Host families & Homestay Language Tutors

Finding work placements in Spain for English graduates

2010-01-07T15:50:00.006Z

Are you a student at a European university and are studying for a degree or Masters and looking for a work placement in Spain?

If so, Placement Finders might be the ideal company to help you find your perfect work placement. There is no charge just a small administration fee. The company you find a placement with may or may not pay you, it depends on the company policy.

However the benefits are huge in so far as being able to speak their language on a daily basis and gain valuable experience into the market you are involved or wish to become involved in.

By going through a company such as Placement Finders, you will have someone to turn to should you have questions to ask. These may include the following:

Relocation and ongoing support

Help with “internationalising” your CV.

Advice on interview techniques.

Information and help with grant applications.

Checklist before leaving home.

Help with finding accommodation (home-stay, self-catering, shared house, etc).

Insurance guidance.

Airport pick-ups.

Welcome pack, including our need to know country fact sheet.

Our what to expect Work Placement Guide.

Assistance in opening a bank account.

Recommendation of language courses or private tutors.

Placement Finders has a wide client base which covers all industries from major international corporations to small private businesses. The region is mainly Andalucía but also most major cities, small towns and rural areas throughout Spain.

We select companies who are able to provide students with vacancies in their fields of study.

Placements are (subject to availability) within the following sectors

Administration & Secretarial, Agriculture & Natural Resources, Architecture, Arts, Communications, Economics, Engineering, Finance & Accounting, Government Organisations, Horticulture, Hospitality, HR, Insurance, International Trade, IT, Law, Logistics, Marketing & Sales, Media Sales, Medicine & related areas, Multimedia, PR & Advertising, Public Notaries, Research, Retail, Science, Teaching, Theatre & Music, Travel & Tourism, Website Development, etc.

Pupils in English secondary schools learn Mandarin

2010-01-06T18:42:00.003Z

Interestingly on the BBC news recently Children's Secretary Ed Balls has announced that all secondary school pupils in England should have the chance to learn a less familiar language such as Mandarin.

The BBC reports "Mandarin has become increasingly popular in schools - with one in seven now teaching the subject.

Making it more widely available is an "aspiration" rather than a pledge - and could mean schools and colleges sharing specialist language teaching staff.

Mr Balls highlighted the economic importance of learning languages.

As well as Mandarin, he pointed to the growing importance of Portuguese for trading with Brazil, Spanish in Argentina and Bahasa Indonesia in Indonesia.

Emerging economies

"A growing number of schools are now teaching Mandarin and in the coming years I think we will see this subject sitting alongside French, Spanish and German as one of the most popular languages for young people to learn," said Mr Balls.

"In this new decade our ties with emerging economies like China will become even more important and it's vital that young people are equipped with the skills which they need, and British businesses need too, in order to succeed in a rapidly-changing world," he said.

"That's why we want all secondary pupils to have the opportunity to learn up-and-coming languages like Mandarin if they choose, either at their own school or a nearby school or college."

Modern languages have been struggling in secondary schools, particularly since 2004 when languages were made non-compulsory after the age of 14.

For the most popular languages at GCSE, French and German, take-up declined in England by 45% and 46% respectively between 1997 and 2008.

The lack of pupils studying languages in school has had a knock-on effect in higher education - with some university language departments reporting a shortage of applicants.

There have been particular concerns that the lack of language skills will harm the country's economy.

Conservative schools spokesman Nick Gibb said: "This government's policies have resulted in plummeting numbers of state school pupils studying languages at GCSE, and their own report confirms falling numbers in Mandarin too.

"There's a credibility gap between Ed Ball's rhetoric and what actually happens in our schools."

The government has been seeking to increase language learning in primary schools instead.

From this year, seven to 11-year-olds will be entitled to language lessons - and from next year languages will become a compulsory subject in the primary curriculum."

Of course learning Mandarin is not just about learning a new language and understanding how to remember, listen or respond to it, it is also about learning an entirely new alphabet.
The written alphabet is beautiful, artful and, well, tricky both to learn and to write.
To understand a little more of the complexities of Chinese Mandarin, Pinyin will give you information on learning, and not being able to learn, Mandarin.

Opinions differ however and The Los Angeles Learning Centre state on their website that "while most people believe Mandarin Chinese is a difficult language to learn, students after two classes or two sessions of private lessons, often come to believe that Chinese is a very logical language, and it is easy to learn for English speakers."

Michaloud's website has some very interesting facts including some obvious observations "the spoken language is usually not considered as beautiful by Western people, although you can't deny the attraction of the writing system which has led more than one to learn the language."

According to Wikipedia, Mandarin is spoken by around some 850 million speakers worldwide, plus there are another six different forms of Chinese spoken other than Mandarin. Each of these spoken by up to 80 million people.

Silent letters in English

2010-01-05T11:55:00.004Z

Ever had a foreign speaker say something to you in English which you didn't understand at first and then laughed when the realisation of what they are trying to say suddenly hits you?

This happened recently when our Dutch student mentioned his duvvit. We didn't understand what he meant and only after much elaboration it was discovered he meant his 'duvet'.

Obviously much hilarity ensued and he has never been allowed to forget it. This is worse for him than an average student of English because he is a primary school teacher and has been teaching his year six class to say duvvit as well.

This leads me on to mention 'gnome'. Nothing difficult about that for us, but sounds weird when said as it is spelt.
G Nome.

According to New Scientist English is the most difficult language to learn to read.

I quote "Children learning other languages master the basic elements of literacy within a year, but British kids take two-and-a-half years to reach the same point.

In the most extensive cross-national study ever, Philip Seymour of Dundee University and his team compared the reading abilities of children in 15 European countries. They found that those learning Romance languages such as Italian and French progressed faster than those learning a Germanic language such as German and English. "Children do seem to find English particularly complex and problematic though," says Seymour.

The team focused on the earliest phase of learning to read. They tested the children's ability to match letters to sounds, their capacity to recognise familiar written words, and their ability to work out new words from combinations of familiar syllables.

Seymour's findings might explain why more people are diagnosed as being dyslexic in English-speaking countries than elsewhere.

In languages where sounds simply match letters, some symptoms just would not show up, says Maggie Snowling, a dyslexia expert at the University of York. The condition would be more difficult to diagnose in children who speak these languages, though subtle symptoms such as impaired verbal short-term memory would remain. "People might be struggling, but no one would notice," she says."

The article goes on to say that English words are made more difficult because of the way the consonants are clusters for instance the word 'sprint' can cause problems because of the p being sandwiched between the s and the r thus making the p sound difficult to learn.

Apparently Finnish is said to be the easiest European language to learn to read due to the relationship between letters and sounds being fixed."

Historical accident

"However, the things that make English difficult to read might have contributed to Britain's rich literary tradition. Words like "sign" and "bomb" are difficult because of their silent letters, but these hint at relationships with other words. The connection with words like "signature" and "bombard" is obvious."

English tenses - a quiz

2010-01-04T15:10:00.003Z

Learning tenses in English can be confusing.
If you are staying with a host family in England or an English language tutor; speaking on a regular basis with your host or tutor they can correct you and remembering the correct tenses will soon become second nature.

I found this great quiz on a BBC website and it will test a variety of ways of past, present and future.

For more practise you could look at English Page for a lot more examples.

Why do English pronounce some English words badly?

2010-01-01T21:04:00.003Z

I found a great post recently which I will share with you dailywritingtips.com

So true! Why do you hear people say pacific when they mean specific, bold instead of bald (they've gone bold), I'm going to 'borrow her it' instead of lend it, I've won you, instead of beat you, bought you, instead of brought you and so on.

Have a look at the daily writing tips and the comments, some are hilarious.

Wishing you a happy, healthy & successful 2010

2009-12-31T12:09:00.003Z

Well that's another year almost over!
2009 has been a year of striving and actually seeing some results, small but perhaps rather like scratching at dirty diamonds - we are beginning to see sparkle!

We hope you will come and join us in 2010 and make www.xilfee.eu a really great community for language teachers, host families and learners of languages.

Best wishes and may peace, happiness, good health and prosperity hold your hand at all times.

English - A crazy language

2009-12-22T12:12:00.001Z

Another one also emailed to me - hope you like it!
Please let me know if this is your work so that I can credit you.

Let's face it - English is a crazy language.
There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France.
Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat.
We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.
And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?
If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth, beeth?
One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese?
One index, 2 indices?
Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend?
If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?
If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught?
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.
In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?
Ship by truck and send cargo by ship?
Have noses that run and feet that smell?
How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?
You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.
English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all.
That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.
You lovers of the English language might enjoy this.

There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that is 'UP’.
It's easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP? At a meeting, why does a topic come UP? Why do we speak UP and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report?
We call UP our friends. And we use it to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car.
At other times the little word has real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses. To be dressed is one thing, but to be dressed UP is special.
And this UP is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP. We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night.

We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP! To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP look the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4th of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions.
If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more.
When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP. When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP.
When it rains, it wets the earth and often messes things UP.
When it doesn't rain for awhile, things dry UP.
One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it UP, for now my time is UP, so … it is time to shut UP!

PS. - Why doesn't 'Buick' rhyme with 'quick?'

Words which sound the same in English - HomoPhones

2009-12-21T12:19:00.005Z

This was emailed to me this morning, if you composed it, please contact me so that I can add your name.

If you have any to add, let me have those too please!

The bandage was wound around the wound.

The farm was used to produce produce.

The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.

We must polish the Polish furniture.

He could lead if he would get the lead out.

The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.

Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.

A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.

When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

I did not object to the object.

The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.

They were too close to the door to close it.

The buck does funny things when the does are present.

A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.

To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.

The wind was too strong to wind the sail.

Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.

I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

Crazy Squirrel, this is a good website for more indepth homophones.

2009-12-19T15:57:00.004Z

Continuing the theme of the weather, parts of Britain got snow yesterday!

Here are some clips from snow weather forecasts from the UK during 2009.

Try to guess where each of the presenters is from.....

How to describe the weather in English

2009-12-16T09:36:00.005Z

What is the weather like today?
A question which is very important if you live in England or Great Britain!

Here are some video's to help you learn how to describe the weather in English.

The first one is sung for you!

In October 1987 Britain was badly hit by a hurricane. This clip is from the BBC news showing the damage and gives a good example of a presenter speaking good English.

A BBC weather forecast - when we had snow in February 2009. The children loved it because the schools closed!

Finally, Jeremy Paxman does the weather when the weather reader is sick or something!

Present tense in English

2009-12-11T13:02:00.005Z

Learning the correct tense in English can be difficult.

Learn American English with Paul is a great site with video's to help you with many of your English needs.

Here is one of a set of video's for present tense.

TEACHING ONLINE AT ENSIGNTUTOR.COM

2009-12-10T20:37:00.003Z

Introduction
There is an exciting opportunity to become an online English language tutor and join a team of enthusiastic teachers, offering their skills, knowledge and experience to students across the globe. If you are a certified and/or an experienced tutor who teaches English as a foreign language, then please do read on.
Ensign Tutor
Ensign Tutor www.ensigntutor.com is a remarkable new website offering an extraordinary teaching and learning experience to both tutors/students. It is owned and run by a professional organisation based in Karachi, Pakistan with the goal of providing tuition (in any subject, not just English or other languages) to students globally.
In conjunction with Cisco’s Webex platform, tutors are able to interact with students in any location around the world, bringing their expertise to a wider audience than would otherwise be possible. Briefly, there are video/audio links on this platform enabling efficient communication between people and a chat box for sending/receiving quick messages. Tutors can share a large whiteboard and upload documents/presentations for online classes and can interact very easily with their students as a result.
Advantages of Teaching English Online
There are many benefits to teaching online most notably, more flexibility, ease of connecting with students in any geographical location. In addition, tutors can work from any place they wish without the need to relocate and can organise their own hours since many courses online are taught asynchronously.
Training to Teach Online
There is a minimum of 10 lessons that prospective tutors need to conduct as a preliminary to teaching online with Ensign Tutor and which would be conducted by my colleague, Professor Shamshad in Karachi, Pakistan.
Equipment Needed
• 24/7 high speed broadband internet connection
• A computer with professional standard software (i.e. for producing documents/presentations)
• Good quality headphones and an integrated microphone or a microphone and speakers
• A web camera
• A digital tablet – for writing on the whiteboard

Arranging A Demonstration
Tutors who are interested in receiving further information are very welcome to contact me (details as below) and to arrange a demonstration of this teaching platform at their convenience.

Contact Information
Name : Ms Micheline Murray
Email: M_IT_BEE@hotmail.com
Tel No: +44-(0)-20-8390-5751
Mob: +44-(0)-79-0309-3646
As people communicate at ever increasing speeds and in more technologically enhanced environments, E-learning offers students/tutors an unrivalled and sophisticated means of acquiring and disseminating knowledge rapidly across the far corners of the globe!
Welcome to the 21st Century!

Host foreign exchange students

2009-12-09T11:26:00.006Z

Hosting foreign exchange students is a great way to earn money during this economic downturn and provided you can offer a suitable level of accommodation, pretty much anyone can host.
Families, single people, retired persons or couples whose children have left home can all host, provided a suitable spare room is available.

Don't expect to be able to give your student endless beans on toast and make piles of money out of him or her. Times have changed and students expect a reasonable standard of cooking and meals.
Get smart, plan. Meals which are hastily prepared are often the most expensive. Get to grips with bulk cooking and freeze, then bring one out the freezer the day before you need it.
Planning saves time and money. Every penny counts so go through your cookery books and decide what is tasty and economical. Cooking in season food is a good way of saving money too.

Most students like to have a desk to work from as many will be taking a degree or part of while staying with you so a reasonable sized room is ideal so as to be able to work in.
Your accommodation needs to be clean and dry, heated, light and well ventilated.

I say this because there have been instances in the past where I have checked accommodation only to find that I would not been happy to allow my own child to accept the room on offer.

It is important to give the student decent accommodation and furniture and somewhere you would be happy to allow your own child to stay if they needed accommodation.
The organisation you host through will most likely send someone out to check the condition and cleanliness of your accommodation.
You will also have to have a criminal records bureau check (CRB) and references taken. The person who visits you should explain the procedure and process in detail.

Finding foreign exchange students should be fairly easy and as the students often from visa required countries, (many of the shorter stay summer language students are foreign students from Europe), they will be generally linked to a college or university.
They will also be all nationalities from across the world. The Rotary Club organise students worldwide and are worth contacting.
University students are likely to stay for long periods of time, three months to two years generally as they have a specific study period or course to complete.

Foreign exchange students will generally be aged from 20 to 24 and often only need a room and breakfast and an evening meal rather than full board including a packed lunch.
The students will be quite independent and may wish to cook their own meals rather than have a meal cooked for them as with a traditional short language homestay.

Families who can offer a secure and caring environment will enjoy learning about the culture of the foreign exchange student. It is always appreciated when a host family takes the time to show their student how to use the local services; bus routes, the library, where the shops are and other day to day essentials.

Introducing your student to other students and friends will also make them feel welcome and broaden their depth of knowledge and enjoyment of their overall visit.
Being away from home, often for the first time, is quite a scary experience. A caring host family can go a long way towards making their stay a pleasurable experience rather than a daunting one.

Sitting around the table for at least an evening meal is a good way of improving your students language skills, and taking time and care to correct their language shows that you care. One of the companies who offer detailed information on hosting exchange students is www.cci-exchange.com. They are a well established company though I think they operate more in the USA than anywhere else.

When looking to find foreign exchange students to host, begin with your local college and universities. When typing into Google, try 'universities in america' or 'universities in England' for search results and see who is the nearest to you.

This is a brilliant post from an exchange student in the Philippines who went to America. It explains a lot about being a student, and how to host foreign exchange students.

Practice your English by singing

2009-12-09T09:44:00.003Z

Learning English by following words and singing is a great way to improve your speaking, listening and singing, all in one swoop!

Try it and see, I look forward to your comments!

Getting it wrong in English

2009-12-02T19:19:00.001Z

English is a beautiful language, varied and lovely. Foreign speakers are constantly amazed by the amount of sayings we have to describe everyday situations.

Our current Dutch student has his notepad and pen at the ready to scribe any little group of words down along with their meaning and an appropriate time to use them.

Getting it wrong in English though can be hilarious and looking at EnglishWhirledWide a facebook group yesterday was almost the highlight of my day.

I’ll give you some tasters, just to get you started:-

Drink your food, chew your water

Wong Fook Hing Book Store

Go Ahead and Drink Drive – Jail, Hospital, Morgue (signs)

Nose and Ears are poked here

mmmm….hot nuts in your mouth in 90 minutes

Well that’s just for starters, take a look at the many more available there plus some video’s.

To improve your English by staying with a host family visit www.xilfee.eu

Learn French in France

2009-11-27T19:09:00.004Z

Ever fancied learning French in France but not had the courage to take yourself on a course? Think your French is too basic and would let you down in front of others?

Well, I might have just found an ideal retreat for you!

Le Bourdil Blanc www.frenchinthedordogne.com near Bergerac in the Dorgogne region, is a beautiful 18th century manor house built in the style you would imagine a house such as this to be with its elegant shuttered windows and set in seven acres of garden with a lake, tennis courts and an outdoor pool.

Bernadette will be there to welcome you on your arrival with a glass of Kir and you can relax in the comfortable and spacious rooms which are elegantly furnished with great taste. Log fires are an essential part of the welcoming and homely ambiance.

There are many things to do and see during your stay including the local markets and places of interest. Chateau des Vigiers with its beautiful golf course is one of the towns within reach during your stay.

Tuition, or classes are limited to the mornings to give you time to practice your French during the afternoon. This makes it an ideal way to relax as well as learn. Taking in the French culture at its best, this includes the history, cuisine, people, customs, architecture and even the weather will make the whole visit seem like less of a learning course, rather more of a learning experience.

There are usually around 6 - 8 students in a class (never more than 8) resulting in enough personal attention to ensure good progress. Students are assessed on arrival and then linked with others who are working on a similar level. This way no one feels out of place or out of their depth.
The course itself comprises of 18 hours of formal tuition and 24 hours of visits each week and the two, very experienced teachers Alexandre and Brigitte are there to help you every step of the way.

No one feels left out, all of the course participants and the teachers, eat together and share the days experiences. You are also welcome to take a partner who isn't on the actual language course but who can stay at the accommodation with you.

Take a look at their website for a list of fees and a great selection of photographs.

Improving your English - English quiz for learners and teachers of English

2009-11-27T08:07:00.004Z

There are some brilliant websites to help you improve your English.

Taking a quiz or simple tests online are a good way of improving your knowledge of English and I came across one this morning www.english-at-home.com which made me smile; I am a native speaker of English, and I found some of the English prefixes quite difficult to answer!

This site appears to be really good; thorough, clean looking and easy to view and navigate. There are a lot of very useful resources on it both for learners of English and teachers of English as a foreign language.

I like the page on the blog which sets the scene to a story and then encourages English learners to continue, brilliant! See this story about a ghost!

Encouraging children to become bilingual

2009-11-27T06:19:00.003Z

As a native English speaker, I am, along with a large majority of British people, pretty poor at learning a second language.
English spoken subjects are lucky in that pretty much everywhere we travel, someone will speak English well enough for it not to be too much sweat to make ourselves understood to obtain what is needed.

My parents have travelled widely over the last twenty years. Poland twenty years ago was very much behind the rest of Western Europe but pretty much everywhere they went, English was spoken and they got little chance to practice their Polish as the Poles were so keen to practice their English!
I don't think this is unusual, many people in the world, even in remote regions, are keen to learn English; often it is a ticket for gaining financial freedom.

My daughter who is ten, and son who is almost five, love languages and find remembering words and phrases in multiple languages (currently French, German and Spanish) easy to remember and pronounce. I find it difficult to even hear what is being said, easily or correctly.

We currently have a Dutch student living with us who, as many of the Dutch do, speaks fluent English, French, German as well as his native Dutch. He spends around an hour each week day reading with the children in French and German, and together they are learning Spanish.

It is interesting to hear them. Our student and daughter practice all their languages with great enthusiasm daily but my son, practices his French and then gently slides away from studies to do something else through the German and Spanish practice. He loves his French and practices (to anyone who is inclined to listen) his learned vocabulary and numbers, but is obviously not turned on by German or Spanish. We cannot decide why this is.

Unlike even ten years ago, there is now an excellent range of books and resources available easily through shops and Internet sites for children and adults.

I was looking recently at one such online language book shop offering a range of languages from Albanian to Vietnamese. It's a simple, tidy looking site. Each language is easily accessible as it is laid out into five tidy categories with books for babies up to 12 - 18 years.

I can't see the postage rates but there are contact details on there, email and telephone number (the shop is based in the UK).

Building a collection of materials need not be prohibitively expensive. Over the last ten years, we have collected packets of flash cards, books for all ages and Cd's and DVDs. All of these can be used over, no matter which age they are for, children just love being read to.

It is my hope and wish, that both of my children will learn to love languages and see them not as a barrier but rather something they will love and enjoy. Learning languages opens up so many avenues to people, countries and culture.
It should not be ignored by parents, rather embraced.
I hope that by introducing my children to the concept of learning a language at a young age, it will open up their lives and livelihood.

Learning English online with Ad_Lib

2009-11-26T11:43:00.010Z

With the cost of travel becoming more expensive, learning English online is a good way to save both money and time.
Taking a course of lessons and learning online for two or three hours a week over a period of several months can fit in very well with your job too. You don't have to use up valuable holiday taking time out to travel and there are no accommodation costs to be met either.

If your tutor offers you homework to do, jump at it; it will make the most of your money and keep your absorption going during the week. You won't come back to your next lesson having forgotten what you learned the previous time.

Ad_Lib English is an online company who specialise in learning English online. The website is nice and clean (I wasn't sure about the talking woman on the home page, but actually, I did glean a lot of information from listening to her)!.
The site appears easy to use and informative and there is an online test to available to test your level.

You can book a trial lesson to begin with, I'm not sure if this is free or not.

You can book a free 15-minute consultation. This takes place within their virtual classroom and allows them to assess your speaking and advise you on which course would be most appropriate for you.
The trial lesson allows you to see what studying with Ad_Lib really looks like
after which they will encourage you to book a course. During the free consultation you will be advised you on how many lessons you may need to reach your goal, but you can book as few or as many lessons as you wish.

Lessons are taken over Skype which is very easy to set up and use if you are not familiar with it and its a free service unless you require extra functions.
Treat yourself to a good headset, microphone and camera though, it will be worth the investment.

English courses in Madrid

2009-11-24T20:07:00.009Z

Raymond Bevilacqua, an English professor in Madrid www.englishwithraymond.com makes some brilliant comments on his LinkedIn group, All About L.I.F.E.© (Language Information For English)

The latest post is "Which word in the English language has the most definitions?"
and has linked to a couple of other sites with some very interesting material.

Click here for the article Raymond links to - 424 definitions of the word setInteresting. Being a native English speaker, we often take for granted how difficult it sometimes can be for non natives to grasp the complexity of the English language. Most of the time, many English people cannot even explain why one way is right and another way wrong. We just know that one sounds right, while another does not.

There are specialist courses coming up. Raymond Bevilacqua offers a new MASTER WORKSHOP in MADRID on Feb. 12 & 19 in 2010 called "Aprende a pronunciar inglés de una vez y para siempre"

More information about the workshop below:

Starts: Friday February 12, 2010, 09:00AM
Ends: Friday February 19, 2010, 02:00PM
Event Type: Training/Seminar
Location: Organizador: "English with Raymond"; Presentador: Raymond Bevilacqua
LOCANDITA RESTAURANTE, C/Fuencarral, 148 (Glorieta de Quevedo)
Madrid, COMUNIDAD DE MADRID 28010 ES
Price: 2 por 1 (185 Euros)
Website: englishwithraymond.com
Industry: Professional training
Keywords: english, ingles, seminar, seminario, workshop, taller, training, professional, profesional, madrid, pronunciation, pronunciacion, intensive, intensivo
Intended For: Este taller intensivo está destinado a profesionales como Ud., con una única condición: que Ud. sea estudiante de inglés como lengua extranjera con un nivel “intermedio-alto” del idioma, como mínimo.
Organization: "English with Raymond" in Madrid

Me gustaría invitarle a tener una experiencia profesional única, y a participar en el taller (Master Workshop) del idioma inglés de ENGLISH with RAYMOND®, llamado “APRENDE A PRONUNCIAR INGLÉS DE UNA VEZ Y PARA SIEMPRE”.

¡PUEDE INVITAR A UN AMIGO GRATIS!

Las plazas son limitadas a 10 personas, por lo que se recomienda realizar la matricula con tiempo suficiente. Las reservas pueden realizarse desde el 1 de noviembre de 2009 al 5 de febrero de 2010 (englishwithraymond@hotmail.com).

Le enviaré toda la información que necesita para reservar y confirmar una plaza en este taller, después de recibir un correo electrónico confirmando su intención a participar.

INSCRIPCIÓN:

Indique su interés mandando un e-mail a englishwithraymond@hotmail.com. Precio: 185 Euros (¡Invita a un amigo gratis!) (8 horas, 2 días): 12 y 19-febrero-2010 (9 a.m. - 2 p.m.)

BENEFICIOS PERSONALES:

1. Mantener la atención de oyentes durante una conversación.
2. Ganar más confianza para iniciar y mantener una conversación.
3. Dominar el idioma inglés de manera pro-ductiva.
4. Expresarse profesionalmente y con claridad en público.
5. Obtener una promoción profesional.
6. Aprobar un examen de inglés.
7. Ampliar el vocabulario y facilitar la com-prensión de una conversación fluida.
8. Manejar una conversación con fluidez.

ESTRUCTURA DE TALLER:

* Duración total: 8 horas, 2 días (4 horas cada día)
* 8 miniconferencias
* Prácticas orales individuales y en grupo
* Ejemplos y ejercicios prácticos
* Material didáctico original incluyendo cuadernillo (88 páginas) con CD
* Menús incluidos (2 días)

TEMAS PRINCIPALES DEL CURSO: (Habilidades auditivas y parlantes)

* Técnica para distinguir y pronunciar las vocales, diptongos, consonantes (singulares y pares), contracciones y el alfabeto inglés.
* Estrategias para identificar y enunciar las terminaciones “-ed” y “-s/-es”.
* Acercamiento lingüístico para diferenciar y articular palabras relacionadas entre inglés y español.
* Formas y prácticas para reconocer y distinguir la pronunciación y significado entre palabras con sonidos parecidos.
* Táctica para entender la pronunciación relajada y coloquial.

Espero que tengamos la oportunidad de conocernos en personal y disfrutar juntos de este taller “APRENDE A PRONUNCIAR INGLÉS DE UNA VEZ Y PARA SIEMPRE”.

Un cordial saludo,

Raymond Bevilacqua

Coordinador/Presentador de Taller (Master Workshop)

Learning English over the internet

2009-11-17T11:12:00.004Z

Learning English over the Internet is becoming more accessible to students learning English worldwide due to the advances in technology.

During November 2009, a Ning group set up by Heike Phip who runs an online language school http://www.lancelotschool.com/
along with Holly Longstroth, set up a virtual conference with over 400 guests attending.

The Ning group is called Virtual Round Table http://virtual-round-table.ning.com/ gathered a wealth of speakers together from across the globe to discuss the possibilities and experiences of using technology for teaching and teaching online.

You can see the list of speakers here and hear the actual speakers http://virtual-round-table.ning.com/page/conference-programme-12

Finding the correct word in English

2009-11-09T10:58:00.002Z

Speaking with our Dutch student recently has brought home to us how intricate learning the English language is.
My Father was telling me yesterday that in the second world war, it was possible to tell spys in conversation as they did not have the subtle nuances familiar to an Englishman.

There are so many words to describe rain, and an English person knows when a foreign person is using the incorrect word! - mizzling, dripping, pouring, thrashing, chucking, throwing, bucketing, torrential, fine mist, raining cats and dogs, and so on.
Presumably the English have lots of words to describle rain because we have lots of rain to describe!

Song For The Rainy Season by Elizabeth Bishop

Hidden, oh hidden
in the high fog
the house we live in,
beneath the magnetic rock,
rain-, rainbow-ridden,
where blood-black
bromelias, lichens,
owls, and the lint
of the waterfalls cling,
familiar, unbidden.

In a dim age
of water
the brook sings loud
from a rib cage
of giant fern; vapor
climbs up the thick growth
effortlessly, turns back,
holding them both,
house and rock,
in a private cloud.

At night, on the roof,
blind drops crawl
and the ordinary brown
owl gives us proof
he can count:
five times--always five--
he stamps and takes off
after the fat frogs that,
shrilling for love,
clamber and mount.

House, open house
to the white dew
and the milk-white sunrise
kind to the eyes,
to membership
of silver fish, mouse,
bookworms,
big moths; with a wall
for the mildew's
ignorant map;

darkened and tarnished
by the warm touch
of the warm breath,
maculate, cherished;
rejoice! For a later
era will differ.
(O difference that kills
or intimidates, much
of all our small shadowy
life!) Without water

the great rock will stare
unmagnetized, bare,
no longer wearing
rainbows or rain,
the forgiving air
and the high fog gone;
the owls will move on
and the several
waterfalls shrivel
in the steady sun.

How to learn a foreign language without paying

2009-10-27T15:25:00.003Z

Learning a foreign language is a great way of increasing your job prospects but it can often be a substantial financial commitment.

This site provides you with people from all over the world (but particularly European countries) who are interested in connecting and improving their languages skills.

See www.penpalamis.info for details

To get to our site click www.xilfee.eu

Schools for Business English

2009-10-19T05:27:00.002+01:00

Recently we have been focusing on encouraging some schools of business English onto www.xilfee.eu.
Chine Academy & Lydbury English Centre are two recent profiles who have joined.

If you teach business English or are a language school, take a look at our site and build a profile, there is no charge currently.

Business English

2009-10-13T09:19:00.003+01:00

We are encouraging more teachers of business English onto the site for various reasons. We do seem to be getting more interest from people wishing to learn business English in a homestay environment but also, these people who run small business English language schools are more prepared to try setting up a complete profile and will complete their profiles with photographs and a case study.

This is much easier for us when sending profiles across to possible execs or agents as they can see immediately what the host tutor can offer.

For more information contact www.xilfee.eu