Language Blog

Head over heels!

Have you ever noticed how many English idioms involve body parts? These idioms are often much more expressive than their non-idiomatic synonyms.

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Let the Games begin!

With the Olympic Games starting today, the whole world will be watching London. In today's blog post, Laura and Andy talk about the rising excitement and anticipation in the capital over the last few days.

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Two taps in the bathroom

As an English teacher you usually work in one of two situations: as a foreigner living as a ‘guest’ in another country, or as a native living as a ‘host’ to your own country.

A very common topic of conversation in any English lesson is the experiences of living in the country in which your lessons take place. These conversations often begin with a comment on the weather, or some other shared experience and then will develop to include all manner of interesting points of view on the cultural peculiarities of the host country…

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Go to the Globe!

Two weeks ago I went to the Globe theatre for the first time. I’d wanted to go for a long time before that but it is pretty hard to get your hands on tickets; well for seats, that is. Of course you can stand but you need to remember that some Shakespeare plays can last well over 3 hours, there is no roof on the theatre, and last but not least, that the weather in English summertime is characterised by rain. Am I putting you off? Well, don’t be. I can honestly say it was well worth the wait!

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iPhone English: Sports World

With the Olympic Games right around the corner, we’re continuing our series of posts related to the big event. This week, it’s time to brush up on your vocabulary and knowledge of the big event as we take a quick look at the latest app from The British Council, themed entirely around the games.

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Olympic fever

We’re almost there, only 16 days and counting until the Olympic Games starts in London. People are beginning to get excited and nervous as the big event draws ever nearer. Next week, the Olympic torch relay comes to London and will be passing right outside The London School of English. We’re going to be talking a lot about the Olympics over the next few weeks and this week we’re looking at the preparations thus far.

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You win some, you lose some

A couple of weeks ago here on the blog I was talking about the European Championships and about a conference Luke and I were about to attend in Paris. Well, since writing that post there has been good news and bad news. Let’s start with the good news…

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Your next daytrip!

So, summer’s here (ish) and people’s thoughts turn to the seaside. The traditional British seaside resort developed massively from the start of the 19th century but has been in decline ever since travel abroad has been available to the masses. However, being beside the seaside never goes completely out of fashion and I for one love it!

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London, Kiev, Paris

This summer is such a busy and eventful one here in London and for English people in general. Not only are the Olympics due to start in a few short weeks, but hot on the heels of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee is Euro 2012. Okay, it’s not in the UK, but football always interests and excites the British people.

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The Queen's Diamond Jubilee

Have you noticed all the Union Jacks that have recently appeared in the streets of London? Have you noticed people looking excited about having two bank holidays next week? Do you know why?

It’s because London is getting ready to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Queen Elizabeth II (normally called ‘the Queen’) became monarch on 2nd June 1952 when she was only 25 years old. This makes her the second longest-serving monarch after Queen Victoria, who reigned for 63 years.

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