In our English language course, and after we teach students hellos and goodbyes, we introduce then to the Simple Present Tense. It is the simplest yet most important tense to learn in English. Because if you understand it well, everything else that follow will be easy!   What is the Simple Present Tense? In language when we teach grammar, we use the tenses; present, past and future. “Tense” means time. Present means now. And Simple indicates the use of this grammar rule. It is used mostly in simple sentences that have one verb, one subject and one object.   When do we use the Simple Present tense? It has many uses. But the most common use is when we talk about everyday routine, habits and facts. For example: I go to school everyday. She walks to school everyday. They drink coffee in the morning. The sun rises at 6:30AM   How do we make sentences in the Simple Present tense? For affirmative (positive) sentences: Subject Verb Object I, you, we, they aake up at 5:30 in the morning He, she, it wakes up at 5:30 in the morning. note that we add an -S to the verb in singular third person.   For negative sentences: We use the auxiliary “don’t / doesn’t” Subject Verb Object I, you, we, they don’t aake up at 5:30 in the morning He, she, it doesn’t wake up at 5:30 in the morning.   For Yes / No questions: We use the auxiliary “do / does” Subject Verb O / C? Do I, you, we, they go To the gym? Does she, he, it sleep early? note the -S on the verb for singular third person doesn’t exist. also note the question mark at the end of the question.     If you want to … Read more

1. Movie Nights It’s getting cold here in San Francisco! Earlier this month, we signed up to go to the AMC Metreon on Mission St. It’s a couple of blocks away from our school. We booked a whole row of seats and together we watched the intense movies: Joker and the new Disney Maleficent. After that we walked around the Union Square and had dinner. 2. Kayaking Our Saudi Arabia Student Ambassador Hamdan lead students on a Saturday to go Kayaking in the San Francisco Bay waters. Over 8 students signed up and enjoyed the nice weather before it gets cold. Kayaking is one our most famous activities after the summer season BBQs. 3. New Student Ambassadors   Back in October, we lost most of our ambassadors. They graduated and moved on with their lives. We wish them happiness and success. Although they will always be ambassadors to our school, we needed to signed new ones on site! We put the word out, and received many requests. We now have an awesome team including; Hamdan and Ibrahim from Saudi Arabia, Lili from Hungary, Kazu from Japan and Peter from Germany! We wish them good luck and we’re excited to have fun with them! 4. Guess Who? Sandra, our intern, sent emails to all our staff members and teachers asking them to send her pictures of them when they were little babies. She put them all on one poster and numbered them with no names. Students, for a whole week, had to fill in forms guessing who’s who! We had fun with confusion and some students playing detectives. Eventually, Lukas from Germany was the winner of guessing them all right! We also had 3 students who guessed all of them but two! It was a fun game! Thank you Sandra!   … Read more

Across the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, there’s a whole world that could be discovered. Usually, people who visit us here in San Francisco are reluctant to visit Oakland. Only because the bridge that connects the East Bay to San Francisco isn’t Golden! Well, it might not be as flashy as the Golden Gate Bridge, but it’s as reliable and as pretty! And Oakland is a huge area that has a lot of cool and hip spots. Here are five great places you need to visit while you’re here. 1. Jack London Square It’s the center of so many businesses and restaurants overlooking the Oakland-Port. The Area was named after the novelist, essayist, and journalist Jack London. He was a famous American writer born and raised in San Francisco, CA. There’s a huge bowling alley / arcade bar and restaurant. There’s also a hotel overlooking the Bay that is Navy themed. There’s a Waffle & Chicken cafe that is delicious and famous. 2. Lake Merritt It’s a lagoon situated in the center of Oakland. The lake is surrounded by the many districts. It is the place of many restaurants and bars. The lake is a national historic landmark since 1963. It was the country’s first official wildlife refuge in 1860. 3. Fox Oakland Theatre The theater is also listed a national historic landmark. It was opened in 1928. It was first a movie theater, then turned into a music venue. It is unique in its interior design as much as its architecture. The venue hosted so many famous artists including B.B King, Metallica, Bob Dylan,  Van Morrison, Lorde, Animal Collective, Green Day and so many more. If you’re ever interested in attending a concert, check this one out! 4. Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum It was build in 1966 as a home for … Read more