English from England

LIVE English exams tips

When? Today, 23rd of July, at 18:30 London time

We're going to look at how to do task 3 'Reading into writing' in ISE I. Writing is always a difficult task for English learners. I'm going to explain what the examiners expect to see and give you an example of what you could write.

Don't miss it!

Trinity College London ISE I Reading & Writing Task 3 | Stream 003 In this live stream we are going to look at Task 3 'Reading into Writing' of the Reading & Writing paper of the ISE I exam. This is a B1 level exam. You may ...

🎹 First night of the Proms - British most famous festival of classical music

The Proms are a summer season of classical music. It has been organised and broadcast by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) since 1927. The Proms take place annually (=every year) and are the most famous British festival of classical music. This year, the Proms start today, on the 19th of July, at 7 pm London time.

The festival will last 8 weeks, until the 14th of September.

In the photo you can see the Royal Albert Hall. It is a big concert hall in London, and it is one of the venues for the Proms concerts. (=some of the concerts are held in the Royal Albert Hall)

❗️This information is tested in Life in the UK! You need to know about the Proms if you're planning to take this test!

Free exam tips in 15 minutes! 😊

Today we are going to look at the exam called Trinity College London ISE I Reading & Writing. It's a B1 level exam that you might need to take for certain types of UK visas. I'm going to show you how to do Task 2 of this exam.

This stream is for you if...
✅ you're preparing for this exam
✅ you're preparing for another B1-level exam
✅ you aren't going to take an exam, but you're working on you English and your level now is around Pre-Intermediate
✅ you're a teacher of English and want to learn more about different English exams

Join me live 😉
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZIIP6_zfEM

Trinity College London ISE I Reading & Writing Task 2 | Stream 002 In this live stream we are going to look at Task 2 of the Reading & Writing paper of the ISE I exam. This is a B1 level exam. You may need to take this exam ...

Hello! My name is Kate Bowes and I teach English to speakers of other languages 🇬🇧

About my lessons:
⭐️ I can help you prepare for any English language exam. From A1 to C2 level, including IELTS, C1 Advanced, exams for UK visas, Life in the UK
⭐️ Individual approach
⭐️ Online lessons on Zoom

About my work experience and education:
⭐️ Teaching English since 2015
⭐️ Master's degree in Linguistics
⭐️ Cambridge English Qualifications: C2 Proficiency and three modules of the TKT

About my life and hobbies:
⭐️ I live in Plymouth, the UK
⭐️ I love learning languages. At the moment I can speak six languages
⭐️ I also love drawing and painting
⭐️ I enjoy travelling and learning more about the British culture

My projects:
⭐️ Every Tuesday at 18:30 (London time): join my YouTube stream where I show you how to do tasks from various English language exams and share some exam tips https://www.youtube.com/
⭐️ If you're a Russian speaker, join my channel on Telegram: there is more information there about my bilingual projects t.me/british_life
⭐️ For speakers of other languages: there is plenty of information about the English language and British culture on my Facebook and Instagram. Subscribe to learn more! https://www.instagram.com/kate_bowes_english/

What else would you like to know about me? 😊 Ask me in the comments ⬇️

UEFA EURO-2024: England in the final ⚽️

Football fans all over England are preparing for the final match 🇪🇸Spain vs 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿England. A lot of people have decorated their houses with English and British flags (see the photos, taken near where I live). You can watch the final today at 20:00 (London time).

Football is the most popular sport in the UK. The game of football originated (=comes from) in England. However, England hasn't won any major international tournament since World Cup 1966. This match promises to be an important event in the history of English football.

By the way, you have to know about football in the UK to pass your test.

Follow me to learn more about the English language and the English culture.

Sunrise at Stonehenge 🌄

Summer Solstice 2024 at Stonehenge! The night view

Watch Sunrise at Stonehenge Live - Summer Solstice 2024

If you can’t visit Stonehenge this year, but you really want to see the sunrise of the summer solstice, you can watch it live here: https://www.youtube.com/live/cRBFJg3Plsk

⏰ Don’t forget to set an alarm to wake up on time!

The BEST day of the year to visit STONEHENGE - Summer Solstice 2024 🌄

Today is the summer solstice, which means that it’s the best day of the year to visit Stonehenge! Why? Read on to find out! 👇

First, let me tell you a bit about Stonehenge itself.

Stonehenge is an archaeological monument from the end of the Stone Age. It is located in England, near the city of Salisbury. In the past, people thought that it was built by Druids, but now scientists agree that it dates back to around 5,000 years ago! It is still a mystery how people of that era managed to arrange the megaliths (=really big stones) into a circle and put them on top of each other. Some of them weigh up to 25 tonnes (=25,000 kg)! 😱

And what does this have to do with the summer solstice? 🌄

The summer solstice is the longest day and the shortest night of the year. Just on the day of the summer solstice the sun rises right behind the stone called the Heel Stone (it’s a big stone that stands alone further away from the main circle). After that, the rays of the sun shine into the middle of the circle. It is thought that perhaps (=maybe) Stonehenge was built as a sun temple (=like a church, but for the sun and not for God).

Can you really come there so early in the morning to see this? 🤔

Yes, you can, and only on this day! Usually, Stonehenge is only open to visitors during the day and for a fee (=you have to pay to visit it). But on summer solstice you can come there at night and for free! You can touch the stones, watch the sunset, stay there all night and then watch the sunrise.

❗️If you are in the UK now:
you still have some time to buy a train ticket to Salisbury! There are free buses that take you from the train station to Stonehenge. You can take a free bus there all evening until 1 am (later, the buses go back). If you want, you can also drive there, but remember that the parking spaces are limited.

If you aren’t in the UK: remember this information when you plan your visit to the UK 😉

What do we call these round things we put on the Christmas tree?..

No, not balls. And not toys, either.
We call them...

baubles - shiny Christmas decorations for putting on a Christmas tree that look like balls (see picture)

say 'au' like in 'August' or 'autumn'

❤️ - if you learned a new word today! And please subscribe if you want to learn more Christmas decorations

#английский

What do you decorate your Christmas tree with?

Textbooks teach us the words 'Christmas tree' and 'decorate', but they usually forget to tell us what we can put on our Christmas tree!

In the next few days we are going to learn some Christmas decorations.

Today's word:

tinsel - long pieces of shiny material (you can see it in the picture)

❤️ - if you like the post and want to learn more new words!

By the way, does my Christmas tree look better with or without tinsel? 🤔 Please tell me in the comments and help me choose 👇

❗️Have you found a typo on the picture? 🤔 The correct answer is in the comments 👇

Vocabulary.

to dye hair - to change the colour of your hair with special chemicals
the roots - 1. the part of a plant that grows down into the earth, and also 2. the part of hair that is under the skin

👩‍🦰 to dye your hair + colour:

Eg. I want to dye my hair pink.

Please, remember that we do NOT use the word 'paint' when we talk about hair: we can paint a picture or paint the walls, but we dye our hair.

Now, who has found the typo? :)

❤️ - if you like this format of learning new vocabulary!

Happy beginning of winter! ❄️

Useful winter vocabulary:

🥶 to freeze - 1. to keep things, eg food, at very low temperatures: We freeze meat when we want to keep it for longer; 2. to feel very cold: I'm freezing!
You can keep your food in a freezer, where the temperature is lower than in a fridge.

❄️ a snowflake - one little piece of snow
an icicle - bits of ice hanging from the roof
sleet - rain + snow
slush - when sleet is under your feet
black ice - thin ice on roads. When it's warm, snow becomes water. If it becomes cold again, the water freezes and becomes ice. It's very thin and difficult to see, sometimes you think you see the black road, but actually it's ice. We call this phenomenon black ice.
a blizzard - when it's snowing a lot
a shovel - a tool you can use to throw snow away

Winter fun:

☃️ to make a snowman
to have a snowball fight
to go skiing, when you go skiing you need skis
to go (ice) skating, when you go ice skating you need ice skates
figure skating
(ice) hockey
to go snowboarding, when you go snowboarding you need a snowboard
to go sledging, when you go sledging you need a sledge (in British English) or you can go sledding using a sled (in American English)

❤️ - if you've learned something new from this post!

My dream has come true 🤩

Лет десять назад примерно такая картинка, как на первом фото, стояла у меня на компьютере в качестве заставки. Я смотрела на неё и вдохновлялась на изучение английского, мечтая однажды увидеть это своими глазами.

На мой 27-ой день рождения моя давняя мечта сбылась - я поужинала в ресторане Searcys Helix restaurant и посмотрела на Лондон с 39-ого этажа! 🏙

Ресторан расположен в небоскрёбе под названием The Gherkin - буквально "солёный огурец". Такое название он получил благодаря своей необычной форме. У этого небоскрёба вообще нет углов! У него круглое основание, которое немного расширяется по мере продвижения вверх, а затем снова сужается и завершается округлым куполом.

Мы туда пошли, конечно, в первую очередь за видом, от которого захватывает дух! Но еда тоже оказалась великолепной. Нам подали три блюда, и мы провели полтора часа за столиком рядом с прозрачной стеной-окном и видом на Лондон с высоты птичьего полёта.

Впечатлений море. Получила заряд вдохновения на следующий год! 🚀

#английский

What is DIY? 🤔

When we were moving out of our previous place, we faced the need to repaint some of the walls 😱 And this is when I had to go to a bunch of DIY shops for the first time 😁

DIY is a useful abbreviation to know. It stands for 'Do It Yourself'. Something like "сделай сам".

It means doing any type of decoration or redecoration work by yourself, without inviting specialists. For example, painting walls. In Russia DIY shops are usually called 'Ремонт' 😁

There are some brand shops that only sell the stuff their company produces, as well as big home improvement centres like B&Q, Homebase and The Range.

❤️ - если посты на английском для тебя полезная практика и нужно писать больше таких постов!

А завтра расскажу про то, как я отпраздновала свой день рождения 🤩

#английский

It's my ! :)

Вот такие украшения можно увидеть сейчас на улицах Плимута! А ещё прямо сейчас можно поучаствовать в Хэллоуиновском квизе на моём Телеграм канале и выиграть приз: https://t.me/british_life #хэллоуин #великобритания #английский #плимут

El Galeón in : part 4!

El Galeón in part 3: on board the !

El Galeón in part 2: inside the !

Sunrise over Stonehenge on

Watch the coronation of Charles III online live:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqkdgRHtfwU

Read more about coronation on the official website: https://coronation.gov.uk/

Watch live the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla - BBC World Service Watch live the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla, on Saturday 6 May. Stay with us as the historic day unfolds.The coronation is a symbolic cer...

In everyone is preparing for the !

Learn more about international English exams for non-native speakers :)

EFL exams: IELTS, TOEFL, Cambridge exams..? Thinking of taking an English language exam, but not sure which one is the right one for you? And what are all of these abbreviations anyway, why are there s...

Join my English speaking club this May! 🇬🇧

🇬🇧 About the speaking club:
* lessons in mini-groups, 4-6 people per group
* online, over Zoom
* twice a week in the evening (around 6-7 pm London time)
* 3 levels:
- elementary
- intermediate
- advanced
If you aren't sure what level you need, please contact me.

🇬🇧 About the teacher:
My name is Katherine Bowes. I have a Master's in Linguistics/Teaching foreign languages and a C2 Proficiency certificate in English. I've also worked at a Cambridge exams centre, and I've taught students of different levels and age groups.

🇬🇧 How does it work?
* focus on speaking - we're going to speak A LOT!
* no boring exercises: we will use all the new vocabulary and grammar in our conversations
* a new topic every lesson
* no homework! (but I will offer you optional additional exercises)
* you can make mistakes! no one is going to interrupt you when you speak, so don't be afraid. I will give you a summary of common mistakes at the end of the lesson
* when the lesson is over, you can continue your conversation in a special chat over text messages!

🇬🇧 Monthly subscription fee: £50

If you'd like to join the speaking club, please send me a message. The speaking club starts on the 1st of May, so hurry up!

And if that's not your cup of tea and you would rather study English intensively with a lot of homework and feedback, I can invite you to my intensive Advanced-level course: preparation for Cambridge exams (C1/IELTS). This course starts in June. Contact me for more information

As promised, here are the correct answers to the quiz questions from my YouTube live stream!

Part I.
1) Romeo and Juliet.
2) Much Ado About Nothing.
3) A Midsummer Night's Dream.
4) The Taming of the Shrew.

Part II.
1) "To be or not to be: that is the question."
- Hamlet, said by Prince Hamlet. Act 3, Scene 1
2) "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players."
- As You Like It, said by Jacques. Act 2, Scene 7
3) "All that glisters is not gold."
- Merchant of Venice, read by Morocco from a scroll. Act 2, Scene 7
4) "O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon that monthly changes in her circled orb..."
- Romeo and Juliet, said by Juliet. Act 2, Scene 2

Happy Shakespeare and St George's Day!

Today England celebrates two holidays at once: Shakespeare Day and St George's Day. St George is the patron saint of England. William Shakespeare is a renowned playwright and poet, often seen as the greatest writer in the English language and England's national poet.

How much do you know about Shakespare? Learn more and check your knowledge in a quiz in my YouTube live stream tonight 😉

6 pm London time zone

How much do you know about Shakespeare? | Shakespeare Day 2023 Learn more about Shakespeare and check your knowledge in a quiz tonight!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2023! I hope you have all had great holidays! Let this year bring us only good news :)