Sunday | Welcome to London

Welcome to our Winter Wonderland English Course in London Program. This programme is designed for winter times only. Our aim is the show another side of our magnificent city for our students. Today, we transfer you from one of London's airports. We will take you to our dorm in the city centre or our Richmond neighbourhood close to the world-famous Thames River. After a short break, we will start exploring both neighbourhoods with our introduction to bus stops, supermarkets, pharmacies and other important local points. This is what you need when you visit a new place. A light welcome meal is served for tonight.

Depending on your choice your accommodation will be either provided in English families or in the school's dorm.

Monday's English Activity Programme : Westminster City - The London Eye

Welcome to our language school. Thanks to this program, you will enjoy London during the winter while practising your English skills. Our English lessons will start at 09:00 am till 12 pm. After lunch, we are ready to explore the marvels of London.

Our Millennium Wheel is the first-built and largest observation wheel in the world (a type of evolution on the Ferris wheel) and has been since its opening at the end of 1999. The London Eye stands 135 metres (443 feet) high on the western end of Jubilee Gardens, on the South Bank of the River Thames in Lambeth, London, England, between Westminster and Hungerford Bridges. It is adjacent to London's County Hall and stands opposite the offices of the Ministry of Defence situated in Westminster which it overlooks to the west. The London Eye was designed by architects David Marks, Julia Barfield, Malcolm Cook, Mark Sparrow hawk, Steven Chilton, and Nic Bailey. The London Eye's wheel carries 32 sealed and air-conditioned passenger capsules attached to its external circumference. Rotating at a rate of 0.26 metres per second so that one revolution takes about 30 minutes to complete, the London Eye wheel does not usually stop to take on passengers (the rotation rate is so slow that passengers can easily walk) except for the wheelchair users. What a lovely panoramic sightseeing attraction in the city. Your guide will gladly tell you the history of the landmarks that you will see from the sky.

The Houses of Parliament, known also as the Palace of Westminster is where the two Houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (the House of Lords and the House of Commons) conduct their sittings. They lie on the north bank of the River Thames in the London borough of the City of Westminster, close by other government buildings in Whitehall. The oldest part of the building is still in existence, Westminster Hall, which dates from 1097. The palace originally served as a royal residence, but no monarch has lived in it since the 16th century. Most of the present Houses of Parliament structure dates from the 19th century when the Palace was rebuilt after it was almost entirely destroyed by a fire in 1834. The architects responsible for rebuilding the Palace was Sir Charles Barry and Augustus Welby Pugin, and the building is an example of the Gothic revival.

Westminster Abbey is a Church, burial ground, coronation site and much more, Westminster Abbey continues to attract visitors over 900 years after its founding. In many respects the architecture is common. There's the traditional cross-shaped floor plan with a nave, north and south transepts and several round side areas. But both its execution and use raise The Collegiate Church of St Peter, Westminster (the official name) to among the highest examples of church construction. Here at Westminster Abbey lie buried kings and poets, scientists and philosophers who have themselves raised humankind to the highest levels. Isaac Newton and James Clerk Maxwell (discoverer of electromagnetic theory, which later leads to radio and TV), Chaucer and Kipling, Dr Samuel Johnson (creator of the first English dictionary) and many other justly famous names are interred here.

Depending on your choice your accommodation will be either provided in English families or in the school's dorm.

Tuesday's English Activity Programme - V&A Museum of Chilhood

After breakfast, your winter and Christmas-themed English lessons start at 09:00 and ends at 12 pm at our language school in London. You hot buffet lunch will be given by 12:30 and afterwards, we will be ready to explore our city. In the afternoon, we will take you a wonderful place.

Whatever your age is, everyone has a child inside in their body and their mind. If you really wish to see how children enjoyed Christmas and winter in the past, there is no better place in London rather than V&A Museum of Childhood. With the Christmas and winter spirit, we will take you to this lovely museum for today. The mission of the museum is "To enable everyone, especially the young, to explore and enjoy the designed world, in particular objects made for and made by children." It has extensive collections of toys, childhood equipment and costumes, and stages a programme of temporary exhibitions. The V&A Childhood Museum houses the National Childhood Collection. It consists of more than 26,000 artefacts and 61 sets, from 1600 to the present, covering 400 years. Therefore clothing, Lego alike construction toys, Barbie alike dolls and the miniature world of doll's houses, early years of toys, furniture, games (can you imagine we are talking about 3000 different indoor and outdoor games and puzzles) learning and development toys, mechanical toys, must-have toys optical and console games and toys, painting, paper models, puppets and toy theatres, teddy bears and soft toys, toy figures and of course vehicles all galleries and examples are just in front of you. V&A Museum of Childhood is where the time is frozen. Follow your guide.

Depending on your choice your accommodation will be either provided in English families or in the school's dorm.

Wednesday's English Activity Programme - Charles Dickens Museum (Christmas Carol)

Your English course will be continued today as well. You will have the advantage of the atmosphere of international students coming to London for the joy and the spirit of Christmas. You lessons are scheduled between 9 am and 12 pm for today.

The British novelist, journalist, editor, illustrator and social commentator, Charles Dickens is famous for such beloved classic novels as Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, Nicholas Nickleby, David Copperfield, A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations. His dedicated building at 48 Doughty Street was founded by the Dickens Fellowship, in 1902. The mansion was renovated and the Dickens House Museum was opened in 1925, under the direction of an independent trust. The well-known exhibit is the portrait of Dickens known as Dickens's Dream by R. W. Buss, an original illustrator of The Pickwick Papers. Other notable artefacts in the museum include numerous first editions and original manuscripts as well as original letters by Dickens, and many personal items owned by Dickens and his family. The only known item of clothing worn by Dickens still in existence is also displayed at the museum. This is his Court Suit and sword, worn when Dickens was presented to the Prince of Wales in 1870.

Depending on your choice your accommodation will be either provided in English families or in the school's dorm.

Thursday's English Activity Programme - Ice Skating in Somerset House

In the morning, after breakfast, your winter-themed lessons will start. Your English course will finish by 12 pm and after hot buffet lunch in our cafeteria, we have a great surprise for you.

Ready to follow the footsteps of 007 by skating? Then follow us. Today we will take you to London's probably best open-air skating venue in the city centre. London actually is full of lovely ice-rings. It's quite hard to pick because of the rich choices but we believe Somerset House is one of the fanciest ice rings in the city. 007 James Bond lovers will definitely recognize this historic building. Somerset House is a massive neoclassical building in central London, built on the southern part of the beach with a view to the Thames River, just east of Waterloo Bridge. Sir William Chambers built the Georgian Quadrangle on the site of a palace in Tudor that belonged to the duke of Somerset in 1776. Somerset House's history goes back to Tudors in 1547 when our famous King Henry VIII passed away. Therefore, it's one of the important buildings in London and this is why 007 loves Somerset House. Let's do ice skating in here today.

Depending on your choice your accommodation will be either provided in English families or in the school's dorm.

Friday's English Activity Programme - Shopping in London

Today is the last day of your English lessons. After the last lesson by 12 pm, our school manager will deliver your certificates. Upon lunch, it's time for great shopping in this great city. We are going to take you to our famous Oxford Street. Follow us!

Let’s go shopping in some of London’s most iconic shops. it's time to practise in English while shopping. Shopping = Oxford Street.. Oxford Street is one of London’s stretching between Tottenham Court Road and Marble Arch. It’s also Oxford Street is one of London’s artery stretching between Tottenham Court Road and Marble Arch. It’s also Europe’s busiest shopping street hosting around half million visitors daily. Today, there are more than 300 shops, cafes, restaurants, language schools, department stores and many more. It’s the heart of daily business, fun, leisure and of course shopping in London. Like everywhere in London, Oxford Street has its history. The street route used to be part of the Via Trinobantina, a Roman route that passes through London between Hampshire and Essex. It was known as the Tyburn Road during the Middle Ages when Tyburn Gallows was also known for its public hangings. It became known as Oxford Road and then Oxford Street in the 18th century and began to change from residential to commercial and retail use by the late 19th century, attracting street traders, confidence tricksters and prostitution. The first department stores in the UK opened in the early 20th century, including Selfridges, John Lewis & Partners and HMV. Unlike nearby shopping streets such as Bond Street, it has retained an element of downmarket trading alongside more prestigious retail stores. The street suffered heavy bombing during World War II, and several longstanding stores including John Lewis were completely destroyed and rebuilt from scratch. Oxford Street, with several chain stores on the street and a number of buildings listed, remains in demand as a retail place amid the competition of other shopping malls, including Westfield Stratford City and the Brent Cross Shopping Centre. Because shopping is simply a tradition on this street and especially tourists love this experience during their stay in London.

Welcome to the heart and soul of the fashion industry in the city. Carnaby Street is a pedestrian shopping street in Soho City and its colourful history stemmed from when the street was built in 1682, taking its name from Karnaby House to the first men's boutique, being the epicentre of the Swinging 60s, home to the punks of the 80s and up to today. It is an iconic London area. Between Oxford and Regent Streets, fashion and lifestyle retailers are just located here, including a large quantity of independent fashion shops. In the heart of London's shopping scene, Carnaby Street brings you over 100 foreign and British fashion brands, independent boutiques, one off concepts, trendy beauty emporiums, grooming salons and custom jewellery specialists together. From brand-new flagships and UK firsts to presenting one-off and unique designers, Carnaby's 14 streets are lined up with women's wear, men's clothing, cosmetics and accessories like no other. Not just for shopping of course, more than 60 independent restaurants, bars, cafes and pubs selling cheap à la carte and late-night drinks, even yummy breakfasts bedazzle the tourists and Londoners alike. Now it’s your turn to explore this lovely district with us.

Depending on your choice your accommodation will be either provided in English families or in the school's dorm.

Saturday's English Activity Programme - Full Day Excursion to Greenwich - Docklands

Greenwich is a town, now part of the southeastern urban sprawl of London, on the south bank of the River Thames in the London Borough of Greenwich. The Royal Greenwich Observatory is located in Greenwich and the Prime Meridian passes through the building. Greenwich Mean Time was at one time based on the time observations made at the Royal Greenwich Observatory, before being superseded by Coordinated Universal Time. While Greenwich no longer hosts a working astronomical observatory, a ball still drops daily to mark the exact moment of 1 p.m. (13:00), and there is a good museum of astronomical and navigational tools. The Greenwich observatory is situated in Greenwich Park, which used to be the grounds of the Royal Palace of Placentia. At the bottom of the park is the National Maritime Museum which also includes the Queen's House, designed by Inigo Jones. It is free to visit all these buildings. Greenwich also features the world's only museum dedicated to fans, the Fan Museum, in a Georgian townhouse at 10–12 Croom's Hill (fee payable). Also on Croom's Hill, on the corner of the junction with Nevada Street is Greenwich Theatre, formerly Crowder's Music Hall. The Cutty Sark (a clipper ship) is moored in a dry dock by the river. Nearby for many years was also displayed Gipsy Moth IV, the 54ft yacht sailed by Sir Francis Chichester in his single-handed, 226-day circumnavigation of the globe during 1966–67. In 2004, Gypsy Moth IV was removed from Greenwich for extensive restoration work to be followed by a return to the sea and a second sailing career. By the Cutty Sark, there is a pedestrian tunnel, the Greenwich foot tunnel, to the Isle of Dogs. This comes out in Island Gardens, from where the famous view of Greenwich Hospital painted by Canaletto can be seen. On the riverside in front of the north-east corner of the Hospital is an obelisk erected in memory of Arctic explorer Joseph René Bellot. The Millennium Dome was built on a disused British Gas site here. It is next to North Greenwich tube station, about three miles from Greenwich town centre, north of Charlton. The Greenwich Millennium Village is a new development nearby. The church dominating the western side of the town centre is St Alfege's Church, designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor in 1714, and marks the place where Archbishop of Canterbury Alfege (also spelt 'Alphege') was murdered in 1012. The town centre features Greenwich Market, a covered market popular with tourists at the weekends. In 1997, maritime Greenwich was added to the list of World Heritage Sites, and in recognition of the suburb's astronomical links, Asteroid 2830 has been named Greenwich.

Christmas in Greenwich is an unmissible experience. Since the middle ages, all stalls have constantly been trading in the historic district of Greenwich where you can find a wide range of goods including street foods, books, vinyl, CD’s, DVD’s, vintage clothes, beads, crocheted and knitted items, jewellery, antiquity, fruits, vegetables, olives, freshly prepared products such as breads, cakes, cookies, scones, healthy foods, meat products, fish and dairy products, any type of second hand goods including bikes, garden plans, flowers, electronic gadgets, mobile phone accessories, typical English art and craft stands, hand made things, yarns, embellishments, totes, bags, suitcases, simply beyond your imagination. The Greenwich Market also offers to flourish local street food, arts and crafts market on scheduled days selling organic produce from local farmers and work from some of the region's most talented artists, craftsmen, potters, sculptors and photographers. To feel the soul of this vibrant district, historic Greenwich Market would the best hit in this historic naval town. For art & craft lovers, do visit market on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and weekends; for antique and collectable buffs don't forget to pop in on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. You will love this lovely market we bet.

Greenwich Tunnel is one of the marvels of late Victorian period in England. The project began in June 1899 and the tunnel opened on August 4, 1902. The tunnel is actually replaced an expensive and often unreliable ferry service enabling staff living south of the Thames to access their workplaces in the London docks and shipyards in or around Isle of Dogs. It’s the only pedestrian tunnel beneath the River Thames that allows walkers, cyclists passing by. The tunnel is restored after destruction during World War II. The entrance shafts at both ends are under glazed domes. Built-in 1904, lifts were upgraded in 1992 and again in 2012, and helical staircases allow pedestrians to enter this sloping, tiled tunnel. This cast-iron tunnel is 1,215 feet (370.2 m) wide, 50 feet (15.2 m) deep and about 9 feet (2.74 m) in diameter. The cast-iron rings are coated with some 200,000 white glazed tiles. Bombs weakened the northern end during World War II, and repairs required thick steel and concrete inner lining that significantly reduces diameter for a short span. The North Tower has 87 steps, the South Tower has 100 steps. Greenwich Foot Tunnel is actually one of the best examples to understand London’s subway system. Because cast iron tunnelling is the main principle of building the tunnels in the late Victorian eras.

London Docklands is a glittering star during Christmas. It is located in inner east and southeast London, in the boroughs of Southwark, Tower Hamlets, Lewisham, Newham, and Greenwich. The docks were formerly part of the Port of London, at one time the world's largest port. Once upon a time, it was the commercial heart of the city. Because of the latest technology developments and container shipping made this Elizabethian trade site redundant. Therefore the whole area was gentrified in the early '80s. The urban redevelopment of the London Docklands is one of the largest and most successful projects in the world, transforming a dying industrial area into one of the most thriving financial hubs in the world. This is a science, this is a wonder itself. Listen to the story of the Docks in London.

Depending on your choice your accommodation will be either provided in English families or in the school's dorm.

Sunday | Transferring to the Airport

Today is the last day in London unless you continue our program. Well, all good things must come to an end. We provide your transfer service back to the airport with a private vehicle. This is the end of our service and we hope to see you in our various programs here in London.