If you like football you probably support your local team and your country’s team. But did you know that the very first international football match was played in Glasgow? It was played in 1872, at the West of Scotland Cricket ground and was between Scotland and England. The game ended in a 0-0 draw.
The Glasgow Subway (underground/metro). It opened in 1896 and is the third oldest underground railway in the world. It is often referred to as the “Clockwork Orange” because the carriages are very small and are all painted orange!
Glasgow Cathedral is the most complete medieval cathedral on the Scottish mainland (pictured above). Our social programme at Glasgow School of English often includes visits to the cathedral and the nearby St Mungo Museum of Religious Life.
While we know that some of our students don’t drink alcohol for religious reasons, many others do. If you like a beer (or even if you don’t!) then when you come to study with us you should go to the Horseshoe Bar in Drury Street in the city centre. It is a very old bar, established by Calvary Captain John Scouller in 1884. It is famous because its bar, measuring 104 feet and three inches, is the longest continuous bar in Europe.
École Diagonale is a private High School in the 5th arrondissement in the heart of Paris, with its four buildings located within a very short walk from the historic and magnificent Jardins du Luxembourg. It is a school that strives to combine the exceptional artistic and sports talents of its students with a rigorous academic programme and very responsive follow-up by its dedicated professors.
In the distant 1990, the establishment Diagonale started as a small education centre for additional classes in various subjects to help students improve their academic scores at their respective schools. Quite rapidly, with the innovative teaching approach and the amazing ambition of our Principal and school owner, Mr. Michel Naniche, the education centre became a French State-recognised High School in 2008. These past years, we are proud to announce our excellent results at the National Baccalauréat with up to 92 % success rating. While, our school tends to be flexible towards the students ranked at high national level in various sports in France, our teaching methods of constant availability for our students proves to be very effective and productive. Although it started as a small education structure, today, we have about 600 students aged 14 to 18 in our establishment, and we plan to expand and be able to accept 800 students, next autumn!
As the main English professor to our senior students, I have always been trying to develop international projects and ways of co-operation with other schools abroad which would be a beneficial and enriching experience and opportunity for our ambitious students. Therefore, as part of my personal efforts and with the tremendous support of Ecole Diagonale, I initiated and am currently working on the development of our first international agreement of cooperation with another group of schools, the Glasgow/Global Schools of English in Scotland, with its two centres in Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Filip Zafirovski (left) with Principal Michel Naniche (wearing the Edinburgh sweatshirt!).
I have been a full time professor of English and Specialised English at Ecole Diagonale since 2011 and my personal international education background confirms my firm belief that language and international training are indispensable for any young person seeking to succeed personally and professionally. Since the age of 16, I have been travelling and studying abroad, earning my certificates and diplomas in foreign languages, international education, politics and international affairs, co-operation and development, cultural diplomacy and globalisation, which was crucial in my decision to teach my students to become well-rounded citizens of the world. Moreover, having done parts of my education in New York, Berlin, Bordeaux, Paris and southern Italy and Macedonia, I encourage my students strongly to travel, explore the world and study abroad in order to broaden their horizons.
Finally, I sincerely hope that this sister school arrangement with the Glasgow/Global Schools in Scotland will be an excellent asset and option for our students to visit Scotland, learn about the Scottish culture, while above all, they improve their English skills at very reasonable prices. As the person responsible for developing this collaboration, I will personally do my best to enhance this joint project between our two schools, for the benefit of our students and all our staff members.
Glasgow has some trees that are older than the dinosaurs! Well, to be strictly accurate, they are fossilised trees. Fossilised simply means that they have become fossils and a fossil is the remains or impression of a prehistoric plant or animal embedded in rock and preserved in petrified form.
Our fossilised trees are in Victoria Park. They are around 330 million years old. At that time, Glasgow’s climate was warm and humid.
The Hunterian Museum in Glasgow is Scotland’s oldest public museum. It is in the University of Glasgow and was built in 1807. The museum has a large collection of art and scientific relics including the world’s first-ever ultra sound machine. We often organise trips to see this museum, so if you come to study with us here at Glasgow School of English then you’ll be able to see all its exhibits for yourself.
Following our recent establishment of a sister school arrangement for France, Glasgow School of English and Global School of English Edinburgh are pleased to announce we have now established another bilateral agreement, with Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University, Faculty of Foreign Languages, Russia to work together to give students and staff of the Faculty the opportunity of studying English in Scotland.
The Scottish schools are offering a sister school relationship to be developed with the Faculty. Our new sister school arrangement will provide the following to each of the institutions:
The Faculty will send to Glasgow /Edinburgh a group of students each year.
The Scottish schools will provide a prize each year to be offered to senior students of the Faculty.
The prize will be a two-week course of English, including accommodation, transfers, teaching materials and sight seeing.
The Faculty will provide an award ceremony each year where the prize(s) will be awarded to its students by a Scottish school representative.
The Faculty will provide opportunities to promote the Scottish schools and what they offer, to students and staff of the Faculty..
As the relationship matures, teacher exchange will be considered and developed for the mutual benefit of both parties to the agreement.
Andrew Lennox, President of the Scottish Schools stated “ I have for many years tried to establish this type of arrangement with overseas schools and I am delighted that Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University, Faculty of Foreign Languages, has recognised the mutual benefits of such a cooperation. We look forward to welcoming their students.”
We are delighted to announce that Glasgow School of English and Global School of English Edinburgh have established a Bilateral Agreement with Ecole Diagonale School in Paris to work together to give students and staff of the French school the opportunity of studying English in Scotland. Pictured above are Filip Zafirovski from Ecole Diagonale and Andrew Lennox, President of Glasgow and Global Schools.
The Scottish schools are offering a sister school relationship to be developed with Ecole Diagonale.
The sister school arrangement will provide the following to each of the institutions:
Ecole Diagonale will send to Glasgow /Edinburgh a group of students each year.
The Scottish schools will provide a prize each year to be offered to senior students of Ecole Diagonale.
The prize will be a two week course of English including accommodation, transfers, teaching materials and sightseeing.
Ecole Diagonale will provide an award ceremony each year where the prize(s) will be awarded to its students by a Scottish schools representative.
Ecole Diagonale will provide opportunities to promote the Scottish schools and what they offer, to students and staff of the French school.
As the relationship matures, teacher exchange will be considered and developed for mutual benefit to both parties of the agreement.
Andrew Lennox, President of the Scottish Schools stated “ I have for many years tried to establish this type of arrangement with overseas schools and I am delighted that Ecole Diagonale has recognised the mutual benefits of such a co-operation”
Sergei Koliaskin won a British Council competition to come to Glasgow School to improve his English language skills. He is from Chelyabinsk in the Ural Mountain region of Russia and he has been studying at Glasgow School of English for two weeks. He kindly agreed to meet me recently to talk about his experience at the School and in Scotland.
We discussed what Russian people know about Scotland. He said that one of his friends is studying Celtic history and I was amazed when he showed me photographs taken at a dancing school in Chelyabinsk with Russian girls dressed in Scottish tartan and about to enjoy some Scottish dancing!
Sergei told me that this is the first time he has visited Scotland. He says, “Scotland is a nice place. Glasgow is a wonderful city with a lot of green places – many nice parks and public spaces – and the people are very friendly.
“The teachers are good and the lessons are interesting. They give you more confidence in speaking and my English has improved. One other good thing is that there are people from all over the world studying here and you get to meet them and learn about their countries. It’s good to learn about different cultures.”
The M8 motorway connects Scotland’s two largest cities, Glasgow and Edinburgh. When you come to study here at Glasgow School of English, we often have an official trip to visit Edinburgh, but you can easily go on your own: it only takes about 50 minutes in a train.
As well as being an ancient city, Edinburgh is home to lots of fascinating places, people and things. One of the most interesting of these is what is probably the only penguin in the world that has been knighted (given the rank “Sir”) by a king.
This penguin lives at Edinburgh Zoo. The zoo is very big and is a really interesting place and well worth a visit if you go to Edinburgh. Their penguin enclosure is amazing, with a huge glass wall where you can see the penguins swimming under the water.
One of these penguins is the Colonel-in-chief and mascot of the Norwegian Royal Guard. When he was knighted in 2008, he was also given the name Sir Nils Olav. After the ceremony when he was knighted he then “inspected” the guard of soldiers who attended the ceremony. When the Norwegian Royal Guard soldiers visit Edinburgh, as they sometimes do for the Edinburgh International Festival, they always pay Sir Nils a visit!
Glasgow, like all very old cities, has quite a few statues in its public squares and other places. However, while most Glaswegians probably can’t name many, if any, of the statues in George Square (the main square in front of the City Chambers – the magnificent Council [local government] offices), just about everyone knows the statue of the Duke of Wellington (the famous British soldier, politician and Prime Minister) seated on his horse, in Royal Exchange Square.
The statue of the Duke is in front of the Gallery of Modern Art. When you come to study at Glasgow School of English, you will have the opportunity to go to see the modern art in this Gallery and when you do make sure you have a look at this statue.
The reason why everyone in Glasgow knows this statue is because it has, for many years, had a traffic cone on the head of the Duke. Originally put there as a joke, it’s now regarded as an essential part of the statue and if it’s ever removed then it’s soon replaced.
A few years ago, the Council decided that they would raise the plinth (the block on which the statue sits) a few feet so that no-one would be able to get the cone back on the Duke’s head. The Glaswegians were not pleased and the Council changed its mind! However, as this video shows, it’s not easy to get the cone up there!
In our last blog we told you about three things you need to know about Glasgow before you come here to study with Glasgow School of English. Here are three more important things that it’s worth knowing about our city.
East is east but west isn’t west
The first of these is a bit silly! Every Glasgow area to the east of the city centre is theeast end, but not every area to the west is thewest end. Ask your teacher and he or she will explain!
Shopping
Glasgow is a fantastic place for shopping. The city centre (downtown) is usually listed in third place in the UK shopping charts, behind London and Manchester. However, in Glasgow, the majority of shops are very close together, around Argyle Street, Buchanan Street and Sauchiehall Street. There are lots of buses into the city centre and there are two underground stations right in the middle of the town. You’ll find everything you might want!
Fizzy juice , lemonade and sausages
In Glasgow fizzy juice/lemonade is called “ginger.” Don’t ask us why, it just is! We also call a sausage sandwich “a piece and links.” This is different from a hot dog. A piece is a sandwich, of any type. Links (see picture) are sausages (sausages are usually “linked” together in a string of sausages). However, just to confuse you, we also have square sausage, which is what is says – a square sausage! If you don’t eat meat, you can also get vegetarian link sausages.
Glasgow School of English.