December 2014 Newsletter

Seasons Greetings and a very Merry Christmas to all of our current and former students! We hope you'll find happiness in reaching out and giving to others, particularly at this time of year.

December is always a busy month at Horne Learning Services, as schedules chop and change, students stop and start, and rearrangements have to be made. What's more, Mr. Duncan is working on a new syllabus for 2015 which includes a topic for each month with fun exercises to test students' grammar, reading and comprehension, speaking, listening and creative writing skills. We hope to have the entire 2015 syllabus prepared before the end of December.

Current enrollment for Horne Learning Services is at 99% with just one space available for an adult class on a Wednesday night. Students wishing to join our classes may be added to the waiting list. This is also a good time to remind you of the Rules & Regulations page (which can be found near the top of the blog). Please have a careful read of these items which have been designed through past experience, so that both you and us can move smoothly through our English learning journey together.

December 2014 is under way and this month students will enjoy Christmas wordsearches, making snowflakes, designing a Christmas tree, writing a letter to Santa Claus, and more speaking opportunities. It should be a fun month to end the year!

Public Holidays

Hi,

Today I need to talk about public holidays with you.

For 6 years we have been teaching English classes on public holidays without taking any rest. Within the last year or so we have noted two things: 

1) attendance on public holidays has been very low, and 

2) the majority of students either tell us they are not coming on public holidays or just don't turn up at all.

So mid-way through 2013 we decided that we will take public holidays off. Thus we don't need to deal with one or two students per class and unannounced absences. Students can enjoy some rare family time together, and we can also take the holiday the government have allowed us to have.

Each year there are around a dozen public holidays announced on the calendar. The days on which they fall are completely random and unfortunately they may fall more on one specific day than another. Last year they were evenly spread out; this year there are a few more on Tuesdays.

However, we have decided that we will NOT have holidays on single-day public holidays that fall during weekdays (Monday - Friday). The holidays we have selected are either 2 consecutive days or fall on a Saturday, making a 2-day holiday over the weekend.

Your understanding is much appreciated on this topic of public holidays. We do hope that you can make them meaningful times to share with your family.

Have a great 2014! We have an exciting syllabus prepared for the year and we're really looking forward to teaching you and your children and building their confidence in using the English language.

2014 Syllabus

We hope everyone enjoyed the New Year celebrations, wherever in the world you may be.

We are welcoming back students old and new to our classes, which are filling up quickly. Please be aware that Thursday afternoon is the only class remaining for children with available spaces.

During the Christmas and New Year holiday I've been busy preparing the new syllabus for 2014 at Horne Learning Services. A lot of the exercises which our students are accustomed to will remain, but there are some new additions too.

Once every 2 months (Jan, Mar, May, Jul, Sep, Nov) we will be conducting a variety of grammar exercises from The Word Bank, a more fun and flexible way of learning tense work, nouns, verbs and adjectives, synonyms and antonyms, word lists and making sentences.

During the same months we will be continuing Movie Week, essentially a listening test with comprehension questions, but doing so by watching a fun movie.

During the months of February, April, June, August and October there will be a Games Week where we'll be learning English in a fun way by making short stories as a class, doing word searches, and other games.

A new addition for 2014 is Exam Week. There will be five Exam Weeks, held on the 4th week on the same months as Games Week (mentioned just above). Exams will involve vocabulary, speaking, reading, writing and grammar exercises. Results will be recorded and passed to parents. (Exam Week will only be for students who are capable of reading and writing and who can understand and answer grammar questions. Those of a lower standard will continue with simple exercises)

Activities including speaking, creative writing, reading and word games will remain on the syllabus. We are confident our students will enjoy the variety of exercises, a  more fun way of learning, as well as being more accountable to their parents through exams every two months.