There is no substitute for taking an English course in a high quality language school in an English – speaking country. els – lounge Student has partnered with some of best language schools in the UK. Choose a school from below. We can offer discounts on English courses.

    University of Liverpool, English Language Center

    You can have confidence in the University of Liverpool, which is ranked in the top 1% of higher education institutions worldwide. While studying here, you will benefit from modern and dynamic English teaching methods in small classes of fewer than 16 students.

    See University of Liverpool courses and save 12%.

    Burlington School, London

    Burlington School is located in Parsons Green, 15 minutes by underground from the center of London. Our standard of teaching is high, with courses in General and Specialist English. The coffee bar is open all day serving freshly – cooked meals, and the school organizes a range of social activities. Students either live in homestays or in one of our hostels.

    See Burlington School courses and save 10%.

    New School of English, Cambridge

    The New School of English is located in the beautiful city of Cambridge. The school is open all year and provides a range of English language courses for adults from all over the world (minimum age 16). These courses cover General English as well as courses for professionals looking to focus on specific topic areas. They have a range of accommodation choices for students.

    See New School of English courses and save 5%.

    Interactive English School, Brighton

    We are a small friendly school. Being a small school means we can meet your personal needs easily. All of our teachers are native speakers, qualified and experienced. Our prices are very affordable and start from £600 per week for full – time courses of 20 lessons.

    See Interactive English School courses and save 7%.

    With exams just around the corner, now is a good time to explore some of UCL's lesser-known study spaces and get down to some revision. Here are some good choices for you.

    UCL Senate House Hub

    UCL Senate House Hub opened in 2015 and provides 144 study spaces. What's more, you can check how many spaces are available online before you head to the hub! Located on the third floor of the South Block of Senate House, the center has room for individual and group study in traditional library spaces, as well as casual armchairs and bar-style desks.

    UCL Eastman Dental Library

    The newly refurbished(翻新的) UCL Eastman Dental Library is located halfway along Gray's Inn Road and is open from Monday to Friday, 9:00 am–8:00 pm. The library has 72 study spaces, and many IT facilities are available. The library also has a study room for meetings and a computer room with an interactive whiteboard.

    UCL Language & Speech Science Library

    UCL Language & Speech Science Library (Lass) has disabled access and has recently been refurbished to add extra study spaces. With only 49 spaces, Lass is smaller than most other UCL Libraries and tends to fill up relatively quickly, so get there early to avoid disappointment.

    Senate House Library

    This one may be cheating as the Senate House Library is not technically a UCL library. However, all UCL students and staff can register for free membership online. With millions of books and journals, Senate House Library offers some places a little less used by UCL students but perfect for getting down to some hard work.

    Everyone looks forward to progress, whether in one's personal life or in the general society. Progress indicates a person's ability to change the way he is living at the moment. Progress must lead a better way of doing things. All these, however, remain true only in so far as people want to accept technology and move forward by finding new and more efficient ways of doing things.

    However, at the back of the minds of many people, especially those who missed the “good old days”, efficiency comes with a price. When communication becomes efficient, people are able to contact one another no matter where they are and at whatever time they wish to. The click of a button allows people miles apart to talk or to see each other without even leaving their homes. With the communication gadgets, such as mobile phones and ipads, people often do not take the effect to visit one another personally. A personal visit carries with it the additional feature of having to be in the person's presence for as long as the visit lasts. We cannot unnecessarily excuse ourselves or turn the other person off.

    With efficiency also comes mass production. Such is the nature of factories and the success of industrialization today. Factories have improved efficiency. Unskillful tasks are left to machines and products are better made and produced with greater accuracy than any human hand could ever have done. However, with the improvements in efficiency also comes the loss of the personal touch when making these products. For example, many handcrafts are now produced in a factory. Although this means that supply is better able to increase demand, now that the supply is quick and efficient, the demand might fall because mass production lowers the quality of the handicraft and it is difficult to find unique designs on each item.

    Nevertheless, we must not commit the mistake of analyzing progress only from one point of view. In fact, progress has allowed tradition to keep up. It is only with progress and the invention of new technology that many old products can be brought back to their old state. New technology is required for old products to stay old.

    It is people's attitude towards progress that causes the type of influence that technology has on society. Technology is flexible. There is no fixed way of making use of it. Everything depends on people's attitude. The worst effects of progress will fall on those who are unable to think again about their attitudes and views of society. When we accept progress and adapt it to suit our needs, a new “past” is created.

    The Notre Dame fire has been put out, but its spire and a large portion of its wooden roof have been damaged. The terrible destruction causes a sudden sharp pain to people around the world. On Chinese social media network Wechat a common comment on the disaster is: "What a pity that we cannot see the damaged parts of the wonder anymore."

    But the good news is that there is at least one way of seeing them, namely via a video game called Assassin's Creed: Unity. In this game, the player can travel to one city after another and enter the buildings exactly like what they are in reality, and see Notre Dame as it was before the fire. Further, with virtual reality technology, which is already quite mature, one can even look around the undamaged Notre Dame as if it is still there. Maybe digital technology could help to better protect architectural cultural heritage.

    The idea of digitizing ancient buildings, making digital models of them so their data can be saved, dates back to the 1990s and the necessary technology has continued to advance since then. By scanning the ancient buildings with lasers, building 3D models with multiple images, as well as measuring everything precisely, engineers can make a copy as accurate as the real one.

    As computers and smartphones are hugely popular, the digital replica（复制品）has great use value  First, it allows tourists to feel the cultural relics without touching them, which helps protect them. The virtual tour of Dunhuang Grottoes in Gansu Province is a good example of this as tourists can view the paintings without standing near them. Furthermore, it can make the digitized cultural relics more famous by spreading awareness about them via the Internet. In 2000, a virtual tour of the Great Wall became very popular at the Hannover World Expo, which increased the number of foreign tourists visiting the site in the following years. Above all, it preserves all the information of the cultural relics. Even if the original ones are damaged one day, people can still know what they were like and can build a replica if desired.

    Of course, however precise a model is, it is not the original. Time is the biggest threat to a country's architectural heritage, which will always become ruins with the passing of time. Maybe we will have better technologies in the future, but the digital technology offers a practical way to preserve architectural cultural heritage at the moment.

Lovers often use flowers, chocolates, sweet gifts or grand declarations to express feelings deep in their hearts. But this year, you could let your love take off by traveling with that special someone on a romantic adventure. These are some romantic destinations which might bring new joy to your life and, most importantly, more fun and excitement to your relationship.

Stairs of the Turks, Sicily

Scala dei Turchi, or Stairs of the Turks, at Realmonte, southern Sicily, Italy. The Scala is formed by mud, a sedimentary rock(沉积岩) with a characteristic white color and is a popular tourist attraction and place to sun bath. In the film Malèna, the hero, 12-year-old Renato, always stare at the sunset here with his friends.

Somerset House in London

Located in central London, Somerset House is a popular filming location with its exterior featuring in several big budget Hollywood films. In the winter, its central courtyard is turned into an open-air playground for skating, as seen during the well-received film Love Actually.

Pokhara, Nepal

Pokhara is considered the tourism capital of Nepal. With two major hilltops as viewpoints to see the city and surrounding view, the city has recently added a bungee jumping site (the second in Nepal): Water Touch Bungee Jumping. Visitors also come here for adventure activities such as paragliding and skydiving. In the film Up in the Wind starring Ni Ni and Jing Boran, two young people climb up to the mountaintop and wait for the strong wind to carry them for paragliding. It becomes a moment of spiritual uplift.

Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan

A canal decorated with Victorian-style street lamps runs through Otaru. The city attracts many Japanese tourists as well as Russian visitors. Otaru is well known for its beer, fresh sushi and handicrafts like studio glass and musical boxes. At the poster of Japanese film Love Letter, Hiroko Watanabe stands among the snowy town and honors her dead lover.

For the past 60 years,the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) has protected animals,restored lost habitats and advocated for policy changes that benefit wildlife.Now,the conservation organization is trying a new approach.

This year,AWF launched the inaugural Benjamin Mkapa African Wildlife Photography Awards.The contest aims to reach a different audience.While photography competitions are nothing new,AWF hopes that the exhibition of winning entries will encourage African people to take a more active role in conservation.Its CEO Kaddu Sebunya said,"Africans need to take responsibility for the conservation of their heritage."

Photographers of all ages and backgrounds,professional and amateur,were invited to submit to the competition.A judging panel,comprised of photographers,conservationists,activists and safari guides,selected photos from 12 categories including "Art in Nature" "Coexistence and Conflict" and "Conservation Heroes".

 The "Conservation Heroes" category had special appeal for Kenyan conservation photographer Anthony Ochieng Onyango."I realized there was a communication gap because most of what was being communicated was data in scientific publications," said Onyango,adding that images are a simple way for people to connect to complex issues.

While there were many entries in the AWF competition,there's only one 19-year-old Cathan Moore from South Africa among the category winners.There's a lack of opportunity for young aspiring photographers on the continent.AWF is seeking grants and partnerships to enable more African people to participate next year,and to make nature photography competitions more accessible to those unable to pay or buy expensive camera equipment,allowing people to use whatever camera they have and photograph wildlife in urban environments.

Sebunya hopes that the competition can open up a dialogue about conservation and why it's so important for Africa's future.Many people in Africa look at conservation as a thing done by and for foreigners,said Sebunya.While he praised the work of international NGOs,he emphasized that it's vital that African voices are heard and for local people to lead conservation efforts.