Welcome to our Student Newsletter

On this page we will update students with our latest news about what our school & students are doing.

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Introduction

In our newsletter we will be publishing news about the latest website and school features. What our students are doing and celebrating their successes. Students are also encouraged to send us stories about themselves. Most of our students are learning English for very specific reasons and when they use their English to progress and improve their lives it’s important that we all share in their successes. This can be fantastically motivating for others.

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O que há de novo esta semana?

 

March  23rd  2023:  VIDEO one of three

How fast our vacation time goes!!  Next Monday 27th March I will begin teaching again. Unfortunately, as always when I take a break some students give up. It’s a shame after so many weeks of hard study students lose their motivation and stop. As I always say there are two kinds of students. There are those that keep going and stay motivated and succeed and there are those that give up and stop. After 35 years of teaching it’s one of the hard lessons you learn and a teacher can sense who will and who won’t get to the finish line. So congratulations to you if you stay motivated.

So, here we are and for me the start of a new teaching year. New lessons and new things to learn. The British culture is one of the oldest civilisations in the world and when I say that I mean civilised civilisations. Certainly the oldest democracy in the world.  And thus there is an endless list of things to learn. Learning a language isn’t just about learning words and grammar, it’s about understanding the culture of English speakers, because regardless of whether you are English, American, Canadian, Australian, South African or a New Zealander and others, their cultures all originated from the mother of all English speaking countries that is England. England is the origin of English and Englishness, the mother of democracy.

Below is the first of two videos of our trip. The first is the Indonesian parp of our trip. What did I learn about Indonesia? Well, Every single person in Indonesia speaks perfect English. I sincerely wish that was true of Brazil.  In all the time that we were there not one single security issue worried us. In fact, I could leave my camera and bag anywhere and it would be safe. The people were friendly and sweet and couldn’t do enough for you. I would go as far as to say that the Indonesian people were the sweetest people I have ever met. Would I go back? Ohhh YES!!! Anyway, watch our video to see just how amazing Indonesia is.

See you all next week.

February 18th  2023: 

                1. VIDEO ONE: This week we are going to talk about our favourite bands. My all -time favourite band and album is a British band from the late 1990s called “REPUBLICA” and their album called “REPUBLICA” I used this album a lot when I worked as a personal trainer giving Spinning classes. For 15 years after leaving university I worked as a private studio exercise teacher. Specifically giving spinning  classes. In “ULTRAFIT” magazine in 1998 I was voted as the best spinning instructor in the UK.  See photos below and the video below.
                2.  VIDEO TWO: How to make traditional scones.
                3. VIDEO THREE:  My student Silvana who is on of my advanced students agreed to my Christmas challenge to make a video of herself cooking. She made Red Velvet cake. She made a lovely job speaking English. SEE BELOW.
                4. Don’t forget the dates of our vacation:

SILVANA’S Red Velvet Cake (in English).

MY PREVIOUS LIFE AS A PT:

VIDEO ONE:

My favourite band and album.

VIDEO TWO:

Making scones (British Traditional Food)

 

February 11th  2023: 

                1. VIDEO ONE:  Traditional British food examples.
                2. VIDEO TWO:  Jamie Oliver. How to make “Toad in the hole”.
                3. Steve & Renata’s vacation details  in March.

What is traditional British food. Below is a short video to  describe just a few of the common foods we each day.

This weeks English recipe

TOAD IN THE HOLE:

Steve & Renata’s vacation schedule.

We will be away from Brazil for four weeks from Sunday 26th February . My last day teaching will be Friday 24th February. I will return to work on Monday 27th March.

Please make sure you read the terms and conditions document this is attached to all of your PayPal invoices. Your payments are calculated over 11 months of teaching and divided by 12 equal payments  (12 X times).  Therefore, your PayPal payment will be due as normal during the March period.

February 4th  2023: 

Traditional English Dishes and the History of English Food

Whenever you speak to people about traditional English food they will always mention ‘fish and chips’ In the UK we rarely eat fish and chips, it’s a myth. Most people eat fish and chips about once a month compared to the Brazilian traditional foods of rice and beans that Brazilians eat most days. The British palate is extremely sophisticated in fact. For example, Renata eat completely different foods every day. We try like most British people to not have the same dish on concurrent days.  Not even potatoes. So what would a typical week’s menu look like for a typical British family? Let’s take a look.

Breakfast:  Either or

          1. A full English or Cereal

In the UK we believe that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. As an ex-soldier I can tell you that an army marches on it’s stomach. And so having a big breakfast is very important. Of course it isn’t for everyone and some people prefer a cereal such as cornflakes or Weetabix. Unlike in Brazil cereals are not expensive and come in huge boxes.

      

https://www.familysearch.org/en/blog/traditional-english-food

My personal favourite is the full English which consists of bacon, sausage, eggs, toast, beans, mushrooms, tomatoes.

          1.  Lunch

In the UK we don’t have the ‘restaurants’  that you have in Brazil. Going out to eat at lunchtime isn’t a thing in the UK. A lot of the time people will be fine with a sandwich and a cup of tea. Some even eat while they work.  It’s not unusual.

          1. Dinner  (teatime)

In the UK our schedules and names of mealtimes are also different.

          1. Breakfast: Between 6am – 9am
          2. Dinner time: Between 12 and 2pm
          3. Teatime: Between 6pm and 8pm

What is the national dish of the UK?  Because of our connection to the colonies and the fact that millions of Asian people settled in the UK the traditional English dish is a good curry. Every town large or small has dozens of Indian, Pakistani or Bangladeshi restaurants. On Friday nights people don’t order pizzas like in Brazil, they order a curry. In the UK there are over 12,000 curry restaurants in the UK. Employing over 100,000 people. With a UK population of 67 million people, that’s one curry restaurant for every 5,000 people. Which means that in my small town of Leek in Staffordshire 21,000 people, we should have 4 curry restaurants. In fact we actually have 9.  https://www.tripadvisor.ca/Restaurants-g504154-c24-Leek_Staffordshire_England.html  

And so in conclusion: Curry is our favourite food in the UK.

Below here is how you make a good curry. Why don’t you try it?  CHICKEN TIKKA MASSALA

 

January 23rd 2023:    “SUPER_SPEAKERS”

              1.  In February I will be introducing our new  “SUPER-SPEAKER”  lessons.  So, what are super-speakers?  I have a number of students who have been with me for two years or more and their English has got to such a high level that it’s time to go to the next level.  They have surpassed the advanced stage and are ready to really understand  British culture from the same level of being a native. After two to three years of doing my English lessons on every subject imaginable they can hold a conversation with anyone on almost any subject. To do this you must have the vocabulary and dexterity in a wide variety of subjects of course. But there is always more. These  “SUPER-SPEAKER”  lessons will ‘top-off’ their English language skills and give them the vocabulary they need to hold conversations with anyone, anywhere, on anything. I will introduce common idioms and expressions to give their English a shine.  To learn more about GO TO PAGE:  SUPER-SPEAKERS CLICK HERE
              2. This week’s traditional British recipe.   Let’s try    BEEF and ALE  STEW with MUSTARD DUMPLINGS     with Gordon Ramsay

 

January 16th 2023:

              1. Em primeiro lugar: tenho dois novos livros disponíveis para download. Lembre-se de que a leitura ajuda você a melhorar seu vocabulário.
              2.  WILD RIDES and PASSIONALE NIGHTS:  A South American Biker Adventure.    (Buy on Amazon Brazil)  Escrito por Steve Bradeley
              3. A Review of the HARRY POTTER BOOKS and MOVIES   (Download from our Student Book Website)  Escrito por Steve Bradeley
              4. Uma nova receita inglesa a seguir. Veja o vídeo abaixo.  JAMIE OLIVERS LASAGNE
              5. Novo post no blog   (A História do Surf) CLICK HERE
              6. Durante o mês de março Renata e eu voltaremos para a Austrália. Em 2019, pilotamos uma motocicleta BMW pela Austrália. A viagem terminou quando a pandemia de Covid começou. Em março estamos voltando para fazer mais algumas cavalgadas. Não haverá aulas de inglês durante o mês de março. Se quiser ver um vídeo da nossa viagem.    CLIQUE AQUI.      Don’t forget to subscribe to me channel please.

January 10th 2023:  Today we launched our An Englishman in Brazil Blog. CLICK HERE TO READ 

January 9th 2023: New lesson for January. Try the Morse Code challenge.

The History Of Morse Code: Intermediate / Advanced English lesson

December 28th 2022: BRITISH FOOD:  Have you ever wondered what British people eat? Every week I will write about one of our traditional meals and give you the recipe and a video so that you can make it at home.  Here is number 1:   ‘Cottage Pie’

COTTAGE PIE RECIPE

SHEPHARD’S PIE Recipe

COTTAGE PIE RECIPE

https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetable-recipes/allotment-cottage-pie/

December 28th 2022:  Things you didn’t know about crazy British  culture: British people are known to be a bit crazy if not eccentric.

 ‘CHEESE ROLLING’  What is cheese rolling?  https://www.visitgloucester.co.uk/things-to-do/history-and-heritage/cheese-rolling-in-gloucester  Now officially an extreme sport, Cheese-rolling has competitors heading to Gloucester from all over the world. The Cooper’s Hill Cheese Roll is an annual race held at Cooper’s Hill, near Brockworth, Gloucester. It attracts people from around the globe who come to chase a Double Gloucester cheese down the 200-yard-long hill.

 

December 28th 2022:  I know that a lot of my students go to the gym once or twice a week and in some cases more. Do you ever use ‘sports nutrition’ supplements for help your progress?  Things like energy bars or drinks. Or supplements such as creatine for example. If so, maybe we can help. Renata and I have opened our School shop, SEE LINK HERE  and also we offer discounted deals on Amazon SEE LINK HERE. If you click these links you will find the products you need.  We are trying to help students in as many ways as we can.

December 26th 2022:  Do you know anyone who is looking for a very good Portuguese Teacher? My wife Renata might be the teacher you are looking for. She offers Portuguese lessons in Brazilian and European Portuguese.   You can find her GIG here on FIVERR. 

Renata will also do your translations:  Portuguese to English and English to Portuguese You can find her GIG here on FIVERR.

December 25th 2022:  Oxford Institute English School has recently partnered with CANVA.  They offer discounted memberships. What is

CANVA?  Canva is an Australian graphic design platform.  It is used to create social media graphics and presentations.

The app includes readymade templates for users to use.  The platform is free and offers paid subscriptions such as Canva Pro and Canva for Enterprise for additional functionality.

December 25th 2022:   This week on the 26th December we will be launching our Student discount shop. Our shop is connected to Amazon and we will be recommending and promoting over 3000 products. You can visit our new shop by visiting https://oxfordshop.online/  and also see our recommendations at https://www.amazon.co.uk/shop/thetravellingteacher

December 25th 2022:   Here is my first recommended product.  £99.00 or R$665.00   >>>   GeoBook 2E 12.5-inch Laptop Windows 10 Intel Celeron 4GB RAM AC Wi-Fi 64GB eMMC

December 24th 2022:   In an attempt to continue my philosophy of sharing my personal life and being as close as possible to all of my students I have launched my MY PHOTOGRAPHY PAGE. The reason for this is because I want my students to know who I am and to fully understand how much I care about their success when learning English with me.

Take part in our satisfaction survey

    Visit my Amazon shop. Here I recommend products that I have bought. 

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/shop/thetravellingteacher

     

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