Ta Courses Teaching Assistants

Whether it is the truly great centre of culture and fashion to be found in Paris, or the verdant countryside in the Dordogne, France is a huge draw for tourists, people spending a year or two abroad, and expatriates who have decided to make France their home. As well as the world-renowned food and wine, it is good to remember that France is a country of seasons. Paris is particularly pleasant in the springtime, but in the hot summer Parisians make for the south or the Côte d'Azur, looking for a good tan and a little of the beach lifestyle. In the winter, skiing in the Pyrenees or the French Alps is very popular. Timing is also important since the large cities tend to empty a little between mid July and the end of August, when many take their annual five-week vacation. Not precisely the...  [Read more]

Japan can present the traveller with a bewildering combination of culture, manners, beauty, architecture and personalities. Whether one goes to Fuji San - mount Fuji, to admire it’s serene beauty, or one parties all night long in Roppongi - the nightclub district of Tokyo, one is constantly taken aback and presented with the unexpected. At times a shade frustrating, such as when you are on a train so crowded that you go three stops past the one you wanted because you cannot move. Hence, the ‘gaijin’, or foreigner learns to laugh about these things and accepts them as a part of life. A population of one-hundred and twenty seven millions is jammed into a landmass of one-hundred and forty five square miles. Indeed, the population density in the big cities is amazing. The official...  [Read more]

To be on the ground in peru is to stand amidst layer upon layer of great, and very different civilizations. Whether one considers the glittering skyscrapers of today, the well-preserved architecture of the conquistadors, or the legacy left by the Incas atop Machu Picchu, it is hard not to come away deeply impressed. The Peruvian Andes are amongst the most beautiful and most breathtaking on the Andean range, and are a magnet for climbers from around the world. The political troubles that plagued Lima with guerrilla activity now seem to be set firmly in the past. Official languages include Spanish, and Quecha and Aymara - indigenous tongues. Eighty-one percent of the population is Roman Catholic, with six percent Protestant, and remainder ‘other’. The population of twenty-seven millions...  [Read more]