Newsletter 2006/2007 |
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English Language |
Dear Friends
2006 has continued in the same vein as the previous year with a very full programme and a wide range of interesting clients coming to St Albans. From June to October we had visitors from Europe and Japan continuously and some in the period right up to Christmas. As well as those coming for intensive courses on a ‘total immersion’ basis, there are an increasing number of foreign speakers who have already come to St Albans – the city is gradually becoming more widely known internationally – and who want to progress their language intensively, usually to help them establish themselves in work.
Our Spanish connection continued successfully through the year, and it was delightful to get to know so many more people from that country. My knowledge of Spain is greatly increased, even to the point of discovering the origins of our great British fondness for marmalade made from bitter Seville oranges. It seems an early English merchant struck a bargain with the Mayor of Seville to clear the city of the bitter wild fruit. He clearly saw a wide market for the conserved fruit on his native island. He was proved to be correct, and to this day, British families traditionally eat toast with orange marmalade each morning for their breakfast.
It was a delight to show Mika our Hertfordshire gardens as part of her course in the summer. We explored gardens each afternoon, from the one at Shaw’s Corner that so many of you will have visited, to the Japanese garden at Fanham’s Hall at Ware, which is, for us, so unusual. Installed with the assistance of a Japanese gardener, who came here for that purpose at the beginning of the twentieth century, it contains many pretty features, such as gentle waterfalls and a small traditional Japanese house. The gardens at Hatfield House, some of which are only open one day per week, were also splendid. They tell us so much about garden history. John Tradescant was responsible for the original garden planning there, bringing many plants from other countries in the seventeenth century. The present owner of the house is keen to keep the garden in the way it was originally planned.
Some clients this year have chosen to take examinations and we have prepared them for this. Our courses are always tailored to the requirements of each individual visitor, and we have a flexible range of tutors and experience. With each course run on a one to one basis, we have no single planned course at each level. Most of our visitors appreciate the opportunity we give to experience many aspects of British culture as well as refining their grammar.
Kate’s son Tim will be moving to Hungary in the New Year, to join his fiancée Nora there. Nora Szaniszlo is a teacher in Budapest and will provide contact there for our service.
With all good wishes for 2007 from St Albans. Do keep in touch. Kate
Highlights of the Year
Who said this and when was this written?
"One of the unanticipated achievements of the twenty first century was the rapid diffusion of Basic English as the lingua franca of the world and the even more rapid modification, expansion and spread of English in its wake … It was made the official medium of communication throughout the world by the Air and Sea Control, and by 2020 there was hardly anyone in the world who could not talk and understand it"
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| Redbournbury Mill and the River Ver |
A feature of the beautiful weather we enjoyed in England this summer was the opportunity to take lessons in the garden most of the time and then to take long country walks. Kozo particularly enjoyed map reading with our Ordnance Survey countryside maps and a walk over the hills and along the canal at Hemel Hempstead. He was tempted as all our Japanese visitors are by the many red summer fruits to be found in the hedgerows.
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| Bagging flour at Redbournbury Mill |
Christian and Andres walked along the river Ver which runs through St Albans and Verulamium. After a traditional English cream tea, we took a tour of the mill at Redbournbury where miller Justin was hard at work producing their famous organic flour.
The usual performances of plays by George Bernard Shaw took place at
Shaw’s Corner this year and a highlight for Kate was the appearance
of her daughter, Christine, in two of them. 
Sadly no visitors were here
for those weekends to enjoy it, but nevertheless, many St Albans friends
had a wonderful time, picnicking and relaxing in the beautiful gardens
and enjoying the plays. Since then, Christine has also performed on the
West End stage, in a part in ‘The Mousetrap’ by Agatha Christie,
at the Ambassadors’ Theatre.
Christine has also begun to offer elocution lessons, which can be very helpful for those who find our strange English sounds just seem to twist the tongue.
Lawyer David from Spain had the opportunity to see British justice in action when he visited our Crown Court. The trial turned out to be rather boring, but it was interesting for him to compare the system here with that in Spain and to hear the legal vocabulary in action. Together with a guest from Italy, he then conducted a small piece of market research in our Market Place to see how much our local people know about other European countries. It is clear our guests go home with much more knowledge of the United Kingdom than the average British person knows about other countries. This was not a big surprise!
Answer: H G Wells (1866-1946), English novelist, journalist, sociologist,
and historian, and famous for his works of science fiction, included
this comment on the English language in his novel The Shape of Things
to come which was published in 1933. Do you think it will prove to be
true?
HOMESTAY HERTFORDSHIRE
74 Church Green, St Peter's Street
St Albans, Hertfordshire AL1 3HG, UK
Tel/Fax: +44 1727 868434
Email: homestay@englishinfo.biz