10 reasons to visit… Cornwall

With St Piran’s Day approaching fast, what better time for a blog post on why to visit lovely Cornwall? Despite the occasionally severe weather and lack of phone signal, everyone who’s ever been to Cornwall seems to love it, and here (in my opinion) is why: 1. The Isles of Scilly Situated 30-odd miles off … Read more

10 reasons to visit… London

I’m really excited about this one, London is my absolute favourite city and not only because it has been my lovely home for more than a year but because it’s truly one of the best places in the world. Here are 10 reasons you should choose London as your next destination for a city break … Read more

Halloween around the world

Halloween is one of the world’s oldest celebrations, dating back to possibly 500 AD in Ireland. The celebration was originally the ‘Celtic feast of Samhain’, a pre-Christian festival that began at sunset on 31st October and ended at sunset on 1st November. It was meant to be the night when the veil between this world … Read more

Junior Language Challenge – the semi-finals!

Back in March, over 1,100 primary school children from around the UK joined our annual competition, the Junior Language Challenge, learning Italian online. Over the next three months, they scored points in the language games, and then in June the top scorers from each region of the country progressed to the second round. Not wanting … Read more

What language does the voice in your head speak?

In today’s day and age, a great percent of the people travel, either for vacations, business or even a longer period of time, in search of a better job, better opportunities, to be with the loved ones and why not, just for the sake of a multi-cultural experience. While some of us learn a new … Read more

What’s so good about Eurovision?

This Saturday is the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Denmark, with 125 million people expected to watch across Europe and beyond. The contest, now in its 59th year, has become known for its wacky performances and tends to divide opinion; while some people love it (although maybe not as much as this man), … Read more

Languages at primary school – what’s the point?

From September this year, it’s going to be compulsory for primary schools in the UK to teach a foreign language. This is causing quite a lot of stress for schools, according to a report published earlier this week, which says that 29% of teachers don’t feel confident about teaching a language to their students. That’s … Read more

Languages for the future: the top ten

A recent report by the British Council has laid out the ten most important languages for the UK’s future, in political, economic, educational and cultural terms. According to the report, the ten most important languages, in order, are: Spanish, Arabic, French, Mandarin, German, Portuguese, Italian, Russian, Turkish and Japanese. I read this list with a … Read more

Language learning in UK schools: what does the future hold?

Recent news that the numbers of pupils taking a modern foreign language to A-level in the UK have fallen dramatically did not come as a huge surprise to me. According to the latest A-level results, there has been a 9.9% fall in candidates taking French, and an even more depressing 11.1% fall in those taking … Read more

Valentine’s – it’s not all flowers and chocolates…

Valentine’s Day is here again, and like a lot of people, I’m a bit fed up with it. I’ve lost count of the number of emails I’ve received over the last few weeks, inviting me to use Valentine’s as an excuse to buy everything from chocolates to an iPad – I even got one suggesting … Read more