Autumn is here!

Well the temperature has certainly dropped and autumn is definately here...chilly!
This has been another week that has flown by... We started by taking over 30 students to start their Work Experiences in and around Torbay - they have all settled in and are having a great time with their respective placements.
Tuesday brought another network meeting at The Grand Hotel, very well attended and great to see some new faces. On Wednesday I managed to spend the day in Exeter visiting a couple of new placements and enjoyed a very interesting talk, with a good lunch obviously, at the Exeter Chamber meeting at The Rougemont Hotel...great people there and some excellent new contacts. I visited Broadclyst Primary Scool to meet the team there and to see how their student Rafa was doing - very happy to report that all is well there and what a fab school - really great atmosphere there. Also went to CALM (Centre for Additive Layer Manufacturing)..wow, what a great place, such great technology and really looking forward to finding a suitably qualified student tyo enjoy a placement there.
On Thursday, yet another breakfast!!! this time with the South Devon Business Club SDBC, held at Follaton House in Totnes it was great to meet so many new people and catch up with some familier ones! Breakfast was 'continental' style and provided by Simon Dolly - made a really nice change (good coffee too)...the meeting did bring some really good contacts and opportunities so will have to have a good look at some incoming students to match to the placements.
Next week we have a group of Lecturers from the Romanian American University - always an interesting group. We are off to South Devon College University Campus to see Jon Hall and also to Exeter for a tour of the Exeter University among others, along with some social/cultural visits around the area.

The student meeting this week is a Friday night party at The Half Moon with a Karaoke provided by Phoenix Roadshow...I'm sure there will be pictures for Facebook for next week!

I have to dash off to introduce a student to her Work Placement at Roselands School, I know she, and they will have a great time..
No pics this week as I didn't take any!
So..gotta go, have a great weekend.
Ciao for now.

What have we been up to?

Well I must confess we have been fantastically busy just recently. As summer comes to an end there seems to be no shortage of students wanting to enjoy their European Work Placement in Torbay. We have already passed our record breaking total of 748 from last year...and more are near to booking! I think 800+ is going to be very realistic for 2012.

We have also had an increase in our 'programme' numbers with two groups in the last 2 weeks here for a Work Preparation course and Conversational English lessons, plus of course a practical Work Placement experience - fantastic the way that these young people from all over Europe adapt so readily to life here in the UK. Once again the people of Torbay, Exeter and Plymouth show how welcoming they can be, not to mention the many businesses that open their doors to host students and help them improve their English skills. What a great area we live in!

At the begining of September, Jayne and I went to London to the annual ALPHE conference, this is a huge event in our calendar and brings organisations from around the world together to meet and forge relationships. We were able to speak with representatives from all over Europe and showcase the fantastic area we live and work in, using our amazing video to help make Torbay the destination of choice for even more students and visitors. There is of course an awards evening and what a celebration of our industry that was - a fantstic event! We came back with many new contacts and potentially more groups coming to visit us in 2013.

This week also saw, amongst others, the arrival of a group of 5 students from Eurocentro in Italy. Prior to starting their work experience they have been enjoying a Work Preparation course and Conversational English. They also had the opportunity to visit 1-zero-1, a local IT company that also, by coincidence, look after all of the TTPL systems. The group visted the office and enjoyed a very informative talk with Chris Thompson.


Jayne and Mia are also busy preparing for a trip to San Diego, another conference and another busy week for them. Will update you all on how that went when they return.

There is also a relatively new web destination for anyone wanting to find out more about Torbay, English RivieraTV is the brainchild of John Reynolds and contains a number of interesting and informative videos - have a look. English Riviera.tv

Student meeting this week was a trip to the cinema to see Total Recall ...I remember the original!!! I know they all had a great time so a big thank you to The Merlin Cinema in Torquay.

Ciao for now...

Welcome...

This week has seen Nadine join us.

Nadine Stroud, daughter of Jayne our MD has taken on the role of Business Development, looking towards Europe for ways that we can engage with a wider variety of Partner organisations and projects, bringing more visitors to Torbay. She will also be exploring funding opportunities to enable us to send some of our local young people to enjoy the kind of life changing experience so many young Europeans have had here in South Devon.

After her first week Nadine said,

Having been a full time student for the last 3 years at Plymouth Uni, I am really excited to finally be a full time member of TTPL.  I’ve been involved with management meetings for a while now and I’m especially looking forward to building on the excellent partnerships that have been formed by the team and developing the fantastic service we offer.  I’ve been made really welcome by everyone and it’s great to be working in such a friendly atmosphere with people who clearly love what they do.  Finally, I’d just like to say thank you to all of the people who have made TTPL so successful to date and long may it continue!

What more can I say other than a big TTPL  'Welcome' to Nadine.

Sad news

This week has seen one of Paigntons longest standing businesses fall victim to the recession... taking with it sister shops in Plymouth and Exeter. Harbour Sports has been a landmark on Paignton Harbour since the mid 70's and will leave a large hole in the Harbour community. On a personal note, I have known Frank for some years and have been inspired by his drive and enthusiasm for this area. He has mentored students, both UK and EU and campaigned long and hard for a better environment for all who live, work and visit Torbay - he is also a thoroughly decent bloke. All at TTPL wish Frank and his team at Harbour Sports the very best and sincerely hope that a phoenix will rise from this sad event.

This is just one of our students with Frank, shared on his blog, please watch and enjoy this marvelous video.

I have also heard that Mark Jenkins - star of The Hotel has put The Grosvenor up for sale and the other two hotels in his group The Kistor and The Inglewood are in the hands of the receivers...so hard to see the real and personal impact of this global recession.

So, a bit of a gloomy blog here but if I know anything of the people involved in these two examples of recession fueled tragedy it is that they will not give up, the positive attitude thet is held dear and infectiopusly shared will bubble to the surface and we will see something special rise from this weeks sad events.

A Host Family Perspective...

I recently asked one of our host families to write a little about their experience of hosting students. The following is their personal account of why they do it and how it works for them...this is not necessarily the right or wrong way to host a student, just their way. Some students prefer to be more 'independant', others love the attention. At the end is a very recent quote from one of our ex-students who stayed with this family... I have deliberatly removed reference to names as with so many excellent host families it would be unfair to single out one as better than another. It is an interesting insight into what it means to be a 'Host Family'...Enjoy :0)

I have been asked to write something about being a host family and just exactly what it means to us.

Well I suppose firstly I should say if you want to become a host family then you should not rely on it as a replacement income, although of course there is payment for your guests, this should not really be the primary purpose of you taking on this important role.

But in contradiction to the above statement this is the exact reason why my wife and I came to find ourselves being host parents, I had been laid off from work and we needed the extra income so we enrolled as host parents with a few companies in the bay, however I was lucky and managed to find myself another position fairly soon, but what to do now, do we continue with the route we had chosen and become surrogate mum and dad to some strange foreign students or do we just tell them we didn’t want to do it after all ?

Thankfully we continued, and I say thankfully because we have both said we should have done this year’s ago. Our own children flew the nest and the house suddenly became very quiet, we had always welcomed their friends with open arms and we were often consulted on many growing up issues that they felt they could not discuss with their own parents, the house was full of noise, I think it’s what they call music now but to us “old fuddy duddies” it was just noise !! We treated all of them as equal’s and respected their opinions and values, and above all we “listened” something I think many of us older generation folk don’t tend to do with young people these days, very good grounding for our new and exciting roles as “your English Mum and Dad”.

Students from any country when they first arrive are nervous (only to be expected, but then so are we !!) more often than not its late evening when they arrive, tired and possibly hungry after a long journey and possibly on their own and quite often the very first time away from their family and friends, so we welcome them to their new home with open arms and big smiles !! Sometimes it’s not too bad because we will have already had contact with them through one of the social media sites, finding out what their likes and dislikes are, (so many boys don’t like vegetables, just like here I guess !!)  exchanging photos of our house and their bedroom, photos of us and the Bay of course, breaking the ice before they arrive to help make the adjustment that little bit easier for them and us.

We have met them at the airport, the train station and coach park, making a point of being welcoming; it starts from the very first minute you meet, so make it a good one.

 The first evening is taken up with chatting about their journey, their family and why they have come to England to learn our language, we show them around the house and explain to them about bus timetables, where they will be going to work or school and about meal times, we tell them that our evening meal is around 6.30ish each evening and that is a time we like to stick too, but if they can’t make it to give us a call ( we give each of them a credit card size card with our contact details on, our address and the telephone number of a good taxi service in case they need it oh and of course the bus number and where to get off) the reason for the 6.30 meal time is so that we can each talk about our day, the good things and the bad, about their homework if they have any or about any projects they might have been set by their temporary work place, this is a time when we can assess their individual language skills and assure them that they will get better even if they think they won’t, this is the listening skills bit again !! this could be the reason why the evening meal can stretch to two hours !! and most importantly we tell them that while they are here in England we are their English Mum and Dad and this is their home, if they have any problems not too feel that they can’t talk to us about it. By the end of the first week it is generally amazing at how much their grasp of the English language has improved.

We treat them all as our own, which might sound a bit strange, but we would like to think that if either of our own children were in this position in a foreign country they would be treated the same, so yes we might “go the extra mile” but then for your kids you do don’t you?

I have taken the odd day off work to take some of them sightseeing, whether it’s around Exeter or Tintagle or just around our South Devon beaches for the day. One of our own regular customs is that we like to go to Café Tutto in Paignton every weekend either Saturday or Sunday or both days, for our caffeine hit (well it is exceptionally nice) and we take them along to introduce them to some nice coffee and nice local people and they love it.

We have been introduced to their parents through Skype and even had them joining in with us over dinner, (strange but quite funny!!) we have chatted to their girlfriends or boyfriends and told little white lies about them never going out clubbing!! On one occasion I even taught two young Italian boys how to make lasagne as they liked mine so much they wanted to do it for their mums when they got home, praise indeed.  We had one young lad who lived with his grandmother and while he was with us her house was burgled and she fell and ended up in hospital, quite a traumatic time for him with lots of phone call by us to the hospital and the Gendarmes to help comfort him, but we got him through it even though everyday he wanted to go home to be with her, his family told us he was better here with us where we could be his shoulder to cry on.

We have let them loose in our kitchen to cook something for us from their home country, all very tasty if a little different, but being different and accepting that, is what all this is about, during our meal times we have had many long conversations about religion, politics wars and the futility of them, and of course sport, and our differing customs.

We keep in contact with them all, mostly through social media sites but we also have their address’s and birthdays so we can send them a card, to tell them we still think of them and we miss them. You build a special bond with these young people and hopefully it goes on and on, when they get home they tell us how things are, they let us know about holidays they are going on, how their work or studies are going even how their relationships are working out, it’s more than being a Host Family it’s about Family and treating them no differently.

So in a nutshell then being a Host Mum and Dad, is just the same as being a mum and dad to your own children, accepting, listening, talking, respecting, guiding, ( can I add chauffeur, chef, house maid, confidant, and Agony Aunt/Uncle).

We have thoroughly enjoyed our time doing this and as I said right at the beginning “wish we had done it years ago” we have family now all over Europe and Saudi Arabia, so a lottery win would be really nice right now please !!

 And a comment from a student who stayed with this family ...

My 2 months were magical, different cultures, language, on the right road, car driving on the contrary, very fun. I was lucky to get a very good family, xxxxx and xxxxxx, each week I have to talk to me they are my grandparents in my life.
This experience marked me a lot in my life. For years I will return to xxxxxxxx xxxxx - Paingnton. I need to go back, I feel a great lack of xxxxx and xxxxxx.
I am currently working in a pet store, something I love to do, but never forget the experience in Torquay, because for years going back;-P

Some Great News

Congratulations!!!!

Our love and very best wishes to Gemma (TTPL Administrator) Who got engaged to Kris at the weekend

Good luck to you both

With love from the TTPL Team xxx

Students students everywhere!

Well this has been a busy week...AGAIN!  We took a total of 78 students to their work placements on Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday, many of them to new placements...so a huge thank you must go out to everyone involved, The placements, our staff (especially Mia who prepared the itineries), local taxi drivers and of course the students, all of whom managed to be in the right place at the right time to be collected and taken to their companies for the first day of work. There are too many placements to thank individually but just to pick a few at random, I will give a plug for the placements hosting the students I took to Paignton on Wednesday morning...

So...why not get down to Paignton and enjoy a lovely local ice cream at Scoops on Torbay Road and say hello to Vanessa, or get some truly scrummy sweets from Sugazone and meet Anja. Coffee at Tuttos or Chandlers. Gifts or presents from Riviera Gifts or The Gift Centre, Fancy dress from Mainline. Some new clothes from Riviera Sports, Bay Fashions or Bijoux B.and after all that finish off with a nice trip on the Steam Railway! and if, when you are finished your computer packs up I'm sure Johannes would love to have a go at fixing it at Phoenix Computers....I'm exhausted after all that!

'Kraski' group with their certificates

In the midst of all this organised chaos we have also had a visitor, Anja Koll, an English Teacher from Kiel, Germany. She has been visiting her students at their placements as they prepare to return home this coming weekend. I am very happy to report that they have all had a great time, it is great to get such positive feedback regarding our Host Families and Work Placements - well done all of you.


The student meeting this week was at another of our favourite venues...Kents Cavern, we took about 130 students to the caves and all of them had a fantastic time..what a great place, the students love it and the team there are great - another big Thank You to James Hull and his sub terranian team :0) Thanks guys.

Happy to see another article in the Herald Express, always worth a read if you have 5 minutes...read online here. TTPL Herald Article.  In addition, Jayne and a number of our team will be at the Grand Hotel tonight, Friday 6th July for the Women of Achievement awards - we have been shortlisted in the Business of the Year category and would would like to wish everyone who has been nominated for an award tonight the very best of luck...just to be shortlisted is a great achievement so well done everyone...hope to see you all later :0)

We are also saying goodbye to two of our 'office' students ... Elias has been with us for 7 weeks and will be greatly missed...thank you for all your work Elias, and Melina, also here for 7 weeks, has been helping us with our marketing and social media - thank you Melina, you have made a real difference to our office and to our Facebook posts!...wishing you both (and the rest of your group) a safe trip back to Germany.

So, with a great big 'auf wiedersehen' to all of our German students leaving us this week and a warm South Devon 'Welcome' to all the students arriving this week.

Bye for now :0)