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We’re starting yet another year at Native English on Monday 9th October.

As usual, we have groups on all levels from A2 Pre-Intermediate up to C2 Proficiency.

As usual, we are the only school in Poznań to have only internationally qualified teachers (CELTA, DELTA).

As usual, they’ll be preparing useful and fun lessons.

As usual, people studying in exam groups will have a chance to do a free mock exam to find out when they’ll be ready to take and pass their exam.

If you’re interested in studying natural English in a native environment, contact us to arrange a test.

At the moment we’re doing placement tests to make sure you are assigned to the group you need.

We start classes on Monday 9th October 2017.

Here’s something from today’s ‚Guardian’. It might be of interest to higher-level students who will be distraught at finishing their classes this week. It looks at words which are misused.

Compose/Comprise
Compose means “to form” or “constitute”. Comprise means “to contain, include, be made up of”. The whole comprises the parts. The US comprises 50 states; 50 states do not comprise the US. After the 2014 referendum on independence for Scotland, the UK still comprised England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

Fascinating stuff for some of us / some of you, I’m sure….

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/jun/05/the-35-words-youre-probably-getting-wrong

Just so you know, we have a 2-week winter break that coincides with the school break.

Classes start again on Monday 13th February!

In the meantime, we’re doing tests for students who want to join Native English groups. Call the office 61 847 68 80, or email school@native-english.pl

Just a quick reminder that we have a Pool Evening this Friday (21st October). We’ve booked a few tables at Zakręcona Bila on Ratajczaka from 8:00pm-midnight and …

– as usual, there’ll be a chance to use your English, e.g. while arguing about the rules
– as usual, there’ll be a chance to improve your pool / learn how to play
– ..and as usual, there’ll be some free beer.

Hope to see you there!

Here’s an experiment you can do.

You may have seen this guide for Polish train station announcers.

1: With a friend, find a busy street to stand on/ another noisy place
2: Open this text on your phone.
3: Ask your friend to stand about 5 metres away and tell them to listen for information.
4: Read it out aloud. Be careful to make your voice unclear, e.g. speak down your nose, put your hand over your mouth.
5: Check your friend’s understanding. If s/he does not understand, send your letter of application to Polish State Railways – you’ve got a long career ahead of you!

I don’t know about you but I’m still pretty shocked by the result of the Brexit referendum. I’ve lived in Poland more than 15 years, so I couldn’t vote but I would have voted to Remain as leaving would be a step into the unknown at a time when the world is becoming less stable. I don’t think breaking Europe up along nation-state lines is a good thing at the moment.

If anybody’s interested, these are my thoughts at the moment:

An internal problem in the Conservative Party led to a referendum:
Cameron calling a referendum is the result of an internal battle in the Conservative party that goes back to the 1980s. There have been Eurosceptic politicians in that party for decades but the rise of UKIP was a challenge that Cameron felt threatened by, which is why he called a referendum to attempt to take control of his own party.
http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/politics/politics-headlines/britain-in-historic-vote-that-only-a-handful-of-twats-wanted-in-the-first-place-20160623109722
So as Martin Schulz of the European Commission has stated, “a whole continent is taken hostage because of an internal fight in the Tory party”. http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/24/top-eu-leader-we-want-britain-out-as-soon-as-possible

For readers of the Polish press, Jacek Żakowski’s article in this week’s ‚Polityka’ compares the Brexit referendum to Cameron creating Frankenstein’s monster and watching in horror as it gets out of control.

Weak Cameron
It seems to me that Cameron has spent 6 years as Prime Minister trying to be all things to all men, i.e. keeping Pro-EU business happy while trying to appeal to Eurosceptics by criticising e.g. Polish migrant workers. In his resignation speech he claims he has always passionately expressed his ideas, but I simply don’t agree with this, as his views only became clear a few months before the referendum.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXNV3Ad0qQ0

Polarisation – Are you for or against?
This referendum was another expression of what is happening all over Europe – the black /white, us/them way of looking at the world. The result is a divided society (52/48 in the UK’s case) and the lines between existing political parties are now so blurred that people will be even more likely to feel that their views are not represented by anybody. This only makes it easier for politicians to achieve their personal aims by divide-and-rule.

Immigration
As in Poland, many people in England (let’s leave Scotland and Northern Ireland out of it) do feel they have less control over their lives and that they are in a worse position. There are many reasons for this – the effects of the globalisation process that is going to reduce the importance of Europe; the decline in traditional industries, e.g. manufacturing with jobs moving to cheaper countries; cuts in public services following the 2008 financial crisis….. For many of these people the referendum basically became a question of ‚Immigration is to blame. Do you want to improve your life? Vote Leave to stop immigration and take control’. Obviously, it’s a strong message if you live in a deprived area in the north of England (Hartlepool, Rotherham – places below the EU average in terms of wealth and ironically also places that have received EU funding, even though they have now voted to Leave), but it’s the wrong target.
(https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jun/25/view-wales-town-showered-eu-cash-votes-leave-ebbw-vale).

Try this link http://www.e-angielski.com/lekcje-mp3/turkeys-do-not-vote-for-christmas

Living in the past
There are still many people in the UK whose idea of their sovereign nation is based on Britain’s history as an empire. This comment by a well-known tabloid commentator is revealing, especially the last lines:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-3659091/The-day-quiet-people-stood-roared-RICHARD-LITTLEJOHN-praises-spoken-EU-referendum-devastating-effect.html This vision of the UK and the idea of turning back the clock to some mythical time when things were better is appealing to the older generation, most of whom voted for Leave, but not only them.

I’m going to punish those people in power !
People’s frustration with their lives led to an idea that they are going to ‚show those elites what I think of them’, or ‚Cameron got a good kicking’. This reminds me of comments following last year’s general election here in Poland.

The lack of facts and blatant lying
The campaign on both sides was based too much on emotional arguments rather than facts. One good example is the Leave campaign suggestion that the EU costs 350 million pounds per week and this money could be spent on the National Health Service.

Norway/ Switzerland: The Leave people say that the UK can be like Norway or Switzerland, with access to the free market but limited immigration. What they didn’t say is how much these two countries pay into the EU structural funds in return for this access. These countries have never joined the club, but pay to have access to club facilities without having any influence over what they have to agree to. Nothing comes for free.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jun/25/view-from-germany-hans-kundnani-britain-eu-vote-leave

Young voters: The 18-25 generation were in favour of Remain, but it’s still unclear how many of them actually went to vote but will have to take the consequences of the decision – some polls say it as about 60% or young people. The message is simple: you have a vote so use it.

So what now?

You might have noticed that there’s some football on soon. Judging by the flags appearing around Jeżyce, plenty of people have high hopes for the Polish team, and quite rightly so.

For the football-minded among you, here’s an article in a series ‚The Guardian’ newspaper is running on football teams competing in the tournament.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jun/04/poland-euro-2016-guide

Here’s England: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jun/03/england-euro-2016-team-guide

Here’s a Poland quiz to test your knowledge as the christianization millenium approaches.

http://www.sporcle.com/games/psubball1/Poland

Type ‚Poland’ into the search and you’ll find dozens more quizzes.

This Sporcle website is well worth a look. You might find yourself dragged into the vortex.

Native English is organising a Pool Evening for its students!

When: Friday 20th November
Where: Zakręcona Bila, Ratajczaka 20
Time: 8pm-midnight

We’ll have about 4 tables, so you’ll have plenty of opportunity to practise your pool technique, argue about the rules in English and admire Troy’s impressive skills at the table…..