Looking Ahead to 2016

After a month in England, we are back home in Kuantan and ready for 2016. Mr. Duncan has been preparing the new syllabus which includes some old favourite exercises mixed with new things.

Revised monthly fees for 2016 are as follows:

Standard 1-6 = RM65

Form 1-5       = RM90

Adults            = RM110

We currently have 8 classes (6 for children and 2 for adults). Despite increasing the class size from 12 to 16, all classes are fully booked. The waiting list is also full with around 40 people waiting for classes.

One reason we have been able to expand the class size is our move to a new residence which is a landed property with a bigger classroom. We are in a nice, quiet area with ample parking space just 5 minutes from the town centre.

In 2016 we will be focused on discussion/speaking exercises with our students, with both individual and group participation encouraged. Vocabulary, grammar, sentence writing, essays and reading/comprehension will also feature. We will be holding two English Class Presentations in 2016, which was a resounding success earlier in 2015.

Thank you for registering with us and we look forward to teaching you and learning together with you next year!

Parents feedback on our English speaking presentations

As we discussed previously, our English class presentations week was extremely successful. Our focus is on building confidence in speaking English. Learning English with Horne Learning Services (HLS) will be a different experience for students both young and mature. 

Mr. Duncan prepares his own syllabus each year and tries to include at least one speaking exercise for every single class. Class presentations are a great way for students to use their creativity to prepare a speech and present their results to the class. It represents a good public speaking practise and will prepare them well for the future, whether that be furthering their studies at university or moving forward into the workplace.

HLS was delighted to receive feedback from parents of our students regarding the August 2015 English Class Presentations:

"Thank you. I hope they can do it again."

"[She] was happy and enjoyed it."

"I can't believe she can do it. Thank you so much. At home she memorised it all, but at class I think she was scared already. Next time I hope she can be even better. Your class is so interesting. Thank you."

"Thank you. [His] father said if you can, always conduct this kind of speech. Train them to speak to the public. Very good."

"Thank you Sir. It is not easy to stand up for presentation or public speaking. I feel nervous to do so at my workplace. In a meeting when all the bosses are in front of you, the words get stuck in my throat. Maybe Sir can arrange more of these activities in the future, it's good for the children. Thanks for the effort."

"It's a very good idea. I totally agree. You're really a good teacher, thanks for your effort."

"Your class is really awesome. Makes me feel like joining too. I saw that all the students brought their favourite things to present. That makes it a lot of fun and interesting. Keep it up!

English Class Presentations

English Class Presentations week was a resounding success.

HLS English Class Presentations class photos. Thank you to every student who took part!

Each student had three weeks of August to prepare a 5-minute presentation to the class on any topic of their choice. Presentations were carried out from 24th - 29th August, 2015 and we saw a variety of interesting topics and hobbies performed in our classes.

We received a number of whatsapp messages from pleased parents asking us to continue with these sort of public speaking assignments in the future. After seeing how beneficial this week was for everyone, we are definitely planning for more similar activities soon.

Here are some of the unique and memorable presentations:

Alya brought along her jewellery box amongst other things for HLS English Class Presentations

Joshua introduced us to his pet rabbit for HLS English Class Presentations

Sharmayne shared her impressive sticker collection for HLS English Class Presentations

Justin showed us his lego car for HLS English Class Presentations

We enjoyed seeing Li Yan's toy car collection during HLS English Class Presentations

In one of the adult sessions, Kelly gave a very motivational speech on the power of smiling for HLS English Class Presentations

Yahya gave an exciting demonstration of his yo-yo skills for HLS English Class Presentations

Zheng Yu took us by surprise during HLS English Class Presentations by presenting about Mr. Duncan! He reeled off an accurate biography of my life! He found it on my blog - clever boy!

Jocelyn shared some of her favourite food blogs before distributing cakes she had prepared earlier for HLS English Class Presentations

Ms. Lai showed us her fantastic painting as part of her HLS English Class Presentation

Ser Han fired his nerf gun at a couple of targets during HLS English Class Presentations

Keivin brought his awesome artwork to HLS English Class Presentations

Isaac gave an interesting speech on chocolate for HLS English Class Presentations, and then freely distributed it to us all!

HLS English Class Presentations saw Amanda bravely speak about her father who is currently ill. A very touching speech and we all wish her dad the best in these difficult times

Abby played on her ukelele during HLS English Class Presentations

Manchester United fan, Jun Hao, spoke about former manager Sir Alex Ferguson for HLS English Class Presentations

As the focus of Horne Learning Services is on developing students' confidence to speak English, this was a great week in classes. Students spoke English in front of a crowd, listened to others speak English, asked questions, gave answers, and got to know more about each other's hobbies and interests.

Looking forward to more similar activities!

Movie Week July 2015 - Strange Magic

Strange Magic will be showing at Horne Learning Services during the last week of July 2015. It's a musical tale of two worlds that are merged into one by real love. Strange Magic fits in nicely with the theme for July, which is 'Music.'

As usual, students will be required to answer questions to test their understanding of the movie. Hope you guys enjoy it!

Learning a new language is no quick fix!

On many an occasion, well-meaning parents have hastily enquired of their child's progress in learning English in my classes, only to be disappointed when their progress is not miraculous.

Learning English, as with any language, takes time. It takes effort. It takes patience. It takes practise and commitment.

I like to read answers to a wide range of questions posed on the site Quora.com. Recently I came across an answer that I absolutely agree with regarding learning a language. The answer is given by a gentleman named Gruff Davies (you can check out his profile here). His answer refers to the French language, but can be used to describe learning any language, especially English.

Here is his answer in full:

There is a trick to learning languages that can shorten the journey to fluency from decades to mere months. There's also something most teachers won't even tell students for fear they would never start, but in fact, is vital that you know.

In fact, there's not one trick but a whole suite of tricks to help you learn a language.  I'll use French as an example, but this advice applies to any language.

1. Understand the Language Learning Journey
Language learning has an appalling abandonment rate.  A mere 4% of students embarking on language courses in schools achieve a basic level of fluency after three years. 96% fail to achieve fluency and/or abandon courses completely!  People almost always wrongly conclude two things from this: Myth 1) Learning languages is hard, 2) Other people (but not them) are naturally good at languages.  One of the biggest reasons cited for abandoning is that students don't feel any sense of progression.  A GCSE student with an A* will visit France and find they can't even have a basic conversation.  People largely give up because they had the wrong expectations set.

Learning a language isn't hard.  It's just LONG.

I'm going to use a metaphor that I hope will help you get the knack.

I think of learning a language a bit like climbing a mountain (a large but easy mountain, the sort that anyone can climb so long as they keep going). 

Here's what most teachers won't tell you: It takes 600+ hours of study to reach fluency in French (unless you already speak another Latin-based language - a so-called romance language).  Think about this.  If (say) at school you learn 1 hour of French per week, then in forty weeks you'll do 40 hours.  You'll need fifteen years at that rate to become fluent, not counting all the stuff you forget because of the gaps between study.  (Harder languages like Russian or Mandarin can take 1,200 hours!)

At the other extreme, if you study really intensively, you can rack up 40 hours in one week!  You can achieve fluency in ten to twelve weeks at that rate.  Most people don't have the spare time to give that level of intensity, but understanding the journey helps you be realistic about what you can achieve so you won't get demotivated.

2. Intensity is vital to learning a language quickly. 
This is a double-whammy.  1) Immersing yourself as deeply as possible in the subject allows you to rack up the hours as quickly as possible. 2) Memory fades unless it's used. Low-intensity studies (i.e. school French) are ineffective because their intensity is so low that you end up forgetting a large percentage of what you learn.  So, try to learn as intensely as time will permit you to.  

To use my mountain metaphor, the ground is icy and slippery and if you go slowly, you'll slip back as much as you progress.  The faster you can climb, the less you will slip back.

3. Be kind to yourself
I've used sunlight in this mountain metaphor to give you an indication of how it feels to be at these levels. It's not until B1/B2 that the light comes out and it starts to feel really good speaking French.  That happens around the 350-400 hours mark if you've never learned a second language before.  

Expect a lot of fog and confusion for the first few hundred hours.  It's completely normal and you're not stupid.  EVERYONE feels this way, even the people who seem really gifted at languages.  The difference is, anyone who's already been through that and reached the sunlight expects this stage, and it doesn't phase them because they know they'll get there eventually.  So, if you catch yourself saying things like, "I'm rubbish at French" or "I'm stupid" just stop for a moment and remind yourself that you're neither and you will get it if you persevere.

4. Prepare for the journey 
If you're a complete beginner I find it's really important to absorb the sounds of the language before beginning serious study.  I listen to hours of audio (audio books are great for this) without trying to understand the content, but still actively listening to the sounds of the language to embed them.  I usually find after a while I end up babbling them a little like a baby which can feel a bit silly . Which brings me my next piece of advice:

5. Practise looking stupid
Being self-conscious is your biggest enemy.  You cannot speak a foreign language without feeling stupid at some point. You have to get over that.  You have to twist your mouth into strange new shapes that make you feel like a caricature; you will speak and not be understood and you will listen and not understand. A LOT.  It's really okay and in fact necessary to learning. If you think about it, what's the big deal? So you look stupid. Who cares? 

If you instead give yourself credit every time you feel stupid you can turn this around. Give yourself a little mental gold star each time you feel stupid because those moments are learning moments. Feeling stupid is actually a sign of progress, or the moment just prior to progress.

6. Find out where you are (and therefore what the next stage is)
I strongly advise you measure your level using CEFR levels (https://www.french-test.com/blog...) as these are now standard across Europe. 

If you want find out approximately what level you are, you can take our test here:
https://www.french-test.com/

7. Set goals
Plan your language learning journey in stages.  You've seen how long the journey is, so just like climbing a mountain, it's advisable to plan the journey in stages.

Goal setting (and measuring progress against those goals) is one of the most effective tools in your learning arsenal.  I highly recommend setting short term and longer terms goals.  

Short term goals can be as simple as how many hours of study you will do each week. If you (say) want to study one hour a day then write seven boxes on a sheet and every hour you study, check a box. It feels good and you're measuring progress which is visible to you even when you don't feel like you're progressing.

Set longer terms goals like passing a specific CEFR level. 

It's really worth while registering to take DELF / DALF exams which are French exams that match the CEFR levels:
DILF, DELF and DALF - Everything you need to know about French Diplomas.  There are similar diplomas for most languages.

8. Repetition, Repetition, Repetition
Repetition is absolutely vital to learning most things but especially important when learning a language. It sounds boring, but it doesn't need to be. More on this in a moment.

9. Recall is more important than revision
Practising recall has proven to be 300% more effective than revising something.  In other words, you must challenge yourself to "produce" French, not just comprehend it.  The metaphor I use for memory is a field of long grass.  You drop lots of things in it, but to make them easy to find again, you must practise retrieving them.  Every time you do, you tread down the path to the thing you're recalling and it gets easier to follow.

Anything you do to practice recall is going to help your French.

If you can, the best way is of course to practise speaking with a real French person.  

Our site, https://www.french-test.com/ offers thousands of tests which will adapt automatically to you and measure your progress at each level.

All of this is building towards my ultimate language learning trick.

If we combine these point (especially 8 and 9) there is an obvious conclusion:the quickest way to learn a language that I have found is to...

10. Rote learn set texts in French

This is my number one trick and I've found this to be singularly the most effective method in acquiring a language rapidly.  

Find a text that you can learn in a week (you must have audio - this is essential). 

Pick a text on a subject you find interesting and at the right level for you (i.e. a bit challenging but not too hard).  If you're a beginner keep it short, i.e. a few sentences at a time.  Graphic comics are really good for beginners (things like Peanuts) which you can order online.

As you progress you can pick longer texts and learn a few paragraphs, or pages of dialogue at a time.  I like using film or theatre texts, or books I liked as a kid which are also good because the language is usually simple.

Listen to the piece at least ten times (repetition) before starting to try to learn it.  Start to commit it to memory (practise recall). You'll find this very hard at first and it will show you just how important it is to practise recall.

Give yourself a week to learn the piece. Why? Because after seven nights of sleep, something magical happens...

11. Sleep 
Sleep is vital to memory. In fact, research shows the time of day that you sleep is not that important. Daytime napping is very effective.  Don’t deprive yourself of sleep for too long after you've learned or practised something.  When you sleep your brain starts to build structures to turn short-term memories into long-term memories.  It may be different for you, but I've found that after about seven nights of sleep is about the amount needed (with daily practise) for a text to be effortless to recall. 

12. Exercise
We tend to think of our brains as separate from our bodies, but of course the brain is part of body. If you exercise, you get huge mental benefits.  It might sound bizarre, but keeping fit will help you learn a language.  You can even combine the two efforts by listen to French audio during a workout or run. 

13. Learn about learning
I've found that every hour I invested in learning about learning paid off many times over in my learning speed of actual content.  There's general stuff that you can learn about learning that works for everyone, and then there are your own personal learning tricks that can develop; this is about just taking time to reflect on what work best for you and thinking about how to improve on what you're doing.

Hope that's helpful!

Circles In Everyday Life Project Winners

The Circles In Everyday Life project has been completed. We are thankful to all students and parents who supported their children throughout the two weeks of the project. Following will be a presentation of the winners in both the Children and Adult categories. We judged each project based on five criteria:

1. Creativity

2. Uniqueness

3. Effort

4. Aesthetics

5. Writing

Full list of the marks awarded for each student at HLS who participated in the Circles In Everyday Life project

WINNER, CHILDREN CATEGORY: YONG CHUAN

Yong Chuan and Mr. Duncan pose for a photo with his winning project, certificate and trophy in conjunction with the Circles In Everyday Life project at HLS

A closer look at Yong Chuan's Circles In Everyday Life Project

Yong Chuan had a clear vision of what he wanted to do from the moment the Circles In Everyday Life project began. A wonderfully creative piece of work depicting the Solar System was coupled with a great piece of writing showing how he personally loves space and the planets. His work scored high on all the marking criteria and we thought it was the stand-out project. Congratulations Yong Chuan!

2ND PLACE, CHILDREN CATEGORY: ETHELIND

Ethelind and Mr. Duncan pose for a photo with her project, certificate and trophy in conjunction with the Circles In Everyday Life project at HLS

A closer look at Ethelind's Circles In Everyday Life project

A closer look at Ethelind's Circles In Everyday Life project

Ethelind produced a fine, creative book on various circle shapes in life. Everything was done neatly with excellent written captions. 

3RD PLACE, CHILDREN CATEGORY: ISAAC

Isaac and Mr. Duncan pose for a photo with his project, certificate and trophy in conjunction with the Circles In Everyday Life project at HLS

A closer look at Isaac's Circles In Everyday Life project

Isaac is a consistent performer at HLS and was rewarded for his unique and creative style along with very well written explanations and an essay in the booklet.

4TH PLACE, CHILDREN CATEGORY: KUANG YEE

Kuang Yee and Mr. Duncan pose for a photo with her certificate in conjunction with the Circles In Everyday Life project at HLS

A closer view of Kuang Yee's project

A closer view of Kuang Yee's project focused on the 'circle' of a typical week in comic book format

5TH PLACE, CHILDREN CATEGORY: YE HAO

Ye Hao and Mr. Duncan pose for a photo with his project and certificate in conjunction with the Circles In Everyday Life project at HLS

Ye Hao made a fruit basket and included a good story in the yellow booklet, along with labeling of the fruits in his basket

6TH PLACE, CHILDREN CATEGORY: ACELINE

Aceline and Mr. Duncan pose for a photo with her project and certificate in conjunction with the Circles In Everyday Life project at HLS

A closer look at Aceline's Circles In Everyday Life project

A closer look at Aceline's Circles In Everyday Life project

WINNER, ADULT CATEGORY: HUMAIRAH

Humairah and Mr. Duncan pose for a photo with her project, certificate and plaque in conjunction with the Circles In Everyday Life project at HLS

A closer look at Humairah's Circles In Everyday Life project

A closer look at Humairah's Circles In Everyday Life project

A closer look at Humairah's Circles In Everyday Life project

Humairah scored 98% and was excellent in every category. The creativity of her project was amazing and the paper folding exquisite. It was the clear winner. Congratulations Humairah!


=2ND PLACE, ADULT CATEGORY: KELLY

Kelly received the 2nd place certificate for this nicely done work in the Circles In Everyday Life project at HLS. Descriptions of the four emotions were tucked away inside each plate

=2ND PLACE, ADULT CATEGORY: MRS. FAM

Mrs. Fam and Mr. Duncan pose for a photo with her project and certificate in conjunction with the Circles In Everyday Life project at HLS

A closer look at Mrs. Fam's Circles In Everyday Life project. She made a container to store clothes pegs