Byron English Language Academy is proud to be hosting on our campus an accredited Permaculture Training course delivered by Permaforest Trust.

Permaforest will be developing produce and vegetable gardens on site as part of their course.
Permaforest Trust specialises in sustainability education. Their program is offered in partnership with National Environment Centre Campus of Riverina Institute of TAFE.
 
We believe that our language students will benefit from this move in a number of ways. The course is aimed at a very worthwhile cause and some of our students will find this interesting in itself. We also believe that our students will learn more English and gain more confidence by associating with more English speaking students.

For more information check out the website. http://www.permaforesttrust.org.au/
For more on the courses offered by Byron English Language Academy visit: http://www.byronela.com

Each year, between May and November, Humpback whales migrate from their Antarctic summer feeding grounds north to their breeding and birthing grounds in the tropics. Separate populations migrate up the east and west coasts of Africa, South America, Australia and towards the south Pacific islands. The population that migrates up the east coast of Australia has recently been estimated to comprise of approximately 10000 whales.

Byron Bay, Australia’s most Easterly point, is a great place to witness this migration as the view from the Cape is uninterrupted and extensive.

This year record numbers of Humpback whales have been seen passing Byron Bay.

107 whales were counted on one day breaking all previous records.  This was bettered a few days later with 110 whales recorded passing Byron Bay.

The whales have been traveling very close to shore with four to eight pods being sighted at a time. There’s also been quite a lot of aerial antics with many of the whales breeching.

We had the pleasure of introducing a first time student to Byron Bay who had spotted eight whales within five minutes of arriving at the Cape Byron Lighthouse. (It was hard getting him back to the language school)

Humpbacks grow up to 16m in length and can weigh up to 50000 kgs.The babies are 4m -5m at birth.

They are truly an amazing animal.

Sometimes it is difficult for a student to understand the government requirements and complete the necessary government forms such as an application for a tax file number. If a student intends to work they will need to apply for a tax file number and this can be done online through the Australian Taxation Office website. We can help the student with this and the other things that need to be done in the process of applying for work in Australia.

With our extensive links in the local community we can also provide the students with introductions to potential employers. The kinds of jobs available in the area are holiday accommodation cleaning, restaurant and café work (for example, kitchen hand, barista, waiter/waitress), supermarket shelf packing and  fruit-picking. In September and October the two blueberry farms in the area will commence their picking season and they will each be looking to us to help them with the pickers required to harvest the crop.

For those students who intend to work while they are in Australia we have special focus afternoon lessons that include practice job interviews. We will also help the student with preparing their curriculum vitae (resume) and searching newspapers and the internet for a job.

The Australian Governments working holiday visa program is designed to encourage cultural exchange and closer ties between arrangement countries by allowing young people to have an extended holiday supplemented by short-term employment. It is for people who have turned 18 but have not yet turned 31 at the time they apply for the visa.

It allows the student to supplement the cost of the holiday in Australia through short-term employment. Some of the countries that are eligible are Japan, Korea, France and Italy and for a full list you can look at www.immi.gov.au. The working holiday visa allows the student to stay in Australia for up to 12 months, work for up to six months with each employer and study for up to 4 months.

Byron English Language Academy realises that it is important for many of the students attending the Academy to seek and obtain work and the Academy has responded with a comprehensive service designed to help the student  do so.

At present the staff at the Academy is working hard to provide the first intake of students with the most memorable Australian experience that Byron Bay has to offer.

This week a couple of our Korean students went snorkelling at lunch time with the Directors Michael and Damian and the Director of Studies, Cameron.

Although it is winter here the water was warm and crystal clear. Just a short paddle off the beach and they were amongst a huge school of fish and saw some sting rays and a Wobbegong (a type of harmless shark). What a great way to spend your lunch hour between the serious business of improving your English!

Students out the front of Byron English Language Academy

Byron Bay
Byron Bay is one of Australia’s most popular beach resort towns. There are fabulous beaches and a lush hinterland of rainforests and waterfalls. Byron Bay is a famous centre for surfing, diving, yoga, shopping, nightclubs and local food. The climate is sub tropical and hence very mild.
There are many different accommodation options for our students to choose from. We can arrange for you to stay in homestay, shared houses, backpacker hostels or farmstay.