Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1521091
16 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 22 MAY 2024 NEWS F Solution to last week's crossword The answers to today's crossword will be published in next week's Midweek edition Weather Partly cloudy Visibility Good Wind Northwest force 5 to 6 backing West Northwest force 6 to 7. Overnight becoming force 5 to 6 Sea Rough, locally very rough at times TOMORROW Crossword WEATHER WINDY 29 0 / 18 0 TODAY WINDY 26 / 20 0 FEELS LIKE 26 0 FEELS LIKE 29 0 ACROSS 1) Open a pill bottle 6) Peke squeaks 10) Celebratory poems 14) La___ University (Philadel- phia school) 15) Unglazed pot with a wide mouth 16) "___ Las Vegas" (Presley film) 17) What "helps the medicine go down," in song 20) Take off the books 21) Obscuring, in a way 22) "Filthy" dough 25) Uptight 26) Cannabis product 30) Oregano, e.g. 32) Walled off 35) ___-Lorraine (region of France) 41) Shortened weapon 43) Waterfall phenomenon 44) Received a varsity award 45) Surgery aftermath 47) Type of media 48) One in deep thought 53) Government operative 56) Remove, as a bracelet 58) Win, at an auction 63) Nondrinking period 66) A little over 2 pounds 67) Unstable subatomic particle 68) Ball charmer 69) No longer hidden 70) "Can I get you anything ___ ?" 71) Hurdles for graduate students DOWN 1) Superpower no more 2) Neck section 3) Horse hoov es sound 4) Moisturizer ingredient 5) Colony type 6) Not me or them 7) Sick 8) Sandpiper relative 9) Umpire's scream, some- times 10) Developing egg 11) Cook's exhortation 12) The "Good Times" family 13) Nickname for a noncom 18) Winter malady 19) Take a seat 23) Culinary guru 24) It signals danger 26) Sound like a snake 27) Hairy twin in the Bible 28) Freshly cut, as a lawn 29) Academy freshman 31) Bangkok buck 33) "And now, without further ___ ..." 34) AAA offerings 36) Auctioneer's batch 37) Part of a flower 38) City in India 39) Billiard sticks 40) Make-meet connector 42) Dried up 46) Bottle top capacity 48) Some cologne scents 49) Get the knots out 50) It might go from 1 to 10 51) "Rocket Man" singer John 52) "Norma ___" (1979 movie) 54) San Francisco hill 55) Prefix with "jet" or "prop" 57) Unnamed quantity 59) Stadium seating level 60) Famed gymnastics coach Karolyi 61) "___ just have to do" 62) Changes color 64) This puzzle's theme 65) ___ - two punch Foreign students attending English language courses in Malta topped 78,000 in 2023 THE majority of students at- tending English language cours- es in Malta came from Italy (27.8 per cent), followed by Germany (10.4 per cent) and France (9.0 per cent). Overall, 73.9 per cent of total students came from an EU country. The largest share of English lan- guage students were aged 15 and under, accounting for 28.3 per cent of the total students follow- ing ELT courses. Students aged 50 and over were in the minority and numbered 6,080. Female students outnumbered males, accounting for 61.9 per cent of the total ELT student pop- ulation. July was the busiest month for local licensed ELT schools in terms of course attendance, ac- counting for 17.1 per cent of the annual total. August and March followed with 13.4 and 10.5 per cent respectively. The most popular course up- take in local licensed ELT schools was 'General English: Standard', whereby a total of 57,384 stu- dents, or 73.1 per cent opted for this course. This was followed by the 'Inten- sive English' courses, with 16.5 per cent of total students. Foreign students enrolled in lo- cal licensed ELT schools account- ed for 273,131 student weeks. The absolute majority of courses (99.0 per cent of total student weeks) were held phys- ically, with online courses ac- counting for only 1.0 per cent. The average number of stu- dent weeks during the year under review stood at 3.5, a de- crease of 0.9 weeks when com- pared to the previous year. With an average of 14.7 weeks, students from Colom- bia recorded the highest num- ber of student weeks, followed by Chilean and South Korean students with average student weeks at 13.3 and 10.7 weeks respectively. In 2023, teaching and aca- demic staff in local licensed ELT schools numbered 620, with the largest proportion (25.0 per cent) being in 55 and over age group. Female teachers accounted for 70.3 per cent of the total. Non-teaching staff amounted to 603, of whom 69.2 per cent were employed on a full-time basis. Female teachers accounted for 70.3 per cent of the total.