This week I shall be talking about the first public holiday of the year (well technically the second one after New Year’s Day) – the 10^th of February which commemorates the shipwreck of St. Paul in Malta which took place in 60 A.D. This event is also registered in the Acts of the Apostles: 27, 28.

This is a very special day for Maltese people especially since St. Paul is also the patron saint of the island.  It is claimed that during his three-month stop in Malta The Apostle to the Gentiles stayed in a cave in Rabat, which nowadays forms part of the Parish Church of this picturesque town, and which is visited by hundreds of tourists every day.  When the late Pope John Paul II visited the island (on two separate occasions in 1990 and 2001) he too had paid a visit to the sacred grotto.

2010 marks the 1950^th anniversary of St. Paul’s shipwreck in Malta so if you happen to be on the island this Wednesday make sure that you pay a visit to Valletta (the capital city where the actual feast of the Shipwreck of St. Paul is celebrated), Rabat (where you can find St. Paul’s grotto, and also where the feast of the martyrdom of St. Paul is held) as well as Safi (which is the third town in Malta that celebrates the feast of St. Paul’s conversion).

Isn’t it amazing how time just flies?  January is already over and, speaking for myself, I can say that it’s passed in the wink of an eye! In a few weeks we’ll start preparing for Carnival, and then Easter, after that we’ll have the World Cup to look forward to….and before you know it, summer will have arrived!!

That can only mean one thing….that we’re all being kept busy here at Elanguest.  As I’m sure you all know, last year was pretty challenging for all businesses worldwide so this year we’re all doing our best improve the situation.  However, we cannot and do not want to do it alone.  We’d like to hear it from you too!

Is there anything else that you would like to see at Elanguest in Malta or on the Elanguest website?

For those students who have already visited our school; what were the things that contributed to making your stay at Elanguest memorable?

And for those students who are thinking of coming; what are your expectations?

So many hopes….so many resolutions….so many expectations!  But what is 2010 really going to be all about?

In all honesty, no one can answer this question, but let’s be realistic!  It will very likely be just like any other year before it – with its ups and downs, with its challenges and aspirations…as many would say…a ‘normal’ year.  However, even if we are aware of all this, most of us, still have long chats over never-ending New Year’s Day family lunches during which we promise the human race that we are indeed going to try to make the world a better place this year (at least I definitely cannot help it).  Despite knowing that such guarantees are way too ambitious for any human being, one still finds some kind of comfort and inner peace when making resolutions.

This year, one of my aims is to make this blog as interactive as possible…so I’m going to conclude by asking you to share your own resolutions for 2010. Have you made any?  If so…do you think you’ll manage to keep them?  If not, what is your opinion about such promises, and why don’t you make any?

If you are reading this on facebook feel free to leave your comments below – we’d love to read them!  If you are on our website – email us your thoughts…or even better yet, take a minute to find the Elanguest group on facebook and come interact with us there!

See you all next week….oh and by the way…..HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010!

Walking into the office this morning had an utterly different feel to it…presents were scattered all over, food was being brought out of boxes, and everyone wore extra-nice outfits.  After spending a big chunk of 2009 working hard on a number of new projects, including quite a lot of online material which I’ve discussed with you in the past weeks, the last and much-awaited-for scholastic day is finally here!

One of the highlights at Elanguest at this time of the year (apart from the Christmas party) is the Secret Santa activity which has now been running for a couple of years.  Everyone should turn up at 12.30pm and that is when the party should start.  As you can probably tell…we’re all looking very forward to that hour!

On the other hand, one must keep in mind that Christmas is not all about presents, parties and fun.  At this time of the year we should also think of those who will not be with us to celebrate this special feast…friends or family members who are working in different countries far away; or special people who passed away…

However, I really do not want to end the last blog of 2009 on a gloomy note, so I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have made this year as successful as it has been…starting with my bosses David and Ursula West, all my colleagues in the office, all my other colleagues who make sure that the school premises are always spick and span, all the teachers,   and of course, all the students who have written yet another chapter in the story of Elanguest

On behalf of everyone I want to wish all of you and your families and very merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year 2010.  All the best to all!  God bless!

As promised last Friday, today I shall take you on a quick trip down memory lane to highlight the main Elanguest moments of the first 6 months of 2009!

Two of the main events took place in April. As you can probably imagine the first few months of the year are normally very quiet, since the number of students normally begins to increase round about Easter time.

I had told you all about the lovely group of English teachers from Brasov, in Romania who had come to Malta with the intention of exposing themselves to different teaching methods. They were such a great group …. and I’m still in touch with them until this very day!  They recently wrote to me to tell me about their lovely city and how it’s all covered in snow….I’m so jealous!!!!

During the same week we also celebrated the Dutch Queen’s Day…well, in our case we changed it slightly and celebrated Queen’s NIGHT as opposed to DAY   That was also very orange and a LOT of fun!

Some of the Romanians enjoying the Maltese sun in Valletta

It is here….the last month of 2009! Now’s the time when we all start looking back at the past 11 months to recall the highlights of a year that’s coming to an end…

Do you have any nice 2009 memories that you’d like to share with the rest of us?

Having said that, I have two more weeks to remind you of all the nice moments we’ve shared at Elanguest this past year …so today I’d like to dedicate this page to one of our students who will be taking her FCE exam in 4 days…Ilonka Ravenshorst

Ilonka has been with us for the past 15 weeks, and as is the case with all our long-stays, it will be strange not having her around! On behalf of everybody else at Elanguest I’d like to wish her the best of luck for her exam….even though I’m sure she will be just fine!

As promised earlier, next week I will be back with some of the highlights of the first half of 2009.

In the meantime….take care…and have a great weekend

How many of you were aware of the fact that teachers all over the world have a day which is specifically dedicated to them? I’ve personally been in this business for over 7 years and I had no idea!! I also did not know that different countries have different days throughout the year on which they celebrate Teachers’ Day.  Normally the days are chosen depending on particular political or historical events which took place on a specific day.

Different countries also have different ways to celebrate this day.  In some countries, such as Croatia and El Salvador, Teachers’ Day is considered to be a holiday and schools are closed.

All the teachers at Elanguest were surprised when our Turkish students walked into the cafeteria with a beautiful and delicious-looking cake on Tuesday morning.  The 24^th of November is Teachers’ Day in Turkey and since all of them happen to be lecturers and Professors, they are normally on the receiving end of gifts, however, this year they happened to be playing the role of students on Teachers’ Day so they wanted to share this special day with all of their teachers over here!

Apart from it being a lovely gesture, I must admit that the cake was amazing……:)

On Wednesday morning we all woke up to a power cut all round the island, which meant that for a few hours until everything  got back to normal we were isolated from the rest of the world.  For some strange reason (and I’m using the adjective strange on purpose since the sun is still as bright as it would be in June!) I was overwhelmed by Christmas spirit.  This feeling lead to an early decision to start decorating the school for Christmas…

Out came the decorations, the lights, the tree…and within moments we were all busy bouncing from one side of the cafeteria to the other!

Luckily the lights came back on pretty quickly, meaning that we could finally put on some Christmas Carols and pray for the rain and the cold weather…

We’re still dreaming of a White Christmas…..

Friday the 13^th…a day that freaks out many superstitious people from all around the world, but for some of us it’s merely one other day.  But what is it about Friday the 13^th that is so scary?  In truth, there are very few documented tragedies which took place on this day, so one could conclude that this is the result of legends that were passed down the generations through words of mouth.  However, for the more cynical of us, the answer to the question above could be found in numerology theories…

Basically, in numerology the number 12 is considered to be the number of completeness, probably resulting from the fact that we have twelve months in a year, twelve hours on the clock, the twelve Apostles of Jesus, and also the twelve gods of Olympus, amongst other. The number 13 was, therefore, considered as going against this completeness.

There is, obviously, nothing to prove these theories; however, I would suggest that you all keep your eyes wide open today….just in case…..

We live in a world which is utterly dominated by the idea of money and wealth, and we rarely consider doing something for others without expecting anything in return. The truth is, once you do it, the feeling of fulfillment is more rewarding than any amount of cash!

Today I’d like to share with you something new that I’ve experienced this week – something which I’ve been wanting to do for a very long time but never actually got round to doing. I’m talking about teaching English to people who are not considered as part of mainstream society, in other words, outcasts. This is a new idea that David and Ursula West, the owners and founders of Elanguest, came up with a few weeks ago. Our school has always been proud of its solid Christian foundations and this is a good opportunity for all of us to practice what we preach!

Whilst anxiously waiting for the first group to arrive, on Wednesday afternoon, Tom and I were talking about how challenging it is to go into a classroom not knowing what to expect, however, it was so pleasant to be in their company and to see how keen they were to improve their English, that the rest just naturally fell into place. The two hours literally flew by…