Risa Kitano is 31 and comes from Tokyo, where she is a well-known pop singer.

"I chose Torquay because I thought there would not be any Japanese people here so I would be able to concentrate on my English"

As the English language teaching market gets more competitive, it's crucial for language centres to get good feedback on social networking sites, which is why English UK is re-running its very successful Student Experience conference this month.

Preparing students for a world where they are most likely to speak English with other non-native speakers, supporting learning difficulties and classroom research were just a few of the subjects tackled at a packed English UK Teachers' Conference this year.

A teacher who began her career in Russian schools has won the third English UK/ Cambridge English Language Assessment Action Research scheme award.

English UK members will continue to get a free or discounted listing on one of Europe's leading course search websites after the organisation renewed its deal with the Study Portals group for a further year.