Global marketing expert Eddie Byers, who has held director-level posts at the British Council and VisitScotland, will take over as Chief Executive of English UK later in 2014.

Does your language centre give good customer service? The best possible? Then what would you do if a celebrity walked in? That's the question Geoff Ramm will be asking delegates during the closing session of the English UK Marketing Conference in London on February 7 (whilst making everyone laugh a lot as well).

What's got members in 42 countries, helps the best agents to work with the best educators, and is getting bigger and better all the time? The answer is English UK's partner agency scheme.

English UK and the British Council China collaborated on the fifth UK Summer School Programmes roadshow to China in November which attracted a record 370 agents to workshops in Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing.

Season's Greetings and best wishes for the New Year from all the staff at English UK!

Please note that the English UK office will be closed for the holidays from 13:00 on Friday 20 December 2013 until Thursday 2 January 2014.