EDUCATION
St Giles International and the Cambridge Centre for Languages are both recruiting for homestays, so if you would like to register your interest in welcoming a foreign student to your home, get in touch by phone or via the website. BE THE HOST WITH THE MOST
for educational excellence. “Cambridge is an internationally recognised centre of learning, full of culture and with a historic, scholarly legacy that inspires young learners. That’s a big motivation to come here,” says managing director Laura Chen. “As a city, it’s also very green, vibrant and relatively safe – making it a great place for students of a wide range of ages to come here and study.” “Cambridge is a wonderful place,” adds course director James Berkley. “It’s small, but it’s also full of activities and colourful cultures from every corner of the world. That’s why if you come to learn Chinese, French, Italian, Russian, whatever – you will find people here to practise with.” At St Giles International, many of the students who come to Cambridge are looking to expand their professional horizons. “The average age of our students is around 22-23 years old, and what we find is that many of our students will come before, during or just after university,” says Andy Gaskins, acting principal. “It’s very much about work for them – English is a global language and the language of the workplace, so what you find is that a lot of students will finish university and then need to improve their English to get a job.” However, it’s not just about
learning the language. Students who come to study English in Cambridge also want to learn about British culture, meet new people and experience what it’s like to live in a multicultural society. Many foreign students choose to stay in homestays during their course, which involves living with a local family who will often provide breakfast and dinner for them, offering advice on things to see and do. For host families, this also offers the unique
SPOILT FOR CHOICE There are rich pickings for any local linguaphiles, with classes available for a range of abilities and languages Cambridge ranks so highly for learning languages, Nebojša points to the strong international community. “Firstly, we have the university, where over 60% of post- graduate students are already international, in addition to a very multicultural body of lecturers,” he explains. “Then we have the Business Park and Science Park, which are very diverse again.” students (members of the public) is an enormous asset to CULP’s classes. “On average, members of the public are older than our students, so they have more world knowledge, they’re well-travelled and bring with them quite a bit of life experience – it makes classes more interesting,” he says. Quizzed on why it might be that
experience of getting to meet people from a range of countries and cultural backgrounds – and put any language skills they have been working on to good use. Whatever the motivation, picking up a language or engaging with Cambridge’s international community is bound to spark interests and rewarding relationships, while fuelling a passion for lifelong learning. This January, why not challenge yourself to learn a new language or refresh ones you already know? You can rest assured that you’re in the right place for it!
Cambridge also holds great appeal for overseas students looking to improve their English, with well over a dozen English schools in the city. For the Cambridge Centre for Languages, Easter and summer are the busiest times of year, when they host in-person language courses at St Mary’s School, typically welcoming over 300 students from all over the world. They even offer courses linked to particular skills or interests, such as coding or drama. For the students on these courses, the appeal of Cambridge lies in its reputation
60 JANUARY 2023 CAMBSEDITION.CO.UK
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