EF International Language Campus - English courses in New York — Attraction in Town of Greenburgh

Keep in mind, that the school is NOT in New York. It is located on the hill in the lovely Tarrytown (restaurants and shops are close the campus), but traveling to New York Grand Central Terminal from the school will take you about 50-80 minutes one way, which is not too bad, but really pricey since weekly (5 days) ticket for the train costs about 103$, off-peak ticket one way about 11$, peak ticket about 14$, monthly about 330$, 10-trips ticket for about 94-100$ depend if you buy it for peak hours. School is located about 20 minutes from the station in Tarrytown (they offer 1$ shuttle bus from 6PM-12PM/2AM since the way back to school is really uphill). If you want to visit New York's attractions everyday, it's pretty hard since sometimes lessons finish at 5:50PM- most museums in New York close at 5;30. You also have dinner at the campus, so if you don't want to pay for extra food you need to be back before 7:30PM (dinner is only between 5:30-7:30). Dinner, classes and the time you need to spend on the train make it really difficult to see the city, so if sightseeing in NYC is your priority, better stay at the hotel in Manhattan. Speaking of food, in my opinion vegetarian/vegan options were always okey, eatable, not much variety, everyday is pretty much the same but if you are short-term student you can survive. I've never had much problem myself with dinners and breakfasts since I didn't eat the meat, but I mostly heard bad opinions from people who did. Classes: we have never used the EF-book we paid for, SPIN-class was terrible, General English was great but only because our lovely teacher (Keyth) understood that the book they offer for C.2 group is completely useless, so we would just discuss various topics on our lessons. So, it was our luck that our teacher was that great, and that the group was always willing to discuss, otherwise it would be a complete disaster. The levels they put people in are ridiculous, and the program is really, really bad and just absolutely not worth the money.Because there is a BIG risk that the teacher won't be that great, I would never recommend spending money on that 'education' even to my worst enemy, seriously. And, finally, organization is extremely bad, either locally in your country, and in New York, staff is uninformed all the time or they spread misinformation. I won't even count how many times I was disappointed after talking to the them. Just an example: one off the staff members didn't even know that the lessons were canceled next day (and so did the teachers). Imagine working in a school and not knowing that it's not working the next day? They have an advertisement in the Hall about discounts for train tickets for EF students, but no one from the staff actually knew about it (so of course it is impossible to buy cheaper tickets). The most repeated words by stuff is "I don't know" and "that's news to me". I was waiting 9 hours for the room for an extra night and 6 people tried to figure out where should I stay. Absolutely double-check every info they give you. The rooms in Gaines building where I stayed were okey, bathrooms were clean, but thats not the case in the other buildings. The only true positive side is that you can really meet people from all over the world and learn about other countries and train your speaking and real ability to communicate (since you probably won't learn English in class at all). Oh, and the campus is really full with guards and security, so at least you can feel safe. To summarize: I don't recommend it- it's a waste of money, especially when you are on level C1 and above. my respond to EF comment: i am aware that there are different way to get to New York than the train, but how long g the bus ride take? 2 hours or more? it stops so many times. There is absolutely no sense to take the bus on a weekday, even on a weekend it’s just not right. Transport was not the biggest issue tho, I would actually be more thankful if you can comment on your doubtful teaching methods and book that...

First, don’t look at stars - EF New York has good reviews on Google just because it buys them. Every week you can win tickets for a game/broadway/Philadelphia or whatever for writing a five-star review.

Transfer Month earlier I gave the details of the flight, but despite the announcement that someone would be waiting for me with a plate with my name, no one was at the airport. After the phone call made by the ladies from the information center and 30 minutes later one guy. He just grunted "hello" and continue telephone conversation in Spanish. When I was in the car and I was in the way to school. That guy called to driver that we have to back to airport because they forgot about another girl...

Accommodation in NY Butler building is old, but the rooms are large and even nice. In addition, the room has a bathroom, which is shared with the other room. Unfortunately, the lack of air conditioning is a nuisance on hot days. The room’s equipment, it is unfair: there are three people in the room, but only two chairs. If someone sleeps at the top, on a bunk bed, then there is no contact or lamp. The room is cleaned twice a week by nice ladies, who in addition to washing the floors and the whole bathroom, also they’re taking out the garbage. Towels and bed linen can be changed weekly. The building also has a laundry room ($ 3 for washing and drying). There is also a kitchen, but it should be avoided with a wide arc, because it is a ticking biological bomb. You can stick to the floor and the smell burns out your nostrils.

Food in Rita Hall Breakfast is always sweet, there is always rice. There is a lack of vegetables. The choice of cereals is large, but there is no healthy option with muesli. Sweetened yogurts, no lactose free option. Dinners almost always look the same: salad bar, cakes, pizza and some hot dish (once better, sometimes worse). Few times they have vegan hot meal with chicken... Feel that food is made at a low cost. All in all, the food is massively unhealthy: white rice, bread and pasta, large amounts of sugar, salt and oil in every dish.

Course The plan is set weekly, so even if you like the plan, unfortunately someone can change it or transfer you to another group. SPINN class changes are also on the agenda. Not to mention the fact that the groups are not adapted to your age, as promised when buying the course. So at 30, you can end up in a group of 16. In addition, when it comes to SPINN class, do not be deluded that you will have 50 different classes to choose from. The classes you choose must match the language level, season and general class, and not all are launched either. Therefore, only 3-4 classes are suddenly available. Whether the course is good depends on you and the teacher. In the first 4 weeks I had classes with 4 different teachers (I talked about changing groups for no reason before). With some it was better, with others it was harder to get along. However, how much you learn depends on you and your commitment.

Internet The school has its own wi-fi, which unfortunately is still disconnected.

Activities When it comes to small activities like painting / film marathons, the organization is at a very low level. Every month there are similar or the same activities, and there is still delay, change or lack of something. In turn, more activities - trips to other cities are well organized in terms of attractions, but very poor in terms of safety. I was on a trip in Philadelphia and Washington (with overnight). Unfortunately, I didn't have any contact with the babysitter, or even the room number if...

New York is so beautiful city❤️. But the school is not so beautiful as it should be.

Advantages: New York❤️ You will meet friends from all over the 🌍 My room was good. Good breakfasts. Project lessons.

Disadvantages: Tarrytown is a little bit far away from the city centre, so you have to spend on your way to centre and back about 2-3 hours it depends if you use the shuttle, but the shuttle in the evening is usually full, so you have to walk to the school (hike it is better word). I had mostly afternoon lessons, so go to the New York during the week was complicated... My general lessons were mostly about just filling our notebooks and I think that this we can do in our schools at home and most of us is there because we want to improve especially our speaking skill... Not enough free spots for activities and also sometimes it is better to go there without EF because it is more cheaper.. Good breakfasts but the dinners were sometimes ( I am sorry..) but awful, just visit the Instagram account @realefnewyork.

Of course I know that to manage the huge number of students who are there during the summer it is much more harder than during the school year, but the quality should be still the same.

Just think about some things which can make our experience better, just for example: • Give to students paper with some activities and places which are not so popular and you can’t find them so easily on Google, because these places are sometimes more beautiful than these mega popular. We met woman from Tarrytown and she said us about a lot of interesting activities, opportunities there, but this should the school tell us.

• What about think about some “shuttle bus to the centre” for good price, because the commuting to the centre it is quite expensive.

I really don’t want to be negative, because I am so optimistic person and my heart hurts to write this but you know I have to be honest, my parents paid a lot of money for that and I was expecting much more, I can compare it with another summer schools were I was, but this one was the weakest one.

It is not only my feeling, so try to think about it little bit.

But thank you for everything, you gave me the chance to meet beautiful people there which is for me the most important thing of these summer schools.

Good luck and thank...