Raul and Fiancé Denise arrived to Cork City 4 months ago.

”I had very little experience of English language classes until I came to Ireland…I didn’t know what to expect but I LOVE it!  

Pat, David, Maisie, Rebecca, a lot of awesome teachers, that teach how to be like an Irish person :). As they said, if you want to be like a local, you have to talk like a local and in Ireland that means you have to talk A LOT…blablablablabla :).

Grammar is my worst enemy! I find grammar the most challenging but thankfully I am improving the most with grammar.

I work for a global bank (citibank) with a lot of meetings so I use English everyday for my job. Learning English at school is very important for my job.

If you want to LEARN something, whatever the place, can be local or online but for interaction, going to school is the best! ”.

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!