Oguzhan is from Istanbul, Turkey. He started his English language journey at Cork English Academy back in September. Here is his story.

I’m a mechanical engineer. Due to my job, I need to communicate with companies and employees abroad. English is used as a common language. For this reason, I decided to study English. I chose Ireland for English education because I heard how helpful the Irish people are. I think Irish people are the people most like the Turkish people in the continent of Europe.

The reason I chose the city of Cork is that it is a small and safe city. Turkish people usually go to Dublin for English education. The only reason I wanted to be away from Turkish people was to always speak English and improve my level. During my four and a half months in Ireland, I travelled to Cork and Dublin. But I would love to visit other cities of Ireland in the spring. My favourite thing about Cork is that the buildings are small and you can always see the sky even in the city centre. This is very refreshing.
The thing I dislike most is the weather, of course.

I have improved my English more than I expected at Cork English Academy. Everyone at school helps a lot. I really want to work and live in Ireland in the future.

Lena is a French student who studies General English at CEA.

Hi, my name is Léna, I am 19 and I am a Cork English Academy student I have lived in Cork for 3 months, since September. My first experience was as an Au pair, it was not too bad but it’s definitely not for me. After 3 months, I returned to France, and since February I am still in Ireland, I was in Dublin for 2 weeks and I’ll stay in Cork for 3/4 months more. I live with other people in the School Residence.

For me, Cork it’s a very nice city, you can find whatever you want, when you want. This city is easier than other cities.You can shop and also go to the park. The bus is also the Best transport. You really need to use the bus in Cork. What i really like in Cork is the house’s colours. Even if the weather is bad, Cork have a lot of colours, you can feel good even if it’s raining. That’s my point of view.

I completed level B1 and I am nearly to finished B2 at Cork English Academy. It was a brilliant experience.

The teachers did their best to help us and make everything clear and let us communicate which other students and practice speaking as much as possible.

My speaking is the most improved. The most challenging for me is practicing writing skills.

I don’t get a chance to practice English outside of school hours so speaking to teachers and classmates was important for me.

In my opinion I didn’t find huge differences between studying online and studying in person. The teachers were still brilliant. However, the relations and communication between students is better in person, in the school.

Here are some photos I took of Cork:

Thank you Banan. We wish you all the best!

Daniel (progressing from A2 Pre-Intermediate to C1 Advanced) and Zabele (progressing from B1 Intermediate to C1 Advanced) studied at Cork English Academy from March 2020 to May 2021. Congratulations to you both on your achievements!

Online Classes at Cork English Academy

When we arrived in Ireland our focus was to learn English. Obviously we were doubt about the school, about life and if we could live far away from our family.

Luckily, the reception of school, the teachers and the classmates helped us to feel better. All of our teachers helped us a lot to learn and the methodology was very good.

We had five weeks on face-to-face classes and then the quarantine started. It was a hard time for everyone and we thought about give up and go back to Brazil.

Fortunately, we stayed in Ireland and we restarted the English language course online. One more time we were worried about the course but the teachers made everything to improve their methods and helped us. To be honest, in many times, it looks like we were at school.

We’ve tried practicing English with some friends at work but, because of quarantine, we just stayed at home and watched movies in English.

The most important thing for improving our English, in our opinion, was the teachers. Every time they told us some ways and points that we needed to focus, they showed another online free material for practice more and more. Everything supported us to learn.

We would like to say thank you for our teachers Joanne, Emma, Phil, Pat, Karen, Aine, Annushka, Gavin, Michael, Christopher, all of the School staff, directors and everyone who supported us. You are amazing.

Thank you very much!

Daniel and Zabele

Teffi from Germany first started online classes with us in the Summer of 2020 at B1 Intermediate level. Just over 6 months later she is now at C1 Advanced level and continues to study with CEA online. Read Teffi’s story…

I always wanted to learn English in another country but I am a full-time student in Germany. My friend recommended an online course that I could take during my lockdown time.

The best thing that could happen to me during the pandemic is CEA’s online course and so I signed up for the course. 

At the beginning I was very sceptical if the online course could do anything. But it convinced me otherwise. I had also had English for a long time in my school days, but the lessons could not be compared to the current course.

I enjoyed every minute of the class and to be honest it was my highlight of the day because you always learn something new and the style of teaching was different.

The teachers were all very nice, helpful and each had different styles which I really liked.

As I don’t speak much English outside of the classroom at the moment, the course is definitely good to get to grips with the language. The online course allowed me to focus on listening comprehension and speaking. 

Congratulations Teffi! Wishing you all the best with your language progression.