Category: Food

The sound of “ schwa”, black belt and taste of marmite

Category: English as an International Language, Film, Food, fun, Learning English outside class, Testimonial, testimonials, Uncategorized

Thomas testimonial and advice on how to keep your good level of English. How can I improve my English when I’m back home?   That was my last question during my hard work at EC London. The right answer was given to me by one of my four teacher’s over these 4 weeks. Every day I should invest 25 minutes in English practice listen and speaking exercises. I do this now with BBC 6 minutes English and watch series on Netflix. First watch and listen a short sequence without subtitles to trainee my understanding in a listening practice and then for verifying the same with subtitles. For BBC 6 minutes English I found an app on the store. The benefit here is the listening and reading from the transcript. For speaking practise I’ll speak to my new friends I met during the EC study. What are the meanings in my headline? This are my terms I’ll join every time to this amazing time at EC London. Did you ever have a teacher who has a black belt in martial arts? I predict to everyone you’ll do the homework every day. I did the same (mostly). The most important thing what I learned was the sound of “schwa”. How is the really pronunciation the triggers to understand the fast-talking English natives. Schwa (/ə/) is the phonetic writing rule that men’s over 40 definitely couldn’t understand ?, but it’s very helpful. In a lesson unexpectedly with closed eyes I had contact with the famous English brown food taste. The teacher said to us please close your eyes and trust me. I thought what the hell will happen now. Could I trust this miraculous teacher? Sometimes he sat on the ground 🙂 and let students in a way of free choice to play the guitar. … Read more

Food Glorious Food!

Category: Food, Learning English outside class, Learning vocabulary

A visit to London’s Borough Market provides the perfect opportunity to expand and develop your lesson on food vocabulary and really engages the students.   A melting pot of vibrant and diverse smells, tastes and colours, Borough Market delivers a sensory overload, whether you are there to taste the food, shop or just to people watch.   This experience also opens up a wide range of opportunities to exploit the topic of your lesson – food. You can describe the food that you see, smell and taste and encourage students to develop their range of food adjectives. You can also discuss countable and uncountable nouns, likes and dislikes, comparatives and superlatives and the influence of other cultures, which is evident from the wide array of culinary treats on offer! I focused my lesson on the differences between typical British food and the typical food from the students’ country, developing the students’ use of adjectives and general vocabulary.   During our visit to Borough Market I took the students to the Tea2you stall. I’ve been there on numerous occasions and the charismatic owner; Ratan Mondal has an unrelenting and infectious passion for his product.   After I explained that our group consisted of students who were learning English from many different countries, Ratan launched into a highly entertaining and engaging presentation about his products, the history of the company, the health benefits of good tea, the history of tea in the UK and also offered the students the opportunity to ask any questions. Everyone got the chance to try the tea too!   The students really enjoyed the visit and it allowed them the opportunity to utilise their English in a real context.   Enjoy a great experience while taking Adult English classes in London with EC.  

I scream, you scream, we all scream for gluten free, vegan “Cookies and Scream” Ice cream!

Category: Food, London trip / Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Cookies and Scream is a small bakery which offers a wide range of desserts, including warm and cool drinks. Cookies and Scream is multi-award winning, fully vegan and gluten free bakery in Camden Town, London. Every product is dairy, egg, wheat and gluten free. All bakes are low fat, low cholesterol and made with unrefined sugars. This means that nearly everyone can enjoy their incredible bakes, except for people who suffer from nuts and soya allergies unfortunately. They specialize in all types of cookies, brownies, cakes, pies and even doughnuts, all of which are incredibly tasty and fresh. You can purchase these bakes for take away or even sit at the cookie bar and enjoy a cup of coffee or a cookie shake with gluten free and vegan ice cream. Camden is a brilliant place to find cheeky snacks which are gluten free and also vegan meaning that they are dairy free and egg free. Camden is just a 20 minute walk away from Euston station in London, making it easily accessible to most people. So if you ever find yourself craving a tasty snack, you now know where to go! By Lexi Gatt (Intern)   If you’d like to improve your English, check out the English lessons for adults in London we offer at EC LONDON 30+

It’s Pancake Tuesday!

Category: Food, Learning English outside class, Learning vocabulary, Special days, Uncategorized / Tags: , , , , , ,

Today is Pancake Tuesday, one of my favourite days of the year. When I was young, I used to come home and my mother would make us extra thin pancakes, rolled up with jam, sugar and lemon. We’d gobble them down, they were absolutely delicious. I’ve never really been able to recreate her pancakes and Pancake Tuesday has never really been the same since but I have got quite good at making American-style pancakes and I’ve decided to share what might be the easiest pancake recipe of all time. And, just so you also learn English I’ve added some definitions for the more difficult words. Just click on the word for a dictionary definition. Here’s what you need: Flour Milk salt Sugar Fresh fruit Syrup Here’s what you do: Take a mug of flour and sieve it into a bowl. Fill the same mug with milk and pour that in. Add a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar. Mix it all up. Melt some butter in a frying pan on a low heat. Ladle in some of your pancake mixture and when you start to see some bubbles on top, flip it over. When the pancakes are nice and golden, serve them up with some fresh fruit and syrup.   It’s not quite how mother used to make them but they tick my boxes: easy to make and delicious! So, try them out and let me know how they go…and hopefully you’ll learn English words along the way as well. Here’s a few students at EC London enjoying their pancakes. Now it’s your turn!   Try out our learn English website if you’d like to learn English vocabulary. Have a look at our main website if you’re thinking about booking some adult English courses in the UK.