Conquest of England...
First I have to apologize, because of writing in English. But if someone goes to England to learn more about the language, it would be embarrassing to write those experiences in German. However, I had to go to England to improve my English, and what shall I say - I am convinced that it was very successful.
All began with my flight to London on Saturday, 1st of July. I arrived on Saturday evening and went straight to my hotel which was located in London Docklands. After a light dinner I went to bed to be fit for the next day. I spent Sunday sightseeing around London. Honestly, I did not expect that London to be so nice. I was lucky with the weather and I took some really nice pictures of the main attractions of London. The best snapshots are listed below.
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Dockland |
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Dockland |
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Dockland |
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Dockland |
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Tower Bridge |
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Tower Bridge |
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Tower Bridge |
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Big Ben |
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Big Ben |
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Big Ben |
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Westminster |
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Westminster |
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After I had taken all the pictures, which I had to take as a tourist, I went to the Underground Station "London Bridge" to caught my train to Battle, where the English course was to be held. However - I arrived in Battle and Monika who is Alan’s wife, picked me up. Alan was our trainer for the next two weeks. Right after a warm welcome and a very detailed explanation of the house and its rooms we went to bed...
The next morning Alan introduced the aim of the course as well as his special learning method. He had a lot of experience and he was one of the best trainers we could imagine. He was able to demand the maximum from us in order to reach our aims. As soon as we had finished the lesson about special grammar issues he forced us to use those. We could really feel his experience and after a short while we knew very well why he has trained the Siemens board in the past.
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Our Guesthouse |
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In Rye |
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Rye skyline |
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Bodeum Castle |
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Fairlight Park |
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Cliffs |
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Max |
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Hastings |
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Hastings |
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Hastings |
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Hastings |
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Hastings |
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He was not comparable with the usual school teacher we knew from our school time. Instead of teaching the standard grammar rules he explained why thinks are as they are, he trained us to understand the background of the grammar and how the grammar should be applied. In addition to those language skills he trained us to understand some of the cultural differences between England, America and Germany. Before the training I had never considered the importance of such differences, honestly I had not even considered them. But there are differences – actually a lot! And while Alan explained those differences, some of my past business situations became clearer and clearer. I realized that in some particular situations, our cultural differences resulted in "huge gaps". I really did behavior in a classic German manner. I learnt how to ask questions in a proper way, how to agree and disagree in a correct manner and how to listen to English native speakers correctly.
In addition to cultural training we had to learn new vocabulary - up to 30 new words per day. Such a huge number of new words sounds incredible, but thanks to Alan’s learning system; nobody had serious problems in learning that amount of words.
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Germany played |
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All of us |
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All victims |
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The course was a complete success, I learned more then I had expected. We had very impressive discussions, excursions, delicious examples of English cuisine and a very good hospitality. And rule #1 "No German" helped us to "forget" German behavior and gave us the feeling that we really were part of the English culture.
Contact Adress of our Guesthouse:
Monika Pennington
Brede Court
Brede Hill East Sussex TN316EJ
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