ENGLISH IMMERSION PROGRAM IN MANCHESTER

 Hi everyone!

After pandemic, the Junta de Andalucía Government returned to their offer about Linguistic Training Abroad Programms again this summer, and like the previous years, I decided to apply in order to improve my English. I was not admit at the beginning but around July 15th I received an email offering me the chance to go to Manchester. So I could have another immersion experience with andalusian teachers in this lovely city, perhaps the most important England city apart from London.

So Manchester was my town for 2 weeks and I could live, study and enjoy their custom and culture in the North East of England. Manchester is one of the UK’s most influential cities, a place that is rich in history and steeped in fame and it is one of the most exciting cities, bursting with character at every corner. This vibrant city is what it is today because of its hardworking people and their achievements. The city is famous for many things including, its contributions to music, football, the Industrial Revolution...

It was a 36 hours English C1 course for bilingual teachers, led by a travel company called Interway and the English School Kaplan International, where we spent around 5 hours everyday. While the most of teachers were enjoying their holidays, others were involved in intensive classes studing grammar, vocabulary, useful expressions... and practicing listening and speaking all the time. After classes, we visited museums, theaters, typical places, and also took part of activities like treasure hunt,  canal boat tour and sightseing tours, sometimes by our own and others with native teachers who guided us in a professional and kind way.

The accommodation was in apartments of 6 people this time, Mill Point Unite Students, with single bedrooms and bathroms for every teacher and a shared living room and kitchen. It is well-situated just about 10 minutes from Picadilly Station or 15 minutes from our English School, in Picadilly Gardens.

The Industrial Revolution played a vital role in putting Manchester on the map and transforming it into the city that it is today. Manchester was right at the heart of the Revolution, becoming the UK’s leading producer of cotton and textiles, it was responsible for the country’s first ever working canal in 1761 and the world’s first ever railway line in 1830. The Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR) was the first inter-city railway in the world, between these two cities.

At the same time, MCR has renewed its streets with new buildings and some skyscrapers, so there is an interesting contrast between the old red brick buildings and canals and the new ones. Castlefiled or Deansgate Street, where John Rylands Library is situated, are good examples of this atmosphere. Finally, I would like you to know the Manchester worker bee, that has been a symbol of Manchester for over 250 years, excellently representing a city that was built from the ground by its hard-working people.

On the other hand, we took advantage of our free time to discover other awesome cities from this part of England. In my case, I had de opportunity to visit York, Liverpool (twice) and Chester, so I could have the big picture of this land, instead of focusing just on Manchester.

According to my subject, Physical Education, you can realize from the very beggining that Manchester and football go hand in hand. Therefore, it would be no surprise to hear that the first ever professional football league was developed and implemented here all the way back in 1888. We could visit Old Trafford (Manchester United), the Etihad Stadium (Manchester City) and we went to visit another "footballer" city like Liverpool with 2 teams (Liverpool FC and Everton). As a matter of luck, we could get tickets for a friendly match in Anfield Road and listen to the famous "You'll never walk alone".

Taking into account that we studied a lot, we also enjoyed our free time. We enjoyed the typical pubs with live music, visited some picturesque towns practicing and improving our English in a real context. All in all, we took advantage of the resources and people around us and we are looking forward to applying this knowledge to our classes. I would like to encourage the Junta de Andalucía for going on offering this kind of program. It is really worthwhile.