Learn English through UK's number 1 sport - football!

As David (Stafford House Brighton Principal) said in his last blog entry, it’s important to practise your English as much as you can outside the classroom. Watching television, reading news paper or magazines (and of course subtitles) will really help. And if you have a particular interest, such as a sport, then you will find it easier to pick up the language if you are interested in the subject. For a lot of our students, they come to England with a lot of knowledge and interest in football.

On Saturday the England football team beat Slovenia 3-1 at Wembley in a qualification match for the 2016 European Championship in France. There was a lot of media interest before the match; in fact, there was more interest before the match than after it! This is because Manchester United and England captain Wayne Rooney was making his 100^th appearance. In English, to describe an international player making an appearance for their country, we say they are receiving or winning a cap. This can also be used as an adjective – for example, ‘the most capped player’. Rooney is now England’s 9^th  highest capped player of all time, behind David Beckham in 2^nd place with 115 and goalkeeper Peter Shilton in 1^st place with 125.

The wearing of a cap for international games was officially adopted back in 1886, but in the first international football match played between England and Scotland in 1872 all the England players wore their old school caps. In those days football teams did not play in distinctive colour strips as they do now. The only way to distinguish which team a player represented was the cap he wore on his head! This developed into a tradition of awarding a cap to a player each time they represented their country, which continued even after the introduction of football strips.

Caps are not the only headwear to feature in the language of sport. There is also the hat-trick. In football this is when a player scores three goals in the same game. Wayne Rooney has scored some of these too; including one in his debut appearance for Manchester United.

To celebrate winning his 100^th cap, a presentation was arranged for Wayne Rooney before kick-off. Instead of the cap being its usual blue colour, it was gold. And who presented the cap to him? Former Manchester United and England star Sir Bobby Charlton, a member of England’s 1966 World Cup winning team. Sir Bobby holds 106 caps and holds the record for the most number of England goals, 49. With 100 caps and 40 goals, Wayne Rooney will probably beat both of Sir Bobby’s records, but he will find it harder to match Sir Bobby’s achievement of winning a World Cup winner’s medal!

Glossary

Cap (noun) a type of hat. Also used to describe making an appearance for your country in sport.

Hat-trick (noun) to score three goals in football. Can be used to describe other series of three, for example beating the same team three times.

Kick-off (noun) the beginning of a football match.

Strip (noun) the shirt, shorts and socks in a particular design and set of colours to represent your team.

Useful materials

If you are interested in football, here are some more ideas of how to practise your English:

1. Listen to podcasts like Languagecaster specifically designed for learners of English interested in football.

2. Read British newspapers like Telegraph and The Guardian.

3. Newspapers use a lot of expressions and sometimes vocabulary which can be very difficult to follow unless you have a high level of English. Lower level learners may find it easier to read magazines like World Soccer and Champions Matchday.

4. Browse websites like BBC and follow blogs like SoccerLens.

Good luck!

Pat O'Donoghue, Principal Stafford House Canterbury

Stafford House School of English Nationality Statistics - October 2014

A healthy nationality mix is key to students progression in English language and at Stafford House we are proud of the wide nationality mix across all our centres.

 

London

Our London centre saw 38 different nationalities taught across October. Top nationalities this month were:

Brighton

Brighton has welcomed students from 18 different nationalities. Top nationalities this month were:

 

Canterbury

Stafford House School of English Canterbury had students of 28 different nationalities during the month of October. Top 10 nationalities during this month were:

 

Boston

The widest nationality mix occurred at our Boston centre with 36 different nationalities taught across October. Top nationalities during this month were:



How to improve your English outside the classroom

Writer Rita Mae Brown Said: “Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going”. At Stafford House we encourage our students to be active participants in this cultural journey. I am always impressed by our students; they work so hard to improve their English skills when they are with us. Attendance rates are very high and students are rarely late for class.

Often students will pop in to my office for an informal chat and catch up. Frequently they ask me how they can improve their English outside of the classroom. Over the years I have offered the following advice and I would like to share some tips with you:

 

1. Speak English at all times! Try to make friends with students from other nationalities. This is easy at Stafford House as we often have more than 30 nationalities studying with us.

2. Watch lots of television; try to follow a British drama. Some of these have been running for over 50 years. They are easy to follow and often very entertaining.

3. Keep a diary of your stay in the UK. One day you will reread this and have many fond memories.

4. Perhaps the most important advice is to meet British people other than your teachers!  Make friends with your homestay family, use the time over dinner to really get to know them.

5. How about joining a local club either continuing a hobby from your own country or starting a new hobby?  Recently one of our students joined a British table tennis club. He now represents Brighton at the national level.

We wish you best of luck on your language journey!

David Burgess - Principal Stafford House Brighton

“Food in England is terrible!” – Where on earth have you been eating!?

Sometimes old stereotypes take a long time to die. The notion that food in Britain is terrible is a hangover from the 80s and despite the whole world watching Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsey on their televisions, it seems that some people still expect the food to be poor when they visit us. It is also true that, as a tourist, you may not find the best places straightaway. Below is a guide for the uninitiated and also some help finding your own favourites!

Where to Eat in London:

Traditional “pub grub” is still popular in London. English classics like Fish and Chips, Steak and Ale Pie and Ploughman’s Lunch can be found in most pubs, but not all pubs do it well. Close to our London school, The Plough serves this food at a reasonable price and to a decent quality.
 

Burgers are allthe rage at the moment. There are good chains like Byron burger and GBK (Gourmet Burger Kitchen) but also loads of fantastic smaller restaurants where the taste of the burgers is incredible! The closest is Meat Liquor (expect to queue) and another highly recommended is Honest Burger near Kings Cross. This is the real, organic meat experience and as far from McDonalds and Burger King as you can imagine!
 

Korean food is the latest trend. Spicy and full of flavour! Over the past 20 years there have been fashions for Thai, Japanese, Indonesian and now Korean food. There are two very reasonably priced places close to our location in Holborn, Kimchee (on New Oxford Street) and the student favourite Bibimbab Café on Museum Street.
 

Indian food is most British people’s second favourite food and it really should be tried at least once on a visit to the UK. The northern Indian food that most Brits think of as “Curry” is often very spicy and not all our students like hot spice. If this is you, then you should try the delicate aromatic flavours of southern Indian food. Malabar Junction is the closest to the school and is truly excellent. Try the “Indian pancake” Masala Dosa, or if a little more adventurous, the crab curry is divine!
 

Have a little more money to spend? In that case, I can truly say that London has the very best places to eat in the world, and the Michelinguide would agree with me!
 

In Soho, there are wonderful restaurants such as Arbutus, Barrafina and Ember Yard. In Covent Garden, The Opera Tavern and Balthazar are just two of the excellent places to dine. There are established world class restaurants such as Ramsey at Hospital Road and The Ledbury (to name just two) and also a host of restaurants that keep opening up, that mean even a foodie like me can’t visit them all. Just this year we have the following: 34, Gymkhana, Dabbous, Sushi Samba and Chiltern Firehouse.
 

While experimenting with trying restaurants can be great fun, there is a risk that you may not want to take if you really want that meal to be good. Therefore, any visitor to London should download the following apps to their smartphone.
 

Tripadvisor - the classic travel app! Some users really like to use it to complain but it has the most users and gives a good overview of quality.
 

Opentable is a commonly used app by “foodies” and allows you to book a table from within the app. Definitely a useful tool for eating out in London!
 

Also try Yelp which has a passionate following of reviewers and food bloggers and often gives excellent recommendations for more local restaurants in zones 2-6 of London.
 

The beauty of these apps is that they will show you the restaurants (and pubs) near your location by type of food and with a clear star rating. The wonderful thing about London is that every part of London has its own neighbourhood pubs and restaurants, and these are often better priced and just as good if not better than the places in the centre. I live in Hammersmith and 4 of my favourite 10 London restaurants are within a 15 minute walk from my flat. I found them using Yelp! This is the same in most parts of London, so explore, but use an app to help you!
 

Bon appetit!

Carl Roberton, Principal - Stafford House London