Revision of vocabulary I've got into the habit of doing a little revision of vocabulary almost every day with the help of cards and a learning pattern called "moving boxes". In theory, after knowing a word or expression for the fourth times it should be stored deep in one's brain (hopefully not too deep) and the card can eventually be moved to a separate archive box. I moved quite a few words to the archive today. Namely (each with one example of its usage): TO BREAK/BURST ITS BANKS The river Thames breaks its banks almost every November. TO DUMP STH. We rushed to the hotel, dumped our baggage and headed off to the city centre. TO COMPRESS A FILE Have you tried compressing the file and sending it by mail? TO CAST ONE'S VOTE Only a minority of people cast their vote in the last election. TO LOST TO SB. Manchester lost to Liverpool on Saturday. DONKEY'S WORK My wife always let me do the donkey's work while she is having a nap. FURTHER AWAY Hawaii is further away than France. TO HONK Why is very bloody muppet honking all the time? WATERBORNE DISEASE You mustn't swim in this lake because of a high risk of catching a waterborne disease. ONE'S MIND WANDERS I missed most of his comment because my mind was wandering. TO HAVE A LIE-IN Saturdays are made for having a proper lie-in, don't you think? MY MIND IS A BLANK I was in deep shock and my mind was a blank for hours. RANDOMLY CHOSEN Every participant has been chosen randomly. RAT RACE Our company's seller live and work in a constant rat race. MANUAL LABOUR I think manual labour should be more valued. UNDERLYING My underlying idea was to reduce average costs. TO MAKE UP ONE'S MIND I've been struggling with making up my mind. PATCHY It looks nothing like a lawn so patch as it is. WILDLIFE Protecting wildlife is key. DEPUTY My deputy needs to stand in for me when I'm away. Thanks for comments and corrections of all kind.

Taking language courses abroad

The very special island Once upon a time, there was an adamant, perhaps even stubborn, woman called Theresa. Theresa lived on a remote rainy island and had to cope with what had been left behind from David, who had had an idea some time ago which was clearly not his very best. Theresa tried eagerly to make the best of it and presented her way to cope with the situation that had been caused again and again. It seemed as she would never give up, and she pretended to have new solutions every now and then. Even that the people just made fun of her and did not believe a word she said could not stop her. Eventually, the day came when passionate Theresa had enough. She passed her responsibility on to others. For example weird Boris, who is fond of buses covered in claims and fairytales.

Another vocabulary recap full of beans The children were full of beans. to spot sb./sth. Can you spot Yvonne somewhere in the crowd? excursion We made an excursion to the top of the Tiede. to agree to differ After a meaty discussion, we agreed to differ. to be on one's side Don't be afraid. I'm on your side and will back you up. rather than I'd like to stay at home rather than go out. a piece of cake The exam was a piece of cake. padlock The door to the basement was locked with a padlock. loner John McCain was notorious for being a loner. time of year It's that time of year again when everybody starts decorating their homes.

My experience with IELTS It's now about two years ago that I did the IELTS General English test. When I look back to the time when we had decided to sign up for IELTS, I still think to myself that I must have been insane. As some of you might know, the IELTS test is separated into four different sections. These are Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking. The day of the exam was one of my most challenging days until then because I had hardly slept a minute in the night before and I was extremely nervous. As the exam was going by, I was really satisfied with how I managed the Listening and Reading part and was also quite happy with Writing. After a break of some hours, the Speaking part took place and turned out to be my personal nightmare. I was extremely angry with myself afterwards because I was totally convinced that I did it miserably. At this moment and even until the exam results were published I was entirely through with English - I was frustrated, down in the dumps and thought it's not worth putting any more effort into it. Ultimately, my state of mind changed again though when the results were announced a few weeks later. In a nutshell, I passed the test with flying colours and couldn't believe it for a while. And since then I've been putting even more effort in learning English.

Looking for a language partner Hi there. I'm Michael from Germany and looking for a language partner for improving and practising my English skills (preferably on Skype and perhaps WhatsApp). In exchange I could help you with German. Just drop me a message if you're interested. Speak soon.

Our trip to London Our next trip to London is just around the corner and we can't wait to have it started. Although we've already been there five times it seems as we'll never get tired of this vibrant city with all its iconic landmarks from Buckingham Palace to London Eye, the hustle and bustle on the streets and the crowded tube. As London has so many sights to offer, we'll most likely never be able to tick everything we'd like to see off our list. On our list for the upcoming trip are various places like Maltby Street Market, The Slide at the Olympic Park, a Cat Café and also a guided food tour in East London and a historic pub tour in the city centre. Last but not least it's always a fantastic opportunity for practicing English with native speakers and other tourists from all over the world.

Widening my range of vocabulary In my opinion, a high level of vocabulary is key for mastering a foreign language. Therefore, I spent my entire afternoon with learning vocabulary and writing new vocabulary cards for my extensive archive of more than 3.000 handwritten cards. Every card has one new word written on it as well as a sentence that is built with this word, to show how it's used actually. Some of the cards also contain idioms and proverbs - both an essential part to speak a foreign language more naturally.