Next Monday is the first official day of summer and before you pack your bags, throw on your swimsuit and slather on your sunscreen, we want to remind you that we have one last round table session to say goodbye to Spring and hello to Summer.

The last 4 sessions were a real success and it was wonderful to hear all of you share your opinions and point of views on various topics. This last session promises to be a great session as well and we will be talking about Today’s Technology and Social Media, How does it affect us? Francina, one of our loyal participants will be leading the session and I will be making a surprise cocktail to kick off the summer right.

So if you are free on Thursday, June 30th from 19.00-20.30h and have something to say on the subject of technology (who doesn’t?), join us! All levels and everyone is welcome.

When: Thursday, June 30th from 19.00-20.30h

Where: Espai 290, Aragó 290, Principal

How much: 10€ per person

Why: To exchange ideas, share opinions and improve your spoken English in a comfortable setting

Contact us if you haven’t signed up yet: hello@heidi-schmidt.com and we hope to see you there!

Photo Source & The inspiring Making of Video

This Friday, April 22nd is Earth day, a global day on which it aims to inspire awareness of and appreciation for Earth’s environment. As we all know, this planet we live on needs our love and attention, so I thought that we could dedicate this week’s post to all things Earth. Maybe this will inspire you to work on your garden, plant a tree or clean up a littered (dirty) beach. Do you recycle? Maybe now is a good time to start!

Here are some fun links from around the web to get you motivated and at the same time help you learn some new vocabulary;

Earth Day quiz from The Guardian

Some great videos and a quiz on what animal are you? from Google

Why Trees? A great explanation on why we need to plant more trees and a global map with events near you.

Animals that might not survive 2016 

One man’s goal to preserve nature’s sounds for future generations

And finally, if you loved these links, here is a whole page dedicated to videos and articles on Earth Day

Have a great week and stop to smell the flowers!

Photo Source: Bernard Chevalier

If you have been reading our blog, you know we had our 2nd edition of the round table last Thursday and as expected, it went fabulously well.

I surprised everyone with their choice of Lemon or Cucumber Gin & Tonics to lighten up the mood and we quickly got started on our round table on Creativity in Business by asking students to define what creativity means to them and here is the result:

We had a great time comparing creativity and sharing our experiences. We also discussed what we would need to do in society to change the lack of creativity in our competitive driven business world.

You still have 3 more opportunities to join us! So make sure you sign up for a cocktail and inspiring conversation:

Thursday, April 28 | Finding your motivation at work hosted by one of our round table participants!

Thursday, May 26 | Storytelling hosted by Madeleine

Thursday, June 30 | Today’s Social Media and Technology hosted by Heidi

This Thursday, April 7th from 19.00h-20.00h, we will be discussing and perhaps even arguing the importance of creativity at work. Whether you are a firm believer of right and left brained people or think that business does not mix with creativity, this talk is for you!

We look forward to seeing you there and remember, this is an all-level friendly group and all students or non-students are welcome.

Confirm you will be coming at hello@heidi-schmidt.com

Where: Espai 290 | Aragó 290 Principal, Barcelona 08009
When: Thursday, April 7 from 19.00-20.00h
How Much: 10€ per session *10€ per person includes material and a surprise drink

Photo Source 

It is that time of year again, when the flowers start blooming (to blossom/open/flower), days get longer as we Spring our clocks forward and Summer is right around the corner.

This week’s post is on the beauty of Spring and reasons to get outdoors or stay inside and practice your English.

Here’s a short video on the history of the Easter bunny

But have you ever wondered what others around the world do to celebrate Spring? Take a look at these amazing photos on Spring around the world.

If you are feeling inspired to do more listening in English, take a look at these professional podcasts to help you start listening!

Or, if you plan on spending some time with the family, maybe you can propose some educative online video games to help all of you learn?

Are you more of the romantic type? Here are some Spring Poems to get you inspired…or some great stories you can listen to on Spring?

Planning on taking a walk in the mountains? Learn the name of some flowers first and impress your friends and family!

And if you are one of those lucky travelers planning on going away for the week, take a look at this video on how to greet others in English

Have a wonderful start to Spring and Happy Easter!

And don’t forget our Round Table #2 next Thursday, March 31, 2016

Photo Source

**Please note! Our Round table has been postponed to next Thursday, April 7th from 19.00-20.00h. You still have time to sign up!

We are happy to announce our second edition of our Round Table Series: Creativity in Business, is it a paradox? 

If you did not get the chance (opportunity) to join us last month, make sure you save the date and time on Thursday, April 7th from 19-20h for some fascinating conversation, debate and a surprise drink and snack.

There is no better way to start Spring than with a skip in your step and great thoughts in your mind!

Please contact us by Tuesday, April 5th if you and/or your friend plan on joining us. Everyone is welcome and this is an all level friendly group, so join us, no matter what your level is.

We look forward to seeing you there and Happy Easter!

Photo Source:http://www.elenikalorkoti.com/Blip-Zine

Last Thursday evening, we had the honor of serving tea and biscuits to our Round table guests and listening to Madeleine’s interesting proposed talk on the evolution of the English Language. We also discussed some differences between British and American English after watching a few takes from this fascinating documentary:  The Adventure of English by Melvyn Bragg

Our participants openly gave their own opinions on their experience with either American or British English and we also discussed whether we should conserve the core of our languages or allow them to evolve and change with time. We spoke about new words added to the Oxford English dictionary, such as: Blog, Clientelism, Emotional Intelligence and Unplugged.

We also shared our thoughts on two questions Madeleine presented: Will this growth of new words and new additions to the language ever stop? and How important is it to protect languages for future generations?

We had a wonderful time speaking and we hope that you can join us on Thursday, March 31st (time to be confirmed) on Creativity in Business | Is it a paradox?  Do not be fooled, this will be much more than just business or creativity!

We hope to see you there!

“If we don’t make mistakes daily we are not pushing the boundaries and challenging the system enough.” Antonio J. Lucio

Happy Monday everyone! Before we begin with a very interesting topic on intelligence, we want to remind you that this week is our first edition of the Round Table Series so remember to sign up and join us on Thursday from 20.00h-21.00h. You can find more information here. We really do hope to see you there!

So, this week’s blog is on how intelligent you think you are and why creativity is so important in both work and learning. More than once I have heard students tell me that it is impossible for them to learn a new language or that they were never really good at learning, or intelligent enough. To be honest, I disagree. Maybe we just need to find a different approach at learning.

I have always believed that we are all creative, every single one of us and luckily Sir Ken Robinson believes the same. Take a look below at this week’s links and see how you can become a more intelligent and creative learner.

Here are Five common mistakes when learning a foreign language. Just imagine, with a little more curiosity and less fear, you could easily go a long way

A very creative video on Ken Robinson speaking about How are you intelligent?

An easy video on Why do we need creativity?

A more advanced video by the author Elizabeth Gilbert on Your elusive (difficult) genius

And you can test your English (maybe you know more than you think you do?)

Finally, here’s a Quiz on commonly confused words in English.

Photo Source

“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” -Eleanor Roosevelt

This year, we want to host a series of fun events that will help you feel even more comfortable with English and as I like to say, help you “step out of the box”. Our first series of events will be our Round Table Conversations or as you better know it: Tertulia.

Did you know that the literal meaning of tertulia in English is Salon which obviously does not evoke the meaning a word like Tertulia has. Therefore, we will have to call them Round Table Conversations.

We want to offer you thought and conversation provoking topics that will get you speaking and thinking at the same time! So please join us every last Thursday of the month for coffee or tea and biscuits and some stimulating talks. All levels and everyone is welcome.

As we head straight into February (is it me, or did January fly by??) Some of us have left our resolutions behind and are focused on other things, like getting your work done before Friday comes around again…

This video, talks about challenging yourself, pushing yourself to an extreme in the name of passion. Would you do it? Do you already challenge yourself to an extreme? And all at an Andante pace or slow tempo (rhythm) How, when, why?

Before we look at the video, lets go over some Wh- word questions. See if you can either construct your own questions or answer the following:

What (object, idea or action) is this person doing?

Where (place) do you think Ruth Boden is from or where is she doing this?

Why (reason–frequently answered with because) would she want to do this?

How (manner) did she get to the top? **did you know you can use many other forms of HOW to get different answers?:       How many (quantity, countable)  How much (amount price, uncountable) How long (duration, length) How often (frequency) How far (distance) How old (age)  How come (reason, similar to why)

Who (person) do you know has done something similar?

While you watch the video, ask yourself a few questions, like:

How does she compare the cello to a human?      Why does she say, “There’s no ticket stub, just a memory?”

Finally, see if you can use some of the adjectives we learned last week to describe the video. Happy watching!

https://aeon.co/videos/a-bach-cello-piece-played-atop-a-mountain-is-as-exhilarating-as-you-d-expect