22/06/23
After 13 great years, hundreds of wonderful students and many comings and goings, it’s finally time to say goodbye to English Coaching Projects as we know it.
Click HERE to download the Weekly English Practice as a PDF.
Useful Vocabulary
many moons ago: a long time ago
bigger and brighter things: to get a better job or improve your life in some way
boost: an increase or improvement
hub: the centre of an activity, region or network
soul: the essence or embodiment of a being
coup de grâce: a final action finishing a deteriorating situation (French/English)
ethos: the characteristic spirit of a culture
with a heavy heart: with sadness
tears: drops of clear salty liquid secreted from someone’s eye
Adiós: Goodbye (from Spanish, but used in English)
former: previous, ex-
Listen to the audio and read the text.
Goodbye to ECP as we know it
Many moons ago, John, Rob, Pablo and I got together to form English Coaching Projects S.Coop. Rob’s partner, Maite, joined us to help set up the company.
After a short time, Pablo decided that he wanted to take his family back to Canada, so he left ECP, only to return to Vitoria the following year.
Then there was a period of intense activity for the company. Rob and I went on a finance course, where we were put in contact with Paco, who looked after our money for many years. Aleksandra also joined us, helping to expand the numbers.
One of the biggest and best changes to the company then came when Ali decided to join us. Her incredible organisational skills as well as her talent for languages made her the perfect fit for ECP.
When Paco left to go onto bigger and brighter things, Ali took control of the administration, and we got yet another boost when Darren Lynch helped to raise our numbers to seven members. His enthusiasm for teaching, as well as his knowledge of sports coaching helped to grow our reputation as one of the finest English schools in Vitoria-Gasteiz.
We put on many events, such as our ‘FRED’ Talks, Coffee Saturdays, Cinema Nights and Pintxo competitions, always free for anyone who wanted to come. Sometimes we had over 50 people attending our social gatherings at the place we knew as ‘the Hub’.
Times changed, and Rob—the soul of the company—left to pursue a career on his own, and this was the coup de grâce for our wonderful little company. So many of the essential tasks in the company were done by Rob, so it felt very difficult to continue without him.
Then, last year, Ali, myself and Darren decided that we would also leave the co-op, whereas John maintained his principle to keep the ethos of ECP going.
It’s with a heavy heart that I leave a company which I helped to build, and I write this with tears rolling down my face. I have had so many fantastic moments with students, coaches and friends. It will be very hard for me to continue without ECP, but let me say this: Thank you all so very much for being part of our lives for so long, thank you for being part of our family, and thank you for supporting English Coaching Projects. ¡Adiós!
Written by former ECP coach Darren ‘Kez’ Kurien
Let’s chat about that
- What was your favourite thing about ECP? Tell us.
- Will you miss us? Why (not🤣)?
- Is it easy to leave a job that you love? Describe how you would feel.
- How would you describe a
co-operative? Is it different to a ‘normal’ company? - Will you continue studying with ECP? Why (not)?
- Which is the best English school in Vitoria? Why?