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Advanced English skills: Your head start

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Improve your English skills

If you decide to study or do your homework in the airport lobby, in the doctor’s waiting room or during your train ride to work, our English exercises and reading materials are at your fingertips

In today’s world, learning English online proves to be one of the fastest, most efficient and cost-effective ways to study the language. Advanced speaking and writing skills will give you a head start in the business world, where English is considered to be a modern-day lingua franca.

In our online English courses, we combine the best of both worlds.

Thanks to the webcam, you will have your personal English tutor in your home or office at the time of your convenience. Thanks to our e-learning platforms www.languagesandmore.com/go and www.ohyes.ch, your lessons will be interesting, interactive and available to you – any time, any place.

If you decide to study or do your homework in the airport lobby, in the doctor’s waiting room or during your train ride to work, our English exercises and reading materials are at your fingertips.

We live in a busy world and often struggle to find enough time for our personal and professional development. This is why many people, who try to learn English or other languages independently, simply give up. No one is there to motivate them, gently push them through when both time and energy for learning seem to be lacking and help them through difficult times. Our trainers are highly skilled and experienced professionals and they will be there for you, every step of the way.

We combine the best of both worlds: flexibility of online learning and personal touch

We offer you the following online courses:

– International Communication Course – for professionals, students, and globetrotters! Improve your English language skills and learn about different cultures around the world. Level B1-C1.

– Elementary English Course, level A1

– Beginner English Course, level A2

– English Basics Course, level A2-B1

– Young Learners English, for children and teenagers from 4 to 17 years old, from zero beginners to native speakers

– Exam preparation for adults and children (YLE Starters, Movers, Flyers, KET, PET, FCE, CAE, CPE)

– BookWaves Conversational Course and English Book Club, level B1-C2

– On-demand English training and tutoring for all levels

– Holiday workshops

In all of our courses, we combine interactive online content (videos, reading materials, exercises, games) with live, small-group lessons led by our teachers. This approach to online learning is proven to provide you with language and learning interaction and feedback and help you with discipline, motivation and focus. You will be practicing your new English skills while interacting with your teachers and peers. During the free trial-lesson, your teacher will discuss your needs and goals with you, will check your level of English and together you will find the best way to build your English language skills and confidence.

To book one or more of our online courses, please send us an email at  info@languagesandmore.com. We’ll show you that learning English has never been more convenient.

 

Classroom diaries: an unusual spelling quiz

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classroom diariesClassroom diaries

Class profile: a mix of bilingual/trilingual young learners, some of whom are “traditional” EFL students, while others live or have lived in English-speaking environments (school, family, etc.) Age range: 7 to 11.

Goals

Review unit vocabulary and challenge two learners (today’s Helpers) who are using a more advanced book. Conduct group activities notwithstanding age differences.

How we did it

A couple of my students (10 and 11-year-olds) were delighted to prepare the unit vocabulary quiz today. I suggested they write sentences to provide context for the words previously covered. I was curious to see how this exercise would pan out – these students are more fluent and work well together. Soon, they whispered, consulted the list, and wrote away, which gave me time to focus on the other group.

Quiz time: I should have guessed…If you are a teacher, remember when you started out teaching? Or if you are a new manager, you are going to get every detail right, aren’t you? Leave nothing to chance and make sure everything has been covered?

My Diligent and Focused Helpers wrote about 40 sentences containing 80% of the unit vocabulary filling an A4 page, front and back, and mind you, skipping no line between each sentence. Then, they moved to the front of the room and kept this-most-important-paper (quiz sentences) covered because, as they explained, they did not want the others to read content (with their long-distance X-ray vision).

Unofficial translation: nothing short of hard work and honesty could be expected from their peers for whom they had toiled to write up a killer quiz.

I waited, expecting disaster mutiny to happen, but the test-takers were not about to be undone by their peers and they rose to the challenge. So did I. We covered about 20 sentences in 15 minutes. I admit to manipulating the pace: we had to keep this exercise short enough to keep its interest and not demoralize the troops. Had I suggested such a quiz, I would have (rightly) been cast off as a tyrant.

Results

The Helpers delivered grammatical sentences with good accents and tempo. Some students succeeded in keeping pace and wrote the full sentences making very few mistakes; another wrote phonetically. I thought that was great because he kept up and did not let spelling distracting him from capturing meaning. As a matter of fact, if he didn’t catch a couple of words, the phonetics were off. Others did very well at their own level and overcame challenges, such as being new to writing in English, or not having taken courses in a while. I was impressed.

Would we do it again?

Not every week, but sure! The Helpers did a great job and turned a measly vocabulary quiz into a fun challenge. They spoke together at length in English, engaged in writing, and later spoke again to the class, responding to questions and clarifications requested by their peers. The test-takers are nearly foaming at the mouth, looking forward to crafting their own devious quiz to test today’s Helpers, with the hope of bringing them to troubled waters.

I am tickled to see that a teacher could not get away with this kind of strict and lengthy “quiz” – but somehow, when students do it, it works out and is constructive.