New website

We are in the process of updating the website for the New Year. All of the information and links are in place, but please excuse the unfinished appearance! We are working on the changes and hopefully will have the updates ready early in the New Year.

What's On in November

5th November - French Beginners, The Red Lion, Digby
7th November - Spanish Beginners, Dunston Village Hall

12th November - November newsletter

12th November - French Beginners, The Red Lion, Digby
14th November - Spanish Beginners, Dunston Village Hall

19th November - French Beginners, The Red Lion, Digby
21st November - Spanish Beginners, Dunston Village Hall

24th November - Race Night, Scopwick Village Hall, 7.30pm
Organised by and in aid of Scopwick and Kirkby Green Playing Field Association.
HS Language Services is sponsoring this event.

26th November - French Beginners, The Red Lion, Digby
28th November - Spanish Beginners, Dunston Village Hall

30th November - Lincoln Business Club

What's On in October

1st October - French Beginners, The Red Lion, Digby
3rd October - Spanish Beginners, Dunston Village Hall

8th October - French Beginners, The Red Lion, Digby
10th October - Spanish Beginners, Dunston Village Hall

15th October - French Beginners, The Red Lion, Digby
17th October - Spanish Beginners, Dunston Village Hall

The Shaw Way to Language Learning...

...was launched this week at the French Beginners class in Digby. This is a course designed by me and has been developed as a very practical course for those wanting to communicate as soon as they arrive in the country.
www.theshawway.co.uk will hopefully be up and running in the New Year. In the meantime, if you wish to follow The Shaw Way, make sure you book your lessons soon!

New languages for HS Language Services

We are now in a position to offer Polish and English as a Second Language for tuition. I'm very excited about this development, which now adds to the portfolio of French, German and Spanish.
English as a Second language will be available for private tuition, and I hope to offer classes in the near future. Classes can also be arranged privately for firms and organisations who require English tuition for their employees.

What's On in September

5th September - Back to school

17th September - French Beginners, The Red Lion, Digby
19th September - Spanish Beginners, Dunston Village Hall

24th September - French Beginners, The Red Lion, Digby
26th September - Spanish Beginners, Dunston Village Hall

26th September - European Day of Languages

Press Release

Read our first press release here:

Learn languages in your local? What a refreshing idea!

A local language company is running language classes at the local pub.

A local pub and language company are working together to bring language learning to the rural community.

French and Spanish beginners classes are being run at the Red Lion Pub in Digby, organised and taught by tutors of HS Language Services of Scopwick, Lincolnshire (www.hslanguageservices.co.uk).

“Many people work in Lincoln and Sleaford and do not want to return again for their evening class. We decided to bring language classes to their doorstep in a relaxed and informal environment,” explains Helen Shaw, founder of HS Language Services.

The courses run at the Red Lion for 10 weeks, starting Monday 17^th September 2007 for French Beginners and Tuesday 18^th September 2007 for Spanish Beginners. They cost £50 per person. All resources are included.

Courses are also running in Dunston for French Improvers and Spanish Beginners.

For further information, contact Helen Shaw on 01526 888222 or helen@hslanguageservices.com

HS Language Services is a local business providing language tuition for local people.

Networking

Today was my first experience of networking. I attended the Lincoln Business Club monthly meeting at Lincoln City Football Ground. It was far more friendly and relaxed than I'd expected and I quite enjoyed it. There was the opportunity for 'speed networking' as well as speakers from different areas of business.
The meetings are held on the last Friday of the month 7 - 9am, so I will try and make as many as I can.

Washingborough and Heighington Classes

These daytime classes will be postponed until the New Year. Watch this space for details!

German Summer School

This last week I've been away in Jena, Germany. Jena is in the Bundesland of Thueringen in the East of Germany. I first went two years ago as a compulsory part of my Open University level 2 German course. It's a beautiful town with a fantastic atmosphere.
Eddie Lawler (Lawler Language Services) now runs level 1 and level 3 summer schools, open to everyone. This was an ideal opportunity for me to update my German skills, so I enrolled on the level 3 course. It was a bargain at £400 (we had to find our own way there) for full board, in a fantastic hotel.
There is a full study programme, with lessons in the morning, and usually a trip out in the afternoon. The course content is optional. We covered Science, the local area, Identity, Architecture and Literature as well as taking trips to Erfurt, Cospeda, the Planetarium and, of course, the local pubs and restaurants.
The thought of going abroad alone to do a course where you know no one may seem a little daunting, but it has been a fabulous week and I have met some lovely people. I would certainly recommend the course for next year (indeed I will be attending it!).

Review your learning experience

All of my courses are listed on www.hotcourses.com. This site now has a facility to review courses that you have attended. If you would like to give feedback on the tuition you have received, please go to http://www.hotcourses.com/review/. If you are having private tuition, feedback is still very relevant, and is listed under French one-to-one lesson for example.
I would be very grateful for any feedback at all, the review should only take a couple of minutes to complete.
Hope you all enjoy the summer.

Myspace

I decided to create a Myspace page, mainly for networking purposes. You can find it here.
I'm still finding my way around though, so it looks a little basic at the moment.

What's on in July and August

10th - 24th July - Display of children's work in Woodhall Spa library
Friday 13th July - Wine tasting at Scopwick Village Hall
30th Jul - 2nd August - No teaching this week, enquiries and bookings will still be taken by telephone
11th - 18th August - No teaching this week, although bookings will still be taken by telephone (01526 888222)

July news

Our first newsletter has been written and distributed. It contains the details for our forthcoming events and can be downloaded from the website. I plan a newsletter every 3 months to keep students, old and new, informed of what's happening in HS Language Services.
We are offering 8 courses for adults from September, daytime as well as evening. We are branching out to Welton and Washingborough. I find this very exciting, and hope that they will be well attended.
These courses will not just be taught by me, but by some excellent tutors who will be joining HS Language Services in September. I look forward to introducing them more formally very soon.

Association for Language Learning (ALL)

I have been a member of ALL for about 9 years, and have never really participated in any of the events, just looked forward to reading the journals and receiving news via email.
This ALL London event spoke to me, however, and I took the opportunity to attend this meeting at the Italian Cultural Institute in Belgrave Square.
I attended two sessions: Alternative Accreditation and Primary Language teaching. Both sessions were extremely useful. The AGM was also included in the programme and many issues surrounding language learning were discussed. The main concerns are GCSE examinations and the severity of marking and the quality and provision of Primary language teaching. More information can be found here.
I look forward to attending more of these events.

What's on in June

Saturday 16th June - ALL London Event and Annual Members meeting

Saturday 30th June - Goethe Institute German Teacher Training Day for Primary Teachers

Twinning Associations

The Scopwick and Kirkby Green Twinning Association has been organising visits to and from Sceaux-sur-Huisne in France for the last 13 years. It is an excellent opportunity to experience live in France, and strong friendships have been forged over the years.
We have just had our annual twinning visit this weekend, which has been hugely successful. It is very heartwarming to see French and English together, communicating in a mix of French, English and gesture. It would be great if more families became involved with their local twinning association - everyone gets so much out of it in terms of confidence, friendship, communication.
We had a trip to Burghley House on the Saturday, with a Race Night in the evening. We then had a morning decorating Easter eggs on Sunday, with a visit to Lincoln in the afternoon, and an evening of games, including a Beetle Drive.
It is our turn to visit our French friends in France next year. If you would like to join us, or for further information, please telephone Rosa on 01526 322292.
Details of other twinning associations in the area can be found here.

What's on in April

Monday 2nd April Last session for Digby evening class. Classes will recommence in September. Please check the website for details.

Friday 6th - Monday 9th April Scopwick and Kirkby Green Twinning weekend with Sceaux-sur-Huisne, France

What's on in March

Mondays 5th, 12th, 19th & 26th March Evening class still running at the Red Lion pub in Digby

30th & 31st March Language World 2007, Association for Language Learning

The future for HS Language Services

Enquiries for tuition have been flooding in since the New Year, and I have managed to accommodate most of the requests. We will be expanding this year, and the search for new language tutors continues, so HSLS should be in a position to offer a wider variety of languages in 2007.
I would also like to make the language classes available to more areas of the county, and I am very excited about the use of a pub to hold the courses in. This is really bringing languages into the community, working well for both parties and creating a more informal atmosphere. This is certainly an idea I will be pursuing for future courses.
Primary schools should now be putting their plans into place for languages, with a view to implementing this by 2010. HSLS certainly hopes to increase the number of schools it serves with our successful programme for languages in Primary.

What's on in Feburary

Monday 19th February Half -term, so no evening class this week.

Monday 26th February Evening class will change venue to the Red Lion pub, Digby

What's On in January

Monday 8th January French post-beginners course starts in Scopwick. Places still available.

Tuesday 9th January Look out for our display at Woodhall Spa Library.

Happy New Year!

Wishing all of my past, present and future students and clients all the very best for 2007!