
| 3. Brooklyn School of Languages | 4.74 |
| 4. CLIC International House Sevilla | 4.71 |
| 5. Lexis Seoul | 4.68 |
| 6. EC London 30+ | 4.64 |
| 7. EC Cape Town | 4.63 |
| 8. CIAL Lisboa | 4.63 |
| 9. EC Cambridge | 4.62 |
| 10. St Giles International Brighton | 4.60 |
Criteria: 30 reviews minimum, 100% student.
Leisure Programme of the Year
Winner: CLIC International House Sevilla
| 1. CLIC International House Sevilla | 4.78 |
| 2. Academia Italiana Salerno | 4.67 |
| 3. Kudan Institute of Japanese Language & Culture Tokyo | 4.61 |
| 4. Taronja Valencia | 4.59 |
| 5. EC Cape Town | 4.50 |
| 6. International House Barcelona | 4.47 |
| 7. St Brelade’s College Jersey | 4.47 |
| 8. ILSC Toronto | 4.45 |
| 9. Kings Brighton | 4.44 |
| 10. EC Brighton | 4.43 |
Criteria: 30 reviews minimum, 100% student.
CSR Champion of the Year
Winner: ILSC
| 1. ILSC | 8.45 |
| 2. EC | 8.43 |
| 3. French in Normandy | 7.70 |
| 4. ISI Dublin | 6.70 |
| 5. Ih Belfast | 6.60 |
Criteria: 100% ESL CSR Self-assessment tool results. In this category, schools that are part of a group are measured as a whole as opposed to individual schools. This encourages groups to share best practice and not focus expertise on a single centre.
Junior Programme of the Year
Winner: Ardingly College Campus, UK
| 1. Ardingly College Campus, UK | 4.20 |
| 2. Brighton Campus, UK | 4.19 |
| 3. Adventure Ireland | 4.18 |
| 4. San Sebastián Summer Camp, Spain | 4.12 |
| 5. Keele University Campus, UK | 4.11 |
| 6. Brighton College, UK | 4.00 |
| 7. Berlin Werbellinsee, Germany | 3.96 |
| 8. Torbay Language Centre, UK | 3.96 |
| 9. Galway Summer Camp, Ireland | 3.96 |
| 10. Lynn University Campus, USA | 3.94 |
Criteria: 20 reviews minimum, 50% student, 50% staff.
Congratulations to all the nominees and of course, the winners! Thank you to all of our partner schools for working so hard to give our students the best experience possible over the course of the past year. Keep up the good work, and next year’s winner could be you!
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