Are you interested in British Music? Answer English is launching this year a new and unique English course designed for British Music lovers. If you count bands like The Rolling Stones, Coldplay and Babyshambles amongst your favourites then the British Music and English course will be for you!

To keep you up to date with both the course and what’s going on in the British Music scene we have produced a newsletter about the course. This month is the first ever Newsletter. And you can download it here: British Music and English Course Newsletter.

The Newsletter aims to inform you about bands present and past in the London music scene, keep you up-to-date about the course, and let you know about other websites for you to check out. Also you will see our roving reporter Amanda Algueró Alejos, the face of the new course, and her interviews of London bands.

So please take a look and enjoy learning more about an important part of British culture…

Features this month:

Rock Icon: David Bowie
Music Exercise: Space Oddity
British band of the month: The Garuda Commute
Interview: James Wilkins
British Music Course
List of Sites to check out

If you would like to be sent future editions of our newsletter please send an e-mail to enquiry@answerenglish.com or call us on +44 20 7402 8651.

Do you ever find it difficult to differentiate between the present simple and present continuous? We recently received the following e-mail:

Dear James,
Please could you help me with the difference between the present simple and the present continuous? I have many problems with these tenses.
Yours truly and sincerely,
June (by e-mail)

Here is my reply:

Dear June,
As you probably know, we can use the present simple to speak about facts. For example:
a) You make cheese from milk.
b) This is the biggest country in the world.
c) It rains every day here.

And we can use the present continuous to talk about an activity in progress at the moment of speaking. For example:
a) She is jumping.
b) He is playing a game.
c) They are running.

I hope that has helped you.
Yours,
James.
Here is a Grammar exercise we’ve created for you to practise.

Complete each sentence with the correct word/s.

1. Oh, look, it ____.
a) Rain
b) Is raining

2. They usually ____ to the beach for their summer holidays.
a) Going
b) Go

3. Look, the chocolate ____. You need to take it out of the sun.
a) Is melting
b) Melts

4. Chocolate ____ if you leave it in the sun.
a) Is melting
b) Melts

5. Who usually ____ the house?
a) Cleans
b) Cleaning

6. Who ____ the house at the moment?
a) Cleans
b) Is cleaning

7. She hardly ever ____ television.
a) Watch
b) Watches

8. Sam ____ a documentary on the television at the moment.
a) Is watching
b) Watching

Think you’ve got them all right? The answers are:

Read the rest of this entry »

The British Museum houses one of the most famous and wide collections of human history and culture. With more than 13 million objects, you can marvel at artefacts from across the globe dating back to as early as 196 BC such as the Rosetta Stone. If you are interested in joining us, as part of our social events programme in March we are visiting the British Museum on Thursday 6 March.  We give you the opportunity to learn more about this fantastic museum and expand your vocabulary at the same time!

Details are as follows:

Date: Thursday 6 March 2008

Themes: Guided tour of the British Museum, taking in the highlights and giving you the chance to learn more about British History and Culture along the way!

Meeting Point: British Museum - by the pillars at the Main Entrance Time: 5.30 pm
Start: British Museum Time: 5.45 pm
End: British Museum – to pub & dinner (optional) Time: 7.15 pm

Price: £6

You will be taken around by an experienced guide and English teacher.  For more information call 020 7402 8651 or e-mail: bookings@answerenglish.com

Click here for the poster: British Museum Social Event

This Thursday we have a new addition to our monthly social event at Bar Andalucia:  Our FREE draw Prize Give Away.  Prizes include 5 pairs of tickets to La Dolce Vita at London Olympia, worth £16 each and 5 Speak Spanish in Ten minutes guides.  To be in with a chance of winning all you need do is come next Thursday, 28 February to Bar Andalucia.  (No purchase necessary, all normal terms & conditions apply).

Every fortnight Thursday Answer English organizes a social event for everyone who wants to talk, make friends, have some fun and practise his language abilities in a relaxed environment.  This is a perfect opportunity if you are learning a foreign language to practise your French, Spanish, German … and for students studying English to meet with native speakers.

The next Language Learning Evening will take place on Thursday 28th February 2008 in Bar Andalucía (139 – 143 Whitfield Street, W1T 5EN) from 18:00 till late.  The nearest tube is Warren Street.

We have got lots of amazing offers in store at this special event:

-         a FREE Bachatta class for anyone that wants to learn how to dance latin style

-         a FREE raffle where five people get the chance to win a pair of tickets to “La Dolce Vita” and 5 copies of Spanish in ten minutes

We are looking forward to an entertaining and joyful evening with our students, their friends and families and everyone interested in meeting new people and having a good time.  See you Thursday!  

What is your BIG question?!

As part of National Science and Engineering Week 2008, which runs from the 7-16th March, the BA (British Association for the Advancement of Science) is asking the public to pose their ‘BIG questions”.  They are looking for the burning science and engineering questions that you have always wondered about, whether they are silly, serious or downright strange!

They will then be taking the most popular questions and asking leading experts to help us answer them online, in the media and through a set of live events running throughout the week.

So, what would you like to know…?? 

Questions so far have included:

Why don’t woodpeckers get headaches?
Is there a limit to how tall a building man is able to build?
Is there life on other planets?

Or can you come up with better?…

Go to www.the-ba.net/thebigquestion to submit your question online now!

Enjoy a day of pure Italian indulgence at La Dolce Vita, the Italian
Festival at Olympia, London 13-16 March 2008.

Experience, taste and buy some of Italy’s finest products as well as socialising with its charismatic personalities. Dine at London’s top Italian restaurants, saunter through a mini ‘Corso Como’, attend catwalk shows, discover the delights of Italy’s diverse regions and marzo, marzo more

Answer English have teamed up with La Dolce Vita to offer you the following discount – £4 off on standard tickets bought before Friday 7th March simply visit www.ladolcevitaevent.co.uk or call 0871 231 0832 quoting the code ‘GNL1’. (Bookings are subject to booking and transaction fees)

Recently I received the following e-mail from Fast Song, an English Student:

Dear James,
Please could you help me with the present simple tense? I have many problems with this tense.
Yours truly and sincerely,
Fast Song (by e-mail)

Here is my reply:

Dear Fast Song,
Thank you so much for your e-mail. Actually, the present simple is one of the most complicated tenses in English, so don’t worry if you are having problems – it’s only natural.
The hardest thing is to remember to add the “s” with “he/she/it”, and to remember to use “do/does” with questions and negatives.

In general, we use the present simple to express our opinions about things. For example:
a) She loves football.
b) He thinks this is the best football team.

We can also use the present simple for facts. For example:
a) Water boils at 100ºC.
b) London is the capital of England.

We can also use the present simple to describe our habits. For example:
a) She reads the newspaper every morning.
b) They get up late every day.

Grammar exercise

Complete each sentence with the correct word/s.
1. She (work) ________________________ in a big office.
2. He (take) ________________________ the car to work.
3. They (not like) ________________________ to go out much.
4. She (not watch) ________________________ much television.
5. We (not go) ________________________ more than once a year.
6. They really (want) ________________________ to see you again.
7. I (not know) ________________________ what to do.
8. She (not have) ________________________ her own house.

Answers

1. Works
2. Takes
3. Don’t like
4. Doesn’t watch
5. Don’t go
6. Want
7. Don’t know
8. Doesn’t have

The Language Of… is organising a “Language Bites” evening between 6 and 9 p.m. on April 10th at the Kingston-upon-Thames Market House, in the Market Place.  This is one of the evenings on offer during a two-week “Market House Festival”. The point of the festival is to promote the use of the under-utilised Market House.

The Language Of… will be introducing Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, Arabic, Polish, Hindi and Swedish to an audience of 70, and is currently looking for individuals who speak (and who ideally teach or have taught) those languages to lead a fun, entertaining, lighthearted 20-minute session where they teach just the basics of their language.  The language they teach must be their mother tongue, but excellent English will also be needed.  Alongside “Language Bites”, and as guests arrive,  there will also be “Food Bites” - an opportunity for guests to sample a selection of food and drink from local ethnic restaurants to match the featured languages. The Language Of… will also be selling a selection of their secondhand foreign language books, currently available on their internet store at www.thelanguageof.com

If you would like to attend April 10^th as a guest, please e-mail Laura at laurav@thelanguageof.com to let her know how many places she should reserve.  Admission is free, but only those on the guest list will gain admittance as places are strictly limited.

We probably all know at least one person who has been affected by cancer. James would greatly appreciate your support in his attempt to complete the London Marathon in aid of Breakthrough. They do fantastic work in the search for a cure for Breast Cancer. So please dig deep and sponsor him online.

The marathon is over 26 miles long. James aims to complete this in under 4 hours. At over 95 kilos at Christmas, James has had to have some dramatic lifestyle changes to get himself into shape for the big day (13 April 2008). He would very much appreciate your support.

Donating through this JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor me: Breakthrough Breast Cancer will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you.

So please sponsor me now!

Many thanks for your support.