Christmas message from Paola and Ricky

Seasons Greetings

HAPPY XMAS SEASONS GREETINGS

HAPPY XMAS SEASONS GREETINGS

The winter holiday is fast approaching and New Year is very close.

We want to say THANK YOU to all the companies and students who invested in our language training this year.

We want to congratulate students on their achievements as this is what makes our work so rewarding.

We love to hear when you pass your exams, when you get a promotion at work or when a presentation that you practised with us was a success.

The economic climate is cold. We need to be more competitive to succeed. Good English communication skills are essential for success in the international business world.

Well done to all our young learners who passed their English exams in 2008! Don't forget fluent communication is the key to exam success in English.

If you have not yet booked a course with Heritage English take advantage of our special price giving 10% discount on all bookings taken BEFORE the end of February 2009.

CAPTION COMPETITION

See this photograph of the resident Newlands Manor cat, Sam? He is dressed in his Santa hat and boots. What is the strange looking bird behind him? In case you didn't know, it's a turkey. Traditionally, British families eat this large bird on Christmas day as part of the celebrations.

We are offering a big prize for the reader who can suggest the funniest caption for this photo. The prize is a £100 reduction on a course with Heritage English. Send in your ideas before New Years Day (January lst) and we will publish the results on this Blog.

We wish you many happy moments this Xmas - moments that will brighten every day of the coming New Year.

from your teachers,

Celia and Gail

My lovely week in Newlands Manor

My name is Ester, i'm from Cambrils, in the middle of Catalonia (Spain)... between Barcelona and Andorra. I'm 29 years old and this setember I spent part of my holidays in Milford on Sea.

This week the most appreciated for me was the real immersion in an English life. I studied English but I lived in English.

The second part, or realy the best part, to me there were the people, celia, Gail, the babys, Steve, Josie, Ben, and their friends... thank you for every day and every moment.

The other aspect it was my achieved English level. I want to recuperated my last level, and I did. But my most progress is in the comprehension of language. Now I can undestand everything that an English person say me. The other aspect that I improve it is my pronunciation.

I recomended this experience to everyone who want to improve their English fast and who want to live a beautiful experience.

Una experiencia recomendable para todas aquellas personas que necesiten conseguir un buen nivel de Ingles en poco tiempo. Tanto Celia como Gail son unas magnificas profesoras. Las clases son personales y combinan a la perfeccion teoria y practica.

En el aspecto personal son encantadoras... te acompanyan si tu quieres durante las tardes, puedes hacer diferentes actividades con ellas,... bici, piscina, visitas culturales... Convives con sus familias y te incorporan a sus vidas.

Newlands Manor esta emplazado en un maravillosa paraje... es una zona tranquila y apartada por donde puedes dar largos paseos.

Ha sido de verdad una semana increible...

Si alguien quiere saber algo mas sobre ellas, podeis poneros en contacto conmigo en la siguiente direccion de correo; muntada55@hotmail.com

Besos

Ester

Top Tips For Learning English

Ways of Learning

Everybody learns things in a different way.

Some people learn things best through listening, some through reading, some through visualising and some through kinaesthetic methods.

If you find out what kind of learner you are, it will help you to decide the best way of learning English.Think about theses things:

• Do you remember the music from scenes in your favourite film?
  

• Do you remember things that you read in a novel or do you have to read the same page more than once?

• Do you find it easy to learn the words of an English song ?

• Do you remember the dance moves from your favourite video clip?

Working out what kind learner you are is the first step to successful English language learning.

What You Learn


If you need to pass an academic English exam, it is not so important to know how to ask where the nearest toilet is or how to book a room in a five star hotel!

If you want to go on holiday, it would be useful to know how to ask for directions or order food in a restaurant. It is not as important to learn how to make a conditional sentence....

Remember it is important to focus on what is relevant for your English language learning needs.

How much you learn.

Well, the average human brain can only remember so much! It is said that only 100 words make up 50 per cent of all conversations! So, do not try and learn lists of vocabulary "by heart". If you learn ten key words a day, in two weeks you will have a good grasp of the basics!

Don't Get Tongue Tied!

Many people are afraid to use the English that they have learnt in case they make mistakes - it can be a real confidence killer...BUT remember the only way we really learn is by making mistakes and learning from those mistakes. To boost you confidence in speaking English, you should learn a few key phrases to help you such as:

"Could you repeat that, please?"
"I'm sorry. I don't understand."
"Could you speak more slowly, please."
" How do you say ....... in English?"

So, remember:

• Think about how you like to learn things
  

• Think about why you want to speak English

• Think about mastering your memory techniques!

• Think about SPEAKING IN ENGLISH!
• 
  

....and last but not least

Making an effort to speak in English is the first step in the right direction!

EcoWeek at Priestlands Secondary School!

Dear Readers,

I am pleased to announce that EcoWeek has finally arrived at my school!

At my school, in Lymington, at the end of every school year we have an activities week, based on a theme. Last year we had FreedomWeek, celebrating 250 years since the abolition of slavery. This year,however, we have EcoWeek.

EcoWeek is based on the issue of the effect global warming an how we can help stop it. Each class will be doing different activities to do with the enviroment, such as making rugs(small carpets) from old clothes and scraps of materials. I will be doing abstract landscapes, making pictures of landscapes (fields, valleys etc..) from recycled materials.

Have a good summer!


NADIA...x

Lymington - Number One UK Coastal Town

Hello out there!

We were very happy to read an article in The Daily Telegraph ( For coastal living, wish you were here - Friday 6th June 2008) describing Lyminton as" Britain's most desirable coastal town."

We are sure that past students will remember strolling around Lymington, wandering down the cobbled high street to the quay, watching the boats in the harbour and then walking back up for a nice cup of tea!

However did you know that......

• Lymington was called Limen tun in Anglo-Saxon times. Tun means a farm or a hamlet.
• Lymington was well known in the 18th century for smuggling!
• The cobbled High Street we walk up and down is one of the steepest in England!
  
• Lymington is the home to world/Olympic class sailors Ben Ainslie and Nick Rogers.
• The population of Lymington is 14,500.
  
• Johnny Depp is said to have a house in Lymington.
• And last but not least, Lymington is proud to be the home of Heritage English!!

To read the article on Lymington go to www.telegraph.co.uk/news.

Let us know what you liked about Lymington.........

We'd like to hear from you!

Celia and Gail

"A nice age" (An Ice Age)

Sometimes we have to laugh at our language.

During a recent immersion course with a French executive client, we were amused by a typical misunderstanding. Over lunch, we were discussing the ideal age of potential customers at a hotel health club where Josie is working.

When Josie commented on clients "in their thirties" being a nice age we were puzzled. Why on earth was she talking about an "Ice Age" in this context? What did ice ages have to with client ages? Suddenly the "penny dropped" (an idiom meaning we understood).

Even native speakers get confused with identifying where one word finishes and the next word begins.... how much harder it can it be for speakers of English as a second language?

With this in mind, we decided to offer a few examples to help you.

Mister Knight can sound exactly like "missed a night"
Ice cream can sound just like "I scream"
No news is good news can sound like "known uses good news"
Thanked him sounds just like "thank Tim"

Confusing? It certainly is and it's easy to see how misunderstandings occur.

In our English language immersion lessons, we spend 10 minutes focusing on this kind of problem. Just looking at examples, learning to look for meaning and repeating the phrases can help language students to recognise words in conversation.

I AM HAPPYYYYY

Hello, I am Paolo.

This morning I had the score about the TOEFL Test that I take in March.
My score is 71 - twelve points higher than my first test in September 07.

So in my opinion, Celia and Gail are the best teachers that I ever know

I'm very happy about my progress in Heritage English.

Paola Moscatelli

Note from Celia: We are so happy for Paola who has worked very hard and deserves this amazing result. Bravo!

Many students try to post comments (like Paola above) and find it difficult.

There is a video to help you register to make a comment. Please try to log on with this to help you because we love to hear your comments.

The best decision I ever made

This is Paola Moscatelli writing at the end of my third course with Heritage English.
The first time I came was in August 07 with my friend Stefania. We practised for the reading of Toefl Examination. I came back in December and Gail helped me to prepare good writing skills for this exam. Now, I have just finished an intensive week with Celia. We practised a lot of listening and speaking.

I feel that this exam is possible for me to pass after all these wonderful lessons and practise that I had in England.

For all Italian people, listen to this. Mr Steve is a wonderful cook. He cooks all of the Italian food very well!

Goodbye and thank you.
Paola

CZESC ALICJA! YAK SIE MASZ?

Hello Alicja - I hope you had a good journey back to Poland on Sunday.
Also, I hope you don't forget the vocabulary we studied in lessons. Don't forget to listen to the cassette we gave you and to repeat the English phrases as often as you can.

We were very happy to have you as our guest and now we have found a new Polish friend.

I attach the video that I made with Steve and you on the clifftop last week. My filming technique needs practice .... I must find out where the STOP button is located!

Please send us a comment on this Blog site Alicja! Darren says write something in Polish.

Bye for now
Celia

Cake photo

Polish/English chocolate cake from Alicja and Josie

Hi,

This is Alicja from Poland. I have just finished my business finance training course with Celia.

It was a fantastic time to spend with Celia and Steve.

The lessons were well-prepared to my level.
The work we did in lessons has helped to improve my vocabulary and sentence construction and now I feel more confident in speaking.

Today I have made a chocolate cake with Josie, Celia's daughter.
It didn't go exactly how we had planned. So if you want to see how it should be done, look at Nigella Lawson's old fashioned chocolate cake recipe. We made a mistake with the cake tins and most of the cake spilled out.
Here is the result!

Happy New Year

Gail and Celia send warm wishes for a Happy New Year to all our students and agents in France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Greece, China, Japan, India and Poland. We are busy filling our calendar for 2008 and the first two months are almost full up. After February, there are still free dates.

It was great to hear from our first student, a handsome Italian engineering student and keen scout! Please send us a recent photo, Davide, so that we can post it on the website.

Well done Paola for all your hard work with Gail. Sounds like you had a great Christmas and New Year at Lake Como. Keep the good work and we look forward to reading your next composition. Soon as you know your TOEFL exam dates, let us know.

Hello Francesca and Laura in Milan; have a fantastic 2008 and try to get here if you can.

Bonjour Laurent! We have great hopes of seeing you in Lymington this year. Bonne Annee.

As we write this the snow has started to fall. This is very exciting for us as we rarely get snow by the seaside.

Celia and Gail