The beautiful beach town of Sitges just outside of Barcelona was the setting for the exciting 2019 edition of the ESL Language Travel Awards! The glamorous gala night took place on November 14th 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 Brighton
| 1. Kings Brighton | 4.41 |
| 2. Brooklyn School of Languages | 4.31 |
| 3. EC Bristol | 4.30 |
| 4. Wimbledon School of English | 4.28 |
| 5. English Language Company Sydney | 4.27 |
| 6. EC Brighton | 4.21 |
| 7. Lexis Byron Bay | 4.21 |
| 8. Atlantic Language Galway | 4.17 |
| 9. International House Newcastle | 4.17 |
| 10. BELS Gozo | 4.06 |
Criteria: 40 reviews minimum, 50% student, 50% ESL Team.
School of the Year (other languages)
Winner: Expanish Barcelona
| 1. Expanish Barcelona | 4.39 |
| 2. CLIC International House Sevilla | 4.35 |
| 3. Lexis Seoul | 4.28 |
| 4. Malaca Instituto | 4.24 |
| 5. Lexis Kobe | 4.24 |
| 6. Accademia Italiana | 4.22 |
| 7. Genki Tokyo | 4.20 |
| 8. Escuela de Idiomas Nerja | 4.19 |
| 9. Don Quijote Madrid | 4.18 |
| 10. Kudan Institute of Japanese Language & Culture | 4.17 |
Criteria: 40 reviews minimum, 50% student, 50% ESL Team.
School Group of the Year
Winner: Lexis
| 1. Lexis | 4.38 |
| 2. EC | 4.34 |
| 3. Kings | 4.31 |
| 4. St Giles | 4.14 |
| 5. Alpadia | 4.08 |
| 6. ILSC | 4.04 |
| 7. France Langue | 4.02 |
| 8. Ideal Group | 4.01 |
| 9. BSC | 4.00 |
Criteria: Minimum 5 schools in a group, 50% student, 50% ESL Team.
School Facilities of the Year
Winner: Kings Brighton
| 1. Kings Brighton | 4.65 |
| 2. EC London 30+ | 4.64 |
| 3. CLIC International House Sevilla | 4.48 |
| 4. Expanish Barcelona | 4.43 |
| 5. Don Quijote Madrid | 4.43 |
| 6. St Giles New York | 4.42 |
| 7. Lexis Kobe | 4.39 |
| 8. Escuela de Idioma Nerja | 4.35 |
| 9. Kudan Institute of Japanese Language & Culture | 4.32 |
| 10. Enforex Malaga | 4.28 |
Criteria: 30 reviews minimum, 70% student, 30% ESL Team.
Accommodation of the Year
Winner: IH Belfast
| 1. IH Belfast | 4.30 |
| 2. International House Newcastle | 4.25 |
| 3. EC Bristol | 4.21 |
| 4. Wimbledon School of English | 4.20 |
| 5. Brooklyn School of Languages | 4.14 |
| 6. St Giles Eastbourne | 4.12 |
| 7. Colón Language Center | 4.09 |
| 8. ATC Language & Travel | 4.08 |
| 9. CLIC International House | 4.01 |
| 10. Alpadia Freiburg | 4.00 |
Criteria: 30 reviews minimum, 70% student, 30% ESL Team.
Teaching Programme of the Year
Winner: Don Quijote Madrid
| 1. Don Quijote Madrid | 4.82 |
| 2. CLIC International House Sevilla | 4.74 |
| 3. St Giles International Eastbourne | 4.71 |
| 4. Cultura Italiana Bologna | 4.63 |
| 5. Malaca Instituto | 4.68 |
| 6. EC London 30+ | 4.65 |
| 7. Accademia Italiana | 4.64 |
| 8. Expanish Barcelona | 4.63 |
| 9. Taronja Valencia | 4.62 |
| 10. Wimbledon School of English | 4.60 |
Criteria: 30 reviews minimum, 100% student.
Leisure Programme of the Year
Winner: Taronja Valencia
| 1. Taronja Valencia | 4.74 |
| 2. CLIC International House Sevilla | 4.72 |
| 3. Cultura Italiana Bologna | 4.67 |
| 4. Wimbledon School of English | 4.62 |
| 5. IH Belfast | 4.50 |
| 6. BELS Gozo | 4.47 |
| 7. CIAL Lisboa | 4.47 |
| 8. Expanish Barcelona | 4.45 |
| 9. Brooklyn School of Languages | 4.44 |
| 10. EC London 30+ | 4.43 |
Criteria: 30 reviews minimum, 100% student.
CSR Champion of the Year
Winner: ILSC
| 1. ILSC | 8.45 |
| 2. EC | 8.43 |
| 3. NZLC | 8.40 |
| 4. French in Normandy | 7.90 |
| 5. Ih Belfast | 7.20 |
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: Brighton Campus
| 1. Brighton Campus (10-17) | 4.18 |
| 2. San Sebastian Summer Camp (14-17) | 4.15 |
| 3. Cambridge Summer Programme (13-17) | 4.09 |
| 4. Brighton College (9-17) | 4.09 |
| 5. Galway Summer Camp (12-16) | 4.09 |
| 6. London City (13-17) | 4.05 |
| 7. Berkshire College (8-17) | 4.01 |
| 8. St. Paul’s College (10-16) | 4.00 |
| 9. Freiburg Waldsee Campus (13-17) | 4.00 |
| 10. Salina Bay (12-17) | 4.00 |
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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