Together we build your confidence. Structured sessions where it is OK to explore, make mistakes and laugh a little. Take a chance, come and join us. Why? How?
Many people have spent, in some cases, years learning English but don’t feel confident enough to use it, or doubt that it is good enough. They may even feel insecure or embarrassed to try it out. Others maybe using the language actively / professionally, but feel the need / see the benefit to use it in a safe interactive environment with others and with experienced English and native speakers. So
me individuals are just looking for the opportunity to keep up their skills and are attracted by our approach. What do we do? Our approach is not to teach you English, although you will inevitably develop your skills by being in an “English environment” for several hours each week. If after an interview, you join the group, it is because there is a good enough foundation to build on and build with others. We provide a “safe” environment to turn your existing knowledge into an active language, we teach confidence not English, just in English. Safe means a place where making mistakes is OK, where feelings of awkwardness disappear, where you become comfortable using English so you can use it outside of the group. Each session is 3 hours long (imagine 4x45 minutes, although you won’t always see joins) with a maximum of 8 students. It is entirely in English (don’t worry if that sounds a bit scary, it won’t be after week 1) and includes a range of activities and exercises that engage you and whoever you are working with. Sometimes the activities include the whole group, or you may work on your own for a short time before taking the subject to a partner or your group. We move around the groups adding to the input. You will be introduced to sources that provide opportunities outside of the sessions, some of which will set the scene for the following week – yes there is some homework, but we recognise that our busy lives leave little time so it is intended to be in short and interesting blocks. How long? Each module is six weeks long and fits into the school year, we try to avoid holiday periods. You can continue for as long as you feel it is of benefit, our aim is that after a year you won’t need us, although our groups seem to like coming back for more. Who are we? We both come from teaching backgrounds; Kati was maths and IT, me, the agricultural industry and associated sciences. For both of us, our teaching always came from a person-centred philosophy so it was not surprising that it led us into mental hygiene and how that affects the way we learn / live and communicate. My path was to develop counselling and therapeutic support for students at my college, Kati’s through her work with people with varied abilities in the UK and later here studying at SOTE. It was Kati’s course at SOTE that finally pushed her into developing an idea that had been growing for a long time. You will come across some dramatic elements from time to time that have their origin in her studies. We believe in openness, honesty and being real. Creating that environment, allows others to be the same, it enables us to engage in activities with a bit more of the free child and little less of the adult, oh, and at the end of each session there is the realisation that it was all in English! Our best advert is our current students, who want us to continue, more objectively, from one with US relatives who after a year said he had improved immensely, and they were not just being polite. Another who barely spoke in the beginning sat and conversed with the whole group by the end. Our aim is that as you gain the confidence to use your English, you will find yourself more confident in life. “It is so much more than just learning in English” - one of our students. We don’t teach English – we teach confidence, in English
Hi Everyone,
we have been thinking about an international zoom "coffee morning" for all our Facebook likes.
At this stage it is just an idea, probably about 1.5 hours with people divided into small groups.
The time would likely be 11.00 CET with numbers limited to a manageable size and to keep it personal.
It would be an opportunity for people to come together for an English conversation.
It is free and informal, but it would be best if your English is from B1 - B2.
Attendance is by invitation, so please
PM us if you are interested.
Stay safe wherever you are.
Mark and Kati
11.00 CET
21/10/2019
English breakfast to start the day 🙂
05/09/2019
We have just two places left on our 2019 Budapest course.......
02/01/2019
The BBC Podcasts cover many subjects, so there is always something for everyone. Often lots of new vocabulary, so maybe listen in small "bites". This link is for History Extra and is about a year in the life of Medieval England. Fascinating to learn that King John would send out coded false orders and then forget the passwords! Nothing new!
A great TED talk, watch it with subtitles or at a slower speed for an interesting bit of English practice.
The danger of a single story
Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice -- and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.
22/09/2018
Mental Maintenance
We go to the doctor when we feel unwell, we exercise and eat healthily, believing that it is important to look after our body.
Many of us deal with common emotional issues on our own using ad hoc ways we've adopted -not always very effectively. There are now scientifically proven tools that can help us practice emotional hygiene — i.e. taking care of our emotions and our minds, with the same diligence we take care of our bodies.
If you are interested in self-awareness and self-help, and like the idea of working with others, we would like to invite you to join us for a free session as a taster of what the science of happiness really means and what you might gain from it; there is no commitment to join the course.
We feel confident it will be enjoyable and useful.
News
Happiness has become a rather overused word, perhaps part of the "I deserve this or that" perspective. However, we should at least reflect on the role it plays in our lives, whether we feel...
01/06/2018
Ran a course recently using colour as a theme. A Ted Talk we used was by a French speaker; however, he was so interesting that we used him as reading exercise with translated subtitles from TED. Just click on the icon on the TED page. Enjoy.
We have two places left for our Budapest English class on Thursday mornings from 9.00-12.00. Intensive English use with two facilitators and a really nice group:) - max 8 students
Please contact us for more information.
WTF is Brexit? - Foil Arms and Hog
WTF is Brexit? - Foil Arms and Hog. An update of an earlier sketch we did before Brexit, the situation has become a little more unclear since SUBSCRIBE: http...
16/02/2017
It is really helpful to find sources that interest you when learning English, whether films, TV, books or magazines. We like dipping into TED talks from time to time especially when we explore issues like "What is happiness" or procrastination. This TED looks at the comma and is a great combination of listening and grammar. If you like it, please share it.http://ed.ted.com/lessons/comma-story-terisa-folaron
Comma story - Terisa Folaron
It isn't easy holding complex sentences together (just ask a conjunction or a subordinate), but the clever little comma can help lighten the load. But how to tell when help is really needed? Terisa Folaron offers some tricks of the comma trade.