Today Answer English welcomes the chance to speak to Stuart Rubenstein from Camden College of English. Stuart’s course English Language Cultural Experience won an innovation award at the ELTON’s the British Council’s answer to the Oscars, and is this month’s featured Special Offer.

So when did the idea come to you to start the English Language Cultural Experience course?

It was when I took a group of students to visit Freud’s house in London. They were watching a video of his life but not really concentrating. I started thinking that if this was “in class”, we would have prepared a lesson and used the opportunity as a chance to learn some vocabulary or practise some grammar.

Was it one of those lightbulb moments or had you been thinking about it for a while?

It was a combination of both. For a long time I had been looking for a way to design a course for adult students who come to the UK for a short stay… let’s say one to four weeks. I wanted to offer them something that they could not get at home and something that would really help their English.
I discussed the “Freud Experience” with my wife, whose area of expertise is museums and galleries, and we started to develop the new course that evening.

So what does the course actually entail?

“Cultural Experience” is a General English course… in other words, we teach English and not culture. We know that our students can take a course in their own country where they sit in a classroom and use one of the famous books like Headway, Cutting Edge or True to Life – so when they come to London we want to offer something different.
All the lessons take place in London’s museums and galleries (a different one every day!) where we use the different exhibitions to create a memorable learning experience. The course requires the students to really get involved and be as active as possible. It is not like sitting in a classroom and waiting for your turn to answer a question. As “Cultural Experience” is a short course (1 or 2 weeks) the focus is on two main areas: building vocabulary and developing the skills of speaking and listening.

And what happens on a typical day?

A typical day? The point of the course is that there are no typical days!
Students work in groups of around 10 or 12 – each one with a teacher, and have various activities to do to help develop their language skills. On one day the focus may be on preparing a presentation, another day the students may be researching vocabulary – every day is very different.

It must be fantastic for the students that the language they are learning comes to life. What has the feedback been from the course?

The feedback from students on “Cultural Experience” is amazing. I remember one woman from Romania wrote that every evening she went to sleep dreaming about the next day on the course!

Who is this course really aimed at?

That’s a good question. We believe it is aimed at students who want to do something different in London than they can do in their home town. In other words, why come here and take the same course with the same books that you do at home?
We use London’s wonderful cultural heritage to teach English and help our students become more confident with the language.

What has been the most fulfilling moment for you of starting this course?

In 2004 we had an idea – in 2006 every week of the course was sold out in the summer and the students were telling us that it was the best learning experience they had ever had.

How did it feel to win an ELTON?

Very exciting! The ELTONs are annual prizes for innovation in English language teaching and are usually awarded to the important publishers for their latest book or universities for research. In fact, Camden College of English is the first school in the world to win.

Do you speak any languages Stuart?

Don’t embarrass me. My wife is from Argentina and so I’m always trying to learn Spanish but I’m hopeless! I have to make some progress now because Benjamin, our young son, is now one and will be talking soon… and he’ll know more Spanish than me!

Have you any tips for our readers about learning languages?

The best advice is always “have no fear”! It is always important to remember that nothing bad will happen to you if you make a mistake.

Just to round up, the Cultural Experience is only one of many courses you run at Camden College of English. Tell us a little bit about the school quickly.

The school is small – run by me and my wife with a great team of teachers. It is accredited by the British Council and was established 17 years ago.
Our courses include: General English, Cambridge and IELTS preparation, English for Work and Work Experience.
We also have a great programme of social activities to keep our students busy when they are not studying.

What plans have you got this year?

2007 will be another very special year for Camden College of English as we are moving to a new “home”. In early Spring we will leave our present address and move to a wonderful building very close to the British Museum.

Thanks Stuart for taking the time to speak to us.

It’s a pleasure. Hope to see some of you soon.

If you are interested in studying on the English Language Cultural Experience Course, Stuart has extended an exclusive offer to Answer English students: £20 off the course at Easter. For more information go to: Special Offer

Federico, who works in our IT Department, visits the Tate Modern:

As soon as you enter the Tate Modern you will see two huge slides that come down from the top of the building to the ground floor. They circle around themselves like the ones you see at entertainment parks. Not something you usually expect in an art gallery! Unsurprisingly, it’s one of the busiest attractions in the gallery.

Based near Bank underground, Tate Modern is one of the most famous galleries here in London. Created in the year 2000 from a disused power station in the heart of London, Tate Modern displays the national collection of international modern art. The building is on the south side of the Thames, but it can be reached from the north side using the Millennium bridge (a pedestrian bridge) that enters directly in the gallery. The gallery is very big, five floors, but only a part of them is for the permanent exhibition, the other part contains temporary exhibitions and various attractions.

If you venture up to the 3rd floor you will see some examples of Cubism and Futurism. There are some very famous pictures in the gallery, most of them are from Picasso, Miro, Monet, Andy Warhol, the list goes on… It’s a bit like a “who’s who” of modern art!

If you are interested in exploring new kinds of art, from modern to abstract art, including the use of various media, sound, film, you should definitively go and visit the Tate Modern. The gallery is free to the public and is open also on Sundays. You won’t be disappointed, last year according to the BBC the Tate Modern was the UK’s second most popular attraction with 4.9 million visitors. For more information visit: Tate Modern. Enjoy!

Thank you Federico. If you are interested in visiting the Tate Modern whilst on an English course, we recommend you take the English Language Cultural Experience Course. For more information visit: Special Offer

The London Science Museum – a collection of science, technology and medicine of past, present and even the future! JiaJun, a student from Jinan in China explores this exciting London Museum:

“There was a long queue before I could enter the Museum, but it was quite enjoyable to be part of the queue with people from all over the world!   The building is very special compared with Chinese ones because it is old style, but very tidy! I really like the building here in London. When the waiting time was over; I finally entered this so called – Science Museum!

My first impression is that the staff in this museum are very friendly; they introduced everything to me because I look like a foreigner. In the ground floor, there are many things to see, such as Energy Hall, Making the Modern World, Patten Pod, Revolution Café and Space, etc….. There is also an IMAX 3 D Cinema there, but you have to pay some money in order to watch it. Well, this is the only section that needs a ticket which means you can have a look everywhere else for free! Does that sound attractive?

At the time when I was exploring this museum, there were two friends of mine standing just in front of me! It is a small world, isn’t it? I was so surprised that I could not believe at that moment! After a short conversation, we explored the museum together which is a lot more fun! There are many things to see in the Ground floor. The Space department is a good example. You will see everything here that you might dream to see because there are real space devices, such as the rocket, aircraft and everything needed to be on the moon!

Other collections such as the first car, first truck, first airplane and first helicopter, etc that you will not miss any one of them! It is amazing that Science Museum in London almost have 12,000 objects on display. You can’t miss anyone of them! From the 10th of February, there will be a new spy skills exhibition – the science of Spying. Here you have the chance to be recruited as a trainee spy. So, for spy lovers, this is a good opportunity to explore your spying skills!  Enjoy!”

Thank you JiaJun.  If you are interested in visiting the Science Museum whilst on an English course, we recommend you take the English Language Cultural Experience Course. For more information visit: Special Offer

Italy has given a lot to Britain; they introduced us to the world of straight roads, bathing and spaghetti bolognaise – surely if it wasn’t for the Italians we would still be unwashed unfed heathens going round in circles?  Now the best of Italy goes on display at La Dolce Vita exhibition at Olympia. Featuring Fast Cars, Fine Wines, Stylish Designers, Good Food, Travel HotSpots and Tuscan Villas aplenty – this is a show not to be missed.

For food lovers head down to “Piazza Italia” for your chance to taste the signature dishes of top Italian restaurants. There will be an impressive array including Zilli Fish, Latium, Via Condotti, and Sardo. Valentina Harris, chef at London’s Amici restaurant, will also be there, plus exponents of the extolled Italian “Slow Cooking” method. If food isn’t your thing, then marvel at the new Spider sports car in the Alfa Gallery; seek out bargains in the Italian Property section, learn a little Italian or enjoy an ‘Aperitivo in Musica’.

Tickets are now on sale for La Dolce Vita at Olympia which takes place from Friday 9 March till Sunday 11 March. Opening times are 10 am to 9pm Friday, 11am to 7pm Saturday and 11pm to 6pm Sunday. A standard ticket is £16 per person, with children aged 6-14 half price (£8). For more information you can visit: www.ladolcevitaevent.co.uk

The organisers have kindly given Answer English 10 tickets to give away. We will be entering names into a FREE Prize Draw so if you are interested in going please e-mail James: james@answerenglish.com We will hold the draw on Monday 5 March at 12:00. Best of luck!

This week we interview Federico who has joined our IT team.

Name: Federico Marani                From: Italy

Job Title: DataBase Administrator        Age: 24

How long have you been in London?
I have been here for 1 month and a half.

What were you doing before this?
In April i finished my Computer Science degree and, after that, i worked in various projects regarding telephony, programming, and so on…

Why did you come to London?
Because i really want to improve my English, and i think the only way to do this is to come to the United Kingdom.  There are a plenty of reasons, basically the first one i mention is the most important, but i also think that a foreign experience is important for your own life. It gives you a chance to develop you further.

What did you hope to achieve?
Of course a great improvement in my English. My intention is to remain here for several months so i think i will have a chance to meet all the targets i thought at the start.

What does your job involve on a day-to-day basis?
My job is varied but my main job is developing support tools for helping the business activities of Answer English. Now I’m working on the student management system.

What responsibilities do you have?
Develop, test, maintain and teach how to use the system.

What are the best bits?
I’m free to suggest improvements so my work is not “shut up and work”… I’m just working on things i really like to do.

And the worst?
It’s the distance from home to work, really huge. I think it’s a problem for many people here in London.

What is the typical package (salary + benefits) for your job?
It really depends on your skills, you can be a simple technician as many people, or an administrator of a network of a big company. In some cases you can achieve a salary that is higher than most company directors, with many benefits. Here in London there are generally more chances than in Italy.

Do you have to have prior experience?  If so, what helped get you the job?
I worked in the IT sector from many years, especially in database and developing projects so this helped me a lot to find a job.  In my job the most important thing is the experience.

How did you go about getting it?
I found through an agent in Italy the English school here in London and i booked an English course for one month and an internship. Karen from professionals UK found me the internship here at Answer English. I came here for the interview and all went fine.

Any tips you could give our readers?
Come to London and learn English. It’s a very good experience and i recommend it to everyone. The only thing you need is to be adaptive. Especially if you work in the IT sector you shouldn’t have any problems to find a job.
A tip i can give you is start with an English course, it will give you a chance to know other people and make friends.

Anything you know now that you wish you’d known before coming here?
No, you can find all the information you need on internet. I also asked to a friend that was already here.

How much do you think your English has improved?
In only one month my English has become a lot better, especially my day to day English.

What, if any, lessons could the readers of AE Blog learn from your experience?
I hope you will be challenged to come in London. London is a great city and it has a lot of things to offer.

With this experience, what do you plan to do next?
I have no particular plans for my stay in London, the only thing i want to do is concentrate on my English. In my future i will have more opportunities to do whatever i want in Italy if my English level is high.

Answer English celebrated yesterday, on 13 February, it’s first birthday. A big thank you to all of you along the way that have contributed to making this milestone happen. We wouldn’t be here today, if it wasn’t for the hardwork of our staff, so I would just like to take this opportunity to show my appreciation to Natalia, Olga, Virginia, Maria, Jordi and Laura who all helped word by word translate the whole of the site into Spanish, Laura who was our first intern, Justin who designed some of our back office, Carlos who helped out with some additional programming, Max and Natalie who work on our French and Italian nights, and Charlotte (website design), JiaJun (Accounting), Federico (Database), ChengYi (Chinese night - soon to come) and James (Language nights) who currently work here, and Ann - my mother - who is our company secretary. Last but not least thanks to all of our students that make this such a fun job and to family and friends, for your advice and support - couldn’t of done it without you. Here’s to another year!

On Wednesday last week we had our first French evening of the New Year and had a perfect mix of French and English speakers – exactly 50:50. The evening got off to a good start with a very relaxed atmosphere, perfect for language learning. We had 3 tables of 5 people and half the time was spent speaking in French and the rest in English.

This time around we were able to do our infamous Quiz. Yeen won outright with a score of 9 out of ten. We have yet to have a full score yet, so that is something for you language learners to aim for! Yeen took away a fantastic language learning CD set from Language Track. This is an interactive tool for use in the home or at work to give you all the French you need to defend yourself on the continent – so thanks to Language Track for their Generosity.

The second prize, a French – English dictionary from Harper Collins, caused quite a stir with 3 French people all getting 8 out of ten: Quentin, Bastian & Tanguy! We had a dramatic run off where they had to guess the starting letter on the 173rd page in the dictionary. And Quentin got it right straight off the bat! The letter ‘d’ for dog! Congratulations to him for winning the dictionary and thanks to Harper Collins for donating the prize.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of those that came. We do promise to put photos up soon in our past events. Unfortunately our web designer has been ill so it won’t be until the end of the week. The next event is planned for week commencing the 5th March. We have yet to decide whether it will be on the 6th or 7th. But will do we promise shortly.

Thanks to all our partners that contributed to our goody bags: Malvern House, Spanish Express, Gazelle Publications, Hot English Magazine and Le Petit Canard. It was great to see so many new faces and lots of returning students. I look forward to seeing you all again in March. A bientôt, James.

Cleaning the house, waiting in for the gas man, getting someone to clear the gutters.  These are all tasks none of us love.  So why bother?  This is the question posed to us by Simon Hempenstall with his new domestic cleaning and lifestyle company.  Called Why Bother, Simon and his team aim to help you achieve the right balance between the things you have to do and the things you would rather do. 

Based in Brighton, recently launched Why Bother can offer you regular services like Cleaning and Ironing right through to a full concierge package.  Rarely a week goes by in London when someone is either complaining about their cleaner or looking for a good one.  So I’m sure Simon and his well training domestic staff will be dusting down Brighton before you know it.

Simon was very kind to me when he worked in recruitment in London.  He helped me get my first job after university at the Millennium Dome and then years later at the Instituto Cervantes in London.  Simon also managed to get 4 or 5 of my mates work too in various roles.  I wish him the best of luck with his new venture, I’m sure he’ll make a success of it.  So now if you’re based in Brighton and need some home help you know who to turn to!  Contact Simon

We didn’t start the fire, it was always burning since the world…  Yesterday we went to Banstead woods and wreaked havoc on the Rhododendrons.  Rarely you get to chop down trees and burn them in the name of conservation but yesterday we did and how we had fun!  Taking bow saws and clippers we hacked our way through dense Rhododendron forest and cleared quite an amazing chunk.  It was a really rewarding day and was a great opportunity to spend some time in the beautiful Surrey countryside.

Thank you to Mike Cummings and the Surrey Downs project for inviting us along to the Rhody Mega-Bash.  Answer English was joined by an international crowd including Jamie from Scotland, JiaJun from China and Carlos from Spain and it was a great chance for all of them to practise their English in a ‘natural environment’.

Something about being in the woods just brings the kid out in me, so click here to laugh at my Karate Kick attempt!  If anyone wants to get involved with this type of event in the future, e-mail me at: james@answerenglish.com.  We certainly will aim to go again in the next couple of months.