1. Think about what you want to do. Think about the type of job you want, and if you want to work in your native language, or in English. If you would like to get an internship in a place where you know the language, think about what your interests are and what skills you have. Do you want credit towards a university course? Are you looking for a full-time or a part-time position? Are you good enough in the language to work?

2. Search cleverly. It’s much easier to find a job or internship by meeting people.  You can do this by taking courses with other people interested in working in your area.

Sometimes it takes meeting people at events, and other times you can use social media (like Twitter or Facebook) to make the right connections. Do your teachers know anyone that could help you? Do you have any friends or mentors at companies you would like to work for?

Visit career fairs in your area or in the areas that you would want to work, if you can. Talk to people who work in places you are interested in. See what types of positions they have available. If you are in school, there should be someone available to help you search for internships and lead you in the right direction.

Another way to get the right connections, especially if you don’t speak English well enough to work, is to take an English course that offers internship or summer job placement. Courses that offer English language learning and a professional internship can help you build your CV, make connections and gain experience with language and in business.

3. Update your resume/CV. Make sure that your resume is the best it can possibly be, and that all the information is correct, well written, and suits the positions that you’ve applied for. If you have never written a CV/resume before, ask someone for help! It’s very embarrassing to realize you have errors in your resume after you’ve already applied to the internship of your dreams!

4. Follow up after you submit your resume/CV. If you are very interested in a particular internship, there is no harm in calling or e-mailing to check on your application. While some companies do not follow up, there is nothing to lose by sending an e-mail or making a phone call one week after you submit your application. That is unless the application form specifically says “do not call”!

5. Keep applying! The more internships you apply for, the
better your chances of getting one. Don’t pick just one and hope for the best. Choose several internships, and you will get practice with writing cover letters, interviewing and speaking with managers. All of these things are valuable experiences, even if not every one leads to an internship.

If you could intern anywhere, where would it be? Have you had a great internship before? Tell us about it in the comments!

Definition

Noun: “Hipster” is a word used to describe a group of people, usually between their late teens and early thirties. They lead alternative lifestyles and prefer fashion, art, music, food/drinks and films which are outside of the “mainstream”.

Today a hipster could also be described as “trendy”, “bohemian” or “cool”.

 Example

“Ian loves that new indie band – he’s such a hipster!”

History

The word “hipster” started in the 1940’s, when the adjective “hip” was used to describe fans of jazz music. At this time, it was becoming a popular genre amongst young people who wanted to copy the lifestyle of the musicians.

The famous author Jack Kerouac described 1940’s hipsters as “rising and roaming America, bumming and hitchhiking everywhere [as] characters of a special spirituality”

Modern Day Hipsters

Today, the definition of the word is still the same; hipsters are associated with liking alternative music such as indie or jazz, and wearing colourful vintage outfits, which usually come with big 1950’s style glasses. This is a popular style, which can even be found in the Kaplan team!

Big glasses, colourful clothes and a like of indie music - I tick all the boxes!

With his vintage suitcase, our SEO guy Martin is definitely a hipster!

Many people who would be considered hipsters tend to shop at vintage stores or small shops and are interested in buying food and other things from local and small businesses.

Hipsters tend to hang out in up and coming places, which are associated with being cool. San Francisco (especially in the Mission District and SOMA), Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon are 3 of the best-known cities for hipsters. However, other main cities have neighborhoods popular for hipster culture. In New York, two popular areas are Brooklyn and the Lower East Side, whereas in London, Shoreditch and Portobello Road are the main places.

Celebrity hipsters include Mischa Barton, Mark Ronson, Agyness Dean, Michael Cera, Zooey Deschanel and Ryan Gosling.

Would you consider yourself a hipster? Where are the cool places to hang out where you live?

What they found out might surprise you. Instead of looking at every individual word, they instead looked at “base words”, called lemmas. For example, climbing, climbed and climbs are all examples of the word climb. So where one of these words showed up, they recorded it as just another use of the word climb.

They worked out that the top ten most used words in English make up for 25% of all words we use! These are “function words” like the, of, be and to. That means that if we take any text of 100 words, around 25 of them will be one of these words.

What the complete Oxford English Dictionary looks like. That's a lot of words! Courtesy of OUP.

The top 100 most used words in English actually make up 50% of all the words we say every day, and the top 1,000 words account for 75% of our vocabulary. These are words like girl, win, decide, and huge. With only 7,000 words, we’ve covered 90% of all of the words you will use in your lifetime.

The rest are all once-off words or words related to special jobs or subjects, and you aren’t likely to need to use them more than once in your life.

The Top 10 Nouns in English

The top 10 words are all “function words”, but the top 10 nouns tell us a lot about the things we usually speak or read about:

1. time
2. person
3. year
4. way
5. day
6. thing
7. man
8. world
9. life
10. hand

This means that learning all the English words you’ll need is a lot less work than it looks!  If you learn the top 100 words, and how to use all of the different version of them, you’ll be able to speak most basic sentences, minus only one or two words. Of course, the hard part is learning all the ways in which those words can be used.

If you want to build your vocabulary, our Intensive Academic Semester is the fastest way to learn all of the English words you’ll need to hold any conversation in English.

Another example of homophones in the English language are the words “Your” and “You’re”.

You’re

“You’re” is the contraction of “you are”.  It is often followed by the present participle (verb form ending in -ing).

Examples:       

"You're" and "Your": similar sounding, but different meanings!

You’re a good friend.       

Is that what you’re wearing tonight?

 I think you’re being funny.

 You’re running out of time.

I can’t believe you’re a Man City supporter!

Your

“Your” is a second person possessive adjective. It is used to describe something as belonging to you.

“Your” is nearly always followed by a noun

Examples:  

What is your name?                                                                        

Is this your book?

Your keys are on the table.

This is your desk.

What is your favorite food?

Can you complete these sentences?                          

Do you know when to use the different words?

 1)      __________ singing too loudly.

2)      Is that ______________ sister?

3)      __________ being childish.

4)      I’ve made ______ favorite meal

5)      _________ parcel has arrived.

6)      I think ______ a great dancer.

Quick Tips

If you’re able to replace the word with “you are,” you should be saying “you’re”.

Otherwise, the only option is “your”.

Noun: A person who is afraid of technology, or will not use gadgets or the internet

Original: A member of the Luddite movement – a group of British cloth makers who smashed the machines that were taking their jobs.

History of the Luddites

Today, the word “Luddite” is used to describe anyone who refuses to buy a smartphone, or get a Facebook account, or even a computer. But it comes from a  group of people who caused a lot of trouble in the late 1700s, during the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.

In England at the time, most cloth was made by hand by skilled workers in textile (cloth) factories.  Some of the first machines ever made were “mechanical looms” which turned cotton into cloth much faster than a human could.  These meant that fewer workers, who were paid less, could produce much more cloth in a day than the factories which used skilled people instead of machines.

The workers began to lose their jobs to the new machines, and a man called Ned Ludd (who lived in the same forest as Robin Hood, near our English school in Manchester) gathered them in groups, and began to attack the factories.  They smashed up the machines that were taking their jobs, and became the first organised anti-technology group in history.

Ned Ludd

Modern Luddites

These days, we call someone who is afraid of technology a “Luddite”. Nowadays we know that if we didn’t replace workers in textile factories with machines, we wouldn’t have moved on to cars, electronics and airplanes.  But the Luddites were afraid of change, and so they fought against it.

What words do you have in your language to describe someone who is afraid of new technology?

It’s easy, however, to think that the only fun thing to do when you study in Bournemouth is go to the beach, but our students think otherwise! 

Here’s what two Kaplan students have to say about some of the other attractions and life in Bournemouth.

Olesia Rosenko, Russia:

I will never forget this exciting trip to Brownsea Island. To reach this wonderful place you should take a ferry, and in 5 minutes you are there. At first, we saw a beautiful castle, a field called Church Field with a family of peacocks, peahens and peachicks, which we fed by hand. It was incredible!

Then we decided to go for a walk through the island. This trip took 1 hour and a half but nobody was thinking about the time.

When we went down to the coastal beach, we saw a couple of swans – a symbol of loyalty for people. Our group made so many beautiful pictures at the Daffodil Field, enjoyed stunning coastal views and walks, discovered secluded lawns perfect for picnics and even saw a Red Squirrel – one of the main sights of the island, which is home to a thriving population of this scarce and threatened squirrel.

This magic island, full of wildlife, history and adventure is really worth visiting!

From Achilles, Spain: 

I want to say that the teachers I have are really concerned about our learning – and that’s great.

They also show an interest in how you feel as a
student and how you’re doing in the class. I like this because it’s very important for students to be encouraged by their teachers, to be told that they’re doing OK.

On another subject, what I like is to look around and get an idea of the place I’m in, which is of course Bournemouth.

I went to St Peter’s Church, in the centre of town, just to look around and maybe take some photos. But it was closed, so I walked around the church and found myself in a cemetery!

I found out later that this is where Mary Shelley is buried. She wrote the story of Frankenstein which is very famous. The first time I was a bit nervous because of the graves and the big black crows. It was a bit creepy!

Would you study in Bournemouth? Have you ever been there? What’s your favorite beach town? Let us know in comments!

They all sound very similar. However, they have different spellings and meanings.

They're, Their and There - three words, three different meanings!

They’re

An expression of place. It is a contraction for the words “they are”.

Example: They’re going to New York this year.

                 They’re waiting for us at the restaurant.

Their

A possessive adjective that refers to something that belongs to more than one person.

Example - That is their cat.

                  Their football game starts at 6. 

There

A place; or used with the word “are” or “is”.

It is sometimes used as an adverb.

Example: The box is over there.

…and sometimes used as a pronoun:

Example:  There is a chocolate cake in the fridge.

Can you complete the following sentences?

1) I am going to _____________ house party this weekend

2) Look over __________, I can see a rainbow!

3) __________ graduating this week.

Quick Tips

If you’re able to replace the word with “they are,” use “They’re”. If the word means “belonging to them,” use ”Their”. Otherwise, there is only one correct answer: “There”.

Noun: An ancient northern hemisphere spring festival, usually held on April 30th to May 1st.

Noun (“mayday”): A distress call used by boats at sea when they are in trouble

Origins of May Day

People in Europe have been celebrating May Day for thousands of years.  It was celebrated long before any Christian holidays, and even before most traditions that go back to the early Roman empire.

May Day was originally a festival for Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers, but since Christianity spread in Europe it has become a non-religious spring festival. In ancient times, spring was usually a time for celebration because winter was over and food became easier to find and grow.

Interesting fact: May Day, a festival of spring, is exactly 6 months away from All Hallows Eve (Halloween), which is in the middle of autumn.

Some May Day Traditions

The Maypole – A long, upright pole with streamers attached to the top.  Young children usually dance around the pole holding the streamers, so that they knot around the pole in a pattern. (like in the picture below)

Children dancing around a Maypole

A May Queen is often chosen during the day of 30th April (traditionally the most popular girl in the village)

May Baskets containing flowers, fruits and sweets or May Trees were often put together by teenagers and left on the doorsteps of the person they like.

May Day in Other Countries

All across Europe people celebrate May Day in different ways.  Here are some of them:

• Germany: “Walpurgis Night” is celebrated with dancing and bonfires until the early hours of the morning
• France: Workers are allowed to sell lilies of the valley (a type of flower) tax free, because King Charles IX was given one as a lucky charm in 1561
• Ireland: Originally the feast of Bealtine, May Day is now usually when anti-government rallies are held
• Finland: May Day in Finland is the only street carnival of its type, and is a huge party
• Oxford, UK: Students gather at 6am on May 1st and listen to the choir sing traditional songs, then jump into the river Cherwell.  Lately, the river has been fenced off because people kept getting hurt.

The “Mayday” Distress Call

If you’ve ever watched a film where people are on a sinking ship or crashing plane, you might have heard them say, “mayday, mayday” into the radio.  This has nothing to do with May Day, but instead comes from the French phrase, “venez m’aider” which means “come help me”.

Where’s the best place in England to celebrate May Day?

There are May Day celebrations all over England, but some of the best happen right down the road from our English School in Oxford!

Does your country celebrate May Day?  If so, we’d love to hear what you and your friends and family usually do.

What Are English Indefinite Articles?

In English, indefinite articles are the words “a” and “an”.  They help us to say that an object is not one specific example of that object (“give me the book”) but rather any example of the object (“give me a book”).

There are only two indefinite articles in English: “a”, and “an”.  It is very important to use these so that people know you are talking about a thing, not a verb (for example, “We are going to a party” means something different from “We are going to party”, where “party” is used as a verb).

All nouns get an article in front of them (apart from a few exceptions). Which article you use depends on what type of noun it is, and how it is spelled.

When to Use “an” Instead of “a”

There are two simple rules for when you must use “an” instead of just “a” before a noun.

1. When the noun (or adjective before the noun) begins with a vowel
2. When the noun (or adjective before the noun) begins with a silent “h”, such as “hour” or “honest man”.

Examples:

• “Could you pour me a glass of wine?” (“pour me glass of wine” would be incorrect)
• “I work in an office.” (“I work in a office” would be incorrect, because “office” starts with a vowel)
• “He is an honest man” (The noun doesn’t start with a vowel, but the adjective before the noun starts with a silent “h”, which is why we use “an”.)

Other Types of Articles

There are a few other types of articles in English that you will need to know.  We’ll cover these in more detail in later posts, but for now:

• The Definite Article (“The”) - This is used when a specific object is meant.  For example, “Please pass me the book”.
• The Partitive Article (“Some”) – To show a part or piece of something.  For example, “Please pour me some wine”.
• Negative Articles (“No”/”None”) – To show that you mean a lack of of the object.  For example, “No dogs are allowed in here”.

Does your native language use articles or not?  If your native language doesn’t use articles, what tricks have you learned that help you to remember them in English?