Over the last few years, I have become a bit obsessed with the idea of providing our students with a truly Gold Star service. I’d love to hear what you think a Gold Star service would look like in an English Language School context.
Using “Play”, “Go” and “Do” when talking about sport
Usually, you don’t use “practise” when talking about sport. The three verbs you should normally use when talking about sport are: “play”, “go” and “do”. Mick explains when you use one or the other.
For, Since and Ago
Many students of English get confused when using the words For, Since & Ago. Choosing the correct word depends on the focus you want to give to your sentence. Today, Liliane explains when and how we use each of these words.
Used To
Meet “Maggie”… She is going to help Rachel to explain how we use “Used To” to talk about habits in the past…
Say and Tell
Today Rachel explains when we use “Say” and when we use “Tell” in English. They both mean verbal communication but we use them in different ways. Here we give you a simple way to remember which to use when you are speaking with someone.
When words just work well together!
We came across this nice little coincidence in English recently and thought our students would like it! Why do you eat chocolate, ice cream and sweets when you are stressed?
Come and Go
Today we look at the verbs “come” and “go”, which often confuse English language students. We are also going to look at how to when we use the word “back” with these verbs.
“Me too” and “Me neither”
Some students get confused with when to use “Me too” and “Me neither”. Katie explains the difference between the two. We use “me too” when we agree with a positive sentence and “me neither” when we agree with a negative sentence.
Happy Bloomsday!
Today (June 16th) is Bloomsday. Bloomsday is a celebration of the life of Irish writer James Joyce during which the events of his novel Ulysses (which is set on 16 June 1904) are relived. Bloomsday was actually invented in 1954, on the 50th anniversary of the events in the novel, when John Ryan and the novelist Flann O’Brien organised what … Read More
Using Like to describe someone
There are three questions with the word “like” which often confuse students. Today, Mick explains the difference between the three.
The Olympic Flame passes by Alpha College!
All the staff and students in Alpha were very excited this morning when we lined the streets beside Alpha to watch as the Olympic Torch made its way through Dublin as part of the London 2012 celebration.
Making predictions in English using Will and Going to
Many students get confused when making predictions in English because we can use both Will and Going to. Katie explains the difference between the two.
Some & Any
Some students get confused with when we use “some” and when we use “any”. Today, Rachel clears up any confusion!
See, Look at & Watch
Today, Mick looks at three related verbs which often confuse English language students – See, look at and watch.
Lend & Borrow
In today’s video tutorial, Liliane explains the difference between two related verbs – Lend & Borrow
Happy St Patrick’s Day!
As usual, we met at Alpha College on St Patrick’s Day before the parade and made our way to O’Connell Street to get a great view of the festivities. If you have any photos or videos of St Patrick’s Day, please send them into us!
Happy International Women’s Day!
Today is International Women’s Day so we decided to get a photo of as many of our female staff and students who would pose for a photo. In this photo we have French, Swiss, Italian, Polish, South Korean, Czech, Venezuelan, German, Brazilian, Spanish, Saudi, Japanese, Colombian, Russian, Dutch and of course Irish women. Annually on 8 March, thousands of events are … Read More
First Certificate Class and Phonetic Sounds (featuring the Turtles!)
Ian’s FCE class were experimenting with Phonetic sounds and wanted to see how often some sounds appear in songs.
Pre Intermediate Frankenstein!
Eva’s Pre Intermediate class enjoyed reading Frankenstein last week that they decided to do a very mini version of the classic tale.
Happy Leap Day!
Today is the 29th of February. This date only happens once every four years and has some interesting stories and side effects. The current Lord Mayor of Dublin Andrew Montague is celebrating his 11th birthday today! Many people whose birthdays fall on Feb 29th celebrate every year either on February 28th or March 1st but every four years throw a … Read More