EC London English Language School

EVERY MONDAY, new students start their English language course with us at EC London. During the test, every student has a short interview to talk about why they are learning English and what their aims and objectives are for their English course at EC. Here are some of the most popular first day questions:

1. What is my timetable?

2. How can I get an oyster card?

3. Where is the British museum?

4. Where is my class?

5. How many students are there from my country?

6. What’s in the social programme?

7. Can I borrow DVDs or books?

8. Who do I speak to about my accommodation?

9. Can I choose my timetable?

10. When can I get my test result?

So, what are the answers? See if you know the answers already – I will post them soon!

Last week I had the pleasure of holding two coffee and conversation classes in the EC cafe. I didn’t know who I would meet or what kinds of conversations to expect! In the first session I met a French student who is passionate about photography and loves London! She was having some trouble with her bank, which meant that she didn’t have access to any cash for the whole day. This didn’t stop her at all! Her plan for the afternoon was to walk down to the National Gallery and check out some FREE exhibitions, yes, in London most galleries have free exhibitions!!

We were later joined by two more students and we talked about their views of London. I was surprised to hear that they were a bit ‘bored’ outside of school. This surprised me as I have lived in London for 3 years and I still haven’t ever been bored! I suggested things to do in London, like visiting the markets at the weekend (Portobello, Brick Lane, Spittalfields, etc.) I also told the boys to buy Time Out Magazine which is a weekly paper that lists EVERYTHING that is happening in London that week. There is no way that anyone can get bored in a city like London with so much going on. As a famous author once said, “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.”

I spent my second coffee and conversation session chatting to two Spanish girls who were making the most of their month in London! They had been out the night before enjoying the London night life and were excitedly making plans for the weekend. We talked about the differences between London and Madrid – both cities are crazy and have a good night life! Apparently the London traffic is a bit crazier though. We couldn’t talk about the two countries without mentioning the differences in the weather, of course they preferred the sunny London weather to the rainy Spanish weather – hmmm, or was it the other way around??

Coffee and Conversation is held twice or three times a week in EC London’s Cafe – and it’s FREE! Sign up outside the Study Roomm

Students who would like to apply for paid work in the UK need a National Insurance Number (NIN).

First things first, you need to call 08456 000 643 and explain that you are an international student and that you are looking or have found work. They will ask you a couple of questions, don’t be afraid to ask them to repeat anything if you don’t understand! An appointment will be booked for you at the local Job Centre. You will be asked to provide proof of your identity, proof of your address and proof that you are a student. If you need a visa to enter the UK you must take it with you when you go to your appointment. Before your appointment, you will receive a letter reminding you of the time, place  and all the documents you need to provide.
If you are worried about your level of English you can ask for an interpretor to be present at your appointment.
For more information go to www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk.

National Health Service

Many International students will be able to use the National Health Service (NHS), which offers free health care.
If you are from a European Economic Area (EEA), you qualify for full NHS treatment, you should get a European Health Insurance card before coming to the UK. EEA countries are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

If you are not from an EEA country you can still qualify for full NHS treatment if your course is for six months or more.

Registering with a doctor

If  you qualify for full NHS treatment you should register with your local General Practitioner (GP) as soon as you have a permanent address.

When you register you will need to take your passport, proof that you are a student, you can pick up a student letter from reception and proof of your address.

If you do not qualify for free NHS treatment you might want to get private medical insurance because private health care can be very expensive.

If you would like more infomation about the NHS you can go to thier website: www.nhs.uk

Walk-in Clinic – Soho

There is a  walk-in clinic which is a 10 – 15 min walk from the school. Their opening hours are:

Monday – Friday 8:00 – 20:00

Saturday – Sunday and Bank Holidays (Christmas Day closed) 10:00 – 20:00

If you would like a map or more information just come to reception.

Summer is well and truly here, even though the weather may suggest otherwise! For us here at EC London that signals the arrival of junior students. This summer we have around two hundred students joining us from Italy. They come here for an intense two week English course which combines English language lessons and a fun and exciting social programme. For most of these students, this is their first trip to London, and they come here eager to learn about the culture, practise the language and see the world-famous sights in the city.

The first groups arrived a couple of weeks ago, and soon fell into the English routine of packing an umbrella and sun cream into their yellow rucksacks. At around 8.45am every morning around fifty students make their way to their classrooms where they learn about England and practise new vocabulary and grammar.

Afternoons and evenings are spent wondering around London, visiting museums, monuments and places of interest. I was looking at their social programme and am ashamed to say that they probably see more of London in two weeks, than I have seen in the two years I’ve been living here!

Soon though, their two week course comes to an end and the fifty students reluctantly make their way back to Italy with an orange certificate in hand, memories of their London trip and a better grasp of the English language.

I was just reading one of the comments on the blog and a good question was asked.
Are we going to write a blog about Michael Jackson? And as it happens, I am sitting here, listening to the King himself, on spotify. But I thought I should connect his music to learning English.

Personally, when I was learning Hebrew, I found that a great way of learning new words was to listen to a song, write down the lyrics and then check whether I had written them down correctly or not. I often recommend this study skill to students and very often they come and ask me what something means. However, occasionally it has the opposite effect and students come and ask me about Hip Hop lyrics. For example, TuPac Shakur. What does “the click you claim” and “equipped with game” mean? For the life of me, I have no idea!
There’s a task for you….try and re-write the above expressions in ENGLISH?

As much as I love Michael Jackson’s songs, I have always had this fear that a student will come and ask me what “tunup de kollan” means or “asunus disregard” (lyrics from Man in the Mirror). Or why he starts to sing about wine in Man in the Mirror – “That’s a wine I want you to know”. Thankfully, we have the internet I have just looked them up and found out that “tunup de kollan” is actually “turn up the collar on” and “asunus disregard” is “a summer’s disregard”.

I’m not the only one confusing lyrics and this website has a list of typical errors-

http://www.amiright.com/misheard/

See if you can find out what the real lyrics are to these songs:

“A Hard a Day’s Night” – The Beatles
Misheard Lyrics: I should be sleeping like a dove.
Original Lyrics:____________________________

“Man in the Mirror” – Michael Jackson
Misheard Lyrics: I’m asking him to shave his face.
Original Lyrics:____________________________

“Always” – Bon Jovi
Misheard Lyrics: I’ll be there where the sun don’t shine.
Original Lyrics:____________________________

Now I’m going to get a little more sentimental. I know Michael Jackson was a controversial man, but no-one can deny that he was a true artist and entertainer. His songs will make you dance, think, laugh and cry. His songs had a message and I think people should be able to see the good that he did and realize that you don’t have to be rich and famous to make a change and improve the lives of those that need help.

What do the following have in common?

1. Music
2. Photography
3. Art
4. Football
5. Switzerland
6. Food
7. Cricket

Yes, they’re all nouns, but they are also the subjects of recent lectures carried out by teachers and students alike, as part of the new Academic Year Programme…

In every second week of the 4-week elective course cycle, two lectures are delivered: one on Tuesday, and one on Thursday. The Tuesday lecture is aimed at higher-level students (intermediate to advanced), while the lecture for lower levels (beginner to pre-intermediate) is delivered on Thursday.

Response to the lectures has been really positive, with many attending students commenting on how interesting and useful the lectures are. As well as being a great way to gain some specialised knowledge, you can also increase your awareness of British culture, learn some new vocabulary and practise your listening and writing skills.

Many students have asked if they can attend the lectures, but it is only available to AY30 students, as part of their Academic Programme. If you really want to come but you’re not AY30, maybe it’s time to extend that visa and sign up for some extra lessons!

The next lectures are on the 28th and 30th of July. As for the subjects, keep an eye open for the posters around the school…

VOCABULARY

The highlighted words in the text above have been placed in the table below. Can you fill in the gaps?

Make a note of the suffixes used to change one word into another, for example:

-NESS: adjectives into nouns

Coffee & Conversation@EC London: Wednesday 8th July

At today’s coffee & conversation we had three students, one from France, one from Colombia and one from Switzerland. None of us had met before so we introduced ourselves and talked a little about where we are from and our lives at home.

We discussed some of the differences between the countries the students are from and London. One thing they all agreed on was that London could be overwhelming, with the traffic, people and negotiating the underground. (Overwhelming was a new word for everybody and here it means that London is very busy and can make a person feel that there is too much to take in at once.)

Two students had only been in London a relatively short time, so I asked Mauricio who has been here eight months, to suggest some places in London to visit. His recommendations were the Science and Natural History Museums in South Kensington as they have very interesting displays of animals, dinosaurs and the natural world. He also suggested visiting London’s parks like Hyde Park and taking a boat ride from Embankment to Greenwich. Greenwich is famous for it’s observatory and being the place where time is taken from, Greenwich Mean Time or GMT.

We then talked about the best things to see and do in the student’s countries. In France the best place to go was the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre. The Louvre is of course famous for displaying the famous painting by Leonardo Da Vinci, the Mona Lisa.

In Switzerland, things to enjoy were the famous mountain range, the Alps, winter sports like skiing and socialising with drinks after skiing. We all agreed that this sounded like the best bit!

Our conversation moved inevitably towards food, (perhaps because it was nearing lunchtime), and the best dishes from our countries, which included fondue, a dish of hot cheese with bread to dip in, from Switzerland and ‘baisa’ from Colombia. ‘Baisa’ consists of rice, eggs, avocado, potatoes, beans, minced beef and chorizo (a kind of sausage). Having heard about some Colombian dishes last week I was glad to hear that you can try them in Colombian restaurants in the Elephant Castle area of London.

We also talked about hobbies and popular pastimes at home which led us on to the topic of homesickness, something I’m sure every student has experienced at some point during their stay in London. Our best advice to stop feeling homesick was to try and make some friends in classes and also to take advantage of the social programme at EC. It’s good to remember that everyone is in the same situation and as well as talking to fellow students, you can always talk to your teacher or the school’s advice service.

Thanks to everyone who came today and I look forward to the next session.

It seems like a long time ago now, but at the start of June I finished my exams and the school decided to get rid of me for a few days, by sending me to the centre of the EC Universe, the beautiful Island of Malta. I had never been before, here are some collected thoughts:

10 things I learnt about Malta

1. It’s a rock. I didn’t see one tree the whole time I was there…
2. Everyone said the Maltese were crazy drivers, but I drove around for an afternoon and I survived. I think the Parisians are worse…
3. There is a piece of history around every corner. Valletta is like another world, Medina is an ancient paradise, you can feel the centuries under your feet.
4. Don’t drive in Valetta! I could have spent hours wandering through the beautiful, old, dusty streets, instead I walked around for 30 minutes and then spent 1 hour trying to drive OUT of the city.
5. The Maltese are wonderful people, great at talking, friendly and welcoming, they really made me feel at home.
6. I didn’t learn one word of Maltese while I was there. Partly because everybody speaks English, but also because it’s a very difficult language, a mix of Arabic and Italian.
7. The food was fantastic. Fresh fish, huge salads and pasta dishes, a real variety of tastes and flavours, and I didn’t try any of it. Four out of my five meals were Pizza. I love Pizza. I think if I lived in Malta I would become a Pizza.
8. Air Conditioning is terrible for the environment and bad for the health, but also absolutely necessary. I needed a shower 10 minutes after I left the hotel.
9. Malta is a really small island. Everyone knows everyone, people notice if you get a haircut, and it can get quite claustrophobic. Like Huddersfield.
10. The post boxes are very interesting. When you have to post a letter, you have two choices: Local or Foreign. That sums it up, really…

Overall I would recommend a visit, for Malta is a beautiful island, full of intrigue, history, amazing weather, and amazing people. Just remember your sun cream. And don’t eat too much Pizza…

Rich