i-to-i Wins Yorkshire Small Business of the Year Award

Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) training provider i-to-i UK has been awarded the Yorkshire Small Business of the Year Award for 2003. The award celebrates businesses in Yorkshire that employ less than 150 staff and demonstrate strong potential to grow.

The awards have been an annual event in the region's business calendar for the last 16 years. This year's winners were announced at an awards lunch in Leeds attended by more than 500 of the region's business leaders. All proceeds of the lunch event benefit The Variety Club's charity.

Language training company i-to-i was nominated by the public and chosen by a panel of judges from a range of businesses across the region. The judging panel included Sir Ken Morrison, chairman of Wm Morrison Supermarkets.

"This is magnificent news, not just for i-to-i UK, but i-to-i globally," said Deirdre Bounds, founder and Managing Director of the organisation. "It is great that the volunteering sector is now achieving this kind of recognition."

An endorsed Volunteer Travel and TEFL provider, i-to-i is affiliated to external bodies and organizations including Investor in People, YearOut Group, FIYTO and ODLQC. Their training courses include an intensive 20 hour weekend training course held in many locations around the UK & Ireland, with a 20 hour self-study Grammar Awareness Module. Online TEFL courses and Spanish language training courses are also available. They also offer careers advice and help with finding a teaching placement overseas.

Their TEFL training courses have proved extremely popular, with over 5000 people being taught each year. David Ferrier, a former i-to-i trainee said "[after] deciding to take a promised sabbatical, I attended the i-to-i TEFL course in London at the end of February, and they sent me out to Sri Lanka three weeks later. The satisfaction I felt from teaching English to keen Sri Lankan adults went way beyond my expectations."

Part of i-to-i's successful strategy is to offer courses that are much shorter and cheaper than the usual, month-long TEFL courses. It means that their courses are perfect for certain individuals: those who want to travel in Europe and developing countries, and earn money teaching. Their courses take the most practical elements from the longer course, and add job search advice and a certificate that has international recognition.

For more information about i-to-i and its Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) courses click here.