Who is it for?
Here's what people who come to us say most often:
- "I had English at school, but I don't remember a thing."
- "I understand when I listen and read, but when I have to say something, I freeze."
- "I'm missing simple, everyday phrases. I manage at work, but when someone starts chatting by the coffee machine, it gets tough."
Or maybe you can tell the Past Perfect from the Present Perfect with ease and know conditionals inside out, but you still don't know how to say "Wywietrz mieszkanie" or "Jadę na działkę (ROD)"?
Here's a hint:
- "Wywietrz mieszkanie" = Air out the room
- "Jadę na działkę (ROD)" = I'm going to my allotment.
If you've had similar thoughts, or you feel stuck somewhere at "ETERNAL B1" – you've come to the right place. We specialise in breaking through the language block and teaching everyday language.
Warm-ups come in many forms
We start our classes with a language warm-up. There are two kinds of warm-ups – "block-breaking" and "developing".
The first help you switch to English naturally – without a clear line and an announcement of "now please start speaking English". The second are meant to build your vocabulary.
For the language block, we use simple time-limited games, e.g. Taboo or 5 Seconds, where we focus on the game rather than on how correct our words are. This helps you open up and switches off the thinking that wakes our inner critic shouting "Mistake!". Another example of this kind of warm-up is short dialogues – someone throws in a sentence and you react straight away. First thought, first answer. There are no right or wrong answers here.
An example of a "developing" warm-up could be spoken charades in which we hide words such as clothes pegs, dandruff, heartburn, extension cord or bottle cap. That way you learn new words that are useful every day.
Lesson topics
We use our own materials, which we create according to the saying "necessity is the mother of invention" – we keep watching what our students need and gradually add new topics to our resources.
Example topics:
- "Small talk about being sick" – a mini-guide to making small talk while complaining about your health
- "How to be excited" – how to get excited in English
- "Daily rants" – about the grievances of everyday life
We also have materials with expressions for the café, the pharmacy, the restaurant, the plane, the hotel and many, many other places. The highlight of every handout is the dialogues and the "spoken" part, where we practise the newly learned vocabulary and grammar straight away.
Exactly – what about grammar?
We always say that grammar is an inseparable part of learning a language. When we get requests like "I'd like to come to lessons, but I don't want to learn grammar", we can't fulfil them, because we believe grammar is essential if you want to be fully understood.
We do it our own way, though 😊 The most important thing is to practise each topic straight away. Theory and hundreds of exercises won't make us start speaking. It's the same with vocabulary – if we don't say a word out loud, there's a good chance we'll never use it.
When we introduce new topics, we go straight to practice – and, just as importantly, we connect them right away with the other tenses and structures, instead of learning them one at a time. One of our favourite lessons is an entirely spoken lesson on the Present Perfect and the Present Perfect Continuous. By the end, students give a fluent monologue combining these two tenses with four others. It's impressive.
Let's improvise
"I like that nobody quizzes me about my private life."
"It's great that we make up new situations instead of talking about the same thing all the time."
These are some of the things we've heard from our students.
We use drama to practise natural, real-life dialogues that we can't actually live through in class – for example ordering a drink on a plane, buying medicine for a child's travel sickness or asking for a lid for your cup at a café. This way students practise everything they'll need in everyday situations.
Incognito mode
The teacher doesn't need to know what you do for a living or whether you have a wife, children, a cat or a lizard if you don't feel comfortable sharing it. We're here to learn natural language – not to pry into the details of your life. How much you tell us about yourself is entirely up to you.
This is where improv comes to the rescue – in our lessons you can be whoever you want.
What's more, theatre improv sparks creativity, and in adult life there isn't that much room for it. By creating short scenes and dialogues, we take in new vocabulary and practise correct pronunciation. Improvising also has a therapeutic side – we laugh a lot, and laughter is the best medicine.
So as not to stay in the realm of theory – an example. Today we learned three words: tyres, bumper and indicator. We act out a scene: one of you is selling a car, the other plays the buyer and asks about the details.
We love mistakes!
Mistakes are a very important part of learning a language – if we're not making any, we're probably not saying anything. They're the only thing that can push us forward. Here we adults can learn a lot from children, who can say "I was eating malajny yesterday" with a smile, pride and a perfect accent. They meant maliny, of course – raspberries – and now they know the right word. That's the kind of confidence we're fighting for!
Another common fear is the fear of being judged. We really relate to the saying: "Other people think about you less than you think." Most often, the feeling that someone is just waiting for us to slip up exists only in our heads.
Language courage can be learned!
Results
Our students admit that lessons at Languart helped them get rid of their language block and cure their language perfectionism. We've often heard things like "I've never spoken so much in class" or "I didn't know I was this creative."
Classes with us make you feel more confident – you're able to talk about all sorts of topics, including those conversations "about everything and nothing" by the proverbial coffee machine. 😄
If any part of this made you feel you'd like to join us – send us a message using the form below.
And… see you in class!
We offer classes in small groups of 3–4, in pairs or one-to-one.