The Language Institute Edinburgh

If you really want an honest review,

I would not recommend this school to anyone. It’s a school for young students who just want to have fun, not for adults with specific goals.

I came here with the expectation of structured learning which would result in an improved IELTS score. I had already taken an IELTS course in my country so I was familiar with the exam structure, but the school's structure used seemed to be completely made up. Classes were regularly cancelled at short notice and time which should have been reserved for the curriculum was used instead for things like a class outing to the Christmas markets! I did not pay this amount of money to go to a Christmas market or for solo study time.

They don’t conduct any tests to assess your English level; they group everyone at the same level. It is very difficult to improve your level when the English levels are mixed. Many classes were repetitive, or we simply wasted time without having a class.

Eventually I achieved the same IELTS score as I did in my country so the course did me no good whatsoever.

This entire experience was as expensive as it was pointless.

I really enjoy my host family because they were kind and friendly with me, I felt welcome.

The classes and the teachers were good, I have learned a lot of things with having fun times. I think thanks to the teachers that were very knowledgeable and helpful with us.

I love all the locations, like the school, the city’s centre, my house.
I have the opportunity of discover many places in the city thanks to all the activities proposed.

Maybe sometimes the activities could be organised a little bit better.
I made relationships that I will never forget.

I really liked my host family, they were friendly, hospitable and helpful and had a great sense of humour. They also catered for my special dietary needs. The school was good, I liked the small class size (9-10 students), the young average age of the students and the lessons were never boring. We had lively classes. In the afternoon I had exam preparation with a teacher (one-on-one lessons due to no one else being on that same level). That was very helpful.

I feel my English improved a lot in terms of spoken fluency but the grammar didn't improve. Most students in my class had a slightly lower level than me but I didn't want to change classes (although offered to me by the school at the beginning) because I liked my group and the teachers.

Edinburgh is a fantastic city and if the family hadn't been booked out I would have extended my stay by a few weeks!

The location of both the school and the host family was good; it was easy to travel there and back (about 35 mins each way).

They were very good English speakers. All the teachers were always prepared for the lessons, there was a very good atmosphere, I learned a lot. Thank you very much. I will be back in the autumn.

The accommodation was arranged by me, not through the school

We were only few people in our class, quite often only two, and never more than five or six. Therefore I learned a lot.

Our teachers had a great interest in improvement of their students linguistic competence.

The most of the classrooms are light. I missed sometimes the possibility to open the windows.

The facilities are suitable.

We had only few activities.

About the housing: I have been in two houses, both very far from the school, one hour and 15 minutes one way.
That made the life in Edinburgh a bit difficult.

On the first day of school, a dialog is held with a teacher in order to be placed in the class of the same level. The teachers were all native speakers and very friendly. In addition to normal lessons, many idioms and peculiarities of the English language were explained. The students were also asked what topics they wanted to talk about.
I would have liked us to talk more about the past tense. Unfortunately, my wish was not taken into account.

My host family made me feel very welcome and always looked after me. I really felt at home with them!

Thank you very much for the great time!

Übersetzt mit DeepL (https://www.deepl.com/app/?utm_source=ios&utm_medium=app&utm_campaign=share-translation)

I had booked a business English intensive course and a general language course in the afternoon. I would like to thank my two teachers Emi and David for their individual support in recognising and improving my weaknesses. The lessons were always very well prepared by both of them and I was always challenged to give the best of myself. The atmosphere at the school is professional, challenging, warm and friendly. The school is easy to reach by public transport. I personally really liked the proximity to the harbour to relax after school. My host was a very nice, older Irish lady who told me a lot about life in Scotland and Scottish cuisine. I can thoroughly recommend the course I chose and the school. As a technical manager in a global company, I had to learn a lot of new language skills in a very short time, both teachers helped me a lot and catered to my needs.

The education and school are good, unfortunately, due to the small number of students, the school only has two classes. One for complete beginners, the second for everyone else. The teachers are interesting and keep your attention, the lessons are fun. I appreciate that Meg gave me additional information on the topics I needed to learn after classes.

There are no social activities after lessons. Fortunately our group came up with activities themselves.
In any case, it is a useful experience, but if you need English for work and want to seriously improve it, I would recommend taking business courses.

During my time, I shared accommodation with Sarah, who was incredibly supportive and caring. The flat was conveniently located not far from the school.

In general, everything was ok a part from one family for 2 students in our group as the bedroom was not really cosy, warm and welcoming and the means were cold and not cooked.
The family for us teachers was not adequate as 2 of us had to share the same bedroom with 2 email single beds. Si not really confortable and relaxing after the days looking after 20 students.
But the staffwas very careful about our concern and out comfort and the day after everything was solved. Thank you To hamish in particular.
The lessons and the schedule for the students were ok.

The location was near to the centre, so it was pretty good. The teacher were friendly and they explained everything in a good way.

Jednoduse jsem byla nadsena. Libil se mi přístup učitelů,velikost skupiny,zpusob vyuky, atmosfers skoly..Umisteni skoly naprosto vyhovujici, ubytovani krasne. Nemam co vytknout,ale vy to chcete a potrebujete,tak snad jen spatne oteviratelna okna ve třídě... větrání. Rada bych prijela znovu,byla jsem jen tyden kvuli jinym dcerou naplanovanym aktivitam,skoda. Mam naramnou chut se zade do anglictiny pustit. Dekujinohokrat

The first day a arrived at the Language institut I got a very warm welcome, followed by a short and easygoing interview.
I had 3 lessons á 90 minutes/day and every lesson was taught by another teacher. It was really good as the lessons were very varied in terms of topics and slang.
The staff is really kind and accomodating.
I´ve learnt a lot and don´t want to miss that funny and interesting week.

I have met very nice people. nice class mates and nice teachers.

For the housing : I have been in Sarah's flat. She is amazing. Very kind, she took care of me very well!!!

Ich war drei Monate in Edinburgh um englisch zu lernen. Von September bis November (12 Wochen). Untergebracht war ich in einer Gastfamilie. Da hatte ich Glück. Es war sehr gut und sie waren auch sehr nett und hilfsbereit. Gekocht wurde sehr gut. Danke Helene und Des. Drei Monate sind sehr lang. Ein Problem ist, wenn man wirklich Anfänger ist und kein Basic hat, ist es sehr anstrengend und auch schwierig. Ich bin 66 Jahre und die anderen sind 16 bis ca. 26 Jahren. Es geht daher doch schnell vorwärts und es fehlt dann die Zeit zum üben. Ich empfehle unbedingt schon einen Anfängerkurs zu Hause zu machen und dann in die Sprachschule zu gehen. Vielleicht zwei Monate und dann eine Pause und nochmals 4 oder 6 Wochen. Ist sicher einfacher. Mir hat es aber sehr gut gefallen. Die Schule ist sehr gut, vor allem meine Lehrerin Natascha. Sie ist wirklich sehr gut und war immer aufgestellt und obwohl die Schüler nicht immer einfach waren. :) Die beste Zeit ist sicher von Frühling bis Herbst. Nachher wird es ein wenig kalt. :) Mit den Schülerinnen und Schüler hatte ich es sehr gut. Danke euch allen. Auch der Chef von der Sprachschule war sehr gut. Nun habe ich mich für eine Sprachschule hier in Zürich angemeldet und ich gehe jeden Montag von 09.00 - 11.00 Uhr ins Englisch. Einmal in der Woche so verlerne ich es nicht und bin nicht unter Druck. :)

Es war eine schöne Zeit und ich habe viel gelernt. Edinburgh ist eine wirklich schöne und interessante Stadt und die Leute sind sehr geduldig und Tolerant.

Urs

The teachers were very nice and helpful. The classes been very interesting. I really liked the location of the school. The other students were very nice.

In general, the experience was so cool, I have made new friends, I have learned new concepts and how to live in a completely different place alone. The classes were so good and the location too. Personally, I think that all was good, I didn’t do activities after the classes because I was living with my aunt and I did things with her and my cousins. Also, I met with other students after classes, and nowadays I am talking with them, this is so positive!

I really liked this school. The teachers were experienced and always well prepared. I enjoyed the classes, though they were expectedly full in July. I only stayed for one week, but I think, that if I had more time, I would really improve my English in this school.

The overall experience was very good. What I highlight the most is the work of the teachers since I really noticed a change in relation to learning as the days went by, I was able to start speaking more fluently, gain more confidence to communicate. In my case I took the intensive course and I am not sure that I would take it again since it was one more/extra class to those of the regular course and it was not specifically prepared for my level but they put me in a class with students who had higher level and I couldn't understand or learn so they later transferred me to a class with IELTS preparation students and although it wasn't what I expected I could understand and learn a little more but I think that if I had known this I wouldn't have bought the intensive course plan but only the regular one.

Excellent teachers and excellent programs, really interesting !

Hello,
I really enjoyed my week in Edinburgh and the classes were pretty fun and cool. I learned new words and used my English every day. The teacher were super nice and kind, they gave us interesting activities to do in group or we played fun games. My host family was kind and welcomed me good. We had a great time together learning things about each other when we were eating together.

Outside the school was fun as well because in Edinburgh has many activities which we can do after school and on the week-end. Compared to my little village in which I live the city was really refreshing and a new experience which I fully enjoyed.

I was really happy and every day was eventful and i was really sad when I was leaving. I would definitely come again to Edinburgh and furthermore I made some new friends.

When I was in Scotland, I was lucky because it did not rain and most of the time it was sunny or cloudy. The only "bad" weather was on Saturday because it was pretty windy.

Nice and well organized lessons, very welcoming teachers, very nice college. The city of Edinburgh is great. Unfortunately, as in fairy tales, it ends soon

that was very nice, the city was amazing, the school was great, the teachers were competent. I'd like to go back next year if it works, Irina and I are in love with Edinburgh. We did not have a test of our knowledge in English, which I found less good.

I really liked everything. I had a great time in Edinburgh. I think I was able to get a little bit more vocab that sounds more advanced. The teachers were good. I think your way of organizing could be solved better. The levels had a too big ranche of individuell levels. I had great classmates but some of them were in my opinion not as good in communicating in English as me.
So I found a few lessons a bit boring. But I enjoyed it overall very much. The school helped me to put my vocabulary to practice and as a result it helped me with my flow in the language.

I'd studying in the school during 2 weeks. I really liked the location of the school, it is not far away from main streets and popular places in Edinburgh.

The quality of teaching was rather good. We managed to do a lot of activities on the lessons. It really helped me to practice my speaking and grammar skills.

The school is very comfortable. Classrooms are not very big, but well-equipped. There is also a small kitchen where you can drink as much coffee as you want :)

On this monday morning, we found the "L.I.E. Offices" very easely.

As soon as we arrived, DAVID gave us a warm welcome . He gave us a short level test, with tact.
He showed us round this nice place.

I took courses (general level) with two teachers, very pleasant and interesting. Both of them are very competent.
The courses were well-balanced with grammar, pronounciation, reading, works in groups of 3, speaking, listening.

However, I have had some difficulties to understand several of the other students because of their foreign accents. (and I think, it was the same for them when I spoke!...) And, on the other side, it was very very interesting to meet them and try to discuss with them.
It is a delicate problem because of course, everyone has to speak for improving his english !.

Perhaps, I think that a" one to one" course is better for that (?)
The small kitchen and garden were greatly appreciated for coffee-break. Thank you for friendly and working atmosphere !

To sum up, I really enjoyed this training period which has given me to take my english in hand ....

I had a great experience in this school, located downtown, well organised with large classrooms and very good English teachers. I appreciate particularly the carefulness and receptiveness of the two teachers I had during my stay in the Language Institute.I recommend attending these courses.

My experience it's been very positive, because I lived this week in Edinburgh with my wife but not in the same class, so we can exchange our impressions and she helped me to improve my language. For me it's been also very hard, because i had never study English language at the school, so i had to stay very focused on it!

The teachers Meg and Alan were very kind to me and helped me during the activities to speak more correctly than before.

The school is a bit old, but comfortable, I appreciated the possibility to stay inside for a coffee, tea, chocolate or for a sandwich.

We were pleased to find a small and dedicated group of students to share our learning with; the group was multinational and diverse in age and level of English too.
Teachers made us communicate as much as possible, to stimulate us. So we had a lot of practice.

I loved the two weeks I spent in Edinburgh and attending the English course at The language Institute of English. The teachers gave me the opportunity to improve my English in a cheerful way. The atmosphere in class was great and the teachers were very professional. The school is well situated, at the heart of Edinburgh. I could reach the school easily by bus. It has been a great experience!

I had a great time in TLI School. The classes helped me to improve my skills and achieve great results, such as passing the advanced test. The atmosphere was always relaxed but not too much, with just the right balance to learn as best I could. Furthermore, the topics of the classes were always stimulating and different and all teachers were capable of involving us completely in the class. On the other hand, I found the activity program a bit poor and sometimes repetitive, and this could be improved. Since I had my own accommodation, I cannot evaluate the housing service.

In conclusion, I had a great experience in TLI School and I feel that my English has significantly improved during my staying in Edinburgh.

What I most enjoyed about my experience in TLI was the chance to meet lots of different people from various places. Talking to all these people made me see things from different points of view and really opened my mind to new ways of thinking.

The classes at the school were really useful and stimulating. The great thing about them, from my point of view, was that you got to learn English while talking about interesting topics that are present in your daily life, so it’s not really just learning English. Also, the fact that grammar wasn't taught in a monotonous way was really a plus for me, and the teachers were very friendly and close.

The school activities were a good opportunity to have fun and practice your English in the open with other students and also some school staff. I especially enjoyed the pub nights.

The school also helped me with some minor housing trouble and that made my stay there really pleasing, entertaining and comfortable.

The city of Edinburgh is absolutely beautiful and the school was not far from the center, so I had the chance to visit a lot of places. Also, I had the luck of being there while the Fringe Festival was taking place, and the atmosphere on the whole city was incredible.

All in all, my stay there was delightful and I really felt like I was taking profit of my time. I would definitely like to come back one day!