Tag Archives: English Byron Bay

Happy Student – Raphael!

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Raphael is from Bayonne in the South-West of France, he is 18 years old and he headed straight to Australia after finishing high school in France. He arrived in Byron Bay in November 2016 and stayed until March. He’s now headed to Bundaberg to do his farm work, so that he can save up for more travelling around Australia.  Raphael joined us an an intermediate speaker and on leaving he achieved an overall A in his Upper Intermediate class. Raphael is sorely missed here at Lexis. Who will DJ for our parties and BBQs now? I’m sure Cheeky Monkeys is missing its most regular customer too.

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Raphael has answered some questions for us about his time at Lexis.

 Why did you choose Byron Bay?

I remember the evening I spent with my mother in France, choosing the destination for my gap year. Originally, I decided the USA, but then I found a video about surfing in Australia – which made me fall in love with Byron Bay: the best place to surf in Australia! For me Byron is the perfect place for me: small, peaceful, joyful, good waves, no big buildings, but lots of bars to party all week!

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Raphael on his very first day of school

What were your weaknesses in English before you came to Australia?

My major weakness in English when I arrived here were – everything! English was my weakness. But more seriously – it was my ability to understand the first time what someone told me. I had to make them repeat 3 or 4 times. Now I can see how far my English has come. Now I can understand films without subtitles easily!

Tell me about your teachers and your classes.

All of the teachers I had at Lexis were lovely. They were truly knowledgeable and made learning fun. In intermediate I had Iruka, I spent many funny times in her class. Then I moved into Upper Intermediate with the lovely Elyse, who was awesome and then I had Kathleen and her amazing games! My most memorable lesson was with Elyse when we had to dress with newspapers (yes yes newspapers!) when we were learning vocabulary about fashion and clothing design. That was ridiculous but so funny! 😂

 What is it like living in our onsite Accommodation?

BBSA is now like my home. I met people from all around the world and I learnt about lots of different cultures. The best moments spent were the Christmas dinner, when we cooked Hamburgers, the sushi parties with the Japaneses people, the dinner tortillas with the Spanish guys, the spaghetti party with the Swiss people.Yes you’ve understood, all the best moments are around food! 😂

What were your favourite things to do in Byron? 

The best times were all the parties with my bro Tito [See last week’s happy student blog!]  and all the others who are like my international family, the days of hangovers when we were all regretting going out the night before. But the best activity was surfing by far. All the surf sessions spent with Hiro, Nil, Pol, Tito and all the others were the time of my life.

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What is your most magical moment in Byron?

I remember a time I was surfing at the Pass during sunset, catching one of the best waves I ever caught. The sun was going down in front of me, the reflection of the sun making the water yellow and orange, I’ll remember this all my life I think. I understood how peaceful life can be; in front of me, it was like the most beautiful painting I’ve ever seen: a colorful sunset on the beach. At my right there were people taking pictures and I had a strange feeling that made me understand you have to enjoy the moment with your eyes rather through your phone.  Yes I know it sounds very philosophical, but for me happiness is about little things like this.

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What is your advice for people who are thinking about enrolling at Lexis Byron Bay?

My advice for people who are thinking about enrolling at Lexis Byron Bay is: Go for it!!! I am 100% sure you’ll not regret it, you will make so much progress with your English, furthermore, there are good activities everyday and lovely people to spend time with.

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Raphael graduating – how far he has come!

What does the future hold for you now? 

My plans after my farm work are to keep traveling around Australia, then Bali and maybe New Zealand, before coming back to France and going to university😭. Australia gave me the taste of travel, so I’d like to go in each country in Europe to keep discovering new cultures and people. I also want to go to Kenya and South America too! I want a life of adventure and travel, my nightmare is to be trapped in a routine with my job, Byron Bay has given me a taste of paradise and now I want to keep exploring.

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Raphael of to explore the world!

Learn English in Byron Bay. Lexis English students study General English, IELTS, FCE, CAE and English plus Surfing in a friendly and professional school right in the heart of Byron Bay and only 15 minutes from the beach.

Happy Student – Tito!

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Tito is from Switzerland – the small village of Malvaglia. He arrived in Byron Bay 6 months ago and enrolled at Lexis, starting in the Upper Intermediate class. After several months studying General English, he went travelling round Australia in his van, with friends he had met at Lexis. He traveled down the East Coast, into the outback and finally to Sydney, before returning to Byron. He is now knuckling down to study for his Cambridge Advanced Qualification. Tito has become part of the furniture here at Lexis Byron Bay; you will often find him waxing his surfboard, skulking around reception looking for Tim Tams or involved in a heated table tennis match. Tito is a fantastic student and a pleasure to have at school, he is loved by fellow students and teachers alike.

I decided to interview Tito to find out a bit more about his experience here.

Why did you choose Byron Bay?

I chose Byron because I didn’t want to live in a big town with all the hustle and bustle – I wanted to live in a small town – here with the waves I can find peace, enjoying the sunny weather and the fresh sea air. I think I would to define Byron Bay as an open minded and multi-cultural place.

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What were your weaknesses in English before you came to Australia?

I was a little bit rusty in everything concerning grammar – for this reason it was essential to go on a formal English course. Being here for 6 months, using the language has become natural – I think it is a process which takes time, but you can really see your improvements by being fully immersed in a situation where the use of this language is required.

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Tell me about your teachers and your classes.

I have been enrolled in upper intermediate and then advanced, where I had the opportunity to meet the amazing teachers Claudia and Josie – Claudia is an extremely knowledgeable teacher and I liked her way of explaining a lot of grammar rules which before were difficult for me to understand. Whereas Josie is the most motivating teacher that I have ever had and it’s a great pleasure to learn such a challenging syllabus with a teacher who makes it seem so easy and enjoyable.

What is it like living in our onsite Accommodation?

It’s an extremely comfortable and familiar place to live – there is a very sociable environment, it is very easy to make friends and as soon as you arrive you become part of the onsite family. It is always possible to go out of your room and hang around in the common area, seeing all of your friends. Since my arrival I’ve met a lot of gregarious people with whom I have organised many dinners, for example the Easter Sunday dinner where almost all the residents (50 people) cooked delicious dishes to share in a friendly and pleasant environment. Many students from around the world made different dishes from their home countries. I made a pizza from scratch, inspired by my Swiss Italian heritage – so tasty.

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What is your favourite activity that we run here?

The most attractive activity is undoubtedly the table tennis tournament, where only the student with the best skills can win the title and of course the beer. It is always full of cheering crowds, the competition gets very heated. Romain is better than me, so he usually wins, but I win second place, which is also an impressive accolade. Don’t worry if you think you are not going to win, we will still share the beer with you!

What are your favourite things to do in Byron?

Most days I enjoy spending my time at the beach, surfing, sunbathing and playing beach games such as Frisbee and Volleyball. It is wonderful to live and study right on the beach. I will never forget the time when a dolphin passed right under my surfboard, what a breathtaking moment! I often see dolphins when surfing, during the Summer it is as common as seeing bushturkeys. You also can’t leave Byron without experiencing the nightlife of this delightful town; Sticky Wicket, Lala land, The Rails and of course Cheeky Monkey’s are all lovely pubs/clubs where you can meet local people and share drinks and great discussions with your friends. A warning though: Do not abuse alcohol; otherwise you will pay the consequences the next day at school!

 

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Happy Student – Tito! | Lexis | Byron Bay Blog
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Learn English in Byron Bay. Lexis English students study General English, IELTS, FCE, CAE and English plus Surfing in a friendly and professional school right in the heart of Byron Bay and only 15 minutes from the beach.

Graduation 3 July 2015

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This week Lexis English Byron Bay is sad to say goodbye to three lovely students: Aline and Indira from Brazil and Sangwoo from Korea.10530731_687335414668306_4013032411261623504_n

Indira, pictured far right, has been at Lexis a total of 48 weeks. When she started she was a beginner and she has made amazing progress during her time in Byron Bay. She says thank you to all her teachers and staff and hopes to see us around, as she is staying in BB for a little while longer.

Aline, who asked me not to take her picture because she was shy, also studied at Lexis English for a long time. She originally enrolled for 12 weeks but then extended that to 24. When she started she was just Pre-Intermediate, but she leaves with a Grade B Upper Intermediate certificate.

Sangwoo (below) was at Lexis for just eight weeks. He didn’t come to school as often as he should have but he said that “all the teachers were super kind and they know how to teach students.”

IMG_6858      Goodbye and good luck to all three of you. We’ve enjoyed having you here.

Welcome to our new students at Lexis English | Byron Bay!! 14.07.2014

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Welcome to four awesome new students today!!

Atsushi is from Japan – Atsushi is a professional rugby coach back in Japan and has come to learn English so that he can better teach foreign players, and also hang out with them after training! Maru is from Taiwan and has been in Australia for two months already – and has travelled Perth, Alice Springs and Uluru, Darwin, Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef – she is already a seasoned Aussie traveller!

Daniel is from Vienna in Austria, and loves rock climbing, mountain biking and bush walking. He wants to learn to surf here in Byron, and is keen to use his scuba diving licence to see native marine life here as well.

Naomi from the south of France has been to Australia before, and was actually born in Sydney! She is a keen surfer and loves anything to do with the ocean. She will be taking progressive surfing classes along with English lessons; so will soon be carving like a pro! She also plays in a roller derby team, so will be checking out the Bay Rollers here in Byron!!

Final Words from Miho Okumura

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This week is sadly Miho’s final week. She has been here for eight weeks in total and has really participated in everything Byron Bay has to offer. I caught up with her earlier today, to ask her about her favourite things. Here’s what she told me:

“The best thing about Byron Bay is the sky; both during the day and at night. In the daytime it’s always so blue and at night you can see lots and lots of stars.

“I liked everything about my teacher, Julia (pictured with Miho, above). I especially liked her teaching methods and that she always gave me good advice. I asked her how I could improve my speaking and she gave me lots of good suggestions for practising English outside class.

“All my classmates were great and really easygoing. Sometimes, I felt that they were more fluent than me, and I couldn’t speak as well with them as I wanted to, but they were always really patient and didn’t mind at all. Ena was my favourite classmate because she was really nice to me on my first day. We met in class and, at lunchtime, she asked me if I had brought any food. When I said ‘no’ she suggested we went to get lunch together and we’ve been friends ever since.”

And finally…

“The activity programme was excellent. I really enjoyed all the activities; yoga, the stargazing, cooking and the grammar workshop. My favourite was yoga, every Monday. It was relaxing and active at the same time so, afterwards, I always felt good.”

Miho, we have loved having you at Lexis | Byron Bay. Thank you for taking the time to talk to me today. We wish you all the very best for the future. 

Meet our CAE teacher, Ian!

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Why did you choose teaching as your career?

Because I love languages, love travelling and learning about other cultures and I love working with people.

 

Which class are you teaching at the moment?

I teach the Cambridge Advanced course

 

How long have you been teaching at Lexis Byron Bay? What did you do before you worked here?

It’s my first week here at Lexis Byron Bay, but I’ve been teaching English for nearly 20 years.  Most of my teaching was in Sydney, and I’ve also taught in Moscow, Bangkok, Korea, Mongolia and Paris!

 

Do you speak another language? What was your biggest challenge when learning it?

I speak French and German, pretty well, and a little bit of Spanish, Italian and Indonesian.    I studied French for 10 years, but when I got to Paris I couldn’t understand a word, so listening is very difficult for me!

 

What do you like the most about your job?

Creativity, interaction with people, making a difference in people’s lives and learning about students’ countries.

 

In your opinion, what is Byron Bay’s best kept secret?

The Pocket, where I live.  There are lots of these little valleys around Byron Bay in the Hinterland, which are beautiful,  green and peaceful.

 

If you were not a teacher, what job would you have now?

Well, I took a break from teaching for a few years and did something completely different, helping older people live in their homes instead of going into nursing homes (community care).

 

Please make Ian very welcome at Lexis!