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'There’s a unique ‘buzz’ about the UK as Christmas draws near. Find out what you can expect and what's on around the UK at Christmas time.'

Christmas in the UK

Christmas is the UK’s most eagerly anticipated public holiday. While it’s essentially a religious celebration, it has evolved to become an important festive season in the UK calendar, bringing people together through customs and traditions. One of the best ways to immerse yourself in UK culture is to join the celebrations and make Christmas your own. 

Remember that at Christmas in the UK, most people will be on holiday and many will travel to be with their friends and families on Christmas Day.  Also bear in mind that in the UK, the build-up to Christmas is as much fun as the big day itself!  

It’s all in the planning!  

Although there are just two public holidays at Christmas - December 25, Christmas Day and December 26, Boxing Day - many people start preparing weeks, sometimes months, in advance.  There are social gatherings and events to organise, shopping for food and gifts to be done and travel plans to be made.
If you’ll need to travel within the UK during the Christmas period, it’s essential you plan ahead as many train and bus services will be reduced, limited or cancelled. All operators will have different arrangements in place, so contact them well in advance to plan your journey and make sure you can get where you want to be for the holiday.

And whether you want to stay local, travel to visit friends or try somewhere new, our interactive map could help you plan your own Christmas holiday. This is Great Britain is an interactive guide to the huge range of diverse and fabulous events taking place throughout the UK, and features news of events over the Christmas period.

Great British traditions – what will you do?

Many people in the UK send Christmas cards to keep in touch with friends and family.  It’s a popular tradition in the UK - the first ever Christmas card was posted in England in the 1840s and now, more than a billion cards are sent in the UK every year.

  • A healthy obsession with the weather is an essential element of UK life and Christmas is no exception.  People love to speculate on the chances of snow falling in time to create a picture-book ‘white’ Christmas and people of all ages love to build snowmen, have a snowball ‘fight’ or enjoy a ride on a sledge.  Christmas 2010 was the ‘whitest’ Christmas ever recorded in the UK and with the help of the local weather forecasters, you can make your own predictions as Christmas 2012 approaches.   
  • White or not, Christmas in the UK will definitely be a multi-coloured affair!  As well as homes and gardens, towns and cities throughout the UK are treated to a festive makeover, glowing with thousands of bright lights and decorated Christmas trees.   
  • In the weeks before Christmas, festive markets are popular and often have continental themes, attracting traders from around the world.  They can be found in many different venues, from town and city centres to stately homes, offering an atmospheric introduction to Christmas in the UK and great hunting grounds for unusual gifts.  Stalls sell traditional British food alongside global dishes and unique, hand-crafted trinkets. Huge Christmas markets featuring festive entertainment take centre stage in London, Manchester, Glasgow, Swansea and Belfast and many other UK cities.  
  • Skating on ice is also a cool UK Christmas activity.  No matter where you’re studying, the chances are there will be one of many temporary festive rinks near your institution.  Look in local newspaper listings for details.
  • If the theatre is your pleasure, or if you just want to taste a truly British experience, then you can watch a pantomime. These comedy song and dance dramatisations of well-known fairy tales encourage audience participation, with often hilarious results, and will soon have you and your friends in the mood for Christmas.
  • And when it’s all over, there’s more fun in store...one of the UK’s final Christmas-time traditions is to hit the shops and grab some bargains at the retail sales, which usually start on Boxing Day.  People in the UK are happy to queue for hours, sometimes days, to pick-up a particular item at a knock-down price.
  • Christmas in the UK means different things to different people - and it could be memorable for things other than a social whirl of parties and events.  Many places of worship hold special services and some also offer shelter, company and food for homeless people. If you think you’ll have time on your hands over Christmas, you could volunteer to help people in need.

Whether or not you intend to celebrate Christmas, there will be something to interest you culturally or socially in the UK this December - have a fun time!

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'There’s a unique ‘buzz’ about the UK as Christmas draws near. Find out what you can expect and what's on around the UK at Christmas time.'

Christmas in the UK

Christmas is the UK’s most eagerly anticipated public holiday. While it’s essentially a religious celebration, it has evolved to become an important festive season in the UK calendar, bringing people together through customs and traditions. One of the best ways to immerse yourself in UK culture is to join the celebrations and make Christmas your own. 

Remember that at Christmas in the UK, most people will be on holiday and many will travel to be with their friends and families on Christmas Day.  Also bear in mind that in the UK, the build-up to Christmas is as much fun as the big day itself!  

It’s all in the planning!  

Although there are just two public holidays at Christmas - December 25, Christmas Day and December 26, Boxing Day - many people start preparing weeks, sometimes months, in advance.  There are social gatherings and events to organise, shopping for food and gifts to be done and travel plans to be made.
If you’ll need to travel within the UK during the Christmas period, it’s essential you plan ahead as many train and bus services will be reduced, limited or cancelled. All operators will have different arrangements in place, so contact them well in advance to plan your journey and make sure you can get where you want to be for the holiday.

And whether you want to stay local, travel to visit friends or try somewhere new, our interactive map could help you plan your own Christmas holiday. This is Great Britain is an interactive guide to the huge range of diverse and fabulous events taking place throughout the UK, and features news of events over the Christmas period.

Great British traditions – what will you do?

Many people in the UK send Christmas cards to keep in touch with friends and family.  It’s a popular tradition in the UK - the first ever Christmas card was posted in England in the 1840s and now, more than a billion cards are sent in the UK every year.

  • A healthy obsession with the weather is an essential element of UK life and Christmas is no exception.  People love to speculate on the chances of snow falling in time to create a picture-book ‘white’ Christmas and people of all ages love to build snowmen, have a snowball ‘fight’ or enjoy a ride on a sledge.  Christmas 2010 was the ‘whitest’ Christmas ever recorded in the UK and with the help of the local weather forecasters, you can make your own predictions as Christmas 2012 approaches.   
  • White or not, Christmas in the UK will definitely be a multi-coloured affair!  As well as homes and gardens, towns and cities throughout the UK are treated to a festive makeover, glowing with thousands of bright lights and decorated Christmas trees.   
  • In the weeks before Christmas, festive markets are popular and often have continental themes, attracting traders from around the world.  They can be found in many different venues, from town and city centres to stately homes, offering an atmospheric introduction to Christmas in the UK and great hunting grounds for unusual gifts.  Stalls sell traditional British food alongside global dishes and unique, hand-crafted trinkets. Huge Christmas markets featuring festive entertainment take centre stage in London, Manchester, Glasgow, Swansea and Belfast and many other UK cities.  
  • Skating on ice is also a cool UK Christmas activity.  No matter where you’re studying, the chances are there will be one of many temporary festive rinks near your institution.  Look in local newspaper listings for details.
  • If the theatre is your pleasure, or if you just want to taste a truly British experience, then you can watch a pantomime. These comedy song and dance dramatisations of well-known fairy tales encourage audience participation, with often hilarious results, and will soon have you and your friends in the mood for Christmas.
  • And when it’s all over, there’s more fun in store...one of the UK’s final Christmas-time traditions is to hit the shops and grab some bargains at the retail sales, which usually start on Boxing Day.  People in the UK are happy to queue for hours, sometimes days, to pick-up a particular item at a knock-down price.
  • Christmas in the UK means different things to different people - and it could be memorable for things other than a social whirl of parties and events.  Many places of worship hold special services and some also offer shelter, company and food for homeless people. If you think you’ll have time on your hands over Christmas, you could volunteer to help people in need.

Whether or not you intend to celebrate Christmas, there will be something to interest you culturally or socially in the UK this December - have a fun time!

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'Taking an ‘English for academic purposes’ (EAP) course will help you prepare before you arrive in the UK to study'

Academic English
So you’ve made one of the biggest decisions of your life and you want to come to the UK to study. Now you should ask yourself an important question: are my current English language skills enough to support my academic ambitions and enable me to make the most of my UK education?

Studying at university in the UK may be very different from how you learn in your home country. You’ll find you’re expected to put in a lot more independent study time, which requires great self-motivation and strong organisational skills. You’ll also notice that even everyday activities, such as lectures and seminars, may be quite different.

These differences will make studying in the UK exciting but challenging, and will require a whole new set of communication skills. Taking a course specially designed to help you, as an international student whose first language is not English, succeed in your chosen field will boost your confidence and enhance your UK study experience.

English for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses focus on teaching vocabulary and grammar alongside the four basic skills - speaking, including pronunciation, listening, reading and writing - in an academic context. For example, a writing lesson on an EAP course would focus on writing essays instead of business letters or presentations, and the vocabulary used is based on academic texts.

You’ll also learn invaluable new skills that will help you study independently, such as note taking, discussion, academic reading and writing and research techniques - all you need to prepare yourself properly for degree-level study at a UK university.

About EAP and Pre-sessional courses

UK universities ask international students to provide an English language certificate that shows a suitable level of English proficiency. This is often requested as a minimum IELTS test score or other satisfactory English language qualification, which will indicate whether or not you have the ability to cope with the linguistic demands of your chosen course.

If you’ve already made an application to study at a UK university, the level required for your particular course will be stated in your offer from the university.  If you do not have the required English Language qualifications for direct entry to your chosen course, the university could make you an offer to study conditional upon successful completion of an EAP course. You would be required to gain the direct entry score needed to progress to your intended course of study.

EAP courses are often pre-sessional courses. This means you take them before your main academic course starts with the aim of bringing your academic English language skills up to the levels necessary to succeed in your studies.

It’s a good idea to take a pre-sessional EAP course at the institution where you plan to take your main academic course. This has the added bonus of helping you get to know your new environment before your main course starts.

Most UK universities offer pre-sessional courses and they vary in length from two weeks to one year. Courses are run throughout the year at many institutions, and which course you choose depends on your current English language level and the required level for the course you wish to study.

EAP courses can also be in-sessional courses - meaning you can take them at the same time as your main academic course. This type of course sometimes uses teaching materials targeted specifically at your degree course, such as subject-related vocabulary. Acquiring extensive yet relevant vocabulary is one of the biggest challenges of learning a second language.

Find out more about EAP and apply for an EAP course

As the birth place of the English language, it makes sense that hundreds of thousands of people come to the UK every year to learn English. The UK has the widest range of English language courses - including EAP courses - anywhere in the world, with qualifications that are recognised and valued wherever you go.

If you’d like to study on an EAP course before starting your degree course, you should first contact your chosen university for information. Alternatively, there are accredited English language centres teaching English for academic purposes in all regions of the UK.

You can search for courses in the Search tool, to the top-right of this website. Click on the arrow next to 'Please select' then click on 'English Language courses'.  Choose ‘English for academic purposes’ and where you would like to study, click 'Find' and you'll see a list of courses.

Useful links

English UK provides a comprehensive list of EAP courses.
IELTS provides the International English Language Testing System.
Prepare for Success is an interactive web learning tool for international students who are getting ready to come to the UK to study.

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'"My first experience of the UK . . ."'

Student Diary: Meaghan Couture_12

Studying in Manchester, UK has allowed for me to experience some of the best moments of my life. Moving to England to study was a decision that I made after working first in the United States. I realised after a while that education really was important to the future I always wanted for myself and that travelling and living in the UK was something I had wanted to do since I was young. So after applying to University, my sister and I booked a trip to Manchester in June to see what the city was like together.

 

We landed at the airport and took our first ever train ride into the middle of town. Excited but exhausted from jet lag, we found our hotel and fell asleep for a good portion of the day. But once we woke up, exploring the city was one of the first things on our mind. (After finding a pub and having one of my first English dishes… 'Bangers and Mash' which is sausage and mashed potatoes!)


In our eyes, the city was beautiful. Old buildings, people bustling about, museums, trains, wonderful city noises! We walked and took pictures and pointed out things about how different England was to our hometown.

 

Then we came upon a quiet spot in the middle of town called ‘Spinningfields.’ Spinningfields is a special location for me, even today. It has lovely, tall buildings and a big open area in the middle for people to sit and in the center of it was a massive, outdoor television screen used to show old movies in the summer! My sister and I had always wanted to watch a movie outdoors with people so we went back that night to watch ‘Dirty Dancing’.

 

I had just found out that afternoon that I was accepted onto the program of my choice, English Language, and we were happy to celebrate outside, under the stars with a bunch of the local people from Manchester. I will remember that night for the rest of my life. At the end of the film, the whole crowd was stood up singing ‘I've had, the time of my life’ and dancing along to the music. My sister was happy for me, I was laughing and in my heart I finally felt that I was at the beginning an amazing and unique journey.
 

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'Study in the heart of England for a real taste of life in the UK'

Ironbridge
Geographically, central England - also known as the English Midlands - spans Herefordshire and Shropshire in the west and over to Lincolnshire in the east, taking in many of the country’s most beautiful and culturally important counties.

Since it was once the industrial centre of Britain - and the world - you’ll be surprised by the beauty of the English Midlands. Central to the global influence of the UK during the 18th and 19th centuries, the region’s rich heritage attracts students interested in business and industry as well as humanities and the arts.   

Learn about life through the ages with a cultural tour of the region

The epicentre of the English Midlands is the UK’s ‘second city’, Birmingham, a thriving and culturally diverse metropolis. The city’s Jewellery Quarter dates back more than 250 years and is still home to around 400 jewellery businesses and more than 200 listed buildings - a unique historic environment in England which has few, if any, parallels anywhere in Europe.

While one of the UK’s best-loved snacks, Cadbury’s chocolate, was first made in Birmingham in 1824, a gastronomic tour of the city will uncover dozens of world cuisines.  The city also hosts one of the largest celebrations of dance in the world - the biennial International Dance Festival Birmingham (IDFB).

Many other key places in central England boast significant attractions - in the year of London 2012, sports fans will delight in the fact that Much Wenlock, a small town in Shropshire, is home to the Wenlock Olympian Games.  Started in 1850 by Dr William Penny Brookes, credited as a founding-father of the modern Olympic Games, the Wenlock Games are still contested in the town every July.

Not far away is the UNESCO world heritage site of Ironbridge, the so-called birthplace of the Industrial Revolution.  Here, 10 award-winning museums line the valley beside the UK’s longest river, the River Severn, which is still spanned by the world's first iron bridge. Charles Darwin, the famous English naturalist grew up and searched for species in Shrewsbury, another nearby Shropshire town.

The county of Staffordshire is renowned for its ceramic heritage - six Staffordshire towns within the city of Stoke-on-Trent make up the area known as The Potteries, and brands created in the 19th century are still active there today, including Royal Doulton and Wedgwood. And you can see the magnificent £3.285m Staffordshire Hoard, the largest collection of Anglo Saxon gold ever found in Britain, at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery.

Historic Stratford-upon-Avon is where William Shakespeare was born, and if literature is your passion, head to Stoneleigh Abbey, also in Warwickshire, for a Jane Austen tour. Worcester Cathedral is one of the England’s most architecturally interesting religious buildings, and the National Space Centre in Leicester houses some of the UK’s most space-age constructions! A visit to the nearby market town of Melton Mowbray, famous for its traditional pork pies and cheese, is a must for foodies.

Learn about Lincoln’s Iron Age history - the city dates back to the 1st century BC - or take a day trip to Sherwood Forest, once the home of legendary outlaw Robin Hood. And a weekend spent trekking through the wilds of the Derbyshire Peak District, which has 1,600 miles of public footpaths, bridleways and tracks will give you a glimpse into the lives of some of English literature’s most-loved heroines - the park and is a hugely popular film, TV and literary location and credits include Chatsworth House, Haddon Hall, and Lyme Hall, which were used as backdrops for historical epics such as Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre.

This is Great Britain is our interactive guide to the diverse variety of amazing events taking place throughout the UK.  Check it out for news of what’s on in central England.

Study abroad in central England

A driving force behind the region’s continued success is its wealth of first-class educational institutions.

There are close relationships between local industry and businesses and the region’s educational sector, as well as many collaborative links with education providers and local communities. Such partnerships and the huge range of universities, colleges and courses, make central England a unique place to learn and start your career - and enhance your UK educational experience.

You can use the Education UK Search tool - to the top-right of the Education UK website - to find a place to study in an area of central England that interests you.

And take a look at our own interactive map of the UK to explore the area – and hear what other international students think about living and studying in central England.

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