About 400 British schools offer language courses for foreigners
In general, it is quite possible to choose language courses in England on your own, to go through all the "bureaucratic" work, obtain the necessary documents, and participate in the courses. How can you carry out all the work without outside help?
You just need to choose one of almost four hundred schools in Britain that offer such language courses and decide on the types of courses that interest you and their price. Then contact the school, get all the required documents from it. After filling out the obtained paperwork, you need to get a visa and get to the location of the courses by the start time.
Easier said than done. What obstacles can arise for students planning to go abroad?
The first thing students who want to improve their English will face is an abundance of information that is not so easy to verify. Moreover, the information is presented only in an advertising, but not practical manner. Frankly, without extensive experience in the field of foreign education, it is difficult to understand such materials – from pictures and laudatory reviews it is almost impossible to learn about real life. Ideally, you can contact someone who has already taken such courses or communicate through a forum with those who are studying there. This way you can learn much more useful and applicable real-life information.
Almost all schools offer similar conditions – homestay, children's camp, school residence, intensive and moderately intensive courses with 25-30 hours of study per week. The prices for such rather vague conditions are also very general, and often the cost of the course only includes basic services, while you will have to pay extra for everything else. Ideally, you can contact the school and get its advertising brochure, which should list prices for basic services. With such information, you can choose a course that best fits your budget and calculate approximately how much your stay in the country will cost.
It should be remembered that the most important information is often written in the very bottom of advertising brochures in very small print. And the most delicate conditions may be stipulated in this way – for example, refunds when refusing to study, cancellation rules, and much more. It is very important to familiarize yourself with such information in advance, and not accidentally learn about it when it comes to post-factum disputes.
Almost all schools operate on a prepayment basis. According to the educational institutions, these funds are needed for visa support for the student. The amount of such a preliminary registration fee can range from 50 to 100 pounds, and you need to have a VISA or Master Card foreign currency card to pay. The document processing procedure is as follows: print out the registration forms, fill them in, and send them to the school by fax.
After the documents are received back, you can safely go to apply for the long-awaited visa. Having fulfilled the financial conditions of prepayment, it is much easier to get a visa than to endure all the difficulties of paperwork at embassies, proving that you have the funds to pay for tuition.
An additional difficulty may be that people who go to study a foreign language in England mostly have a below-average level of English. This creates additional problems when communicating with the school, filling out documents, conducting correspondence, and so on. In order to avoid unpleasant surprises and unexpected occurrences during the course selection and travel preparation process, it is still recommended to use the help of a consultant who will simply resolve some disputed points and bring clarity to the situation.