Happy 2016 to all our past and future students!

Wishing Peace, Harmony, Health and Prosperity to all our past and future students.

From Celia, Gail
and all the teachers and hosts at Heritage English

German student gains confidence in oral English

A young man from Germany, Moritz, came for 2 weeks recently.  He stayed with the Webb family.

He needed to improve his English as his older brother had done with Heritge English 5 years ago.
A little shy at first, he soon gained confidence under the guidance of his main teacher Toby (see photo)

Hard at work in lessons with Toby (right)

Toby took him to a number of local museums as his key interest was history.

This is not recognised as a punishment any more!

On his final day we arranged a special treat: A visit to the Imperial War Museum in London under the supervision of Gail's daughter Rosie, also an English teacher.  Rosie said that she was the student that day since Moritz knew so much more than her about the historical facts.

On his return we received this message from his mother who was working overseas:

I skyped with my family yesterday night, Moritz was full of joy and he told us a lot about the lessons and awesome excursions. He enjoyed the whole programme very much and we are convinced that it was a very good decision to push him a little bit to agree on our plans. He said it had been the best holiday he ever had!

So once again, thank you very much for arranging the whole programme!

"I have begun to dream in English and I am proud of this" says French business client

Anne Sophie came to Heritage English from Paris for an intensive one-to-one business English language training week this month.  She works for an international corporation that provides water treatment and environmental services.

She needed to improve her English to communicate with more confidence in meetings, to improve her vocabulary and to be able to socialise more easily and take minutes in meetings.

In the lessons Gail focused on her need to consolidate the use of English tenses and general grammar structures.  Celia followed on the training with videos and exercises to practise functional phrases for participating in meetings.  This is something that Anne Sophie will be expected to do in her future role when travelling overseas to visit colleagues and clients overseas.

We took a "selfie" on a visit to Hurst Castle

"I appreciated the 1-1 lessons in the teacher's house and I felt very comfortable with it.  It gave the opportunity to make conversation in and out of lessons.  

"My host family was great!  Caroline and Stuart were straightforward and warm - that is all I needed.

"I have begun to dream in English - so I am quite proud of this!"

Thank you Anne-Sophie.  We wish you all the best in the future.
Celia and Gaile

Presentation practice pays off for Paris-based international communications director: "Our client was very happy"

We were delighted to get a telephone call from David Bitton last month.  David is an old (not in years) student who now regularly comes back to us for a boost in his English when business requires fluency for a new presentation to clients.  

David is an actor, author and playwright based in Paris, who also heads a successful company providing communication training to people needing to convey a message in the global business world.

On this occasion he had to present his ideas to an important new client, to be followed up by a practical workshop... in English! 

 The first problem was that the English text had been translated from the French original by a computer.  We all know the problems with computer language, so it was a 24-hour task for his teacher to work together correcting the mistakes as well as keeping the right meaning for the message he wanted to communicate.

The second problem was that David had only 2 days available to re-write his script and to practise!

We managed the first task, but had no time for the second.  However the opportunity to socialise with us and his lovely hosts Sam and Andy helped him to find his oral fluency and read below what he said about the result ...

Celia, Sam and Gail 

Many thanks for all these nice moments with you ….

We had a lot of success not only in our conference but also in our workshops.

It was challenging but very interesting to meet people from all around the world

Our client was very happy and we‘ve been rewarded with applause :)

This time we forgot to take photos, but here is a sunny summer photo of  David and Celia, taken on his first visit to Heritage English in 2010

All my objectives were achieved and a wonderful human experience too!

Working hard in lessons but smiling too!

A walk in the grounds of Newlands Manor

Anca is a Project Training Manager in Paris who needed to improve her English for professional development when working in an international company.





Her goals were to overcome her fear of English tense structures! Also to improve her vocabulary, especially for being effective in meetings, presentations and on leading conference calls.

She was an exceptionally motivated student who devoted herself totally to the immersion experience by making the most of every opportunity to improve her English in and out of lessons.  She stayed with her host Lynne who lives in a town house in the high street of Lymington town.

Here is an extract of her comments at the end of her week of one-to-one lessons with Gail and Celia.

"More than an immersion course, this week was a wonderful human experience.  I appreciated the whole adventure - especially the sensitivity of people.  I was immersed from the beginning in a friendly and welcome atmosphere which contributed to my learning easily and quickly.

Learning English is first of all a matter of living English.  A big thank you to teachers Gail and Celia, to Lynne and Steve and the other family members for their involvement.  A big thank you to Jago for his beautiful smile :o)

Thank you for everything
Anca

"One to one lessons very helpful," says HR director

Recently we were able to plan and deliver an intensive course for an HR director, working for an international company based in Paris.

In charge of a large division of this company comprising 200 employees, Malak now has to speak in English to colleagues in India, Romania, America and Britain. She needed to improve her vocabulary and grammar in order to gain confidence when speaking in English.

 Phrasal verbs were a problem when talking with British and American speakers.  These were studied in most lessons during her short week with Heritage English.  The rest of the time was spent learning and practising expressions for socialising, emailing and talking on the telephone/conference calls.

With 40 hours of lessons from Monday to Friday, and social conversation out of lessons, she was able to raise her level from intermediate to upper intermediate.  Bravo!

Malek top right with host Becky and her 3 lovely children

Our student was very happy with her host family.  She wrote at the end of her stay:

"I appreciated the kindness and the welcomes I had from the host family, Celia and her husband Steve.
Also I enjoyed the discussions and conversations about many different topics.

"One-to-one lessons were challenging and very good.  Two very good teachers with different but very helpful lessons.

I had a lovely week.

Thank you all

Tea time at Lymington Buttery

"My children are very happy and learning English at a level unimaginable in Spain"

Carles and Marc on a visit to Bournemouth 

Marc and Carles Rivera from Spain have been staying in Hordle village and having lessons with teacher Sam for almost two weeks now.

Their lessons are going really well as they work hard with good motivation; everyone who meets them is charmed by their ready big smiles and polite manners.  Sam is pleased with their progress and Gail has been sending daily lesson reports to their father Ricardo Rivera.


We had an email from Ricardo today thanking the team at Heritage English for the care and attention his twins (yes twins!) are receiving.

A red letter day!

He says:  "My children are very happy with you.  They say you are very friendly and attentive.  I know they are learning English at a level unimaginable in Spain.

Best Regards, Ricardo Rivera

Italian couple take 2-1 English fluency lessons with golf afternoons

Claudio and Isa hard at work

Claudio and Isa Alberto live in Turin in the North of Italy.  They came to Heritage English for 2-1 language lessons in the morning.  They brought their own car and rented a self-catering cottage at Newlands Manor.   After their lessons they played golf and explored places of interest in the area.

Celia and Isa in lesson

They both had an advanced level of English which they felt they were losing without practice.  Before retiring a few years ago, Isa had been a high school teacher of English and her husband Claudio had been an international business executive.  

Lessons were centred around topical media sources of internet, TV and newspapers which they found interesting and motivating.  After two weeks of 40 hours learning, they both wrote these comments:  

Isa: I liked the relaxed atmosphere, the way we had classes.  The teachers were very professional.  I enjoyed everything we did, the care you put on the variety of up-to-date topics chosen for discussion. 

 I think I feel more confident now when I speak.  It seems I manage to ask/reply without hesitating too much and my understanding of radio/TV progams has absolutely improved

It was worth attending this course.

Claudio: You know, as a no-longer young English learner with horrible pronunciation, bad grammar and lack of fluency, it is hard to find a teacher who understands the problems and is not shocked!  In my case Celia was never shocked - she even managed to improve all my problems.  What a lovely, smart and patient teacher.  

Working, talking, making oral and written exercises, I could revise my grammar knowledge (new mistakes are constantly creeping in) my fluency in speaking.  The exercises with radio and internet were very useful in re-waking up my skill in understanding oral English spoken quickly, as it happens talking with real people and not just in the classroom.

Heritage English is such a serious school of English, says pleased Mother from Italy

Cooking for his host family

Michele (right) with Oscar and Sam

Michele has returned to his family in Italy after his intensive FCE exam course when he sat the exam on the final day of his 2-week course.  Sam was host and teacher as well as Gail.

His mother Elizabetta has kindly written to thank his host and teachers.  She says:

"Dear Sam and Gail,
I am Michele's mother.  We don't know each other.  But I want to thank you for all you did for Michele - from a professional and human point of view.
He has been very happy with you and your family and that helped him studying better. He says his English has improved SO much.  I must say I never found such a serious professional school of English like Heritage English.
 He says the exam went well - we hope so, and we await the results.
Now he is back home and very happy about his staying with you.
Best Regards
Elizabetta"

Ahmed learns new lessons and joins the Cricket Club

Entertaining his host family 

Ahmed is continuing to make progress in his lessons, working well with Sara, Rosie and Jim.  Once a week he has an afternoon when he goes horse riding and another day he plays tennis with a private coach.

At home he enjoys the spacious garden of the Browning family where he can practise the game of cricket he has just discovered.  His family have sent us this picture of a meal that Ahmed cooked for them - we are not sure what the menu says, but they seem to be enjoying it!

Working hard with Rosie

batting is easier than bowling

Michele from Italy returns for FCE preparation course

One-to-one lessons with one of his two teachers, Gail Steggell

Michele 17, returned to Heritage English this summer to prepare for his First Certificate Exam which he will take at the end of the 2-week course.

His teacher, Gail, is seen here in a lesson on this first week, guiding and supporting him in the specific skills required for success in this examination.

After a visit to us last summer, his listening and speaking skills are strong.  He has a lot of work to do to master the exam techniques for the Use of English, Reading and Writing parts of this exam.

His second teacher Sam is also his host and Michele is happy to spend time after lessons with Sam's husband Andy and their two daughters Evie and Gemma - and their young friends.  Exams are important, but there is more to life.  A weekend visit to London, a forthcoming sailing trip and Friday evening kayaking on the river with Andy will be a welcome diversions from his very intensive daily lessons and homework.  Michele is very focused, working hard and keen to succeed.  Bravo!

Junior returns for 3rd summer of total English experience

This June we are delighted to welcome back an old friend.  Not really old!  Only 15 years in fact, but Ahmed came to us for first time in 2013 when he was only 13.  This year he is staying with the Browning family who live in the heart of our New Forest national park.  They have a boy his age and a younger daughter - and a big bouncy dog.  

Ahmed is having one-to-one lessons with teachers Gail, Sara, Jim and Rosie.  The teachers share lesson reports so that they are all working together and sharing his achievements and difficulties.  All are working towards his new targets of improving his reading and writing skills in preparation for exams he will need in the future.

This may seem a lot of work for Ahmed.  However the lessons are engaging and interesting with plenty of variety to sustain his interest.  Not only that, he will be having tennis and riding lessons on two afternoons.  Evenings and weekends are spent with the Brownings who have a big garden and the forest beyond for playing football and discovering forest wildlife.  

On his first weekend he discovered the game of cricket and soon we hope to show some pictures of him in his "whites" as well as riding and playing tennis.

Ahmed with his teacher Sara take Jago for walk at Newlands during the lesson break

Ahmed could not believe this ancient English oak was over 500 years old. He was interested to learn how annual growth rings  on a section of tree trunk are a way of counting the years.

One-to-one lessons a great opportunity to improve my business English

Picture shows our latest business executive student, test driving a vintage car in period costume - with his teacher Celia at the Beaulieu Motor Museum in the New Forest.

Olivier works as an IT Manager for a Paris based company, working on company infrastructure and security with IT teams all over the world.

He had 40 hours of 1-1 individual lessons Monday to Friday with Celia and Gail as well as many hours of conversation relaxing in the evenings with his hosts, Susie and Miles.


"I enjoyed everything" he says.  "this week has been very helpful to improve my English"

"One-to-one lessons have been a great opportunity to refresh my mind and also to learn new things.  My hosts Susie and Miles were very kind.  I spent hours for speak with them.
I achieved my objectives this week.  I've got plenty of examples to introduce myself in English and new phrases to write emails to people.

I really enjoyed this week, thanks"

It was a pleasure for everyone to meet Olivier and to help him achieve his objectives in English communication at work.  He raised his overall global score one full level to a B2.1.
 Bravo!
Good luck Olivier!

One-to-one immersion lessons truly professional and adapted to my needs

We were very pleased to have the company of Geraldine for an intensive immersion with individual lessons every day for a week in January.  She had a good level of English already, but needed to improve her vocabulary, accent and pronunciation skills in order to work with international  teams in Europe and Asia, within the IT department of an international French company based in Paris.

Social English was important for Geraldine and therefore we gave her plenty of opportunities to socialise with friends and family during her stay.

Her hosts live in the seaside village of Milford and have a large but friendly old dog called Gus (see photo) who became a good friend as well.  She was taught by Gail and Celia who prepared some challenging lesson material for this very able student.

Her comments at the end of the week were:

"I really liked the general concept of this immersion program.  The one-to-one lessons were productive and helpful.  Above all, the conversations with teachers and their relatives were interesting and helpful to reach the target we set at the beginning - especially to tune my hearing.

"From another perspective, it was so nice to meet people there, friends and families.  Also those people were gentle, generous and kind with me.  I think that helps, really to understand the culture and improve the language there.  On the top of that, my host family Sam and Andy were lovely.  It is such a surprise to meet people, really to share and to welcome you in their life for a week in this way.

"I think I achieved my objectives which were: accuracy, fluency and pronunciation.  It will be probably easier to work on a day to day basis focusing less on details, just because I acquired some automation. 

"All the people I've met were really nice and absolutely kindly.  Saying that, the organisation is truly professional and the lessons adapted to suit the student needs - which is precious!

"Thank you for that and for the special memories of Josie and Jago"

Our students arrive as welcome guests - often they leave as good friends.  Geraldine was such a student and we wish her all the best for the future with her career and her new family.

J'ai apprecie la disponibilite et la convivialite, les explications etaient concretes, mes hotes des gens charmants

As financial director of a major company dealing with colleagues of various international divisions, Isabelle needed to improve her English rapidly in order to communicate effectively in her work.

She came for 5 days in January and appreciated the programme.  However she commented that she needed longer to reach the desired level in English.  These were her comments:

"J'ai fait cet immersion 1-1 de 5 jours avec un objectif de beaucoup progresser et donc, jai souhaite ... de consacrer la plus temps possible aux cours.  J'ai apprecie la disponibilite et la convivialite de ces jours de formation.  Les explications etaient concretes.  Les dejeuners dans les pubs et promenades dans la campagne anglaise qui permettent de se reposer l'esprit et donc de re etudier facilement."

"Mes hotes etaient des gens charmants"

We hope you come back for another immersion soon Isabelle !

" Perfect organisation! now more confident to socialise; to manage conference calls and meetings in English"

Serge (right) celebrates with hosts Andy and Samantha on Friday evening at the end of his immersion training week.

Manager of a team of 70 IT staff at headquarters and 90 staff overseas, Serge came to Heritage English for an intensive immersion week.  His English was good, but he made mistakes and wanted to improve his grammatical structures as well as learn new expressions for managing meetings, telephoning and socialising overseas with non-native colleagues of many nationalities.

"Everything was well organised.  I was completely focussed on my objectives due to the perfect organisation"

"The host family was fully involved in my training and welcomed me very good.
Teachers were very attentive on my needs and have adapted training programme to fit with my expectation.  I improved the basics for grammar and vocabulary.  I have also now a good overview on how I can manage better conference calls.  I'm more confident in myself to socialise."

Profitable lessons with new tools to practise in business

Our first student in 2015 was an executive from Paris who wanted to improve his English for professional communication with clients and teams that work for his multi-national company worldwide.

Just back from a visit to India, Paulo works for the IT department and needs to understand a range of accents, to give presentations and to have meetings and conference calls regularly.
Picture shows Paulo (second left) with his hosts Vanessa, Nathan and their daughter Lauren.


After his one week of one-to-one lessons with his two teachers, Toby and Stephen, he said:

"The one-to-one lessons were very profitable, especially the presentations and emails reviewed. All audio lessons too.  The excursions allowed to practice conversations and to confront accents.  All activities were controlled by teachers with high efficiency.  

I have achieved my objectives.  Now, I have tools to practice and improve lessons and reviews.  All aspects of the English immersion have been managed with professionalism.  Especially by the excellent teachers."