'İyiki doğdun' Beril and Ilke :)

Yesterday we organised a surprise birthday party for 2 of our Turkish students, Beril and Ilke, whose birthdays are only a day apart! We decorated the dining hall with Turkish flags, made placemats with common Turkish phrases on and ate lots of Turkish food together. After dinner, three of our exceptionally talented students; Johanne, Ilke and Alvile each played two pieces of music on the piano for us all to enjoy - and for once, all the students were quiet! When the candles on the cakes were lit, we sang Happy Birthday in Turkish and Beril and Ilke thanked us for the party. We hope they both had wonderful birthdays :)

 

 

Shakespearean Studio

Yesterday evening, some of the students went to watch a production of Shakespeare's 'King Lear' in the gardens of a University college. Despite initial concern, the weather was very kind to us, and allowed for an enjoyable outdoor performance. Teresa commented that the acting was fantastic, and this show marked her third Shakespeare performance during her stay here!

'Ege's Great!'

The winning team and their winning design! :)

Great Student Bake Off!

This week we decided to test the students creativity skills in a Great Student Bake Off. Students were split into groups of 5 and were each given a set of matching ingredients; a sponge base, fairy cakes, jam, cream, digestive biscuits, chocolate buttons, milk chocolate, strawberry laces, kiwi fruits, strawberries and one banana. They each had 30 minutes in which to design a dessert and some of the designs were great and very well thought out, including a cake to celebrate the historic arrival of the Royal baby! Students then had time to construct their desserts, and then had to present their dessert to the rest of the group. Our winners made a cake to resemble one of their team members, 'Ege', and explained the design with 9 reasons, one of them being 'Ege is great!'

'Lesson Time!'

Students have settled really well into their lessons so far, and seem to be very engaged in the different topics that they are learning about. On Wednesday, we managed to take a peek at a class that was going on in the common room, and Carlos, in particular seemed to be very pleased when he got an answer right - clearly the hard work is paying off!

...and the good weather continues!

The great weather here at Sir Laurence is certainly putting a smile on everybody's faces! We have been making the most of the fantastic garden and enjoying a number of different activities outside. On Friday we organised a sports evening - students were split into teams and had to take part in a number of different races, including the wheel-barrow and three legged races; both English favourites! The evening was rounded off with a tug of war competition between the 8 teams, which proved to be a great success and saw the students all working as team-players to try and win. The good weather welcomed our new arrivals on Sunday, and it was lovely to see them mingling with our existing students - I'm sure some new friendships will be made :)

Some of our new and existing students playing volleyball in the sunshine

Punting!

On Wednesday we took the students punting, allowing them to take charge of the boat! We discovered that Elena has a natural flair for punting, racing past many of the punts on the river - Teresa even commented that Elena was good enough to work on the punts so the staff at Scudamores should watch out! The weather was perfect for the activity, with the sun continuing to shine in England - long may it continue :)

We're all friends here :)

The first couple of weeks at Sir Laurence have been a very happy place to be! It has been a pleasure watching the students making friends with people from all over the world, and using the English they have learnt in their lessons to communicate with one another. The excellent weather has seen many of the students making full use of the gardens - with volleyball and badminton being our most popular choice of sports!

Bowled Over!

Last week at Sir Laurence, we took the students bowling at the local bowling alley and discovered that it was Beril's first time bowling! After a quick masterclass from Nikita, she began to improve, and by the end of the game was knocking down lots of skittles! It was lovely to see the students supporting one another, and it was clear to see that some real friendships had been formed during the course! It was a really fun evening for students and staff alike, and we hope for many more!

Happy Birthday Pablo!

We had our second birthday of the course yesterday with Pablo turning 16! It was also the day of the Men's singles in Wimbledon so an exciting day for all! A lot of the day was spent in the sunshine and many of the students took part in a photo competition where they had a list of items to find and photograph in Cambridge - this proved to be a great success, with the winning team managing to find all  the items except for 1 - a great achievement :) In the evening, the students enjoyed an evening of mask making, and we discovered a number of budding artists amongst the group. We all wished Pablo a 'Happy Birthday' and enjoyed a slice of birthday cake with him - it was a lovely end to a great weekend at Sir Laurence :)

Pablo blowing out his candles!

Tom and Tee looking very pleased with their designs!

A very British afternoon!

On Thursday afternoon we took the students to Granchester Tea Rooms where we enjoyed a delicious spot of afternoon tea in the sunshine! Some students had never tried tea before and were astonished by the British addition of 'milk' - some didn't seem too impressed and told us that they preferred it with lemon. Many students loved the strawberry jam filling in their scone, but a few were unsure of the cream. All in all though, it was a delightful afternoon spent with the students :)

students enjoying their scone and tea!

Birthday Celebrations at Sir Laurence!

Happy Birthday Ignacio!

On Sunday, not only were we excited to welcome all the new arrivals, but we were also celebrating a students birthday! Ignacio spent his birthday amongst new friends and we all did our best to help him celebrate his special day - the students all sung to him and we put up birthday banners and ate cake together in the garden. It was a lovely start to an exciting summer! Since then, we have introduced the students to rounders, been dancing, and were taken on a river tour through Cambridge! The students have all settled in well and Sir Laurence is a happy place to be!


Our new arrivals enjoying the sunshine!