Friday, 15 August 2014

Blog – Sam’s Summer Madness


Hello World,
It’s been a while but I’m back – it’s Blog time again!!
As you may know I’m the Student Support Officer here at TTPL – I manage the welfare of our students and organise our social and cultural activities. This summer has been crazy – since June we have had over 150 students with us each week…and the numbers are staying like this until November (we must be doing something right!).
It’s been great to see so many faces over the summer enjoying their time here, I feel like an ambassador for Torbay! However it has been a real challenge to find interesting activities to accommodate our large groups but one I’ve thoroughly enjoyed!
Our students meet us every Thursday afternoon to socialize, relax and to see the different attractions Torbay has to offer. We have had some fantastic meetings this summer from trips to Splashdown Waterpark (making most of the sun), visits to Paignton Zoo, amazing BBQ’s on Ilsham green with sports and slip and slide activities; the 10th Torbay Sea Scouts even came to cook our burgers! We’ve had cream teas at Cockington, a football tournament for the World Cup, an educational experience at Kents Cavern and even the odd Bowling match. I know I know it’s a hard life organising events for students – but someone has to do it!

As well as Thursday meeting’s we have had a host of extra activities on offer for our students this summer. It all started with the weekly Conversation nights here in Torquay – the night is aimed at students using and practising their English speaking and listening skills. It gives them a chance to meet others in a friendly safe environment whilst improving their confidence to speak out loud. We meet in local restaurants/pubs each Tuesday, and spend the evening chatting; it also gives me a great chance to learn more about their experience and time spent here with us. The nights have become really popular with over 70 students attending last week and I have now just started them in Exeter too on Wednesdays – I will be at The Imperial Exeter next Wednesday @8.00pm if you want to join me! 

As if that hasn’t been enough for our hard working bunch they all manage to squeeze in time to attend the Disco Boat Parties. Tell me more, I hear you say… well it’s a 2 hour tour of the lovely bay on a private boat with a DJ and licensed bar – trust me this is a must for the summer and proved very very popular. We have also organised private discos at Mambo’s Torquay too – which was great to see our students dancing and singing together! I’ve tried to promote Torquay United and get a group up to watch a match… however for some strange reason this has proved rather difficult, instead our students have preferred karaoke nights at JD’s and watching live bands at the Spinning Wheel. Finally we have been part of the Riviera Fringe Festival and even had an excursion to London!! M&M world was amazing – but don’t go crazy with the pick n mix.

What a summer!
Our next excursion is planned for 30th August - London, Bath, RoundRobin or Thorpe Park; Get voting!  VOTE
Well thanks for reading; We had a great Boat Party last night with 160 students (see our Facebook page for the pictures) – and the rain stayed away!!! Keep tuned for my next blog!

Adios, Au revoir, auf Wiedersehen, Ciao, Shalom, Zai jian & Goodbye!!!






No comments:

Post a Comment