Hi there!

Spring is rapidly approaching. We can see a big increase in the amount of daylight we get, and it lifts everyone’s mood. Our English students are focusing on ‘work’ for our topic this month, and given the mix of cultures in class, we are all learning so much about the differences from country to country. We currently have students from South Korea, Senegal, Syria, Andorra, Switzerland, Spain, Holland, and South America. Each place has its own set of rules and habits that are fascinating to learn about.

Speaking of habits, what do you think are good habits for language learners to have? Here are my top 3 tips:
1. Set aside time every day for English. It doesn’t have to be a lot of time, even 20-30 minutes will build up and show results.
2. Do things you enjoy in English. Don’t force yourself to listen to podcasts if you don’t like doing that in your own language.
3. Personalise new vocabulary. You may not need to use every new word you meet – but look for ways you could realistically use the vocabulary in your life.

We have an expression in English : ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day!’ This means that good outcomes can take a lot of time and effort. Whether you want to get a 7 in IELTS or aim to become more confident in speaking, building good learning habits will help you reach your goal.

And finally, my website recommendation this month is Scanner Topsec. This website has YouTube clips which are accompanied by a quiz, and can be filtered by level and topic. The quizzes can be filtered by pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary or spelling.
Let us know if you try it!

Eleanor