It has just been five months I arrived in London in order to improve my English. I have just finished my studies in Communication and English is very important if I want to get a good job in my professional area, that's why I left my lovely France to enhance my language skills.Maybe when you were at school, you were lazy like me during your English lessons thinking learning another language wasn't useful! It was a non-sense obviously because English is the first language spoken in the world. Nevertheless, I don't regret my lazy attitude because now I'm living in one of the most beautiful capital in the world and it is a fantastic experience!
Since I arrived, I take English lessons at Twin. The school is based in South East London near the DLR, train and bus stations so it is really easy to travel up to Twin's premises. Although Twin is a school, you don't learn English with boring lessons! Here, teachers are enthusiastic, funny, helpful, and don't stress you with exams. They make you love learning English! (I promise you!) You will learn English by playing games, listening to tapes, watching films, speaking in groups with other foreign students and obviously speaking with teachers. I remembered my English lessons in my country and I can't compare the quality of the teaching. Twin's teachers are available at any time of the day and invite you to speak (which the first step because a lot of students are shy about their accent, and then, they correct you).
Here you want to speak and communicate, talk about different topics, learn grammar and spelling, you want people to correct your mistakes... I never wanted to speak English during the lessons in my country but here it is totally different. I can tell you now: nothing is better for learning a language than spending time in a country and being in contact with local people.
After five month here, I can't say I am fluent but my English is much better (I hope so lol!). I can understand native English speakers easier (I am so proud of myself! At the beginning it was so hard!) but I admit some people have strong accents and sometimes it takes me time to get used to it. Now, I treat it like a game and I don't feel guilty to ask them to repeat themselves if I don't understand. Most Londoners are very nice to foreign students.
Concerning my writing, you can judge for yourself! Of course I continue to make mistakes but the most important thing is to be understood by everybody and I think now I am almost there!
I hope you will really enjoy your time in London and at Twin school like I still enjoy mine. I hope to see you during break time.
Marie
:-)