Kaplan International Colleges is celebrating winning two awards at the Cambridge English Centenary CEM Meeting.

Kaplan London Exam Centre, which is part of Kaplan International’s English language school in Leicester Square, is the only school to take home two awards at the event in Somerset House, including: “Best performing new centre” and “Best use of Facebook for promotion”.

Cambridge English exam centres from around the country gathered at the awards ceremony in the historic and picturesque surroundings of Somerset House to be acknowledged for their outstanding contributions to the Cambridge English Language Assessment mission in the United Kingdom.

Those who want to study English in London with Kaplan can choose its location in Leicester Square, a Cambridge ESOL examination centre, located in a modern building in the heart of the capital. The school helps students get ready for several Cambridge Exam Preparation courses, such as the First Certificate (FCE), the Certificate in Advanced English (CAE) or the Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE).

Words

to acknowledge: to confirm, to give attention to.

outstanding: very good, exceptional.

If you read the newspapers from around the world, or just look out the window, you will find that summer appears to be arriving earlier each year.

The official start of summer is still more than a month away. Yet many parts of the world are experiencing very warm weather.

Weather patterns in recent years have been undergoing tremendous changes. Warmer summers are preceded by colder winters.

There is only one person who is responsible for whether you are going to have a good or a bad day today.

That person is you.

Whatever others may say to you, they cannot change your mood. Only you can do that.

You are the only one who can take control over what kind of a day you are going to have.

Research by Kaplan International Colleges revealed that 63% of surveyed English learners thought that their English grammar or spelling was no worse due to using text speak, such as LOL and YOLO.

This claim came despite 5% of those surveyed stating that they use text speak when writing essays and 3% asserting that they use it during exams.

The survey also discovered that 71% use text speak when texting on phones, 64% use it online and 14% actually use it while speaking out loud.

You can see more results of the survey in Kaplan’s English for Teenagers Infographic.

LOL and THX were the most used text speak acronyms by English learners.

-66% use LOL and THX
-63% use OMG
26% use 2MORO
21% use GR8
-12% use YOLO

77% use text speak because:

“It is faster than writing full words.”
15% use text speak because: “Everybody else does it.”
3% use text speak because: “My parents cannot read it.”

English for Teenagers Kaplan infographic

Klingon is an invented language which is spoken by a fictional group of people in the Star Trek television and film series.

Several works, such as Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Much Ado About Nothing, have been performed on stage in Klingon.

There is also a Klingon dictionary.

According to Wikipedia, there are between 20 to 30 people who can converse in Klingon fluently.

Words

to converse: to speak, hold a conversation.

Two storks in their nest.

The arrival of the storks.

Like clockwork, they arrive in their nests every March – after their long journey from Africa — just as the region thaws out from the winter cold.

The storks remain in Central Europe until the end of August.

Words

to thaw out: to warm up.

Enter and win an English course with Kaplan.

Fans of Kaplan’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/kic) are being given the opportunity to vote on a series of photographs.

One lucky judge will win an English course at any Kaplan English language school!

The contest ends on May 13th.

Kaplan has English language schools in some of the world’s most desirable locations, such as London, New York, Sydney and Singapore.

More than 1,000 student photos have been submitted over the past month and 30 have made the final cut. Imagine yourself as Simon Cowell and help select the winner.

When was the last time you found a letter from a friend or family member in your mailbox?

Many of us have not received a letter by snail mail in several years – aside from cards at holidays and birthdays.

A letter is something you can keep, whereas emails are fleeting. Computers can break down or emails can be deleted accidentally. Therefore, we can lose a piece of communication forever.

Besides, it is often the case that one can say more in a letter than in an email.

Words

snail mail: mail sent by post.

fleeting: not lasting, temporary.

Listen here

Three balls for juggling.

Throw one of the balls in your right hand up in the air.

When that ball is about to come down, throw the ball in your left hand under it.

Throw the other ball in your right hand under that ball.

Then keep going.

And going.

And going.

A new study by Kaplan International Colleges has found that 40% of ESL teachers play songs by the Beatles to help their students learn English.

Simple English News also took part in this study, which led to Kaplan’s How to Teach English Infographic.

Learn English with Kaplan

ESL teachers used classics by the Fab Four – a nickname for the Beattles — such as Hey Jude, Love Me Do and A Hard Day’s Night, in their classes.

“”What a great way to learn any language – by learning through music,” said James McCartney, the only son of Paul McCartney.

Michael Jackson, Bob Marley and Elvis also scored high in Kaplan’s survey.