English test success for Language students!

Xplore are proud to announce the first Anglia Examination results for the 2013 season. During the past six weeks of summer, nearly 2,000 students aged six to eighteen, have participated in the Language Activity Camps across seven centres nationwide.

Of the 53% of exams marked thus far, our students have achieved a fantastic 95% average pass rate combining all those who achieved a pass, merit or distinction grade.

We are still awaiting the remaining results of the Anglia test papers, which vary through nine different levels from ‘First Step’ to ‘Proficiency’, measuring all aspects of learning a language – listening, reading, writing and speaking which our specialised teachers delivered through seven different teaching levels, available at different camps across the UK.

Behind the Scenes in the UK Head Office

The sun is shining after a long spell of cloud and the UK head office is buzzing!  In the Sales and Marketing department there is always something new happening and I’m super excited about my latest task of putting together next years Group Travel brochures!  As our business grows it is time to separate out the information we give to our UK and international groups; so double the fun for me!

When I start thinking about a brochure I have to first think about what the purpose of the brochure is, who will be reading it and how much information they will need.  I then think about the page layout and what order my reader will find the information most useful.  In my head I start to think about the photos we could use from our library of images as well as getting an idea for the overall look of the brochure.  My aim is to capture the reader’s attention using photos and graphics whilst providing them with all the information they need to make a booking or enquiry.

Once I have a good idea of content I then brief our Marketing Design Manager in the USA who has the super talent of putting ideas onto paper using his creative skills!  He will always suggest ways of presenting information that I won’t have thought of so his input is invaluable.  We work together via email and Skype (what did we do before Skype?) until we have a brochure that we are happy to show to our Directors.  With fingers crossed we take them through the design and listen to their feedback.  With all final amends made it is time for proofreading.  There have been times that I have been glued to a brochure until 3am seeking out any obscure grammatical errors that I don’t want to miss!  The joy of writing for a website is that you can go back and correct any errors but printed material is of course a different matter!  During the design process I will have also been thinking about how many brochures we need and start to get quotes from printers.  We made the decision some time ago to print on environmentally friendly paper; I actually prefer the look and feel of it to normal paper and knowing that it could have had up to 6 other lives before becoming our brochure gives it a bit of character!  If I’m at all worried about how a particular colour will print on recycled paper I know I can visit the printing company to see it come off the press and make any colour corrections there and then.  We also take into account the cost to the environment of shipping and we are trying to use other means such as QR codes to direct people to our websites for further information, thus hopefully cutting down on how much paper we use.

The whole process of creating a brochure can take a few months and a lot of thought and effort goes into it but it is always worth it in the end!  Here in the UK head office we have brochures dating back to our humble beginnings in 1987 (pictured above) and it is always fun to flick through and see our journey not just in terms of branding and design but also products and destinations!  The only question is ‘are you coming with us’…?