English UK is now accepting papers for elective and plenary sessions at the 2008 ELT Management Conference. This year’s event will be held at the Thistle Hotel in Brighton on 7th and 8th March 2008. The prestigious event is attended by ELT management professionals from all over the UK and is supported by Cambridge ESOL. Sessions should normally include a management focus that reflects current trends and issues, helps update the skills and knowledge of managers, is practical and innovative, has relevance for all sectors and provides examples of best practice. The deadline for applications is 5th November 2007. For more details, please click: call_for_papers_management_conference.pdf

The Consultants-E are very pleased to announce that registration for their online Sept – Dec courses is now open, and that they are offering a 10% discount to all English UK members on the fees for any of the following 4 – 10 week courses:

- E-moderation: 1 – 31 October
- Learn to use Moodle:  1 October – 30 November
- ICT in the Classroom: 1 October  - 16 December
- NEW! Teaching Business English 15 November  - 15 December

See http://www.theconsultants-e.com/courses/ for full details on content and learning outcomes for each course, fees, tutoring, past participant feedback etc. Please also note that the Consultants-E will be offering face-to-face courses as part of this year’s English UK training programme.

See our website for more details: www.englishuk.com/training.
 

The LTM (Language Travel Magazine) star awards as voted for by the general public and industry peers  has voted English UK as their Language Association of the Year.

A message from David Pauley (from STA Travel) for Centres offering ISIC.

The International Student Identity Card (ISIC) starts afresh on Sept 1st
-          Valid from Sept 1st to Dec 31st 2008
-          There is a new mail-order application form
-          Costs £9 (previously £7).
-          Includes new benefits (with value beyond the regular student price) from Fitness First, City Sightseeing bus tours, Vue cinemas, music downloads and several others.

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The new HMO licence came into force on 6 April 2006. Under the new rules, a house is considered as being an HMO, therefore requiring a licence, when amongst other criteria the landlord is not resident and/ or the house has been converted and let out to 3 or more tenants who form 2 or more households.

From the above definition, homestay families should automatically be exempt, however in some cases, local councils have classed homestays as HMOs.

To counter this decision, it is important for homestays to demonstrate that they are not renting the rooms to students, and that the students form part of the family’s household. Homestays can also show that the money being paid to them by centres is not a market rent, and in effect only covers the provision of agreed services to the students.