A Summer of Discoveries

Hi-London came into being 10 years ago, and since then, we have seen a steady improvement in the English level of the teen students who come to us. We are thrilled to see the investment that many families are making in English language tuition for their children and excited about the opportunities this offers for us to explore our weekly themes in greater depths with our students.

Understanding the World Around Us

This summer, we are covering issues like climate change, natural disasters, evolution and technology with our teen students. We have discovered how tectonic plate interactions shape landscapes, generate earthquakes and form volcanoes and how plant life has evolved over the years. If all this sounds rather too serious as summer holiday activities, rest assured! We have our fun too. We dodged the falling grocery items in an earthquake, and clung to each other as we took in the views above the treetops. Ali – we will remember you always on that treetop walk!

                                   

Tea is History

The English are famous for their tea drinking, whether it is the Tetley tea with milk and Digestive biscuits or afternoon tea. On a tea clipper and through a special tour on tea at a museum, Hi-London teens explored the history of tea and how the tea trade led to the growth of the British Empire. An afternoon tea at the Kensington Palace Orangerie topped off a session on tea for some lucky students. A French teen helped to reinforce the global nature of the drinks business when he realized that the fizzy drink he bought in London was in fact made in France!

The Darker Side of London Town

London is the birthplace of Sherlock Holmes, Oliver Twist and Romeo and Juliet. It also became the birthplace of murder mysteries created by our teen students. Inspired by a murder on the Victorian docks and with props bought at Camden market, they entertained us and made us proud. There was also the opportunity to see some gangster action on stage with the damage being done with pies and cream!

May the Summer Sessions begin!

A Wild ​T​ime 

It is a truth commonly acknowledged that children love animals. So far this summer, the youngsters have already ​met​ a whole lot of wildlife. The Royal Parks are wonderful places for urban animal spotting. Rosaria's favourite ​was ​the squirrel; ​she ​was delighted when she got to touch one. Whilst drawing under a tree​,​ the children were lucky enough to have a glimpse ​of​ no less than 14 horses belonging to the Queen's guards​. ​Paolo was responsible for counting​,​ and there were indeed 14 of them!

The children have also had the chance to encounter and feed lamas, goats, rabbits and ducks at a farm in central London. Nadia, one of the youngest in the group, kept expressing her excitement by repeating the word "happy". Back in the classroom​,​ it was ​interesting to see​ the children link​ing​ animals to their favourite superheroes: Batman, Superman and Spiderman.

 Foodies on ​B​oard 

Spending most of the day together means that we soon get to know our students​'​ eating habits. Manuela, the oldest of the Teens​,​ could not hide her love for sushi; so much so that she acquired the nickname 'Sushi Girl'. A multicultural eater​, ​she also confessed her love for the English carrot cake​, ​which she pointed out can​'t ​be found in Italy. Exploring ​the ​food markets ​with such students is a joy​, with​ ​them ​gasp​ing​ ​with​ excitement at the diversity of ​the ​food ​found in ​London. Having said that, there is still one summer staple that is like no other after a long day of learning​ and ​exploring​ -​ ​a ​refreshing ice-cream ... Right, Bihar?

Show Time! 

With a focus on creativity and alternative ways of learning, Hi-London often employs the performing arts as a way of not only teaching English but also to motivate kids to learn. Role playing at a Victorian School, the children were encouraged to try on period costumes. One of the boys opted for a velvet red dress. It is fair to say that he was surprised when he looked in the mirror and realised that what he had on was not a magician's cloak!

With some background on theatre and its vocabulary provided by Hi-London teachers, the ​t​eens were well prepared to produce their own theatrical performance. ​They wrote their own script, shoppe​d in Camden Market for props and wardrobe items​, and​ ​performed their piece under the trees in Hyde Park. ​​W​ith accessories on hand such as a Sherlock Holmes hat and a pink dress, ​theirs was​ a murder plot worthy of an Oscar! Click here to watch the video on our Facebook page!

Spring is in the air

Spring is always a lovely season in London. Our parks slowly wake up from their long winter sleep​, with​ daff​odiles signalling​ the arrival of warmer days. Days become longer and even those staying behind to enjoy our After School Club can go home whilst the sun is still shining bright. At Hi-London ​,​ we ​embrace the changes in weather, allowing our students to enjoy each season. Whether they are making and flying a kite in Hyde Park or exploring how animals at the Zoo respond to the change in seasons, our students hopefully leave London with memories that will stay with them forever.

BFFs: Best Friends Forever 

Time and time again, we bare witness to countless friendships in the making. We see this as an

essential ​part​ of our courses; the relaxed and informal environment we create for our students makes socialising all the more possible. ​Our students' ​ newly developed confidence in the language bridges the intercultural gap ​,​ and ​they​ realise ​rather​ quickly that they have a whole lot in common. This term,​ we saw Shuani from Thailand and Frida from Germany bond over their love for playing hide and seek. ​O​n one occasion ​,​ they were so engrossed in playing that we even missed our bus! Shuani gave Frida a gift at end of the week as they bid farewell and said "See you soon...I will miss you." In English of course.

A ​B​irthday to ​R​emember 

Parents often allow their children to miss school on their birthdays,​ but here at Hi-London,​ children look forward to coming in on their special day. That is because we make every student's birthday another memorable occasion during their time abroad. This ​spring​,​ we celebrated Gan's 11th birthday, with ​a ​cake and ​a ​song. The team and the class were all smiles,​ but truth be told Gan was puzzled that the cake didn't taste anything like its ​ counterpart ​ back home​. Must be the water! 

New ​Y​ear, ​K​nown ​F​aces 

This spring ​,​ we welcomed back Andre, who was with us during our Autumn session. We love catching up with our alumni​, ​especially when they come back with the good news that they are now ​ at​ the top of their English class back home. It is great to see ​our ​ students ​ make this kind of progress. We still remember the panic ​o​ n Andre's face last year when spoken to in English. ​In the spring, he was as happy as can be, chatting away with everyone. ​ We are very proud of you! ​Also b​ack again this spring were​ the Gomez brothers from Barcelona. The boys' mother confirmed that their knowledge of the language comes mostly from the two weeks they spent with us ​during​ the summer ​ of 2015​. We enjoyed a packed programme with them last year,​ and they could not wait to come back for some more educational fun. The family was​ very impressed with our new location in South Kensington​,​ and we look forward to welcoming them back ​for the third time ​this summer!

Hi-London Student Showcase

At Hi-London,​ we offer our students the chance to engage with the real world, beyond the classroom and boring textbooks. Here is 16-year old Matheusz​'s ​take on the subject of the role played by women during W​orld War II​. Enjoy the read​,​ and watch this space for more gems by our Hi-London students. 




How Did World War II Change the Role of Women in Society?​

World War II was a time when Britain and its Allies were fighting against Germany in Europe. Many men had to go to the front line to fight for their countr​ies. The fighting took place on land, at sea and even in the air. But what about women in England? Before the war, most of them were living at home and taking care of their kids. After 1945 everything changed.

During the war, women were assigned jobs that they weren't doing before. The type of job that they did depended on which organisation they joined. The most important organisations were the Auxiliary Territorial Service, Land Army and Women's Voluntary Service.

In 1938​,​  the Women's Voluntary Service was helping many people in need because of the German air strikes. The organisation was working during and after war. Until 1942​,​ this work, led by its 200,000 members, took up much of its time. The watchword of the WVS was: “Never say no”, meaning never give up. Six years later, the numbers grew to 1 million members. In Britain, taking care of war workers’ children was part of the national service – helping the country in war. Working mothers could leave their kids for the WVS to take care of.

In 1939​,​ Britain formed the Land Army. Their aim was to find women who were able to work in the countryside and take the place of men at their jobs. By December​,​ the number of members counted 80,300. It shows how much women were needed during war time.

The ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Service) was helping the British army defend the country. Women were not allowed to fire guns or go into action​.​ ​I​nstead​,​ they were employed to spot enemies. One year later​,​  the organisation had 17,000 members. By 1943 ​,​ the number grew to 200,000 members. In the ATS, sometimes women had higher ranking jobs than men which hadn't been the case before the war. This resulted in men being annoyed because of women telling them what to do. However​,​ women still received lower wages than men.

After the war women went back to their old jobs. A lot of women went to do ​medical work ​as​ nurses or first-­aiders​.  ​343,100 women served as such during the war.  At the end of the war, child benefits were paid directly to mothers, making them more independent and free. By 1945​,​  women proved they could compete in a man's world.

Rethinking the Classroom: Experience, Facts and Figures

Arriving in London

Moving to London at the age of 13 was a leap of faith on my parents’ part. My younger sister and I started mainstream school straight away, and sadly, we soon found that the weekly English lessons we took whilst back in our country had not been enough. With a foundation in vocabulary consisting of ‘cat’ and ‘dog’ and  ‘Whatchy-timyiseaty?’, we were badly equipped to succeed in school and even worse unable to socialise, make new friends and enter adolescence with confidence and a sense of independence. However, this is not a sob story. Our malleable young brains were about to soak up so much culture, language and information that our progress in learning English was palpable daily. All that singing along with the Beatles, reading the menu at our local kebab shop and information plaques at the British museum, watching soap operas on BBC1 and shaking our heads to questions we did not understand murmuring ‘I don’t know...’ were a big part of our process to learn, a process through which in the end we became ‘kinda English’.

What the Experts say

So as it can be guessed, I am a big fan of learning outside the conventional parameters of the classroom, away from the textbooks and the forced memorisation in front of a blackboard. There are some numbers to back up my leaning towards a more holistic approach to learning in a research done by mindServegroup in 2005. The Learning Triangle points to two of the most efficient ways to retain information: Immediate Use and Practise by Doing. These are both inherent to what we are talking about here - experiential learning.

                             

The Learning Triangle: National Training Laboratories © mindServegroup 2005

LOTC (Learning Outside the Classroom), a registered UK charity engaged with the promotion of experiential learning, places language fieldwork visits abroad amongst what it lists as ‘out-of-classroom places’.

‘These (experiential learning activities), often the most memorable learning experiences, help us to make sense of the world around us by making links between feelings and learning. They stay with us into adulthood and affect our behaviour, lifestyle and work. They influence our values and the decisions we make. They allow us to transfer learning experienced outside to the classroom and vice versa.’

The topic of finding inspiration outside the conventional classroom is of such importance that it has found a voice even in politics. In the British parliament, a select committee led by the politician Barry Sheerman, who was the Chair of the Children, Schools and Families Committee until 2010, came forward with a report titled ‘Education outside the Classroom’. In it, the committee defended that ‘Outdoor learning supports academic achievement (...) as well as the development of ‘soft’ skills and social skills’.

Memory and Motivation in language learning

This shift from ‘memorising’ to ‘memorable’ is key here, especially when applied to English being learned in English-speaking countries; the excitement of being abroad helps you remember what you learnt since your time spent learning was memorable. Memory plays such an essential part in language learning, and it is the ‘memorable’ which we should be focusing on. The LOTC Manifesto goes on to highlight the six main ‘pathways to learning’: seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, smelling and doing. When it comes to studying English, only an immersive experience could possibly offer a way along all these pathways. With all your senses and curiosity activated, the motivation to learn the language comes naturally. Motivation is key to developing skills and gaining knowledge, and what greater motivation to do so than to want to belong or understand where you are.

When learning English in an English-speaking environment, children quickly realise that the main use of English is in communicating with their peers and the society around them. In an article for Forbes Magazine Katharine B. Nielson, the chief education officer at Voxy,affirms that what language students need is ‘the chance to use language the way it was intended, as a tool for communication, not as a complex set of rules to master.’ As a radical approach to language learning, she even suggests dispersing the discipline into other subjects: arts, music, science. The language thereby becomes a vehicle through which to communicate about the world around us.

‘Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.’

Benjamin Franklin

Sources and further reading:

http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/Images/Education%20outside%20Classroom_tcm4-391163.pdf

http://www.lotc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/G1.-LOtC-Manifesto.pdf

http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesleadershipforum/2014/04/22/the-best-way-to-learn-a-foreign-language-is-the-opposite-of-the-usual-way/

http://www.hermanmiller.com/research/solution-essays/rethinking-the-classroom.html

Summer Memories in the Making

We are reaching the end of summer, having welcomed students from all corners of the world, introducing them to the city we love and teaching them English along the way...

I Art therefore I Am

Can you think of a better spot to learn about shapes and colours than inside the latest Serpentine Gallery Summer Pavilion? The children were inspired and got deep into the London contemporary art scene by filling in their activity sheets whilst appreciating what is really and truly the largest colourful blob in London (and possibly the world). The site was also explored by Concetta during the adult London Conversations class and proved to be not only a great conversation starter but also a mean spot for grabbing a coffee!

Just over the Bridge, the teens visited the Sackler Gallery where they came face-to-face with Duane Hanson’s extremely realistic sculptures. There were initial gasps of surprise as they came to realise that those were indeed sculptures and not real people! As one of our students put it: ‘ They look like they were humans turned into stone’. Check out their reviews of the exhibition on our Alumni Page.

Firecrackers and Firestarters

The explosive trio, Riccardo, Leonardo and Leone were gasping when taken to the Flash, Bang, Wallop show. The lovely presenter went on to set everything on fire. Did you know that flour is highly flammable? She filled a shower head with flour and set it alight, making it rain fire!. We also watched the presenter make mini explosions inside paint tins. She stopped short of setting off fireworks in the room, thanks to intervention of the health and safety people at the venue who are clearly a lot more sensible than the kooky firestarter presenter.

Discovering Botanical Britain

What is Britain without its gardens and its leading role in Botanics and all things plant-y? Although we are regular visitors to Kew Gardens, it was somewhere in deep East london that we found out it was there that the first European banana tree was grown in a greenhouse. The historical gardens at the venue were a source of amazement and discovery. Who knew that herbs were such an integral part of our history and everyday lives? We learnt that they not only add an extra kick to margaritas but they are also used for medicines, for dying clothes and as disinfectants. There was overall surprise (even by the workshop leader) that sage and wormwood used to be used as breath fresheners. 

As Nima pointed out, why not mint?! Whilst in the gardens, the class was upset by the sight of a hurt bird laying on a bush, which came spiraling down when it attempted to fly. Our workshop leader promised they would be calling the RSPCA and hopefully the bird has been rescued by now.  

Cook, Eat, Learn

One of the most memorable experiences this summer has been the pizza-making workshop where the children got the chance to make (and of course eat) their own pizzas. Amongst the ingredients, there was a whole lot of cheese, mushrooms and pepperoni. As the teachers took care of the boring bits such as chopping vegetables and managing the oven, the children got involved with shaping and decorating their pizzas. There was Chanel’s girly heart shaped pizza and Ricardo’s square number. The teaching assistant gave the top prize to Bernardo’s creation for is juiciness and very deep crust.

The teens were inspired by the British masterchef Jamie Oliver and impressed the teachers with their extra cheesy pasta bake. Junka, who is already a pro at cooking Japanese food at the tender age of 15, was no stranger to onion chopping whilst Mateusz, Felix and Takhara were ideal sous chefs. The team couldn’t hold out and tucked into some mozzarella even before the food was served, and everyone was granted extra marks for their washing up skills. Felix commented: ‘ Cooking was interesting and the food was tasty. My parents often use Jamie Oliver recipes’.

Hi-London’s certainly Got Talent!

Our students always surprise us with their hidden talents: so, this time we decided to give them a stage and see what they can come up with. The children had merely an hour to rehearse and impress the teens who formed the not so tough judging panel. The acts were a mixture of showmanship and physicality: roley poley spetacular duo Marcantonio and Leonardo impressed the crowd with their wheelbarrow number whilst two magicians went head to head with their card tricks. But the winner was (drum roll!!!) Isabelle et al, who wowed the judges with their synchronized cartwheels to the soundtrack of Frozen. Teaching Assistant Jack who filmed the show commented: ‘Everyone put in a lot of effort and the result was a very amusing show’.  Let them entertain us!

Hi-London’s Summer Is Here

During the last month, we have been exploring, discovering, playing and most importantly, learning English. Our ethos of immersive learning whilst exploring London is one which really resonates with our students.

Discovering Our World

Science is a way for the little ones as well as the older teens to engage with their surroundings. At the Science Museum, Sir Isaac Newton was at hand to talk them through the concept of gravity. The children particularly enjoyed him removing his funny wig at the end of his talk to reveal a very bald head! And then there was the slime! Some of the students were disgusted at first, but fairly soon, everyone dipped their hands into the bizarre concoction and enjoyed the weird feeling of having their hands submerged in the gluey stuff. Giulio even pulled his hands out to pretend to be Shrek to entertain his classmates.

We also got in touch with nature this past month during our breaks in Hyde Park or excursions to the many venues and workshops where we came face-to-face with plants and insects of all types. We smelled our way through the spice trade and learned to tell our cinnamons from our gingers. We fished for creepy crawlies and realised that ponds are not just full of murky water but actually full of life.  Snails and water lice - Ewww!

Playing Games in the Park

The teacher was handed 10-year-old Hamdan's bag and realised that his bag was very heavy.  When she looked inside, she saw three bottles of water, and she asked Hamdan why he was carrying such a heavy load. The student, from Dubai, replied: “Well teacher, you never know when you are gonna walk into a desert!”. Considering how hot it has been in London, the boy did have a point!

It has been the hottest summer on record in London, and we are making sure that the kids staying behind for our After School Club get a lot of fresh air. We are very lucky to be a stone's throw from a landmark London park, where we sometimes head to relax, have lunch and play. One of the children's number 1 game choices is the classic Duck Duck Goose, which thanks to their imaginations has morphed into 'Pizza, Pizza, Chips' , 'Zoo, Zoo, Post Office', 'Chicken, Chicken, Egg' or my personal favourite 'Cheese, Cheese, Mouse'.

Travelling back in time to Good Ol' England

Something you realise when you are in England is that this country holds history and tradition very close to its heart. During this month, we travelled back in time to an era when women wore strange hats called “bonnets”, teachers were very mean and 'horrid' murder mysteries went unsolved. Straight from the 1600s, Lady Peyton showed us around the iconic Tower of London, where we explored torture through the ages.

The past seemed to be a whole lot less nice than the present.  In a Victorian classroom, the sunny Hi-London teacher was replaced by a ‘mean Victorian school teacher’ with a ruler in her hand.  Lea thought it was all 'very funny', but Maria and Eugenia, who had gone to the toilet and missed the introduction, were shocked to be confronted by this beastly old teacher upon their return! More dark stories came from the teens who visited a sinister sailing town in East London. Inspired by this unsettling experience, they delivered a chilling performance of their own murder mystery at the end of the week which scared and very much entertained the Hi-London team.  

...And Learning English Along the Way

We are always surprised by what children pick up. 8-year-old Catarina who arrived speaking very little English learned two very useful phrases.  Upon seeing the giant skeleton of a dinosaur, she blurted out 'My God!'  Later, she pointed to the teacher's mobile and exclaimed  'I phone cover!'.

It has been lovely to see the children and teens making new friends. English, as the common language, acts as the bridge between our students, and we hope that those who meet here sustain their friendships after they leave. Teenagers Virginia from Italy, Cornelia from Norway and Lou Anne from France were bonding during their Tube rides to the various venues across London. Cornelia was happy to realise that although they may all live miles away from each other, they are all partial to a bit of shopping at Hollister!