Starting at London Bridge, the boat made its way past Tower Bridge, on to Greenwich and then looped around, passing by the City of London, Westminster and the London Eye. It was great to see all the famous sights of London close up from the water, in particular, Battersea Power Station and the Houses of Parliament.

By all accounts the boat was a hit, ‘it was comfortably busy’, with a great atmosphere and just enough room. The best way to enjoy it is to stay outside on the first lap and admire the sights as the sun is going down, as many did! The bar and disco can always wait for later! After the boat docked at 11pm quite a few students went on to Piccadilly to continue the evening.

Facebook has been exploding with pictures over the last few days. Have a look at the BSC London profile for more photos. Thank you to Lucy Couvaras for organising the evening, and to all who came along!

The Bournemouth school is extremely lucky to benefit from its central location. Overlooking the town’s main square, it is in the heart of the town and all the great attractions of Bournemouth are within easy reach. Here are the top five things to do within 10 minutes of our Bournemouth school!

#1

Relax in the Lower Gardens

Bournemouth is famous for its gardens and we are lucky to have the Grade II listed gardens within 2 minutes of the school. The award winning gardens have colourful flower displays and include a stream, ice-cream kiosks and mini golf. In the summer what better way to relax than to listen to the music from the Pine Walk bandstand or visit the aviary or art exhibition? These gardens are like no other as they have a whole wealth of things to keep its visitors interested. Not to mention being home to number 2 on our list, The Bournemouth Eye!

#2

Take a Trip on the Bournemouth Eye

Located in the Lower Gardens another of Bournemouth’s top attractions is only a 2 minute walk from the school. The Bournemouth eye is the town’s answer to the London Eye. It transports it’s passengers up in a balloon where they can see the whole area from the New Forest to the Isle of Wight. This gentle trip is the premier way to see the stunning scenery of Bournemouth and the surrounding areas.

#3

Visit the Oceanarium

Through the Lower Gardens and next to the pier is the Oceanirum, this attraction has sea life from all over the world from The Amazon to the Florida Keys. You can walk through the shark tunnel and enjoy seeing the sting rays and afterwards enjoy a drink in the café.

#5

Take a Bike Ride Along the Beach Front

Along from the pier you can hire a beach cruiser bike and take a ride along the beach front promenade. This is how the locals enjoy the 11k of award winning sandy beaches. On a clear day you can see the Isle of Wight and the nature reserve of Studland, and it gives you a strong sense of the natural beauty to be found here. What a relaxing way to enjoy a sunny afternoon?

……Of course if none of these excite you, you can always hang out at the beach!

First things first, in case you missed our last post- what is a language exchange? Quite simply, you meet up with a native English speaker and have a chat, half in your native language, and half in English. It’s different from a normal conversation with a native speaker for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the purpose is to learn the language, so you can feel free to make mistakes and explore vocabulary without annoying the listener. And secondly, since you both benefit from the exchange you are happy to correct each others mistakes.

You can meet up anywhere- a coffee shop, a pub, your school, and the amount of time you spend talking is flexible. I know someone who has several language exchange partners and he fits them in around his schedule- during lunch, between meetings, on the way home, etc.

When I mention language exchanges people usually say it’s a great idea, ‘but how?’ Actually, it’s really easy to find language exchange partners. You can meet people in real life, or you can do a language exchange over the Internet. Internet exchanges are best done using a camera and microphone, but you can also type. As one of the advantages of studying abroad is that you get to meet native speakers in person, we’re going to focus on that. Basically, there are three ways: firstly, you can go to language related meetings and groups. Secondly, you can contact partners through language exchange websites and directories. And there is also a third way which I’ll explain later. Let’s go through them one by one.

In every city there are conversation clubs or groups with a particular language interest that meet up regularly. They might focus on one language or several. One of the reasons they meet is to help members find language partners. Even if they don’t do this specifically by going along to a group based around your native language you will find native English speakers who want to learn. You can find these groups on www.meetup.com and www.facebook.com. Search for ‘language exchange’, ‘conversation exchange’ or ‘conversation club’ and try putting ‘English’, your native language, and your city on the end. On meetup.com try searching for ‘Italian language’, if you’re an Italian native speaker, for example.

The second way, as mentioned, is to search for language partners online. The largest sites are www.mylanguageexchange.com and www.livemocha.com but some other good ones include www.languageexchange.org, www.conversationexchange.com and www.italki.com. You can find several more by searching Google. These sites allow you to search based on gender, age and interests and you can start off by emailing, chatting online or with Skype before you decide to meet each other. You will certainly find a language partner through these sites, and you may even find a few in your home country, particularly in large cities.

I’m confident you’ll find language partners through the first two methods, but in case your Internet is down, there’s yet another way! Simply go to the places where people are learning a language, just like you. Go to the departments of Universities teaching your native language and ask about language exchanges with their students, and put notes up on the notice boards. Do the same with language schools that teach your native language! And lastly, use your contacts and ask your language school and teacher if they know anyone who is learning your native language.

As you can see it’s easy to find language partners. I hope these two articles have motivated you to try it in addition to your normal conversation practice. As mentioned, it’s not just a good way to learn the language, but it’s also a perfect way to enter into the culture and make new English speaking friends.

Everyone knows Oxford thanks to its famous University, and the town is completely full of students during term time. It has a great atmosphere for studying. I think this is because of the old University buildings and all the students reading their books outside on the greens and in the bars and cafes. I found it really easy to study after class. With all these students, Oxford is a fun place in the evening and on the weekend.

I lived in Oxford for one year while studying at British Study Centres. Trust me, Oxford is a beautiful town and there’s so much to see and do. If you are interested, I wrote before about the top things to do in Oxford. In Oxford there are also many great museums, as you would expect. Here I will give you the top 5!

#1

Ashmolean

I would recommend you to see stunning Ashmolean Museum’s collection. It is just 2 minutes walk from the It includes some fantastic twentieth century art, sculptures, and some paintings loads of Pissaros, a Van Gogh, and huge part of the Renaissance, Some Byzantine Art, back into Ancient Rome, Egypt, and pre historic Greece.

The Ashmolean is owned by the University of Oxford and celebrated its 300th anniversary in 1983. It is undoubtedly one of the finest museums in the country. The nucleus of the original collection (the first of its kind in Britain) was the Cabinet of Rarities of John Tradescant, which was inherited by Elias Ashmole and donated to the University on condition that they provided somewhere suitable to house the exhibits. The University accordingly constructed the Old Ashmolean on Broad Street. This building, sometimes ascribed to Sir Christopher Wren, is now The Museum of the History of Science.

#2

Oxford University Museum of Natural History

The Oxford University Museum of Natural History houses the University’s scientific collections of zoological, entomological and geological specimens. The Museum itself is a Grade 1 listed building, renowned for its spectacular neo-Gothic architecture. Among its most famous features are the Oxfordshire dinosaurs, the dodo, and the swifts in the tower.

You can also visit The Pitt River Museum which is just behind the Oxford university museum. The Museum displays archaeological and ethnographic objects from all parts of the world. The General’s founding gift contained more than 18,000 objects but there are now over half a million. Many were donated by early anthropologists and explorers. The extensive photographic and sound archives contain early records of great importance. Today the Museum is an active teaching department of the University of Oxford. It also continues to collect through donations, bequests, special purchases and through its students, in the course of their fieldwork.

#3

Bodleian Library

The Bodleian Library the main research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in Britain is second in size only to the British Library. It accommodates a wide range of readers and material, primarily covering humanities disciplines, and is a reference library without borrowing facilities.

Beyond this, famous cyclonical building is worth to see. And it is just 4 min walk from our school.

#5

Museum of the History of Science

The Museum of the History of Science houses an unrivalled collection of historic scientific instruments in the world’s oldest surviving purpose-built museum building, the Old Ashmolean on Broad Street, Oxford. By virtue of the collection and the building, the Museum occupies a special position, both in the study of the history of science and in the development of western culture and collecting.

BSC Bournemouth has just opened and one of our first students, Eleonore, has written in to tell us what it’s like!

For someone learning English, is this a good or a bad thing? Well, the author has definitely made his mind up! It talks about the ‘[terrible] adjective that had just arrived in London’ and ‘ugly Americanisms’. And it continues: ‘Nowadays, people have no idea where American ends and English begins’.

But it certainly can’t be all bad, can it? The article does, in fact, have some good things to say about the situation: ‘Sometimes, the language can be improved by the imports. The British would never be able even to define the deficit had we not adopted the American billion (a thousand million) to replace our old hardly used billion (a million million).’

Have things really changed that much? After all, ‘the success of English comes from its adaptability and the British have been borrowing words from America for at least two centuries.’ The fact that British English is adopting some American words and phrases is something that most English speakers already know. ‘Yet no one seems to care. The stern old type of English teacher has died out.’

Certainly, it is easier to communicate if we all use a similiar accent and vocabulary. As learning English is a necessity for lots of people, and a tool, many would welcome anything that makes it easier to communicate in English. If we do settle on a common dialect, which one should it be? Is there a ‘best English’?

‘Check out’ the following articles for some nice examples of the differences between American and British English:
Say no to the get-go! Americanisms swamping English, so wake up and smell the coffee
Britain declares war on words that snuck into our skedule…

One of the best kept secrets for improving your English is language exchanges! Language exchanges simply involve meeting up with a native speaker and having a conversation or chat, half in English, and half in your own language. Through this you both get to practise talking to a native speaker and gain feedback from each other. Language exchanges are a great opportunity to ask questions such as how to say something in English, and usually your partner will be happy to correct your mistakes, as long as you correct theirs!

With this in mind, let’s look at some of the great reasons why you should be thinking about doing language exchanges once you arrive.

I hope this article has convinced you to give it a try! In fact, not only is it a great way to learn English, but it is also a fun way of entering into the culture of the country you are living in. Next time we’ll show how easy it is to start, and how to go about finding partners!

Business English is a specialised area of English relating to the language used in business. Every year more and more people are studying courses in Business English to improve their chances of finding a job at home, career prospects and to be able to work in English speaking countries. If you’ve already studied a General English course or similar, or your English is already quite good, you might be wondering if it would be useful to study Business English.

In a Business English course you learn the vocabulary used in business and perform different business tasks to practice applying it. These include, for example, how to do a business presentation in English, how to negotiate and business writing. Further topics include how to conduct meetings, how to give opinions, understanding job profiles and marketing vocabulary and writing letters and emails. There is a pretty complete list of the subjects covered in the Business English course description on the BSC website, and this list is quite similar to what you will learn in any Business English course.

While business has its own vocabulary, specialised areas within business have their own (unique) vocabularies as well. Such areas include finance, politics, law and trade. It is not possible to cover all the vocabulary in these areas in a Business English course. There just isn’t the time! It is useful to take a Business English course to learn general business vocabulary and practice carrying out business tasks in English. Many people use an English textbook or dictionary to translate specific terms in their area of work or profession. There are also specialised courses for lawyers, bankers etc, but these are usually quite expensive and are normally paid for by the employer.

Studying For Work

English is the universal language of business, trade, politics and international law. The majority of Business English students study to improve their job prospects at home. Many companies like their staff to improve their English skills and send them to study at language schools. It may be worth asking your employer if it would pay for your course, while showing that it will have a benefit for the business.

Working Abroad

The second great reason to study Business English is for living abroad in an English speaking country such as the UK, United States, Canada and Australia. There are many jobs that you can start after you have studied English to Advanced or Upper Intermediate level. You don’t need to have studied Business English to work in a bar or restaurant, for example! For many office based jobs it is best to be able to understand English business terms and to have carried out business tasks before in English, such as presenting and writing. There are still some office based jobs you can apply for however, and learn Business English as you go. They usually require some clever job searching, but they are out there! In a later article we’ll give some advice about how to find a job in the UK while you are still studying and after you’ve finished your course.

British Study Centres offers Business English courses with BULATS exam preparation. BULATS is a certificate which demonstrates your level of English to employers, and can be really helpful in finding a job in an English speaking country. Visit the Business English course page for more information about Business English in London, Oxford, Brighton and Bournemouth. Alternatively, contact us and we will be happy to answer any questions and help you decide whether Business English is right for you.