English ministays and closed groups for International Students Programme

Are you looking for an unforgettable way to improve the English of your students which allows you to build the programme you need in the UK? ELC Schools’ Ministays & Closed Group Courses offer the perfect mix of language learning, cultural discovery, and group bonding!

Designed for international students aged 13-16 and young adults aged 16+, our short-term courses in Brighton, Eastbourne, and Chester UK are designed to help your students boost their English skills quickly while experiencing life in a vibrant British city.

Choose from:

  • General English
  • Exam Preparation (IELTS, Cambridge, Trinity, Linguaskill, LanguageCert)
  • Work-related English, or
  • Language & Culture programmes.

Each short programme is tailored to your group’s needs. With our qualified teachers, dynamic teaching style and an immersive learning environment, your group’s ministay will be engaging, rewarding, and truly enriching! We look forward to speaking to you about your plans.

Course features

  • Approved for PON, ASL and PCTO funded programmes.
  • Warm, welcoming atmosphere.
  • All course books and materials are included.
  • Friendly and safe environment.
  • Custom end of course certificates to match your requirements.

Who is this English course for?

This option maybe be perfect for you if you are a teacher, a group leader, or an educational tour operator, and you are looking for a totally customised, fully immersed short-term English course in the UK for international students of English, aged between 13 and 16 years.

You might be looking for a programme which will fit around your schedule of cultural visits, themed activities (such as sports tours, visits related to school subjects at home, like geography, history, religion, politics, economics or business studies).

This option is also great if you need a fixed number of hours of group English lessons, or a specially themed English course for teenagers in the UK.

Tailor made programmes

All of our short-term English courses in the UK for international students in closed groups can be 100% tailored to your needs:

  • English group lessons: Choose how many lessons per week and decide on the content of those lessons. It could be general English, exam preparation or a special topic that you’ve been preparing in class at home. Or something else completely. Let us know!
  • Homestay accommodation: We can arrange shared or individual homestay accommodation in Chester, Eastbourne and Brighton, or we can help you with hotel, hostel or other forms of accommodation.
  • Activities and excursions: No ministay in the UK would be complete without trips and excursions, locally or nationally. Again, we can help select locations and attractions which connect to your project, topic or learning outcomes. Just ask!
  • Airport and other transfers: We can pick your group up from all major airports and transport hubs, including St Pancras International in London, and ferry terminals around the UK.
  • 24/7 emergency support: You are always supported around the clock with emergency numbers and help if required.
  • Travel insurance: We can provide different levels of insurance for your group, depending on the activities you’re planning and the duration of your stay.
Three women walk down the seafront, possibly in Brighton, eating ice creams. It's clearly a sunny day. The middle person is smiling whilst the other two are capture mid-way through licking their icecreams.
A photo of students sitting at picnic tables chatting together during a break in activities at Loxdale, which is the home to ELC Brighton's summer camp for teenagers. You can see the red brick building in the background and a white gazebo which has been erected on the lawn. The sun is shining.
A photo of Eastbourne pier where the most noticeable feature is the golden domes on top of the main building on the pier as well as some other smaller cupolas. You can see the wooden supports of the pier. The sea is calm and is a sage green colour in the shallows, and dark blue out on the horizon.
A shot of Brighton's seafront in which the focus is three deckchairs placed so as to look out to see. The fabric of the deck chairs is blue and white stripes. Two of the chairs are occupied with sunbathers. Out to sea a white sailing boat glides out of shot.
This photo shows the shiny glass, doughnut shaped observation pod of one of Brighton's most recent tourism additions - the i360, which is a 162 metre tall moving observation tower on Brighton seafront. The sky behind this structure is blue and is partly reflected in the glass.
ELC Students pose for the photo whilst on an excursion to North Wales. They are standing at the end of a wooden jetty, and behind them is a beautifully calm sea and an island in the distance on the horizon, just out of shot. This is a favourite excursion for our students attending English lessons in Chester.
A close up picture of a palm tree with multiple branches and spiky looking green fronds. It could be almost anywhere in the world, but we think it's in Eastbourne where ELC has it's English school. If you don't see this palm tree, you'll certainly see some like it.
A classic photo of red London buses queued up in both directions of what is possibly Regent Street in London. The buildings are pleasingly all in the same sandstone colour and look similar architecturally. There are sets of 5 union jack flags strung between the buildings, and these are repeated several times down the street and into the distance. You can also see a black London cab queuing behind the buses.
One of the most famous sights in England - Stone Henge. In the photos we see some of the ancient standing stones just as the sun is shining out from round the side of one of them. The grass is green but dowsed in yellow light from the rising sun.
A photo of some of the lakes which can be found high up in the mountains in Snowdonia, an area of outstanding natural beauty in north Wales. Students from ELC Chester can go on excursions to north Wales at weekends.
This photo shows some of the shop front above street level in Chester, set against a brilliant blue sky. The buildings have a tudor look to them, built from black timber beams filled with white plaster. The leaded windows are made up of hundreds of small rectangles of glass.
A photo of brightly painted houses in a terrace going down the hill in Brighton. This is Blaker Street in Kemptown, and each home owner has painted their house in a different colour. In the shot we see different shades of blue, an orange, peach and bright pink house.

Where can you take your ministays and closed groups courses?

We offer year-round English language courses in three English locations. All our schools are classic, historical buildings with up-to-date, modern language learning facilities, and a warm and friendly welcome.

Map of ELC’s locations in England at Brighton, Chester and Eastbourne, with indications of their distance from major cities, airports and national parks. Brighton and Eastbourne are on the south east coast next door to the South Downs National Park and not far from London Gatwick and London Heathrow airports. Chester just to the east of north Wales is close to Liverpool and Manchester airports and roughly half way between Snowdon National Park and the Peak District National Park. An overlaid scale of 50km helps to show that Brighton and Eastbourne are about 120km from central London, and that Chester is about 35km from central Liverpool and 65km from central Manchester.
A photo of the seafront at Brighton which shows an array of white buildings and the sand-coloured pebble beach. There is a large white ferris wheel in the foreground, and a scattering of people sitting looking out to sea.

Brighton

Brighton and Hove is a lively, cosmopolitan seaside city of about 300,000 people with a vivid cultural life. It is about 85 km – 1 hour – south of central London and surrounded by the beautiful Sussex countryside. Learn more about Brighton

A photograph of the famous Eastgate clock in Chester which stands high above the road on a section of the Roman walls. The clock has a round white face with black roman numerals and hands, and lots of ornate black metalwork filled in with orange and gold panels. The letters VR are above it, visible against the turquoise dome roof, and the date 1897. This was erected in memory of Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee.

Chester

Chester is an English city with 2,000 years of heritage, excellent shopping and a lively nightlife. It is 30km from Liverpool and 60km from Manchester – major cities of around half a million people each. Learn more about Chester

A seafront photo of Eastbourne taken from the west side. The pier can be seen jutting out into the sea towards the top of the photo, as the beach extends round to the left and the emerald sea takes up most of the rest of the shot. The sun is shining and the white hotels on the seafront are very noticeable.

Eastbourne

Eastbourne is a traditional seaside town that’s regularly the UK’s sunniest place. It is about 120 km from central London. The beautiful South Downs national park rises up directly from the western end of its seafront. Learn more about Eastbourne

Your English course for our ministays and closed groups

We can create a custom English programme which fits the needs of your group. You can choose from our existing course types, or we can build something just for you:

General English for ministays and closed groups

Choose any of our English course formats as inspiration for your private, closed group classes, or plan something unique with us.

A group of students stand arm in arm in their classroom in Eastbourne with their teacher Kath Binger standing just in front. They clearly all get on very well. In the background is one of ELC's notice boards full of useful information no doubt.

English exam preparation for closed groups and ministays

In your private group you can prepare for an IELTS test, Cambridge and Trinity exams, Linguaskill, and LanguageCert. Take a look at our pre-existing exam…

A photo of students chatting in their classroom at the English Language Centre in Chester. Mathieu is making a point and has his finger raised, but it can't be that serious as the other classmates are laughing. The atmosphere feels warm and friendly.

Work-related courses for ministays and closed groups

If your group or organisation needs English for the workplace, we can build a programme specific to everyone's area of work and language level. Find out what kind…

A group of young professionals are grouped around the same laptop. Maybe they're short of laptops or maybe they're working together as a team. We're using this photo to illustrate the need for English for business as well as everyday general English.

Language and culture options for closed groups

We can make England's rich cultural heritage available to you in combination with your English programme. We can build a programme with excursions and visits which…

A landscape photo taken from a distance of Arundel castle, a beautifully restored castle to be found in West Sussex along the coast from Brighton. As you come down the hill and take in the view for the first time you could be forgiven for thinking it was something that featured in the Harry Potter films.

Find your English level

Our language learning levels relate closely to how the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) define them, but with a difference which we have found to help our students at Elementary level.

ELC levelEquivalent CEFR levels
A0
A1
Upper A1 Lower A2
A2
B1
B2
C1
C2

We offer an English level test which anyone can take. It involves 50 questions and, depending on your level, will probably take you from 10 to 20 minutes. At the end of it, we will tell you your probable level.

But when you book, we will ask you to take a more detailed and accurate test, to make sure that you start in the class which is best for you.

Test your English level now

Why choose our ministay and closed group English programme?

How to apply

Please tell us all about your requirements, or use this site’s chat function. We’ll respond to you with a detailed quotation as soon as possible.

Contact us