About International House Bristol

We are a family business and we like to think that means something!

It means that our students are, in a small way, our family too and it is our business to make sure our English teaching is effective, professional and enjoyable so that our students are happy .

team member Val Hennessy

Val Hennessy

Director
Val started International House Bristol in 1987, while doing her PhD in 17th century French literature. This is still one of her great passions, along with all things to do with English language teaching.
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Marcel profile photo

Marcel Jansen

Director & IT
Marcel joined International House Bristol in 2007 after a colourful career in IT. He does all custom software development for the school but can also be found plugging in the odd computer or some building repairs.
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team member Saskia

Saskia Hennessy

EFL Teacher
Saskia trained as an English teacher with International House Bristol when she was 19, even before she studied English at York university and UCL London for her Masters in English Literature.
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team member Nick Jansen

Nick Jansen

Exams Administrator
Nick looks after the OET medical exams for International House Bristol. His passion is geography, though, so if you meet him: he'd love to discuss all things geographical with you.
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The Teachers

International House Bristol teachers are fully invested in their students, which means language learning success is as much their goal as it is the goal of the students their classes. 

As a school, we have always believed in the benefits of creating materials for our students so our teachers personalise lessons as much as they can. We encourage students to study beyond the classroom because that is where they need to use English and teachers are always there to help, whether that is by setting extra homework, answering specific questions in study room time or providing exam practice sessions. 

You matter to us and we will do all we can to make sure your language learning dreams come true.

meet the team

Our admin team

From the moment you make an enquiry or a booking, we are there for you. The whole International House Bristol admin team work to answer your questions, and provide exactly what you are looking for. 

Whether you are unsure about which course to take, need advice on exams or visas or have special accommodation needs, we do all we can to make the process simple. When you are in the school, the admin team are the people you go to with anything that is not academic, from needing a dentist to wanting to know about Bristol nightlife because when you are an International House Bristol student, you are part of the family and that is how we treat you!

meet the team

Our Story

We established International House Bristol to create a home-from-home for those wanting to learning English in the UK. It is a small, independent, family-run school in Bristol - the best city in the UK (in our opinion) - and every International House Bristol student is seen as a member of the family. We do all we can to make a student's time with us productive and memorable. 

Giving somebody an essential skill like language is a way to help transform their life and that is what we do: we change lives for the better.

the IH Bristol story

We try to give back to the community where we can.

Here are some ways we feel we've given back to the community:

  • You can discover a new phrase each day to use in your English! These are special phrases and sayings that English speakers use all the time, but you don't often see these phrases in English course books or other study material. Visit daily to learn some popular English phrases on a regular basis.

    See our phrases of the day!

  • Free English

    IH Bristol gives back to the community, local and international. This is why we have taught many refugee classes in Bristol and have been involved in development projects in Cuba, Angola and Vietnam. We offer English exams for medical professionals needed by the NHS in the UK and we welcome students from all over the world to be part of our Free Lessons, taught as part of our CELTA courses because everybody deserves the chance to thrive and giving new arrivals to the UK the language skills they need is something we are immensely proud of. 

    And let's not forget our Free Exercises and our Phrase of the Day videos, both available on our website and entirely free, which can help students worldwide to increase their knowledge on a daily basis.

  • Learning English is one of the best ways to improve your life and the prospects of getting a good job because English is used worldwide and it is becoming normal to expect everybody to be able to speak it.  Whatever your reasons for learning English, we know the kind of language you need to learn and we want to share our expertise with you. All you need is a desire to be better at speaking or writing in English.

    However, not everybody can come to Bristol to learn in person, so IH Bristol has created hundreds of pages of Useful Expressions in English.  These are free and can help you to improve your English. 

    How to use the Useful Expressions

    1. Choose the level you want to work at Elementary, Intermediate or Advanced
    2. Click on the expression you are interested in
    3. Read the expression and the explanation
    4. Try to use the expression in a sentence
    5. Use one of our other free online areas to test your English or to practice by doing Grammar or vocabulary exercises: Free Exercises, Phrase of the Day and Test your English level
    6. Sign up for one of our Face-to-Face English courses or one of our Online English courses!

    For each situation, there are 10 common phrases with explanations of how or when you would use each one giving context and cultural appropriateness.  Learning these frequently used expressions is a great idea because they will help you sound more natural when speaking to native speakers of English.

    See our Useful Expressions(Opens in a new tab/window)

  • Grammar, Vocabulary & Phrases

    Use these exercises to practise your Grammar, Vocabulary and use of Phrases. They are organised into three levels so you can work at the right level for you:

    • Elementary: suitable for students from levels A2 to B1 on the CEF (Common European Framework)
    • Intermediate: suitable for students from B1 to B2 on the CEF
    • Advanced: suitable for students from C1 and C2 on the CEF

    The exercises on these pages were all written by International House Bristol staff and you will not find the same exercises on any other site or in any coursebook.

    Cambridge ESOL

    Practise for your Cambridge ESOL Exams with our free exercises. You will find various types of exercise to help you prepare for First Certificate in English (FCE), Certificate of Advanced English (CAE) or Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE).

    These free exercises have an optional time-limit so that you can test yourself in similar conditions to the exam. You will see a timer that counts down to zero. When it reaches zero, your exercise will be automatically submitted. You can pause or switch off the timer, if you wish.

    See our Free Exercises(Opens in a new tab/window)