Issue 1
Dear Staff and Students,
Welcome to the New YES Newsletter!
We hope this email finds you well and happy!
We are at the end of the 2024 summer season now. Thank you to all students who have attended since summer 2023, through the winter, spring and in the last few months. We have greatly enjoyed teaching and supporting you in the school and we hope to see you again soon!
Some students are staying with us into September, October and perhaps to the end of the year. Good luck for your studies during this period!
PEN
(Practise English Network)
Remember that, as well as studying in class, you can speak English outside in the afternoons. Many of the cafes in Huddersfield know “YES” school and will give you a friendly Yorkshire (English!) welcome when you buy a coffee or cake from them- check out our PEN (Practise English Network). You can find more details about businesses in our PEN next the coffee machine in the YES School Common Area. Charity shops are often also very friendly and happy to talk to you.
Self- Study
(Tips and Resources)
In addition to your lessons and our PEN, don’t forget to try some websites to help you study on your own. We recommend: https://www.bbc.co.uk/
We also like https://www.esl-lab.com/ – this has lots and lots of listening practice, and you can find out about your progress in listening too. There is a lot of American English here – very different from the Yorkshire accent!
School Philosophy
We must all remember that YES must be a place of safety, security, comfort, and happiness. Please remember to respect all people in the school. This is true for all students, staff and visitors.
What is ‘respect’, really? It can be hard to explain – it means so much! In Britain, it means treating others the same way as you want to be treated. Listen to different ideas, points of view, beliefs, and respect them. They could be different to yours, but our whole world is like that: there are lots of differences between people. We all live together, mostly peacefully!
Sometimes there are differences in language. These differences can cause problems. “you should …” for example, can be offensive, but “you could …” is usually politer. Here is an interesting video about this topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Just like language, our body language, gestures, and movements can send out the wrong ‘message’ and can be offensive.
Let’s take Italy as an example! Italians usually touch, hug, or kiss each other to say hello or goodbye, or even to communicate something else. In Britain, only close friends, partners, and family members do some of these things to communicate. It is rude and unacceptable to touch someone (unless in an emergency). In other countries, there are other, different rules. Please do think about this when you are in the school and if you meet other students or staff members outside.
Talk to us!
Upcoming Holiday:
The school will be closed from Monday 26th August to Friday 30th August 2024 for an annual late summer holiday break, and will reopen on Monday 2 September. Please do not come to class during this time – there will not be a teacher or other students.
Any emergency: please use the emergency number sent to you in your Staff or Student Handbook.
Please note there will be some admin staff but their hours will be limited. You can also contact the Director of Studies, Tim Catterall, by email (info@yeschool.uk) to discuss any non-urgent issues.
Thank you for reading our first newsletter! More again soon.
Write in if you have any news you want to tell everyone!
Have a wonderful holiday!
The Yorkshire English School Team.
