A Week in the Life of a St Giles Juniors Student

My name is Tomas, I am 17 years old and I come from Slovakia.  I have been staying in Cambridge for a week now and looking back on the time spent here, I must admit that I am simply astonished! To be honest, I was not really looking forward to coming here as three weeks of learning English seemed like a lot of time that could be spent in a much better way at home. As I came here on Sunday 28th July, it was raining, which proved the stereotypes about the beauty of the English weather.  I arrived to the campus expecting to meet a group of grumpy, bored people, who were about to become our watchdogs for the rest of the time.  What I found was an amazing team of young, enthusiastic men and women, eager to make us feel better and to help us with everything during the stay.

People often say that the weather is the best reflector of one‘s mood – Monday morning was a day without a single cloud in the sky.  After a delicious breakfast, all of the staff members were introduced to the students, informing them about the basic rules of the campus.  All of us were then given a test, so that our English speaking and writing skills could be checked.  Having done the tests, we went to a lunch which again surprised me with its great quality.  The afternoon activities involved some exciting ice-breaking sports and competitions.

On Tuesday after breakfast, our new classes started.  This involved four 50-minute, very interesting lessons with 5 minute breaks between them.  Because we knew each other better already, the lunch and the following activities were much more vivacious and a lot more amusing.

Wednesday was only better with its evening activity – a party at a local night club for teenagers.  It was not only fun, but it helped us to get to know each other even better and so, the Thursday excursion to London was full of good time spent together.  We visited the fascinating exhibition at Madame Tussauds, spent some time in one of the biggest shopping zones in London – Oxford Street and even had some time to explore the city ourselves.  We left London overflowing with nice memories, eager to spend the rest of the week together with our new friends.

Friday was full of excitement about what the following day might bring.  And indeed, Saturday did not fail us.  After lessons, lunch and the afternoon activity (a crazy, innovative and very amusing food competition) came the “evaluation of the week”. If you do something especially well, are active in a lesson or show just generally great effort and passion, you will receive ‘St Giles Juniors money’ a local currency made up by the staff to encourage students to be active and productive.  If you do a bad deed however – like coming late to a lesson or an activity, some money will be taken from you.  At the beginning of the week, we had been split up to 3 teams and on Saturday, the team that had the most ‘St Giles Juniors’ pounds won the prize of the week.  Lastly, on Sunday, we attended a very interesting excursion to Ely with its amazing cathedral set in lovely surroundings.

This course has surpassed my expectations, I have learned a lot thanks to our professional tutors, and I have seen some of the England’s most interesting sights thanks to our great activity leaders and generally had a very good time thanks to all the staff members and students. I am very glad that I decided to come and I hope that many more good times will follow.

Find out more about learning English on a St Giles Juniors Course!