About the School
IH Bucharest was opened by Alina and Mihai Gânj more than 18 years ago, and they are still actively involved in the day to day running of the organisation. They, and the whole team at the school are committed to offering excellence in language and training services.
Our main headquarters – where teacher training courses take place – has always been in the same location in the central area of Bucharest and very easily accessible by local transport (bus, tram, underground). We also have other two centres in Bucharest.
We are a very large school and have both adult courses (mostly in-company) and YL courses (over 2000 YLs attend our classes yearly). We run CELTA and IH CYLT training courses, and courses for teachers teaching very young learners.
Besides running CELTA courses, the school also offers a series of workshops aimed at teachers of English as a foreign language from state schools in Romania. This provides a common ground between the public and private education system, where a transfer of expertise can take place. The Romanian Ministry of Education and Research has officially acknowledged IH Bucharest’s merit in providing training to its teachers.
Life in and around Bucharest
Bucharest is a grand historic city. The Palace of the Parliament, also known as the People’s House, is the 2nd largest administrative building in the world and a testament to the paradoxes of the communist regime in Romania. It’s always a must see for foreign visitors to our cities, alongside our very own Arc de Triomphe, a village museum that can take you on a journey through all the regions of Romania on one sunny afternoon, and a multitude of parks and gardens that you can take a stroll in before you finally settle down for a drink and something to eat in the Old Centre, the very life and soul of the city.
Bucharest is ideally located for weekend getaways. You can, for example, spend a weekend in the Carpathian mountains or simply explore beautiful mountain towns such as Sinaia, complete with a visit to one of the most beautiful castles in Romania, the Peleș Castle. If you come in summer, the seaside is also only 2-3 hours away, so you can also enjoy a quick weekend by the Black Sea.
Studying at IH Bucharest
Being a European capital, Bucharest is very well connected through its international airport so you can easily find affordable flights to and from here. Of course there are also train and bus connections with neighbouring countries, but flying is still the most convenient way to get here.
The school is 2 minutes away from a subway station and a 15-minute walk from the centre of Bucharest. There are also several bus and tram routes passing by our school. There are also free parking spots in the street, although it can be difficult to find one available on busy days. Taxis, Uber, and Bolt may also be options if you need to get around town fast, and you can also use Lime scooters if you fancy a bit more mobility.
There are two canteens within walking distance (2-5 minutes) from the school which offer a good variety of dishes every day for very reasonable prices, as well as two very nice coffee shops where you can take a break during the course.
We also have two supermarkets (Carrefour and Mega Image) in very close proximity, as well as several smaller corner shops.
On booking your place on one of our courses, it is advisable for you to look for accommodation in an area within walking distance of our centre or easily reached by subway, bus or tram. The most convenient accommodation solution for you is probably to rent an apartment and share it with a colleague. There are also several hotels and hostels nearby that may meet your requirements in terms of comfort and price. We will give you advice on where to book, but we don’t book it for you.
A little bit more about our history
It all started in 2019. The management had already made the decision, trainers were contracted, trainees were interviewed, students were selected for the teaching practice, and so our first 4-week CELTA course was carefully organised and successfully delivered in June 2019. It marked the official launch of the IH Bucharest Teacher Training Centre. Our first step in providing professional development to teachers of English in Romania and beyond.
But besides running CELTA courses we offer workshops to teachers in the state education sector. Our trainees were at first a handful of state school teachers who decided that the professional development provided by IH Bucharest helped them improve the quality of their teaching in elementary and secondary schools. We started out modestly, holding our sessions occasionally rather than regularly at a partner location (Cărtureşti, the most important bookshop chain in the country), with IH Bucharest senior teachers acting as trainers. In time, we changed the venue, and our own spacious training room saw a constant increase in the number of participants, while more international and experienced trainers took the floor, and the workshops picked up pace, with one session a month.
That gradual growth has led us to transfer our sessions online. The numbers rocketed: between 100 and 450 teachers registered for the latest webinars delivered by our Head of Teacher Training and in-house CELTA trainer.
We are very pleased to welcome prominent trainers from around the IH global network to host our webinar series; the director at Lacunza IH Beasain, Robert Martínez, Lexical Lab co-founder Hugh Dellar, IHWO inspector Alex Tilbury, IH Montevideo teacher trainer Alastair Grant and one of the most influential IH professionals worldwide, ever: Scott Thornbury.
The Romanian Ministry of Education and Research has officially acknowledged IH Bucharest’s merit in providing free quality training to teachers of English working in the public education system. To ensure consistent online education for all the schoolchildren in Romania, our webinars on online teaching tools and methodologies have been particularly valued, as they equip state school teachers with much needed e-teaching skills.
The Ministry’s pledge to facilitate public education teachers’ access to the professional development services provided by IH Bucharest means that we are now very well positioned to succeed in giving IH full national exposure and bringing the IH brand and quality to thousands of teachers of English in Romania, who can now interact directly with top IH trainers from around the world. For many of those teachers, we hope the experience will be one of the most memorable landmarks of their professional growth.
