Ultimate Frisbee in the school garden with Marie.
Apparently this game is so exhausting that the students weren’t even able to eat the free lollies we laid on. (And Marie looks like it will take her the whole weekend to recover.) 🙂
Today Katherine’s Upper Intermediate Class became budding Cate Blanchetts as they performed three comedies by DM Larson: Underdog, Kiss me I’m Irish and From Waiting on a Train.
Before the performances, which they delivered without scripts, they did some fun exercises in trust to build their confidence and to eliminate any stage fright.
They then took it in turns to perform their plays to their classmates in a beautiful outdoor setting. Apparently, some actors, not content with sticking to the script, ad-libbed their own lines and actions to great effect. Look out for these guys at a future Academy Awards 🙂
This week we say goodbye to Tadashi and Tatsuyu from Japan, Simon, Raphael and Larissa from Switzerland, Renata from Brazil and David from Taiwan. We’ll miss all of you guys. Please come back and see us soon.
David (Wei Chun Lin), from Taiwan, has been at Lexis | Byron Bay for just six weeks. He would love to stay longer but he starts university in China on March 2. Here he tells us about his short time at Lexis | Byron Bay.
Why did you decide to study at Lexis in Byron Bay?
I was always planning to come to Australia but didn’t know which city to choose. Then my sister Dora (Chao Heng Lin) came here in November last year and she told me that I should choose Lexis | Byron Bay.
What did you like best about your class?
I liked the book and that we had a progress test every Monday. I liked my classmates who were very funny, especially Pau (Roca Martin) and the chocolate prizes Kathleen our teacher gave us were great too.
What activities did you enjoy most?
I enjoyed playing soccer and table tennis tournaments at the school and I also tried surfing. I had three lessons with Gaz from Style Surf and then also went out on my own 7 or 8 times. I can catch a wave now but sometimes when the weather is rough I fall off. I’ll miss surfing when I leave because there is nowhere to do it in Taiwan.
What’s your favourite thing about Byron Bay?
Going to lighthouse. It’s so beautiful I go at least twice a week. Also, I like the people they are so friendly and the other day I saw a woman pick up some litter on the street and put it in the bin. That would never happen in Taiwan.
Any final words?
I’m really happy with my English progress. I can speak and write much more easily now. And of course, I’m going to miss everyone and everything in Byron Bay.
The weekend has rolled around once again, and if you’re not heading up to the Gold Coast to check out the Quiksilver Pro then there are still plenty of things going on right here in Byron Bay!
The Byron Bay Film Festival kicks off in style this Friday night at the Byron Community Centre with the Gala Opening Night party – with canapés, cocktails and the sensational opening night movie – When My Sorrow Died: The Legend of Armen-Ra and the Theremin. The film follows the life of the eccentric and enigmatic Iranian refugee Armen-Ra who taught himself to play the theremin – apparently the most difficult instrument to master in the world.
If you’d rather dance, Frothing on Fridays once again hits the Ginger Pig – with resident DJs HA!YES! and Ant On Leaf, $10 cocktails and $5 Coopers all night and great music!
Or for live music – Caravana Sun are playing at the Beachy, Garrett Kato at the Northern, Mike Scala at the Rails, and Boom Faya reggae and stand-up comedy at Buddha Bar.
On Saturday the infamous Byron Vibes party returns to the Buddha Bar – with amazing local musicians playing a live jam session, Funmaker silent disco, interactive art installations from Artwomb, face painting and VJs. Entry is $10 and that includes a free drink!
Elsewhere on Saturday – the brilliant Tijuana Cartel are playing at the Northern – Tijuana Cartel are a Queensland electronic band – a mix of breaks, trip hop, broken beat and world music! Tickets are $25 and doors open at 9pm.
Also on Saturday – Discrow are at the Beachy, The Strands at the Rails, Meow at the Ginger Pig and Chad Wilkins launching his album at Kulchajam.
The Byron Community Market is on this Sunday from 10am, with live music, artisan stalls and lots of delicious fresh food!
Also The Rails are holding a Writers at the Rails event with Frank Khouri and Christine Strelan from 2pm; and for live music and Sunday sessions this week try Chris Mallory at the Northern, Bypass from 6.30pm at the Rails, Rod Murray Duo at St Elmos, Wild Marmalade at the Brunswick Hotel…
Or for a truly amazing Sunday session – OKA are playing at the Beach Hotel from 4.30pm – this ‘Australian earth music’ band from the Sunshine Coast combines electronic didgeridoo with reggae-dub, roots, jazz, house and world music – don’t miss this free gig!
This afternoon we had a Swiss fondue masterclass in the student lounge, courtesy of birthday girls Larissa and Sara, Laura and Mathilda!
Food is the way to our students hearts here at Lexis English | Byron Bay, with hungry students lining up for the cheese, garlic and white wine fondue concoction!
A huge congratulations to Mathilda today who has had outstanding results in her Face to Face Pre-Intermediate Unit 10 and 11 Progress tests!!
With scores of 99% and 98%, Mathilda has been showing the rest of the class how it’s done.
Well done Mathilda!
We have two birthdays in the Pre-Intermediate class today!!!
Happy happy birthday to Larissa and Sara from everyone at Lexis English | Byron Bay!
Amy is the Student Services + Homestay Coordinator here at Lexis English | Byron Bay, and you can usually find her on reception dealing with any one of many student and homestay queries, or sneaking off to Green Garage to buy copious amounts of black coffee!
Amy is from London in the UK, and moved to Australia over three years ago. She has lived in Byron Bay for about six months now and sees absolutely no reason why anyone would want to live anywhere else.
Amy takes care of Lexis Byron’s homestay programme, placing students from all over the world with friendly local families and couples, and making sure that everyone is kept happy! She also recruits new families for the programme, ensuring that Lexis | Byron Bay has a steady supply of fantastic hosts waiting for our new students.
She also looks after Lexis | Byron Bay’s free activity calendar – filling it with fun and engaging activities each month, and running Job Club, movie screenings, sports tournaments, cookery workshops and trips to the pub!
When she’s not placing students in homestay and running activities – Amy updates the Lexis English | Byron Bay blog and Facebook page daily, runs orientation for new students, books airport transfers, books your surf lessons and deals with any problems or questions that students may have – a busy day!
Here are some things that you might not know about Amy, but feel free to quiz her next time you see her supping a beer at the Rails!
– she studied Drama at university and spent a year in London starring in dodgy low budget movies and a detective series for UK’s Channel 5!
– her Mum dated Adrian Smith from Iron Maiden in the 1970’s
– in her spare time she is a writer and freelance journalist – scribbling about anything from the mining industry to Hunter S. Thompson!
– she used to live in South Africa, where she worked on a cage diving boat with Great White sharks and on a safari reserve babysitting baby crocodiles
– she is absolutely obsessed with good pale ales
– she once missed her Nan’s funeral to go and see Rage Against the Machine in Paris with her sister!
Next week, we quiz Elementary teacher Marie!!
Hurry up to the Gold Coast this weekend or next for the 2014 Quiksilver Pro!
Held at Coolangatta from 1st – 12th March, the Gold Coast is the 1st of 11 stops for the WCT. Speak to Maya on the BWT travel desk for bus options to get up to the Goldy, or if there are any other activities that you want to check out while you’re up there!
The Pro sets up shop at Snapper Rocks, but can relocate to Burleigh, Kirra or Duranbah if the waves are no good at Cooly!
If you can’t make it up to the Gold Coast then you can stream the action live from the ASP site.
http://www.aspworldtour.com/events/mct/639/quiksilver-pro-gold-coast
It’s Tuesday and The Echo is on time!! Copies in reception before they run out!
If you spent all of your money at Soundwave and need to ‘top up the coffers’ – then here are the jobs available in Byron this week!
1 – busy cafe and restaurant in Byron Bay is looking for a head chef and a cook. Please email CV to yatzekb1@yahoo.com.au
2 – Restaurant Manager required for Byron Fresh cafe – minimum 3 years industry experience. Please email CV with written references to byronbayfresh@gmail.com
3 – experienced short order cook required for busy Byron cafe – please phone 02 6685 6810
4 – Bylesly’s surf shop are looking for a permanent / part time worker – female preferred – surf coach. Please call 0432 165 640 or apply in person at 69 Shirley St
5 – experienced cleaner required 5 days per week – 9am until 2pm most days. Will need own car, ABN and a lovely personality! Please call 0413 190 266
6 – The Sanctuary are looking for a farm hand for their organic farm.. Must have experience with farm machinery. Email CV to cathy@sanctuarybb.com
7 – house cleaner needed for luxury home accommodation in Pottsville. Days can vary – but on average 4 – 6 cleans per month. Please call 0417 586 827 for further details
8 – and quite a random one for Number 8!! 6 casual weekend positions available (male and female) for novelty wrestling entertainment – please call 0439 489 968
Good luck!! No Job Club this week as I will be on holiday Thursday and Friday woooohoooo!!!!!!
NEW! Lisa’s weekly tips provide answers to the most common student questions.
THIS WEEK – How can I stop making mistakes when I speak?
In the past, my students have often said to me, “I know the correct grammar but when I speak I always forget to use it. How can I become a more accurate speaker?”
The answer, in my experience, is simple. Don’t expect everything to be perfect immediately. You wouldn’t need to go to school if it was. Instead, just like any other difficult task, break it down into small steps. Don’t try to self correct everything you say; choose just one mistake that you often make and promise yourself to self-correct every time you make it. This way, you will completely erase one mistake at a time and soon be able to speak much more accurately.
For example you know that you make the following three mistakes:
Decide first that you are going to focus on prepositions. Ask all your friends, your homestay family and your teacher to correct you every time you make a preposition mistake. Most importantly correct yourself every time you make a preposition mistake. You must do this EVERY TIME. If you do, you will soon find that being corrected and correcting yourself is so annoying that you start correcting yourself BEFORE you make the mistake. And then, after a week or so, you won’t even need to self-correct; you will automatically use the right preposition.
Then, and only then you can move onto number 2 – Word order with Adverbs. Do exactly the same thing. Be ruthless and disciplined. Correct yourself EVERY TIME and soon you will naturally start to use adverbs correctly. Now you’re ready to go onto number 3.
Anything worth learning takes time and dedication. If you were learning to cook you would start with one recipe (for example for pastry) and then go onto another (for example for bread). You can’t perfect everything at once. It’s the same with English.
So to summarise this week’s Tip – Self-correct your mistakes one at a time and step-by-step to improve the accuracy of your spoken English.
A past Pre-Intermediate class made this promo video as part of their lesson for us here at Lexis English | Byron Bay!
I’m not sure that the lack of traffic signals is my favourite thing about Byron Bay – but the beautiful beaches, freedom and slow pace of life would be in my Top Ten!!
With an action packed calendar of free activities, Lexis English | Byron Bay has been piloting new and exciting options to fill students’ spare time.
In order to ensure that our students have their say in what they would like to see on the activity calendar each month, Campus Manager Lisa organised a school wide survey to get the lowdown on what our students want, what they could do without, and what sends them to sleep!
One overwhelming factor was food – it turns out that our students like to eat!! BBQs, picnics and cookery workshops were all notably popular! As for future activities, our students showed that they have been getting into the swing of things Byron Bay style by requesting a raw food workshop.
Currently – food related activities, sports on the beach (football, cricket, volleyball), yoga classes and movie screenings are the most popular activities on offer.
Our Friday arvo beach trips have been a resounding success, and Monday afternoon yoga classes are always well received. Our Thursday afternoon movie screenings always have a fair few takers – especially if the waves are bad and the wind is howling!
Skateboarding can be hit and miss – we have a few die hard skaters and those that are just not interested in carving up the concrete.
Our least popular current activities were the Drama Club (no budding thespians among us, it seems!), debate and pronunciation clubs, and also the Friday night at Cheeky Monkey’s. Unfortunately, whilst cheap and cheerful, Cheeky Monkey’s is also a sweat-sodden meat market, and our discerning students are after a more authentic nightlife experience!
This we have rectified immediately – by organising a new student night with Backpacker World Travel on Wednesday nights at The Byron Bay Brewery’s Buddha Bar – a hotspot for our students and a great place to hang out with awesome live music, good deals on food and beer brewed on site. With their BWT student cards – the students now get a free drink, which will surely sweeten heading to the Brewery on a Wednesday night.
The students remain keen for slack lining – although the timing has meant that Cambridge classes miss out due to their GIL class. Going into March, we will be moving slack lining to a different day so everyone can have a go.
When asked what they would like to do in the future, most students went with activities currently included in our free programme. However there were a few additions – a bus tour of the local area, and a lighthouse tour were two surprise options which went down well! Table tennis tournaments, trips to the pub, martial arts classes and didgeridoo lessons were all popular choices – we will definitely start incorporating as much of this as we can into our March activity calendar!
Organised evening activities seemed like a winner – with a party especially for Lexis students, a trip to a club, eating out at a restaurant and going on a pub crawl all proving to be of interest to the students. Speed dating was not as popular, obviously everyone was scared that they would be sat opposite their teacher =)
As always, come to see Amy in reception if you have any suggestions or any burning questions to get off your chest! We look forward to making the activity calendar even more exciting, and hopefully joining you guys for a beer or two!!
Michael Niederberger has been here with us at Lexis English | Byron Bay for four weeks – after an initial two weeks that was then extended, as he enjoyed it too much here to want to go travelling afterwards!
Q: Michael, what have been your favourite things about studying here at Byron Bay?
A: Well, the weather was really good! You can also go for a quick surf after school – it’s a mix of learning English and sports, and enjoying the weather.
Q: And what did you make of your fellow students?
A: They were all really nice – there were a lot of other Swiss people but not just Swiss German, also Swiss French and a good mixture of other nationalities.
Q: How did your teachers help you?
A: Katherine and Claudia were both really lovely in the class, and every lesson was varied which made it really interesting.
Q: You were only supposed to study for two weeks and then extended to four weeks – why did you decide to stay longer?
A: It was the whole package – nice people and surfing – I enjoyed it too much to go travelling! But now I know that I can always come back.
Here is a video that we made where Michael talks about his best memories of his time here at Byron!
We said goodbye to more fantastic students this Friday at Lexis | Byron Bay – Michael from Switzerland is going home to do his military service, Jessica from Switzerland is heading over Perth to study CAE at the Lexis school there and Akane & Tomoyuki from Japan and Dmitry from Russia will enjoy Byron Bay and Australia before they head home.
Farewell guys!!
What’s on in Byron Bay this weekend??
Funk band The Ninth Chapter are playing at the Beach Hotel this Friday at 9pm – launching their new EP Mogadishu. Their sound ranges from funk to blues to roots and back again, and their free wheeling live show has been entertaining thousands over the past seven years!
Plenty more music on Friday – with The Babe Rainbow, The Furrs, The Salvadarlings and The Mountains at The Northern, Dave Scott Band at the Rails, Choon Goonz and Mycology at Buddha Bar, DJs HA!YES! and Ant On Leaf at the Ginger Pig and The Imprints at the Treehouse
Saturday sees the Earth Frequency Festival after party coming to Durrumbul Hall in Mullumbimby – tickets are $15 online fromhttp://inticketing.greentix.com.au/evinfo.php?eventid=400479 or $25 on the door – if you missed the festival then the after party is the next best thing, with encores from international artists from the line up and plenty of good vibrations!
Also on Saturday, Sydney band The Owls are playing at the Northern – a fantastic rock band with boundless energy. They’re supported by The Rumours, Television Children and DJ Chris Bradley
DJs Rhythm and Cutloose are playing at the Beach Hotel on Saturday – seeing as it was over $100 to see them on New Years Eve, why not see them for free this weekend
And last but not least – Adam Brown and the Dirty Channel are playing at the Rails, local surf rock band Waxhead are playing at Buddha Bar, Meow at the Ginger Pig, Pacha Mama Duo at Soho Lounge and Guy Kachel out at Suffolk Park in Pizza Paradiso
If you’re looking for a Sunday session – the Beachy has plenty going on this week – with Late for Woodstock from 4.30pm, The Delta Riggs from 8.30pm and DJs from 10pm. Chris Cook Band are playing at the Rails on Sunday, and Aysha and Dr Baz at the Northern.
The Byron Golf Club are holding an open mic competition from 1pm on Sunday, and if you’re looking for the ultimate in Sunday sessions, then don’t miss The Swamp Stompers at the Brunswick Hotel from 4pm!
Have fun! xo
Welcome to our eight new students today!
Brazilian Renato has transferred from Perth, Veronique and Chris have come all the way from wintery Switzerland, Korean DaVinci is a long time Byron Bay local (you may have seen him firing up the woks at Noodle Box!!) and Kazuma, Yukiko, Maiko and Haruka have all come from Japan!
We hope that you have a fantastic stay here at Lexis English | Byron Bay!
The weather hasn’t played ball this week for our Friday arvo on the beach – and so we had to play ball here at the school instead!
Grey clouds and the humidity didn’t stop students and teacher Marie from playing cricket…and also didn’t stop the cheerleading squad watching from the sidelines! We also had Yvonne’s awesome picnic in the student lounge to replenish after all of that hard work.
Valentine’s Fever is in the air at Lexis English | Byron Bay today!! The Lexis Cupids stormed the school handing out cards to some lucky students and teachers – teacher Kathleen received a grand total of three cards!
Happy Valentine’s Day from all here at Lexis xo
50% Beach + 50% Pub = 100% Weekend!!!!
After sweltering in the classrooms all week – its time to take it easy.
Here’s what’s on this weekend in Byron Bay…
Byron Bay International Film Festival are putting on a FREE outdoor screening of short films this Friday night on the grass opposite Main Beach – Full Moon Cinema are showing a selection of short films from the past seven years of running the festival here at Byron Bay – including a couple of great surf inspired films. Bring picnic rugs and snacks and relax under the stars!
Also on Friday – eight piece funk-soul band Madison Kat are playing at the Beach Hotel from 9pm – they have a reputation for really high energy performances and a knack for getting the crowd involved – a good one for getting into the weekend!
More live music on Friday – The Floating Bridges, Purevelour, Asher Chapman are playing at the Northern, Frank Zultana and the Sinister Kids are playing at the Rails, Cassie Rose is playing at Pizza Paradiso in Suffolk Park – and the Treehouse on Belongil are holding the ‘I Wanna Know What Love Is!’ Valentine’s Disco Dance if you feel like kicking it old school!
On Saturday, Bay Cabaret are playing a show at the Byron Bay Golf Club – expect music, comedy, dance, burlesque and theatre! From 7pm – Tickets are $35 for the show, and $65 for the show and dinner – but tickets online from www.baycabaret.com.au
Plenty of live music in Byron as always on Saturday – with Sapote at the Beachy, My Byron Riot at the Northern, Bossy Big Heart at the Rails, Dallas James at the Ginger Pig and the Dinkum Bohos at Pizza Paradiso in Suffolk Park
Sunday Safari is coming to the Beachy once again this Sunday from 8pm – with the Aston Shuffle, Maelstrom, Louisahhh!!!, Oliver Tank and Tyler Touche – tickets are $25
The Samba Blisstas are at the Rails again this Sunday afternoon if you fancy a dance from 4pm, followed by Thrillbilly Stomp from 8pm.
Have a great weekend!!!! x
We had a lot going on at Lexis English | Byron Bay this afternoon – a running ping pong tournament, Coffee Lounge with Marie with cappuccino and conversation, and a slacklining lesson with Joshee out in the garden!
Do you need some cash to buy me flowers for Valentine’s Day???
Here are the jobs available in Byron this week!!
1 – experienced short order cook required for busy Byron cafe – please call 02 6685 6810
2 – pastry chef / general kitchen hand required for night work 1.30pm to 9pm, Monday to Friday – 5 years experience with pastry preferred. Email CV to info@byrongourmetpies.com.au
3 – fit and healthy cleaners with white cards for continuous casual work – please call 0405 437 431
4 – experienced barista, chef and staff with wine knowledge – for busy cafe in Byron. Please call 0422 459 669
5 – Byron Bay Motel have office and cleaning positions available. Post CV to PO Box 453 Ballina 2478
6 – Traditional Thai are looking for an experienced chef / cook – email CV to tellmemore@traditionalthai.com.au
7 – a new sushi restaurant in Ocean Shores are looking for a sushi chef / cook / roller – experience a must. Email CV to sabisushicafe@gmail.com
8 – Cleaner required for long term position – please call 0409 826 222
Good luck!!! And remember, Job Club is on this Thursday from 2.15pm in Room 2!
We welcome seven new students to Lexis English | Byron Bay this week!
Mathias from Switzerland, Eric from Sweden, Fabiana from Brazil, Olivia from Switzerland, Megan from France and Laura from Colombia.
Mathias has Armenian heritage, Megan was born in the Congo and grew up there and in Morocco and Eric is an accomplished acrobat!
Already our new students have been playing volleyball in the Lexis garden and have headed off to the beach for the afternoon.
We are sure that you will all have an incredible time in Byron Bay!
Joohee has been here with us at Lexis English | Byron Bay for over 10 months now!!
When she started, she tested as a lower Intermediate student – and in the past 10 months has flown through the many levels offered here at Lexis – going into the FCE (Cambridge First Certificate of English) class and finishing at an advanced level!
The FCE course is an incredibly prestigious English qualification that is recognised worldwide….well done Joohee!!
She will now go on to Perth where she will travel for three weeks, before returning home. Joohee thanked her amazing teachers for their help and guidance throughout her time here, and told us all how many friends she had made here at Lexis | Byron Bay.
From everyone here at Lexis – congratulations Joohee and all the best!!
Yesterday was Akane’s birthday! Her Elementary classmates and teacher Marie surprised her with a plate of classic Aussie treats – Tim Tams. Yum! Happy Birthday Akane!
Lexis | Byron Bay students sweltered in the heat this afternoon – playing soccer to win a case of beer!
Winning team Dominic, Mathilda, Michael, Phillip, German and Sara beat Kwanhee, Lee, Takuto, Davey and Matthew for the cold case of Grolsch. Next time guys!
Want to buy a surfboard but feeling strapped for cash??
Here are the jobs available in Byron Bay this week!
1 – pastry chef / general kitchen hand required for Byron Bay Gourmet Pies, for night work from 1.30pm to 9pm – Monday to Friday. Email CV to info@byrongourmetpies.com.au
2 – manager required for busy Suffolk Park restaurant – the Yellow Flower! Only apply if you will be in Byron Bay for a long time! Email CV to yellowflowerindiandiner@gmail.com
3 – Succulent Cafe requires an experienced chef / cook – email CV to maree_patrick@yahoo.com
4 – experienced vegetarian cook – long term residents preferred. Email CV to events@byronyoga.com
5 – manager required for Byron Fresh cafe – minimum three years industry experience and great communication skills. Email CV and written references to byronbayfresh@gmail.com
6 – Poinciana Cafe in Mullumbimby are looking for a qualified chef or experienced cafe cook for breakfast, lunch and early evening shifts. Text 0402 557 497, call 02 6684 4036 or email CV to info@poincianacafe.com
7 – The Sanctuary Byron Bay are looking for an admin assistant/receptionist for their busy office. Must be organised, experienced, well presented and have good computer skills. Email CV to cathy@sanctuarybb.com before 10 February
8 – Australian fashion label Talulah are looking for a casual warehouse assistant – email CV to employment@talulah.com.au
9 – Business Manager required to run a small promotions business in the music industry. Administration and computer skills required – phone 0421 705 145
Good luck folks!!