Here’s an update on what’s new at Connect to English.

We are in the middle of our English and Spanish courses right now and I’m pleased to report all is going well. We have two Beginners, one Pre-intermediate Spanish and General and Business English courses all progressing nicely.

We have launched our new Spanish for Business course recently and also our French face-to face and via Skype tuition. I also want to tell you about our new Study Skills with optional IELTS short summer courses. These are ideal if you are wanting to enter a UK university and need some extra help with your writing and Academic English skills.

Another of our latest additions is our exclusive One Day Intensive Summer Spanish courses. These are designed to get you going in Spanish if you don’t have a lot of time to spend on a longer term course and you will learn everything you need for your visit.  All these courses can be arranged to suit your language learning needs whatever your reason for learning.  See our Spanish page for more details or call us!

For details on all these courses go to our contact page.

Happy language learning!

We will be launching a new Spanish for Business and Travel course after Easter, but I just want to outline the reasons for doing this and the benefits you can reap by making learning Spanish one of your objectives if you are in business.

Need for Spanish

I have been working with some businesses that have needed Spanish for work purposes over the last year. As time has progressed, I have noticed the need out there in people in industry, manufacturing and catering for having a working knowledge of Spanish to add to their other entrepreneurial skills.  My clients have told me they are often in positions of having to speak to their clients and find themselves in working situations where they need to understand and respond in the language.  They need  to be able to speak Spanish it as they travel alot to Spain and so on.

All this has led to the launch of the Spanish for Business and Travel course which is going to feature as one of our new services to  customers.  So what will it entail?  As Spanish is one of the main languages of the new emerging South American economies and there they sometimes say things a little differently, we though it would be a good idea to offer a language course where, depending on if you are going to travel to South America, you can learn your Spanish geared and tailored to that part of the Spanish-speaking world. Needless to say, the same goes for those people working or doing business in Spain.

Benefits

Benefits for both Spain and South American orientated  Spanish for Business and Travel courses mean that you will get to be able to understand  Spanish in everyday Business situations and speak Spanish, i.e. make a telephone call, greet and chat with clients in your field of business, make travel arrangements, make a presentation etc – all the things you will need in business life.

Courses can be designed for your needs and to your specifications or you can join one of our regular groups.

So that’s it! If you want to know more about our Spanish for Business and Travel course or indeed any other of our courses, please give us a call or use our contact page and we will get back to you.

Hasta Pronto!

Hello All,

Thought I had better tell you what’s happening at Connect to English right now.  Everything is going great and we are also going through a few changes.  Lots of exciting new things have been happening in the early part of this year which has been keeping us busy.  So here goes….

General English and English for Speakers of other Languages (ESOL)

We are currently engaged in delivering personally designed ESOL courses for clients.  If you need to speak better English in order to live in the UK or other English speaking country this is the course for you.  These can start at any level and can be especially designed to your requirements and can be of any length you need.

Business English

We have successfully launched our especially designed Business English courses. Including everything from report writing to interview techniques, our courses are flexible taking into account your job specifications and needs.  See our General Business page for details

Spanish

We have successfuly launched our new Spring Spanish courses and all are up and running well.  There are currently two Beginners, and Improvers and a Pre-intermediate course.  We are now looking at new Summer courses in  Spanish and Spanish conversation  this year.

Business Spanish

We are in the process of launching a new Business Spanish course.  This is for people who need Spanish language for their job or to conduct their business in a Spanish speaking country.

Components of the Business Spanish course will include how to greet business clients and introduce yourself, how to make telephone calls, write business e-mail, make presentations etc.

As many people now have to use Spanish for work purposes, this course will be be invaluable to them to help them communicate better in a Spanish-speaking environment.

And last but not least…. our new Spanish page has been published on the site.  Why not take a look? Watch out for language tips, articles and free lessons.

French on Skype

We are now offering French language tuition face-to face in Colchester with a very experienced tutor in general and business French. Classes can e taken on-to one or in a small group.

Also: run by a native speaking French tutor of long experience, you can now learn French via Skype with us. These lessons can be flexible in  time and length to fit in with your lifesyle or work. For further details about any of these French courses, get in touch us through our contact page.

http://www.connect2english.co.uk/courses/spanish-language-courses/

Bye for now!

Perhaps you need  English for a specific job or career, English for project managment, marketing, or to make yourself better understood in your Customer Services role?  Whatever the reason,  having a command of Business English can really assist you in your chosen career path.

Choices

Business English can cover a very wide range of skills and applications, so for example a course for General Business English may include  telphone handling skills, writing reports and memos, making presentations and English for marketing whereas the next stage on, an Executive  Business English course could incorportate handling meetings, English for negotiation skills and English for management and recruitment.

In addition, and if necessary, courses can be bespoke to your particuar area of interest or job, so that for example, if you work in an administrative role, in sales or in a higher management position, the English you learn will directly reflect that role.

Confidence

Whatever you need you can tailor-make your course to suit your specific requirements enuring you gain the maximum benefit from your classes.  Teachers of Business English will want to ensure that your course and experience will engender in you the confidence you need to go forward and prosper in the competitive world of business today.

Selecting the right skills

As in any language course pinpointing the right skills for a student is the language teachers first priority, so in a Business English course, one of the first things you can expect is to talk to your tutor about what type of skills you need and what you expect to achieve.  Tutors in Business English are usually very experienced and  have a wide knowledge of the types of aspects of English their students require.  This ‘needs analysis’ is a very important stage of designing your course and should be thoroughly entered into by both tutor and student ensuring you get the right  tuition.

So, to recap, if you need English for your career, think carefully about the skills and areas you need from your Business English course, discuss your aims and objectives with your tutor and prepare to enter the fascinating and rewarding world of Business with the tools you need to progress.

Some thoughts on the hot topic debate of which is best – the traditional classroom with real-life teachers and students, or the opportunities and ease offered by the cyber world of online tuition that is now increasing in popularity.

Personally, I have always taught my classes in the traditional way, that is, face to face with my students, in a classroom environment. That is not to say my classes have always been typical.  I have taught in offices, in a restaurant, one to one in people’s own rooms as well as in the familiar classroom of a college or university.

However,  here at Connect to English we are about to buck the trend of the familiar and launch ourselves into the ever popular world of online tuition by introducing  the latest addition to our language services, French language tuition online.

These French language courses will be conducted via Skype with a native French speaker and tutor of long experience and will be flexible to suit your language needs like all our existing language services are.

We at Connect are very excited about this – because if it proves popular, we want to add our English language tuition on Skype as an additional service.

What do you think about the benefits of online versus traditional tuition?

Of course, there are positives to both types of teaching.  With the traditional classroom, you get the benefit of working with other students so that you don’t feel isolated, having  a ‘real’ person if front of you to trouble shoot and reassure you and the comfort of the familiar idea of going into a proper classroom to have your lessons.  And online? You can arrange the class to suit your own lifestyle, time contraints and mood and the price can also sometimes be more affordable.

So, whatever your preference, you can be sure that here at Connect to English we have a language learning solution for you and are always striving to improve our services to suit you.

Bye for now.

I want to tell you about some new Services now being offered by Connect to English.

French

I am often asked about French classes. I am pleased to announce that we can now provide French language lessons from Beginner to Advanced on a one-to-one basis.  See our contact page for further details.

Spanish

We are planning new Spanish ‘taster’ sessions starting this March.  They are designed to offer anyone who might be thinking of starting to learn the language a ‘try before you buy’ session.  If you like it and want to come on our Beginners course, you get your taster fee taken off the price!

We are also running a new Spanish for Beginners course in April this year.  Need to learn for your up and coming holiday or simply for work purposes?  This is the course for you.

In addition, new Improvers and Intermediate Spanish courses are also being planned. Watch the website for details.

English

Well we are called Connect to English!  there’s a new General English course being planned for the summer. If you are resident in Colchester or are thinking of coming here, this is the course for you.  See the website for details.

If it’s General Business English you need then Connect to English can provide you with exactly the course you need.  Courses are designed for your specific needs and can take place on a one-to one basis or we can come to your factory or office.  See our web page for further details.

We look forward to seeing you!

I haven’t posted for quite a while so glad to be back.

This is the second ‘newsletter’ for Connect to English to let you know about new services or events happening here.

Spanish

Well, January got off to a good start finally after all the snow and we got both the Spanish for Beginners and Spanish for Improvers courses launched.  Both these are going well.  We are looking now to enrol for the next  Spanish for Beginners course starting in April.

Taster Sessions

A new idea at Connect to English is to start Spanish language ‘taster’ sessions in Colchester.  A session will last for one hour, be lighthearted and fun and will aim to give you just a taste of this fantastic language.   We are looking to launch  our first one in March.  They will cost only £9.00 per person and the best news is, if you then decide to join one of our courses, your taster fee will be taken off the price of the course, so…what are you waiting for?  Call us!

English

We are now expecting to run a new General English course in Colchester starting in April.  This will cover all four skills in English language learning with special emphasis on speaking and listening. If you are a Beginner and want to learn in a small group, call us or go to our contact page for details.

English conversation

We did not have the response we hoped for English Conversation classes, but hope this will improve this year.  Our classes will consist of no more than six people, will be multi-national and will give you the opportunity to polish your speaking skills in a relaxed situation.  For details go to our General English page.

French

New!  you can now learn French with us.  One-to-one classes from Beginner to Advanced with experienced and qualified tutor. Go to our contact page for details.

Proofreading and Copywriting

Not sure if you know, but Connect to English also offers you a fast and professional proofreading and copywriting service.  We will ensure you get error-free copy at a very competitive price.  In addition, we can write your copy for you.  For a quote, call 01206 504277 or go to our contact page for info.

And that’s it for now.  A Very happy New Year to all of you from Connect to English, happy language learning and we hope to see some of you learning with us soon.

Bye for now.

I Hope you are all well.

I am going to start a Connect to English newsletter on my blog page keeping you up to date with what we are doing here and how things are going.  later I hope to have an proper newsletter published on the site, but for now, this is better than nothing at all.

So what’s happening?

Here at Connect to English we are a working language school first and foremost – when I’m not writing blog entries I do go out to students, both private and in the business community to teach them English and Spanish.

Currently, there are two Spanish language learning groups on the go – both Beginners. One of these takes place in a local restaurant as they need tuition for their staff. We have English clients too, for example, I am working with English conversation and Academic Presentation Skills for clients and am expecting to start English tuition early next year with groups of overseas students who need to improve for work purposes.

New Spanish for Beginners and  Spanish for Improvers groups are starting in January.  These will be evening class groups.  We are also hoping to continue working with the restaurant.

English Conversation groups are going to be new at Connect to English from January.  It is hoped that we can get groups of people together who want to improve their general speaking skills and feel more confident in communication.  (If you are staying in Colchester, England from next year and need to brush up on your conversation skills – why not come to our group?)

We are launching our new Intensive English Programme for Executives early next year.  This will be a tailor-made course for adult students wishing to take an English study break in Colchester. We are currently in negotiation with people from Spain who have English for Specific Purposes needs so we very much look forward to welcoming them to study here with us in Colchester.

(If you are interested in the above course or any of our other courses – please feel free to contact us.)

Perhaps you didn’t know we also offer a fast, efficient and good value Proofreading service (English) for web copy, publicity and academic essays and dissertations. Please feel free to get in touch if you have anything you need checking!

We are working with other local businesses in Colchester and further afield who are involved with education to help promote and support each other in these difficult ecomonic times and along with extensive networking, seminar attendances  and affilitation to various local business enterprise associations we are looking forward to a positive and fruitful 2013.

And that’s it for the moment.  I look forward to updating you with further news and goings on at Connect to English soon.

Bye for now and please keep reading and sending your comments!

I hope everyone is well.  One thing I haven’t written on since the launch of my website and my language teaching service is the International language holiday market.

Why do people learn foreign languages? Of course the answer is for different reasons.  Some people learn purely for work purposes – perhaps they want to get a job in the UK or another country and so decide to study the language.

Perhaps they like English, Spanish or some other language and they study purely for a hobby or interest.  I have done this on several occasions including a couple of forays into Greek!

Another reason may be that someone wants or needs to relocate to another country so need to learn that country’s language.

But perhaps the most popular and general reason I hear as a language teacher for a person wanting to learn a new language is that when they go on holiday to a country they are able at least to converse with the people of that country at a basic level.

To get to do this some people choose to attend a class or self-learn via a course on the web.  Some go for classes with a private tutor, and some – the lucky ones – get to go on a language holiday to learn or improve their chosen language.

Language holidays have grown in popularity over the last few years with tailor-made breaks in iconic European cities like Rome or Paris and of course London and other famous cities in England.

A language break usually includes visits to particular places of interest, activities and entertainment and the all-important tutition. Breaks can be arranged for all age groups – young people and teenagers make up a large part of the summer school language holidays in England and there is now a trend for the more senior age group of age fifty plus as people of that age have more expendable income.  Breaks can range from a few days to several weeks and can also be designed around the particular interests, tastes and budgets of the people participating.

So where to go? Well, a language holiday in a beautiful and famous city like Rome will always provide excitement – and that’s great if you want to learn Italian of course! But English? Then surely you need to come to an English-speaking country and that could mean, well naturally, England.

There is a wide choice of English language holidays on the market. Many people choose to go to London for the fabulous history, cultural activities and sights.  But London is very expensive and although a ‘must see’ place on any visit to England, it is not the be all and end all of  a great English experience.

As mentioned earlier some of our great cities offer fantastic opportunities for a rewarding language holiday with Bath, Oxford, Cheltenham and Cambridge being popular destinations. Some smaller but no less important towns are often centres for language breaks and can offer the holiday maker wonderful opportunties for relaxation and engagement with a more authentic English experience.  Colchester, for expample, where I live is one such place and I have no hesitation in promoting the delights of holidaying in this historical, charming and vibrant town.

Here at Connect to English  we even offer to arrange language holidays, tailor-making them to suit your requirements and individual tastes, from nature breaks with English taking advantage of our wonderful countryside and local wildlife, historical language breaks with English showcasing what is the oldest recorded town in England and cultural breaks with English showing you the art, entertainment and cultural  aspects of our great area.

So, if you want to learn English in a truly authentic and relaxed way why not consider making your next holiday a visit to Colchester on an* English language holiday with us here at Connect to English?

Bye for now.

*For details visit our Holiday English page.

I am working on launching some new pages on the Connect to English website to let you know about the other services we can offer you in addition to English language teaching.  One of these will be about our Spanish language service.

Teaching Spanish is not new for us but I would like to just take a little time here to remind everyone how useful and rewarding learning this wonderful language can be.

Spanish is now spoken by more than 400 million people worldwide making it the second most widely spoken language after Mandarin chinese and the most widely studied after English.  Spanish also ranks as the number 2 language in the world terms of how many people speak it as their first language.

It is geographically very widely spoken – there being  over 3 million  native speakers of Spanish in 44 countries.  This makes Spanish a useful language to learn if you are thinking of trading or working overseas.

It is easly pronounced (Making it an attractive proposition if you’re a first time foreign language learner.) It is a phonectic language meaning it is pronounced as it is spelled.  In addition, learning Spanish can help in learning other Latin based languages such as French and Italian and even German and Russian as they share similar Indo-European roots.  Spanish and English also share alot of similar vocabulary reflected in the fact that both are derived from Latin.

As it is such a widely spoken language there are many opportunities to use Spanish both in travel, leisure and business.  Perhaps you simply like Latin America or Spain and want to travel or holiday there?  Perhaps you need to travel to the United States (where record numbers of people are now learning Spanish or already speak it as their first language), or to another Spanish- speaking country where you are likely to need to converse with people?  These are great reasons to learn this fantastic language.

So, watch out for the new Spanish language page on Connect to English website. This will tell you about the courses we run, tips and advice for learning and any offers we are promoting to help you get involved with learning Spanish.  Try it – it’s fun!

Bye for now.

If you want to know about any of our Spanish courses or English language courses in Colchester please contact us using the Connect to English contact page.