I completed level B1 and I am nearly to finished B2 at Cork English Academy. It was a brilliant experience.

The teachers did their best to help us and make everything clear and let us communicate which other students and practice speaking as much as possible.

My speaking is the most improved. The most challenging for me is practicing writing skills.

I don’t get a chance to practice English outside of school hours so speaking to teachers and classmates was important for me.

In my opinion I didn’t find huge differences between studying online and studying in person. The teachers were still brilliant. However, the relations and communication between students is better in person, in the school.

Here are some photos I took of Cork:

Thank you Banan. We wish you all the best!

Daniel (progressing from A2 Pre-Intermediate to C1 Advanced) and Zabele (progressing from B1 Intermediate to C1 Advanced) studied at Cork English Academy from March 2020 to May 2021. Congratulations to you both on your achievements!

Online Classes at Cork English Academy

When we arrived in Ireland our focus was to learn English. Obviously we were doubt about the school, about life and if we could live far away from our family.

Luckily, the reception of school, the teachers and the classmates helped us to feel better. All of our teachers helped us a lot to learn and the methodology was very good.

We had five weeks on face-to-face classes and then the quarantine started. It was a hard time for everyone and we thought about give up and go back to Brazil.

Fortunately, we stayed in Ireland and we restarted the English language course online. One more time we were worried about the course but the teachers made everything to improve their methods and helped us. To be honest, in many times, it looks like we were at school.

We’ve tried practicing English with some friends at work but, because of quarantine, we just stayed at home and watched movies in English.

The most important thing for improving our English, in our opinion, was the teachers. Every time they told us some ways and points that we needed to focus, they showed another online free material for practice more and more. Everything supported us to learn.

We would like to say thank you for our teachers Joanne, Emma, Phil, Pat, Karen, Aine, Annushka, Gavin, Michael, Christopher, all of the School staff, directors and everyone who supported us. You are amazing.

Thank you very much!

Daniel and Zabele

Teffi from Germany first started online classes with us in the Summer of 2020 at B1 Intermediate level. Just over 6 months later she is now at C1 Advanced level and continues to study with CEA online. Read Teffi’s story…

I always wanted to learn English in another country but I am a full-time student in Germany. My friend recommended an online course that I could take during my lockdown time.

The best thing that could happen to me during the pandemic is CEA’s online course and so I signed up for the course. 

At the beginning I was very sceptical if the online course could do anything. But it convinced me otherwise. I had also had English for a long time in my school days, but the lessons could not be compared to the current course.

I enjoyed every minute of the class and to be honest it was my highlight of the day because you always learn something new and the style of teaching was different.

The teachers were all very nice, helpful and each had different styles which I really liked.

As I don’t speak much English outside of the classroom at the moment, the course is definitely good to get to grips with the language. The online course allowed me to focus on listening comprehension and speaking. 

Congratulations Teffi! Wishing you all the best with your language progression.

Douglas started his journey with CEA in January 2020. He started his programme as an Intermediate B1 student and progressed onto Upper-Intermediate B2. He then flew home to Sao Paulo and has booked another online course with us. Douglas is now at an Advanced C1 level. Congratulations Douglas!

Here Douglas speaks to us about his online course:

Can you tell us a little bit about your course and teachers?

I was a little bit scared of studying online, but CEA surprised me positively! The course kept up the same quality as face-to-face classes and the teachers adapted their classes and materials. I had classes with excellent teachers, and despite the distance they motivated and encouraged all students to participate in the class.     

What aspect of English language learning online are you improving in the most?

The online classes gave me the opportunity to develop my listening skills, in this modality of class my focus increased even more. 

What aspect of English language learning online are you finding the most challenging?

This type of methodology needs discipline, so the most challenging thing is to rule yourself. I bought the idea of studying online and I am doing the same things that I did in the face-to-face classes and right now I can see the same results. 

Do you get to practice your English outside of school hours?

Yes, I do. I work as an accountant and my profession requires English speaker. Furthermore, I keep contact with some friends and I usually practice with my wife who studied in CEA as well.

Are there any similarities between studying in school and studying online?

There are some similarities between both methods, but I can highlight the class environment. We are in front of a screen computer but the way that the classroom is running is the same of face-to-face classes. I get used to studying in this type of methodology and the CEA needs to consider keeping this type of classes.

Thank you Douglas for choosing a CEA online course. We will do our very best to help you achieve your language learning goals.

My name is Turki, I’m from Saudi Arabia. I am happy to be in Cork to learn English. I found the people here very kind and friendly, I was able to make friends from the first day.

I had difficulties learning English, but the teachers helped me solve it, and my friends helped me to improve my speaking.

I liked the activities of the academy, I visited many places with them and I have beautiful memories.