Learning English: Choosing
an English Language School

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

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NOTE: This FAQ page is intended to offer good, ordinary advice to people who want to learn English.  For this reason the English used here is as simple and direct as possible.  The page is not intended to give English teachers material to argue about, and although it comes from Severnvale Academy, U.K. it is only partly intended as an advertisement for our school - if we think other English language schools may do some things better, we say so.  But of course we believe that the way we teach English is best - or we would teach it some other way!
 

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Links to other useful information

Why learn English? What is the best way to learn English? So how do I find the best way of learning English for me?  How can I describe my level of English now? Does my native ( = first) language make any difference? How long will it take me to learn English?  Is it necessary to go to an English-speaking country?  Which English-speaking country is the best to learn in? What kind of place is it best to study in - city or countryside? What kind of accommodation is best?  Which is better - a big school or a small one?  Do small classes matter?  How can I compare one English language school with another? Do I need to study grammar? How do I learn enough words?  Which is the best dictionary to get? How important is pronunciation? What about exams? If I need to use English for my work, should I study Business English?

On this site Comparing language schools Business English FAQ Examinations FAQ Levels of English Send us your question On other sites Severnvale General English Severnvale sitemap British Council FAQ ..... directory of UK  Schools ARELS School finder

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1. Why learn English?
   There are lots of facts you can find which help to persuade you that learning English is a good idea - 400 million first language speakers, 700 million second or foreign language speakers, over a billion people learning it right now!  And over 80% of the information stored in the world's computers is in English, more than half the world's scientific journals are in English, it's the main language on the internet, and so on*.  The reason is not hard to find: nowadays it's the enormous political and economic power of the USA, though British imperialism in the last century is another important, historical reason. 
   The result is that more and more every day, people expect you to know some English, and it's not only  English speaking people who expect it - another fact often given is that 80% of the English used in the world is used between non-native speakers.  In short, it's become the main way you get around, the main way you get things done, the way you make friends, the way you do business with a foreign country, the way you get information.
   If English was just a boring, practical language for getting business done - a sort of computer programming language - this growth in its use would be horrible, and we would all have to fight it.  But luckily it isn't only that.  It's a rich language, with many forms and varieties, ever changing to meet the needs of the modern world, but also with a rich cultural history.  If you learn English well, you have access to one of the biggest and brightest bodies of literature that has ever existed, as well as to the many new examples of its power, as in films and song lyrics.
   And lastly, it is a rich language.  There are many things which other languages do better, but English has excellent flexibility and great richness of vocabulary - features which make it hard to learn but very satisfying when you can begin to control and use it.  So even when you have some English, it's a good idea to try and get more: learning English is one activity where you can be sure you will never be wasting your time.
    *For a few more facts, go to http://www.britishcouncil.org/english/engfaqs.htm.
    
2. What is the best way to learn English?

The first answer is: Nobody knows.  And the second answer is that because nobody knows the best way to learn English, there isn't one. It's an old fantasy for learners and for teachers - to find the one perfect key.  So many teachers, English language schools, universities, academics, business people, etc., say that they know the best way to learn languages, but that's only to make money.  Don't believe them.
At Severnvale our experience has taught us that there are three simple conditions for good progress:
• You must be positive about learning English. It doesn't matter why you're positive - because you enjoy language, or because you hope to get a better job - but you must feel enthusiastic about it.
• You must feel relaxed, comfortable and secure - not only in the classroom, but outside it too
• You must accept that quantity matters as much as quality - in other words don't waste too much time worrying about the best way to learn English when you can spend time reading, writing, talking or listening to English instead!  Doing a lot of language is better than doing one little bit perfectly.
(And  something else we've learned is that it's possible to make some progress even if none of those conditions are right!)
But one thing that all teachers and academics agree about is that people are different - different people learn better in different ways.  So the really important factor is to find the best way for you to learn English.
 
3. So how do I find the best way of learning English for me?

You need three things - all easy to say, but a little more difficult to do or get:-
• You need good advice.  The best advice is of course from your English teachers - people who know you, and have seen how you learn and who are professionals in language learning.
• You need to ask yourself what things you really like doing which use language - reading, using the web, writing to friends, listening to songs, etc. - then you need to find ways of doing as much as you possibly can of those activities in English.
• You need to ask yourself what ways of learning you find best for anything - not only languages, but maths or history. Do you like to learn lists by heart? Do you like to learn rules?  Or do you just like to 'pick things up' with no definite plan?

 
4. How can I describe my level of English now?

Many people agree in recognising 7 levels of ability in English:
1. Beginner;  2. Elementary;   3. Low (or Pre-) Intermediate;   4. Intermediate;
5. Upper Intermediate;   6. Advanced;   7. Proficient
But of course different countries, examination centres, schools and teachers have different views on how many levels there are, and also disagree about how you can describe each level.  You can read our (Severnvale's) detailed description of each level by clicking through to a special page: Severnvale Levels of English
 
5. Does my native ( = first) language make any difference?

Unfortunately, yes, it does.  If your first language is European then (apart from Hungarian and Finnish and a few other minor ones) it will have a similar basic grammatical structure to English, but if it is Eastern or African the structure may be very different.  Even in Europe there can be quite big differences: most European languages have Articles ("the" and "a/an") but Slavic languages like Russian and Czech generally don't.  Pronunciation system is another big difference: English has a North European system, but the pronunciation system of Spanish, for example, is very different - almost nearer to Japanese than to English!
Just remember that however strange and different and even stupid the English language seems to you to be, a lot of people from your country have learned it, and some of those have learned it well.  So don't worry too much if your progress seems slower than that of other people in your class - it may just be easier for them than it is for you, and that is not your fault.
 
6. How long will it take me to learn English?

Of course, this question can only be answered with a lot of "it depends".  In particular, it depends on:-
• the level you start from (see Question 4, above)
• the level you want to finish at
• how good a natural language learner you are
• how good and how motivated a student you are
• your first language (see Question 5, above).
• how intensively you are studying (how many lessons a week)
• how much of your non-studying time you spend using (reading, talking, studying, etc.) English

All we can do here is to give you two examples:-

• It is quite common for an average learner/student studying with us on a medium intensity course (28 lessons - that's 21 hours - per week) to go from Low (or Pre-) Intermediate level to Upper Intermediate, or even early Advanced, in about three months.
• A very motivated student with a natural ability for language-learning, on an intensive course, can go from Elementary level to the early stages of Advanced in about 6 months, even if her/his first language is not one from which it is easy to learn English.

 
7. Is it necessary to go to an English-speaking country?

Not 100% necessary, but a very good idea.  The reason is clear.  If, for example you are doing an intensive course you are in school for perhaps seven hours a day.  At all other times - evening, weekends, and even breaks in school - you are with people who will probably be speaking your own first language, and not English.  So you use English for maybe 25% of your waking life.  But in an English-speaking country you might say just a few words in your own language to a friend sometimes, but apart from that you would use (not only speak, but hear or read) English for 100% of your waking time.
 
8. Which English-speaking country is the best to learn in?

It doesn't matter too much.  If you are going for a long course and you are a good learner, then the country you choose may affect your English accent - but probably only a little.  Much more important are:
• the country you want to live in while you do your course;
• finding a good school - so it's very important to choose an English-speaking country where there is a long and good tradition of teaching English as a foreign language.  In a country with a good tradition, you will find a lot of language schools to choose from;
• being able to find a place which doesn't have too many people from your own country in it.

 
9. What kind of place is it best to study in - city or countryside?

It's better to look at this from a different point of view - first start to choose your school, then use the kind of place where it is as one of the factors that helps your decision.  Some people want to do a language course in a place that is as similar as possible to where they usually live.  Others want a complete contrast.  Some good questions to ask yourself about the place you think you want to choose are:
• If I'm doing a long course, is a contrast from where I live a good idea?
• Do I want a place where there are many foreign students like myself, or somewhere more typical of the country?
• Is this place in a good location for visiting other places of interest?
• Am I going to need a car?
• Has the place got the kinds of things that interest me (nightlife, history, good shops, cinemas, etc.)?
• Can I find a good compromise - a place which has a bit of everything?

 
10. What kind of accommodation is best?

The main choices for most people (not all schools offer all these choices) with their advantages and disadvantages are given below.  Don't forget that a good language school will help you with many of the disadvantages - for example, if you are not happy with a host family or a hotel, a good school will help you to change your accommodation. 

Type of accommodation	Advantages	Disadvantages
Hotel / guest house / demi-pension / bed and breakfast	Independence!	Expensive (and if not expensive possibly not nice); Can be lonely, especially at weekends If lonely, it's because there's no-one to talk to, and if there's no-one to talk to that's not good for your English!
Self-catering accommodation	Even more independence!	Even more danger of loneliness and having few opportunities to use and practise your English.
Campus / student residence / hostel	Independence from close adult supervision; Can result in meeting other students; Usually less expensive than a hotel.	Not many language schools can offer this; Not always as cheap as it should be; Not very flexible - if you don't like it, there isn't much to change to; Can sometimes have quite strict rules about times, noise, etc.; Danger that the other students you meet most easily will be those who speak your language - so you might not use English.
Host family	Gives you the opportunity to speak English for most of your time outside school; Not so expensive; Gives you people who feel responsible for helping you with English and everyday life; No worries about meals, etc.; Gives you companionship in evenings and at weekends.  The host family often becomes the basis of a student's social life; Can often lead you to meet other English speaking people - family friends and relatives; Quite often leads to a relationship which continues after the course; Gives you real experience of the culture and way of life.	You have to adapt to the way of life of a) a different culture, and b) a different family; Can be difficult if you decide you don't like some things, such as the food, the way of life, one of the family members; May not give you as much independence as you want.



11. Which is better - a big school or a small one?

We must be honest here.  Our school - Severnvale - is a small one, and we strongly believe that is best.  But people's needs are different, and some prefer big schools.
The advantages of a big school are very obvious: you have more of many important things - more courses to choose from, more teachers with specialisms to offer, more students to choose friends from, more facilities (bar, cafeteria, maybe even a cinema...), more equipment (computers, videos...), more books, cassettes and CDRoms, and (often, but not always) more specially prepared materials for learning.  But note that a few big schools prefer to spend their money on making their courses cheaper rather than spending on extra equipment and facilities. (See Question 13, below )
With a small school one advantage is very clear: there will not be so many students of your nationality and/or language, speaking your language outside the classroom - in breaks, etc. - and it is easier for the school's teachers to put pressure on students to speak English all the time.
Other advantages of small schools are not quite so clear to state, because they are more personal, but they are very real.  It is much easier to know where you are and what you should do. You don't have a long period at the beginning of your course where you feel strange and alone, because people - teachers and other staff and specially the other students - are friendly from the beginning.  And after you have been there only a short time you find that you know all the teachers and many of the students.  You know which person (teacher) is the best to ask for help on a particular problem.
Most of all, a small school can provide the relaxed and friendly atmosphere in which you feel more confident, and which we therefore think is such a basic condition for good progress in language learning (see Question 2, above).
 
12. Do small classes matter?

We have no doubt about this one.  Yes, they make a big difference.  The mathematics is clear: 10 students in a one-hour class gives a maximum of 6 minutes per student for contributing; 6 students allows 10 minutes each.  But even if you are not the kind of student who likes to contribute by speaking in lessons as much as possible, small classes are better because the teacher and the students can be much more aware of what is happening - who understands and who does not, for example, or who wants to speak and who wants to hear a little more first.
In choosing your language school, therefore, the size of the classes is one of the most important factors in relation to the price (see Question 13, below)
 
13. How can I compare one English language school with another?

Most people have limited money, and everyone wants good value for money.  With language schools it's like holidays - we probably know what we want, but no single holiday offers absolutely everything we want.  With language schools it's similar, but there are important differences; you want some of the things you want from a holiday (a nice place, things to see, etc.) but you also want the professional service - the teaching, etc. - to be as good as possible.
So click here for a professional (but also) personal list of some of the factors you can compare.  You have probably thought of most of them, but one or two may be new.  It is not an ordered list, but we have tried to put some of the more important things near the top.  We have also done it on a separate page so that you can print it out and use it if you want.
 
14. Do I need to study grammar?

The easy answer is 'Of course not'.  You learned your first language, as all young children do, without the help of a grammar book.  You could use verbs correctly for many years before you knew what they were.
On the other hand, you are now an adult.  Children spend many, many more hours than you can, learning their first language, so it is a good idea to look for some more direct, quicker ways of learning.  And as an adult you can understand how grammar works, but a young child can not.
So perhaps it is not very clever only to imitate the methods of the child (although quite a lot of teachers still believe that this  is the main way we learn).  If you look at the answer to Question 2, above, you'll see that grammar is just part of the bigger question, and so the answer is the same: nobody really knows how much knowledge of grammatical rules helps you to speak better, but most teachers think it helps most learners.  The important thing is to decide if you feel it helps you.  Your state of mind is so much the most important factor that if you feel it helps you, it probably does, and if you feel it's a waste of time, it probably is (see also Question 3).
 
15. How do I learn enough English words?

Words are of course the very first thing you have to have in a language (pronunciation is the second - see Question 17, below).   Systematic learning is specially good for learning words - making lists of words related to each other, putting labels on things, writing words on cards, making your own dictionary, and so on.  In other words, you learn words best by hard work; you remember or reinforce them by use.  It's most important to remember that speaking is not the only form of use.  Reading and studying are also use.  For example, you probably learnt most of the more advanced vocabulary of your own language by reading, and by learning other things than simply words - so, in Chemistry, first your teacher explained a term, then as you did more chemistry you used it and remembered it.
For everyday words, you will probably meet a lot of new ones while doing your English course.  The best way to learn them is to write them down when you first hear them, then in the evening do some systematic work on them - rewriting, reorganising, them.  And all the time, whenever you have a spare moment, keep reading in English - read anything that interests you.  That way you will have a good chance of meeting again the words you have learned.
 
16. Which is the best dictionary to get?

To begin with, of course you will probably use an English-to-your-language (or 'bi-lingual') dictionary, but it's better, as soon as you can, to get onto an English-English dictionary.  Unless you are very advanced, it is much better to get a 'Learner' dictionary.  This just means that the normal kind of dictionary is adapted so as to give more of the kind of information a learner of English will need, and not so much of the strange information a native speaker often wants.
The other thing you should look for is the name of the publisher.  Most learner dictionaries are produced by well-known publishers, and all of them have a lot of good points and a few less good points. But it's a good idea to check that you know the publisher's name.
After this it's a question of price and convenience.  Ideally you should get a big dictionary for use at home (there should be some at your language school, of course) and a pocket dictionary to carry around with you.  For the big one, don't forget about quantity - if you have two to compare, of a similar price just check how many pages each one has, and how many words on the page, and get the one with most.
 
17. How important is pronunciation?

There's a simple answer to this too.  It's the next most important after vocabulary.  You need words first, but then you need pronunciation, because it's no use having words if people can't understand the words when you say them!
But people often get too worried about pronunciation, and want to pronounce English 'correctly', so here's an idea which may surprise you: there is no such thing as 'correct pronunciation'.  It doesn't exist.  Asking what is correct pronunciation is a bit like asking what the correct length for a book is.  We all know that some books feel too long, others too short, and some are just right.  So, with pronunciation: it depends what you want to do with your English.

(One reason that the idea of correct pronunciation started was that in Britain, the more educated, upper-class people used to think that everyone - not so much foreigners learning English, as British people with local accents - ought to try and talk like them.  So you got phrases like "the King's [or Queen's] English", "BBC English", "Standard English" and "RP [Received Pronunciation]."  There are still many English people who think like this, but if you use the phrase "Standard English" in a country like the USA, people will think you're mad. In the USA, if you're a Texan you talk like a Texan - you don't try and talk like a New Yorker.)

The best answer to correctness seems to be that if you are a Japanese person using English, there is nothing wrong with sounding like a Japanese person using English - it's much better than sounding like a Japanese person who is trying to sound like a Londoner but just can't quite do it!
But of course there is another side to pronunciation, which is that you want people to understand you.  So many people are using English nowadays that it means quite a lot of very different kinds of speakers have to understand them.  (Don't by the way always think it's your fault if they don't understand you.  Your English may be better than theirs, and anyway even native speakers fail to understand each other quite often.)  So what you need if you want people to understand you is really the most 'neutral' kind of accent.  Most countries have a more neutral form of their different accents or dialects - one that everyone can understand - often the form used on national television or radio - and usually it's the form that people from other countries can understand too.  In Britain the form is the same as what used to be called 'Standard English'.  So whatever English-speaking country you're in, take that form as your model, and don't worry if you put a bit (but not too much!) of your own accent on top of it.  People will know better who you are.
 

18. What about exams?

Some people like to do exams because it gives them a focus, an aim, motivation.  Some are not interested.  If you are interested we have a separate Examination FAQ page with information about exams, and links to major sites..  Also, have a look at the general information on Severnvale's Examination Courses page.
 
19. If I need to use English for my work, should I study Business English?

Probably the answer is Yes, but as with exams we have a separate FAQ page on Business English.  Also, have a look at the general information on Severnvale's Business English Courses page.