My host familiy

A few weeks ago we made a school trip to Southbourne in England. Together with Aylin I lived in a very lovely host family. The parents, Jon and Janet had two little sons who were very cute and funny. The house looked typically English like apparently all houses in Southbourne. It was a very old house so the family had just decorated the living room new which looked great. Although the house looked quite tiny and narrow from outside, there was easily enough space for the family and also for us. We had a nice, comfortable room with the softest beds that you can imagine and we even got an own bathroom! I really liked our accommodation and I was glad that it was that nice and tidy.

the house

our room

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fortunately our family was very friendly and helpful so we enjoyed talking to them. Their English was very beautiful without any accent so I could understand them well but sometimes it was a bit difficult to understand the little boys.

 

we and our host family

We ate breakfast and dinner at the host family and surprisingly we only got one English meal, namely self made chips, baked beans and cooked eggs. We often had Italian or Indian meals and for breakfast we had toast, cereals, fruit and coffee. Once I tried some toast with marmite which I didn't like because it was so salty. All in all the food was really delicious and mostly healthy. But the best thing was definitely our host mother's Indian Tendoori chicken!

Staying in a host family was a very nice and interesting experience and it made me more confident in speaking English.

Martina J

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sights and museums

Hello everyone,

our trip to England is now already some time past but I can still remember a lot of moments in Bournemouth and London. In this blog entry, I want to tell you about the sights and museums we visited during our time in London.

Tower

On Friday the 4^th of April we went from Bournemouth to London. In the evening, we had the “Jack the Ripper tour” but first, we went to see the Tower of London. It is a really amazing building and I am very sorry that I have not seen the Tower Bridge because I and some friends did not realize that we had to go around the tower. But nevertheless, I was also already impressed by the tower’s back side.

On Saturday, we went to Globe Theatre and on the way there, we were also able to see Big Ben and London Eye. Unfortunately, we only had the time to pass London Eye.



During our free time there, we had the possibility to buy some lunch, or in my case, to visit St. Paul’s cathedral. It is a really beautiful building and so we took a lot of pictures there.

On Sunday, we went to the British museum. We had two hours to look around and I have to say, that there are really a lot of interesting relicts from many different countries.

In the afternoon, we went to Camden market and afterwards we walked to Buckingham Palace. I have to say that I was a bit disappointed because I expected it more impressing and I was also very sad that I did not see the change of the guards. Even the guards have not been there.

After visiting the Buckingham Palace, we went to see some other famous sights, for example Westminster Abbey. Therefore, we made a bus tour to see more sights, but I was not able to see anything except wet streets.



On our last day in London, we had the opportunity to choose between three museums, the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum or the National Gallery. I decided to go to the Natural History Museum. At first, we had to wait for ages in a very long queue but it was definitely worth it because when we finally got into the museum, it was really amazing and very interesting. Most of all, I liked the big dinosaur in the entrance hall.



Diplodocus

Trips

Hi everybody!

Two weeks ago, my class and me were in England, in Southbourne. These six days were really amazing!

The first six days we were in Southebourne, it is a small town near Bournemouth in the south of England. In these six days we made two trips to other places near to Bournemouth. On Monday afternoon we were at Hengistbury Head, this is a really beautiful place at the beach. We drove to Hengistbury Head with the bus and were there with our guide Sam who told us interesting stories and showed us everything. The view at the top of Hengistbury Head was astonishing and our walk along the very long sandy beach while watching the waves of the ocean was fantastic.





Our second trip was on Wednesday. We drove again with the bus, but this time for a longer time. When we arrived in Portsmouth, the first thing we saw, was the big ship on the ocean and the huge tower at the coast. In Portsmouth it was very windy and cold and so we went away from the beach to a shopping street. There the most of us first saw a big sweetsshop and bought some chocolate as presents but also for themselves. Then some of us went shopping but those shops were very expensive, so many just relaxed outside. After that we went to a church which we visited also inside and then we walked through a park and finally we drove back to Southbourne in the evening.

Bouth trips were very nice experiences but for me Hengistbury Head was the highlight in these six days.

Jasmina Maric

Daily Routine

Every morning Laura and I woke up around 8am and had to leave the house at 8.30am to be on time at 9.15am in school. We walked half an hour to school whether it was raining or the sun was shining. We had tree lessons each of them endure one hour and between these lessons we got 15 minutes break. After school we got a snack from our teachers. In the Afternoon we drove two hours by bus to Hengistbury Head,where we had a fascinating tour.

The next day after school we had leisure time. Many students went to Bournemouth for shopping or just for spending time on the beach. Luckily the sun was shining so the view was really beautiful.

At 8 pm our school organized a film night which was really cool.

Wednesday around 2 pm we visited Portsmouth. There we split us in two groups. One went in a ship museum the other one strolled through a shopping promenade.

The next day was a bit exhausting. We walked around 2 hours along the beach to Bournemouth where we had time for our English project and shopping. On the evening after our return to Southbourn we had a choice between a free evening or a Japanese night in school. Laura and I went home to our host family and we enjoyed our free time there.

So Friday morning was a bit sad. We had to say good bye to our nice family and it was a hard to leave because our host mother was really sad. After our last school day we drove to London for further tree days.

It was a very exciting and funny week and I will never forget it.

Host family life (live)

Living with family Twitchen

In the early morning hours of the 30^th of March we began our journey in Munich to fly to London. It took us 2 hours to get there and 2 more hours to reach Bournemouth(actually Southbourne), in Dorset in South England. After a short period of waiting at our school our host mother came and took us to our new home were we would spend the next 8 days. Patrizio and I shared a host family and we were really excited what was going to expect us. After a 10 minute ride with the car we finally got to our new home. It looked really different to the houses we have in Austria but yet it was really beautiful. 

The Family consisted of our host mother Maxim, our host dad John and two host brothers named Zach and Leo. And there was a lovely dog named Pete. The house was well furnished and very clean. We had a really big kitchen which also contained the table were we met to eat together. Patrizio and I had two separate bedrooms which were clean and spacious and had huge beds. Our family was very friendly and polite but unfortunately John had to work in London for two days. And although the dog Pete was as big as a horse he was really cute.

For breakfast we made ourselves toasts as Maxim brought Zach and Leo to school. As we always did something in our group like visting Bournemouth or other sights nearby we spent lunchtime at our school. For dinner, which we had at 6 o’clock Maxim cooked different things including ravioli, pizza, and English sausages. On the 5^th of April it was time to say goodbye. All in all I was very satisfied with our host family because they were so friendly and I would not hesitate paying them another visit.

Trips → Hengistbury Head & Portsmouth

Hello, everybody around the world,

during the first week of April I was in Bournemouth in the south of UK with my school for a project week that should improve our skills in speaking English. Therefore, I want to write something about two special trips to certain places because those were also my highlights from the whole week. You can also take look at the posts of my colleagues if you want to find out more about our journey to UK.
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The first destination I am going to write about, is Hengistbury Head. It's a small pen-insula and nature reserve east of Bournemouth. So, we discovered this calm area consisting of thorn bushes and small ponds on a sunny afternoon with a guide from our language school, who showed us also the beautiful beach of Hengistbury Head. After we had smelled some fresh air of the ocean on a path made of stone reaching from the mainland a little bit into the waves (→ Place where Photo 2 was taken), we walked along the beach to a little Caf 'e (that's how it was written), where we refreshed us with some ice-cream and coffee. After this exhilarant tour through the quiet nature of Hengistbury Head, we returned to our host families in order to enjoy a relaxing evening.

Hengistbury Head and near the horizon Bournemouth

The sea and rock cliff of Hengistbury Head

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Later, on Wednesday after school, we went to Portsmouth by bus in order to explore - as you probably expect - the big harbour. Unfortunately, the weather was absolutely not as great as on Monday. Although the grey colour of the sky fitted Portsmouth very well, the city would have made a better impression if it had been sunny. Moreover, we only visited the shopping mall and a church which wasn't that exciting but the incredibly big harbour made me forget the bad weather and the rather boring places we visit. It would have been great if i had ascended the high Spinnaker Tower, which cost 9 Pounds and I thought  it was too expensiv but now i regret it.

The big bay of Portsmouth with numerous boats and ships

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Anyway, those were really exciting trips but for me the better destination was obviously Hengistbury Head because, as I said, we didn't visit anything really interesting and impressive in Portsmouth. Nevertheless, both were a good experience and I enjoyed them.

- Vincent   (aka. Vinerich der Cente v. Kurz)

Guided Tours In London

When we went to London a few weeks ago, we some interesting things like sights and Museums and I think all of us had a great time. Some of my personal highlights were for example the guided tours we had in the City: "The Jack the Ripper" tour and the "Globe theatre" tour.        

 The first day's evening we met our guide close to the Tower of London where he told us that we would see two murder sites and we all were Kind of exited because we didn't know what to expect. Our guide, who by the way had a funny accent because he pronounced the letter "R" in a very strong way, We heard something about the prostitutes church which got it's name because of the prostitutes Walking around it, about the social problems of that time and of the "grrruesome" murders of Jack the Ripper.

Altogether it was an interesting journey through an important part of London's history.

The second tour we had was a tour through the Globe theatre during which our guide showed us the theatre and gave us Information like when it was built and how watching the plays was in those former times.
Our guide tried to make the tour informative and the most interesting thing I can remember was that in Shakespeare's time people could throw vegetables on the actors.




Altogether the tours were worth the money and I would also recommend it to others if they want to do something special in London and not just Sightseeing.

Project weeks – Our trip to Southbourne

Hey guys,

We have recently been in Southbourne for a project week and I have to admit it was so much more fun than I thought it would be. In this blog entry I will tell you about my new experiences with language schools and project weeks.

So the school we have attended is called “Southbourne School of English” and it was really nice there. We had really friendly teachers and had a good atmosphere in our classrooms because the groups were not too big.

Another thing that I really liked was that we had much time to talk and practice our speaking and pronunciation in class because with a native speaker at your side this always is a lot easier than at home. :)

Furthermore I liked a lot that we stayed with host families who were really nice and showed us the real British way of living. I think that’s also an important factor of weeks like this, to get to know the culture of the country. 

The only bad things about the school that come to my mind now are that we probably should’ve stayed longer there to really improve our English. Also it might have helped if we would’ve been in mixed classes so that not everybody understands your first language because it’s even more effective if you’re forced to speak English.

Project weeks like this one are in my opinion not that effective for a single person because there was just not enough time to really get used to the every-day-English but I think it’s valuable for the class as a team because you grow together and spend a lot of time with each other.

So all in all I think think that it wasn’t really effective – at least in my case – because we spoke too much German with our friends and it would’ve been more effective if we had other people our age with another mother tongue to talk to but we had good fun and it was nice to live the British lifestyle at least for a week. 

I hope everyone once gets the chance to do this and I hope you like it :) 

Laura 

Trips to Portsmouth and Hengistbury Head

After our first day at “School of English” and the first experience with the very “delicious” lunch, it was now time for us to explore the surrounding area of Southbourne. The destination of our trip was Hengistbury Head, a sandstone headland.

Even though we had been driven there by bus, the small rise at the beginning of our walk was too strenuous for some of us. However, the overlooking view on the hill was worth it! After our photo session was finished, we went down to the beach. I was really looking forward to this, as I, unlike some others, had not been at the sea in Bournemouth yet.
We walked along the beach to a small jetty, passing several beach-huts. At a café, we finally made a break, where some of us bought ice cream, played soccer or just enjoyed the beautiful landscape.

Hengistbury Head



 

As days passed and we got to know our host families better and settled in Southbourne, our second trip led us to Portsmouth, a city which is well known for its harbour.

Most of us will never forget this journey with these cuddly three seats in the bus. Fortunately, I am not very tall, so at least I did not have such a big problem with the space, although it was anything but comfortable.
In Portsmouth, we were divided into two groups, as the 7B wanted to visit the shipwreck “The Mary Rose”. As they told us afterwards, we had missed a lot there.

But our trip wasn’t less interesting. We went to Gunwharf Quays, where you can find a lot of outlet stores and cafés. I spent most time in the sweet shops, as you could buy so many kinds of sweets there, you cannot even imagine in your sweetest dreams.We also had the opportunity to visit Spinnaker Tower, which was being modelled after a sail and from where you have a great view on Portsmouth. However, I did not go up to the top, but explored the harbor from the ground.
Afterwards, our whole group walked through Portsmouth to the Roman Catholic cathedral of St John.Back at the harbor again, we joined the other class and travelled back to our host families in our “cosy” bus.

Spinnaker Tower

As my camera was not working on these two trips, I want to say thank you to all of my classmates, who were so nice, as to give me their photographs from the excursions, so I can publish some of them in my blog entry.

 

 

School of English (school and lessons)

Although we all had a great time in England, we also went abroad to improve our current English skills. The aim was to gain more confidence in speaking with other people and therefore we attended a language school in Southbourne. 

 

Our Crazy Photo ♥

On March the 31^st we had our first lesson at “Southbourne School of English”. Before the trip even began, our English teachers divided the whole 7^th form in four different groups, according to our assessed English levels.

I don’t know about the other group’s lesson, so I am going to tell you about my own experience there.
My teacher was Pauline and she kept saying “Life is too short to be serious” so you can imagine how our lessons were. If this isn’t the case, I will give you further details: 

Every time we won a game or did our work properly, we got a sticker. These rewards came in different colours, forms and also sizes. So the bigger your achievement, the bigger and rarer your sticker would be. I got kind of obsessed with these pretty, sparkling prizes and therefore, I really tried to do my best and beat the others in order to satisfy my unfulfilled desire.

But enough from my weird affection, let’s talk more about my lessons. 

 

These stickers are my pride and joy :D

It wasn’t just about stickers, we also had to speak a lot and we weren’t allowed to talk in German, so as far as this is concerned, the rules were simple: The first time you were caught while speaking another language, my teacher would smile and say “In English, please”. The second time she would look really angry and shout “English!” but if you then dare to talk once more in a prohibited language, you actually have to go outside and wait there, but not if Pauline is your teacher. Pauline will make you wear a self-made paper hat, which will remind the whole group in which language they are supposed to talk, because “English” is written on this beautiful headwear. Fortunately, nobody in my group took risks to talk more often than twice in a forbidden language.

It sounds like we just had fun and we really did, but we did also do a lot of vocabulary building exercises, listening and reading tasks. Nevertheless, our teacher managed to put all these necessities in exciting and thrilling games so we never got bored. We played “Twister”, “Just a minute” and countless other games to expand our vocabulary and to keep us talking. 

We weren’t allowed to speak our mother tongue, nobody in the whole school, just in two special areas: the cafeteria and a zone in front of the building. The garden was a meeting point to get together with students from other countries to make new friends and to practice our English.

I really enjoyed these days in school and think the lessons really helped me to improve my English. 

Have a nice day,

My