Summer vibes in Cape Town
Summer vibes in Cape Town Soak up the sunshine on one of the beaches around Cape Town. If you are out exploring, take a hat and bikini or swimming shorts…
20 Dec 2020
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Student writing under lockdown
Student writing under lockdown Respect to the students who spent lockdown in South Africa and embraced the opportunity to study online. They maintained positive energy, supported each other and shared…
20 Dec 2020
Learning English at home: as easy as ABC
Learning English at home: as easy as ABC An A-Z is a comprehensive guide that lists ideas in alphabetical order. Here is our A-Z to make the most of your …
30 Nov 2020
Five Tips for Effective Meetings
A meeting is the most efficient way of sharing information with a team. Or is it? In the past, meetings were extremely formal and held according to strict rules. In my view, meetings have become too informal in recent years. As a consequence, they are long, boring and do not lead to decisive action.
03 Mar 2020
Meet the locals in Cape Town
Some students come all the way to Cape Town and stick with people from their own country. We encourage you to go out to explore the city (if necessary, together!). Live and learn and meet awesome people along the way.
16 Dec 2019
Watching Rugby – a South African Experience
Learn about the history of this sport in South Africa and its significance in bringing the nation together.
11 Dec 2019
Reading Strategies for IELTS
IELTS test designers often give True/False/Not given questions in the reading test to check your understanding and to make your life difficult. The good news is that the steps outlined below will help in answering these question types more quickly and accurately.
18 Nov 2019
Try South African food in Cape Town
Explore Cape Town’s rich cultural history through its food. Find out about authentic local dishes – from our aromatic curries to delicious desserts. Tasting traditional African, Cape Malay and Afrikaans cuisine is an essential experience on your travels in South Africa.
08 Nov 2019
Volunteer in South Africa
Volunteering is a great way to mingle with locals, work to learn and to make a positive impact on the world. Contrary to the idea that one has to pay to volunteer, there are many ways to contribute. We’ve put together some ideas to inspire you to take action.
18 Oct 2019
4 Key Tips for an Excellent Presentation
Many presenters feel that they are of utmost importance, because they are in the spotlight. However, if you focus the attention on the audience instead, it is more likely that the presentation will go well.
14 Oct 2019
The Importance of English in the Workplace
Global business has adopted English as its lingua franca – the conventional language to use between speakers whose first languages are different. While these languages have been around for centuries, what makes English as a lingua franca unique is that it is used for this purpose both functionally and geographically.
04 Oct 2019
Stronger Topic Sentences
A strong essay flows easily. The reader is guided smoothly from one idea to the next. For this to happen, certain things need to be in place. Always refer to the essay question and answer it directly in the introduction, body and conclusion. Here, I will discuss the structure of the body paragraphs.
25 Sep 2019
Home Away From Home
Moving to a new city, even for a short time, is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. However, not being able to communicate with locals, navigating a town you’ve never been to and coming home to an empty apartment isn’t exactly the experience you are hoping for when you travel abroad. Why not choose to stay with a family to help you make the most of living in an exotic new location?
05 Sep 2019
Writing Paragraphs
In this blog, I will discuss the structure of a well-written paragraph. By ‘main body paragraphs’ I mean the paragraphs in the middle of the essay, not the introduction or conclusion. First, I’ll talk about writing with the audience in mind. Then we’ll break down a paragraph so that you can see what the structure should be. Finally, I’ll talk about specific language to guide the reader.
30 Aug 2019
How to Get a Good Score in your IELTS Essay (Writing Task 2)
The IELTS essay (Writing Task 2) is about constructing an argument. In this blog, I will specifically deal with Task Achievement (one of the criteria set by the Exam Board) because we often see students who write well, but still don’t achieve the magic 7 for their writing. Mostly, it is because the question has not been answered.
22 Aug 2019
Writing Professional Emails
If you use English in your job, there’s no way you can avoid sending emails in English. Writing professional emails can be scary if English isn’t your first language. But here are a few tips to help you write excellent formal correspondence.
09 Aug 2019
IELTS Pre-reading strategies
Students who take the IELTS reading exam often make the mistake of trying to read the whole text from start to finish, and then don’t have enough time to answer all the questions. In this blog Christelle outlines some strategies for overcoming this problem.
07 Aug 2019
5 IELTS Pre-Writing Tips: Task 2 Essay
We know preparing for your IELTS Writing exam can be nerve-wracking, so we’ve put together these five tips for the essay in Task 2. They are plan, analyse the question, identify the topic, brainstorm and plan your supporting evidence. These will help you to get the score that you want.
01 Aug 2019
Intro to the IELTS Speaking Paper
The IELTS Speaking paper is an opportunity for you to demonstrate your ability in spoken English. The Academic test is the same as the General training, so for many students this is an opportunity to boost their overall IELTS score. The key here is to make are you are familiar with the format and get enough practice before the exam to approach it in an assured and confident manner.
25 Jul 2019
Five Language tips for your first days in Cape Town
Lions and tigers roaming the streets, native people in loin cloths, buffalo stampedes, riding elephants as a mode of transportation…these are just a few of the things that you will NOT see when you come to learn English in Cape Town. So, trade in your spear and helmet for these tips on enduring your first days in our ‘Mother City’ as a foreign student.
24 Jul 2019
