Welcome back!

I look forward to meeting and working with you. As the year races ahead, you will need to pace yourself and keep focused on your goals.

As with any competitive event, preparing for the exams requires regular and efficient training.

That is even more essential in language studying, where "practice makes perfect"!

Here are a few basics to pick up good working habits in English right from the start of the year.

1/ "An apple a day..." : better to do 5/10 mins of English everyday than having to put in an hour of work at the end of the week!

→ Make room for a few minutes of English in your daily work schedule: take a break from your Maths DM, Philosophy essay or Geography analysis to watch a short video (News flashes ; short documentaries ; BBC's vocabulary-learning features...), listen to your favourite podcast in English (some ideas here) or read an article on any topic of interest to you (links to all major sources in The Newsroom)

Whatever you do, exposure to the language is essential to improve your understanding skills.

The more you listen to / read English, the easier it will get for you to understand the documents we work on in class: you will soon find you are able to read the texts quicker, need less dictionary help and speak or write in a more fluid and idiomatic way.

2/ Don't procrastinate!

The homework load will be heavy every week and the set exercises will take you quite some time to complete: putting them off to the last minute will only increase your level of stress and strain.

3/ Test yourself regularly.

The vocabulary/grammar tests and Thème grammatical sentences done in class are here to help you improve your language skills and acquire some reflexes throughout the year.

To make the most of them, forget your poor performance or your low mark and re-take the tests at home, using the correction sheets to assess yourself, in order to make sure you won't make the same mistakes again.

4/ Let's communicate!

I am always available, especially via email, to answer any question or discuss your progress with you. Please do not hesitate to contact me or talk to me at the end of the class if you need help of clarifications ; never wait for your problems to escalate before taking action.

... and browse this website regularly!