I wish I could say that I am not, by nature, a superstitious person. I wish I could say that I am a Man of Science. However, my school record, should it ever enter the public domain, would make a mockery of any such claim. I was rubbish at science. Whether it’s a result of my love of stories, my religious upbringing or just an overactive imagination, I see links between unrelated events everywhere. I can’t stop it: I’m like Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind or Jim Carrey in The Number 23 and while I wouldn’t go so far as to call  my superstition  mental illness, it could certainly be classified as  eccentricity, bordering on  neurosis. For instance, if I see a lone  magpie, I will say, ‘Hello Mr. magpie,’ because of the old, ‘One for sorrow,’ refrain.

Why do I mention this? Well, one of the things that I enjoy most about working for London’s coolest language school is doing this very blog. But strange things have happened recently, strange eerie occurrences, which  might be written off as pure coincidence by a Man of Science  – but which trouble a Man like Me. Let me present the evidence:

A few weeks ago, my blog took in, amongst other things, the fact that I’d missed a  once-in-a-lifetime chance to meet U2. The very next day my mate Brendan found out, completely by chance  about U2’s ’secret’ gig on the roof of Broadcasting House and so I got to at least see the band in action.

Last week I was excited about meeting my friend Les at Old Trafford to see my beloved Liverpool Football Club take on the seemingly unstoppable Manchester United. I didn’t rate our chances very highly and even goaded the  Lord God Almighty himself, saying that he owed me one.. Then, contrary to the expectations of all but the most dangerously insane members of the footballing world, Liverpool destroyed the League, European and World Champions in an unforgettable display.

Now what bothers me is this: Did God take my taunting seriously and make a liitle boy’s dream come true thirty years late? And, if that is the case, does He/She now feel that we are quits and that, as I am owed nothing, maybe the happiness I am currently enjoying in life is about to be swept away? Well, is it? Since Saturday, I have not slept very well, I fear disaster at every turn.

Or, maybe there is another explanation (apart from the obvious one) for the  apparent prescience of my blogs. Perhaps, through The English Studio website, I have stumbled into some mysterious portal, through which I can make my dreams come true- like some CyberNarnia! I can’t honestly say…..

Bearing all this in mind, I feel I should at least apologise to God for my insolence and just  mention, just, y’know, in passing,  that I have never won the lottery and this has caused me terrible anguish throughout my adult life……Terrible, terrible anguish……

Well, it’s worth a shot, isn’t it?

Mike

We know that here at the English Studio, many of you are interested in photography. Whether professional, or just for fun, we organise a walk around London’s most beautiful and interesting spots. This could be along the Thames, down some of the famous streets or in one of the many beautiful parks.

If you come on one of the walks, you can also enter a competition and have a chance at winning a great prize.

What do you say? Check out some of the photos from the February walk.

Next walk is on Sunday 29th March. See the Social Programme Calendar for more information.

Stuart

The time for level testing is upon us! on the 25th of March our students will be doing their best to convince their teacher that they are ready for the jump to the next level. after that, the teachers will devote a little time to each of their students and let them know how they can best progress. From the 30th we start a new term, and everyone will sadly say goodbye to the teachers they have loved for the last few months. C’est la Vie!

rob

With the obvious exceptions of my wife and son, giving English classes at The English Studio and sitting like a rotten potato on the sofa bovinely watching cookery programmes on tv, both my greatest passions in life come from the great city of Liverpool.

Anybody who has come along to one of my monthly tours will know that one of them is The Beatles. Anyone who has ever been in my class on a Monday or Thursday morning will know that the other is Liverpool Football Club. I have been devoted to both since childhood and in each case it has been a love that has grown rather than diminished down the years.

But every great romance needs to have a dastardly villain, determined to thwart the blameless lovers and crush them like ladybirds under a steamroller. In the case of my love affair with the Fab Four, my nemesis takes the form of anyone who either has the temerity and bad taste to suggest that The Rolling Stones – or anyone else for that matter – were better, or, even more infuriatingly, says, ‘I just don’t like The Beatles.’

I know that taste is subjective and everybody has the right to their opinion, but at the people who loudly protest that they are music lovers, yet refuse to fall down and worship at the altar of The Mop Tops I feel an almost primal urge to scream,’I beg your pardon. Are you deaf? Were you dropped on the head as a baby? Does music make your soul take flight or is it just a pleasant sound that makes you want to eat your bananas faster?’ – and other playground, infantile putdowns which have no place in a family blog such as this – or indeed, in any playground, come to that. Believe me, I’m aware how wrong I am to feel this way and I assure you that I am working on it, albeit very slowly and with no great enthusiasm.

Only the deaf and the intellectually differently-abled would be in any position to forgivably deny that much of England’s greatest music has come from Manchester: The Smiths, The Stone Roses, New Order and, if you insist, Oasis. However, from that grimy metropolis also emerged…the dragon. The nemesis of Liverpool football club; Manchester United. Oh, how I hate them! My hatred can be dated back to the twenty first of May 1977.

This was the day of my First Holy Communion; an extraordinarily important day in the life of any Irish Catholic boy because quite aside from the solemnity of the religious aspect, you got to wear a suit, be given fivers (a fortune in those days) by relatives and get treated like a little prince for twenty four glorious hours. Yet, in a heartbreaking and Satanically vile turn of events, those old Red Devils Man Utd beat Liverpool in the F.A. Cup Final that day and I just couldn’t understand how God had allowed this to happen. On my big day….

Since then, sure, we have beaten United on many occasions, but it’s the times when they have beaten us that, tragically, my brain chooses to remember and relive; over and over again – as though the match programmes had been written by Franz Kafka – and programmed to play in a loop for eternity in the tortured minds of LFC fans by Beelzebub himself.

This season, though it heartily sickens me to admit it, Manchester United are ploughing and scything their way, knifey-tanklike, through the fragile wheatfields of any opposition that Britain or Europe can limply proffer and are actually in the eminently enviable position of possibly garnering an unprecedented five trophies by season’s end; The Charity Shield (which they’ve already won), the F.A. Cup, the League Cup, the Champions League and The Premiership. It is victory in this last competition that Liverpool most desire, no – need. It’s twenty years since we won it and if United retain it this year, they will equal-and, with crushing inevitability ,next year surpass- Liverpool’s record haul of titles.

At the moment, we languish in second place and our only hope of turning the situation around is to beat them so convincingly and crushingly in their own citadel, Old Trafford, this Saturday, that they lose all their confidence, start dropping points against lowly teams, all culminating in their season unravelling faster than a ball of wool in the Large Hadron Collider.

Admittedly, that’s pretty unlikely, but where there’s life there’s hope- Liverpool learned that in the classic 2005 Champions League final. This Saturday’s match is the hottest ticket in English sport so far this year and , ta-da! I’m going! My old mate from Limerick Les, who- quite aside from his allegiance to the Red Devils and his merciless penchant for savagely ribbing me every time they win a trophy, is a truly splendid chap – has found tickets, booked a flight from Dublin and refused to accept any money from me on Saturday. Needless to say, lunch is on me! We met on the 5th September 1974 and we’re meeting up in Manchester to witness this classic encounter this Saturday.

Will Liverpool win? I pray that they will- and it could well be our day. Why? Because God owes me one. That’s why.

Mike

Every class will be working with a coursebook from next term, and we have an idea about which books we think are good for you guys, but we always want to know what you think- Here’s what we have planned:

Beginner: white

Elementary (Pink) : Total English Elementary

Pre Intermediate  (Yellow): Total English Pre Intermediate

Intermediate: (Orange): Total English Intermediate

Upper Intermediate (Green):  Total English Upper Intermediate

FCE: (Blue): New FCE Gold (2008 edition)

Low Advanced (Silver) : Toatal English Advanced

Advanced (Black) : New CAE Gold (2008 edition)

IELTS (Brown): Focus on IELTS

Business (Purple): Market Leader

Lessons don’t have to be boring, and they are far from it here at The English Studio. Check out this clip of VIcky playing a vocabulary game with her Cambridge Preparation class.

Games with Vicky

From next Monday (9^th March) you do not need to enter your ID. Your teacher will be completely responsible for recording your attendance.

If you come to class fewer than 4 days per week, your teacher will tell me and it is my job to send you an email. This means that you could lose your place in your class. If you continue to miss class, and you have visa, you will be reported to the home office and lose your student oyster card. If you do not have a visa, and your course is more than 14 weeks, you will also lose your student oyster card.

If you receive an email from me, but you go to class 4 or 5 days a week, you need to speak to your teacher, not reception. Your teacher will then confirm that you are a good attender.

If you want to change class, there is a new, easier way. You don’t have to wait to speak to someone in reception. You have to email me at stuart@the-englishstudio.com and tell me which class you want to change to and why. I will reply after 3pm the same day and tell you if this is possible.

If you have any questions, please email me and let me know.

Thanks,

Stuart Mobbs

Compliance Officer

West London:10.35 a.m. English class in Shepherd’s Bush. A telephone rings during the break .

‘ Mike, this is Brendan- listen, you’re not going to believe this but I’m at my gym and the guy in the Starbuck’s next door is saying that U2 are playing a secret mini-gig on the roof of BBC Broadcasting House this evening.’

There’s a few moments’ silence.

‘Yeah, sure Bren. Let me call you back. I’m in the middle of sending my bank details to this really nice guy in Nigeria who’s gonna deposit a LOAD of cash in my account. I’m rich, I tell you, RICH!

‘No Mike I’m serious. They’re setting up a huge bank of speakers along the building. This one’s on the level.’

And so it came to pass that I finally got to see U2. It was great and the best thing was that it was such a great London moment-and while 5000 people were there, it felt like some kind of secret party. After the encore everyone dispersed in that quiet, orderly and friendly way that the English are still very good at. No, after you.

On Monday, I was making another movie-it’s getting tiring:all this jet-setting. This time it was a corporate gig for a language school in Holborn. It was called The English Sudio and it seemed pretty cool.

But now, I lie in the clammy grey arms of whatever cold/flu/virus that’s currently doing its grim rounds in London town. I can’t speak, one of my ears is buzzing and I feel so cold and weak that even a trip to the bathroom feels like a  turn of the century polar expedition. Oh well, swings and roundabouts, I suppose.

I also just want to say…. Goodbye Carlotta-you were an absolute joy to have in class and Black 3-6 just won’t be the same without you. Room 1A is going to feel  a little bit empty on Monday….,

Big metal Bird Taking Carlotta back to Pisa

Mike

London is a beautiful city but the weather is very changeable-and I always hear people complaining about it. I try not to  because I know that there is a purpose for everything and I always look at the other side of a situation, and I’ll give you a reason to agree with me.The rain is good to purify the air,for the environment,and there are many other reasons to enjoy it.

 There is an expression in English  which says-’every cloud has a silver lining,’because we know even if we can’t see the sun,  we know it is up there  somewhere shining- and there are always fun things you can do indoors,for example the Picasso exhibition in London is something that thousands of art lovers will be keen to get into, in the National Gallery-it  is from 25 February to 07 of June 2009, and the nearest tube is Charing Cross. Living in London I have had the opportunity to enrich my knowledge and broaden my horizons. I think we have to take advantage of every opportunity that comes our way, life is very short.

Living here has given me the chance to grow and my school has helped enormously. And one of the things that I really like about THE ENGLISH STUDIO is the social programme:for March events we have ,Shows, Walks,UK trips and Forein trips it is so much fun and we are connected with what is happening around   the world. Be connected and find something  that will make you happy.I’m trying to find my way.Find yours.

Branca Dias