One of the things I most like about The English Studio is the opportunity to meet and teach people from all over the world while  watching people from different countries becoming friends. I think that’s the best part of the London experience for so many of our students and something I’m proud to be a part of. The only difficulty that arises is when it’s time to say goodbye.

When I was growing up, the idea of Guatemala was of a strange country, which I knew absolutely nothing about. More than twenty five years later, not a lot had changed: and then I met Melany Adriana Garcia Carrillo or, ‘Adri,’ as we will all remember her. Having come to London to  work for a family  and  improve her English before going home to start college, Adri joined The English Studio as a member of both Stuart’s Blue Class and my Black one. She soon proved herself to be a sweet-natured, hard-working intelligent girl and was much-loved by her classmates (and teachers) as a result.

If proof were needed as to her popularity, one only needed to visit her going-away party at O’Neill’s pub in Shepherd’s Bush last night , where we drank our pints of Guinness, laughed like lunatics and said our sweet and sad goodbyes. Our section of the pub was packed with well-wishers from, amongst other countries: France, Georgia, Brazil, Algeria, Colombia, Macedonia, Scotland,Venezuela, Spain, Turkey, Mexico, England, Ireland and Romania. (Sorry if I’ve forgotten anyone!)

Watching this mini United Nations having a good time together gave me a lovely, warm, Christmasey glow and it was Adri who had brought us all together..To everyone who came, thank you for a wonderful night! To Adriana: It was a pleasure to meet, know and teach you. You are an outstanding ambassador for your country and every time I hear the mysterious word ‘Guatemala,’ I will always think of you…

Mike

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 11th, 2008 at 2:04 pm and is filed under The English Studio news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.