A very rewarding experience

Name: Helena Turu Cánoves

Destination: Bournemouth 

Date: August 2013

Number of weeks: 4

After graduating from university, I decided that I wanted to improve my level of English in order to take the Cambridge B2 First the following year. This is why I contacted ESL. At the beginning, I didn’t know what part of England I wanted to visit, but I wanted to stay in a medium-size city, so with the advice of my consultant, I ended up going to Bournemouth.

Once there, everything was so easy! I wondered how things would be like and if I could really improve my English… I must admit I was afraid of finding lots of people from my home country there. But quite on the contrary: I was surprised and excited to meet people of all nationalities both at school and at the residence. I became friends with many people and, of course, we formed little groups of friends and did a lot of activities together, like eating and traveling… and we always talked in English to understand each other. I’ve kept in touch with all of the friends I made in Bournemouth, I’ve visited their countries and they’ve come to mine! It’s a very rewarding experience and it’s great to see the progress that you do day after day. So much so that when I returned home, I could hardly speak my mother tongue!

Another surprising thing was the type of exercises that we did in class, a lot of conversation, participation and vocabulary. I found it great and it’s the best way to learn.

Bournemouth is a beautiful city, not too big, you can walk almost everywhere, there’s a park in the center, the beach is perfect for strolling about and within easy reach of many shops.

It’s been one of the best experiences of my life and I recommend it to everyone. When I came home from Bournemouth, I prepared the B2 First at a school in my country and I passed it! A year after my stay, I’m renewing the experience with ESL, now for a two-month stay. This time, I’m going for the C1 Advanced!

Here you have some pictures of my experience… 😉