Author: englishlanguagefluency

Experienced and Qualified Teacher of English as a Second Language with a background in commercial finance and accounting software.

ON THE FIRST DAY OF CHRISTMAS MY NETWORK GAVE TO ME…

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Dear Network

Merry Christmas and a prosperous, healthy and happy 2025 to all of you and yours.

I have a favour to ask for my Christmas/50th Birthday present and it won’t cost you a penny/centime, just a click and a moment of your time…

Here’s my pitch…  you can read it all or just skip to the end My goal (your gift).

My experience as an English teacher.

Since I left the UK and the corporate world I have been living in France and teaching English online mostly (except for an occasional onsite course at the local Uni).

At first, I was teaching kids in China which was a great internship but over the years I have moved into ESL for business (English as a Second Language).

In France there is something called Compte Personnel de Formation (CPF) which is a pot of money that earners accumulate throughout the year from their – equivalent of UK National Insurance – social/pension contributions. It is used to pay for training in professional development. Learning English comes under that header and a good chunk of my students now are CPF students.

My classes.

CPF training has led me to build my own curriculum based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) and create my own lesson plans based on news articles. I don’t plagiarise – I keep a note of the author and the link in each lesson plan but I use the text in a variety of ways:

I can ask the student to pick out any new or unfamiliar vocabulary which we decipher and put it into sentences of our own. I can read a section and then ask the student to summarise it as a listening/speaking exercise. I can use it to pick out a grammar point and expand on it. If there are any images within the article, these can be used as an exercise – describe the picture to me as if I can’t see it. And I can ask the student to give their thoughts and opinions on the topic of the article.

All of this generates production of English language and practise makes perfect.

Correction is fundamental – most ESL students will not be corrected by colleagues or clients or even friends and family because it can be seen as rude and unnecessary. So, getting feedback from me is vital to improvement.  Typically, I don’t have to ‘correct’ as such, just highlight and ask the student to correct themselves.

My students.

My target market are professionals who use, or want to use, English. They will have learnt English in the past, they can probably talk all day long about the grammar rules etc. but when it comes to speaking and comprehension, they feel they have a gap.
They want to sound professional when they speak English, in the same way they do when they speak their native language.
They don’t want to miss key points in a meeting because they are trying to figure out what that phrasal verb meant.
And they would love to be able to speak English without an obvious accent.

My goal (your gift).

2025 is the year that I will move from mainly sub-contracting to mainly finding my own clients and so, to my request – I am fairly certain that all of my LinkedIn network are native English speakers – I ask that you share this post with any of your network that might help me access a non-native-English-speaking network.

Thanks in advance 😀 and have a good one.

A is for Apple…

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Most of us feel confident that we know how to pronounce the names of widely known companies. This included an Italian student I taught. I still recall the look of horror on his face when he realised he had been pronouncing a company name incorrectly ever since school. This is every second language learner’s nightmare, and I could tell he was thinking about all the people in front of whom he had made this mistake.

I cringe at my own mistakes, so I understand his embarrassment. But he isn’t alone; I have met other students who also struggle with this issue. For some, “A is for apple” as in the song …now I know my ay bee cee…
A deeply unhelpful song for second language learners.

If you would like to follow me for more British English pronunciation tips you can find me on TikTok: @englishfluencybeth

L’Anglais pour le Vigneron – 1

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Récemment, j’ai créé un stage pour un client qui travaillait dans le vignoble. Mon client voulait pouvoir parler avec confiance aux visiteurs anglophones sur les processus de culture des raisins, de vinification et de bouteille de vin ainsi que de pouvoir fournir avec confiance un service à la clientèle et des conseils de vente.

Il s’est avéré que cela pourrait être très utile à beaucoup de gens en France (avec des clients venant d’Amérique, Canada, Australie et Nouvelle-Zélande ainsi que le Royaume-Uni), j’ai donc décidé d’offrir une partie de la langue dans mon blog . C’est un sujet énorme donc j’ai pris une petite section du sujet.

Je suis d’origine écossaise, donc vous devez comprendre que ma connaissance du processus était limitée. Je n’avais pas d’autre choix que de rechercher le sujet. Il a fallu quelques dégustations … hic! Mais surtout, j’ai lu des sites Web et des livres, ce qui sans surprise, offert plus de perspicacité. Voici une partie de la langue que j’ai utilisée dans ma stage dans son contexte.

J’ai inclus quelques indices en français.

The vine.

Vines (vignes) like to climb, therefore many winegrowers use posts (poteau) linked by wires called a trellis. How the vines are trained on a trellis is an artform (Forme d’art), designed to ensure maximum exposure of leaves and grapes to sunlight (lumière).

The procedure of cutting back the vines, severely in winter and lightly over the summer, is called pruning or to prune (pruneau).

Some vines, if pruned harshly enough can grow without a trellis and these are called ‘goblet’ vines or ‘bush’ vines. These are sometimes considered to produce (produire) superior grapes because they are more deeply rooted (bien enraciné).

Phylloxera devastatrix sounds like something from an Asterix comic however, its impact on wine growers was literally Devastatrix (devastating – dévastateur)! The aphid came to Europe from America in the nineteenth century and caused around 20 years of damage to vineyards and winelovers alike.

Because of its arrival, most vines have been grafted (greffé) from two species – American Vitis which had become resistant and Vitis vinifera.

Areas with sandy soil (sol)seem to have avoided the impact of Phylloxera and retain ungrafted vines.

Here are a few notes on writing an email for business purposes…

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Note: communications are becoming much less formal these days but if the person you are writing to is unknown to you, its best to err on the side of caution and be more formal.

Standard openings – Formal

Dear Sir/Madam (if you have no contact names)

To Whom It May Concern (if you have no contact names) – used rarely as it is quite old fashioned.

Possibly better to use FAO (For the Attention Of) sales/reception/complaints department, usually to a generic company email address such as sales@, info@ or complaints@.

You are more likely to use …

Dear Mr Smith/Dear John

Dear Mrs Jones/Dear Jane

Standard openings – Informal

Hi John/Jane

Hey there! (American)

Starting the email

My name is … and I am contacting you because…

If you have spoken to the person on the phone and you are following up by email…

Further to our conversation, …

Thanks for your time this afternoon/this morning, …

As discussed, please find attached my quotation/CV for your consideration.

When applying for a job (Be formal!)

I wish to apply for the position (reference …) as advertised on jobsite/reed/monster/etc etc.

I am the ideal candidate for the role because…

[List what you can bring to the role]

I have attached my CV for your consideration, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Signing off

Kind regards – this is the most common sign off that you will see, in fact most business people have this as part of their automated email signature. It covers both formal and informal.

You may also see Best regards although this is uncommon.

These are extremely formal:

Yours Sincerely/Faithfully – you use Sincerely if you have begun the message with Dear Mr FamilyName/Mrs FamilyName. You only use Faithfully if you have begun Dear Sir/Madam (or TWIMC) ie you don’t know their name.

I hope this comes in useful but if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to send me a message!

Immersion totale en anglais

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Nouveau service à partir d’avril 2017.

Passez vos vacances immergé dans la langue anglaise et la culture dans un bel emplacement français avec de nombreux endroits à visiter dans la région.
Nous sommes un ménage natif de langue anglaise, nous avons des accents non régionaux clairs et un grand sens de l’humour britannique!

Vous recevrez des leçons structurées chaque jour en anglais général ou d’affaires ainsi que d’autres activités telles que des promenades guidées, des balades à vélo et des visites des sites de la région, tous avec narration en anglais et la conversation.
Vous pourrez cuisiner avec nous et manger des plats fraîchement préparés, parfois avec nos amis parlant anglais (et français) et vraiment vous submerger dans la langue anglaise.

Et quand il fait trop chaud pour faire autre chose, vous pouvez nager dans notre piscine ou vous détendre sous le parapluie sur la terrasse.

Votre professeur est Beth, 150 heures TEFL qualifiés avec un anglais avancé pour les affaires, un baccalauréat en études commerciales et plus de 20 ans d’expérience dans des domaines tels que la finance commerciale et logiciels de comptabilité au Royaume-Uni.

Nous avons une immense bibliothèque remplie de livres fictifs et non-fictifs en langue anglaise ainsi qu’une sélection de télévision en langue anglaise et de films à regarder.

Nos chambres sont confortables, chacune avec salle de bain privée et toilettes.

Nous avons exellent signal mobile et wi-fi.

Les prix dépendent de vos besoins et numéros de leçon, mais généralement pour la pension complète et hébergement et 2 heures de leçons structurées par jour le coût est:
100 € par personne et par jour pour un seul étudiant.
160 € par jour pour un couple partageant une chambre.

S’il vous plaît noter qu’en raison de la situation et le terrain, notre Moulin n’est probablement pas idéal pour les personnes ayant des difficultés de mobilité ou ayant besoin d’accès en fauteuil roulant, mais s’il vous plaît n’hésitez pas à contacter si vous souhaitez poser une question. Nous ne pouvons pas accepter les enfants de moins de 14 ans.

2016 is coming to a close…

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Now normally I would be well on the way to merriment, watching something on the TV or with friends and family but this year is different. For me anyway.

I have spent today completing my final TEFL assignment (unfortunately, I doubt my tutor will be marking it over the weekend), creating my own webpage and updating my new business social media.

My mission statement for this year is to establish myself as a tutor of English as a foreign language whether that be as a self-employed tutor or a position within a business or university. And it will be in France.

My next task will be to get my CV looking fabulous and submit it to a number of businesses in the Castres area. Focussing on Accountancy practices as that plays to my current strengths and experience.

Roll on 2017!

Best wishes for the New Year.