On Monday I took around 25 students to the pub, our local, The Cock. As usual the favourite drink was lager, although there is now more interest in ale and stout, and wine! We chatted about different things, including the reason why showing two fingers to someone is rude in England – This is the victory sign. During the 100 Years War, the only advantage the English and Welsh had over the French were the long bows – the archers were trained to fire up to 10 arrows a minute, and the french couldn't get close! So when the French took prisoners, they used to cut their index and major fingers to prevent the archers from using their bows. The English who still had their fingers intact used to show them off mockingly to the French during battles! And that's where it comes from. 
On Tuesday, Owen took a group for a walk in Soho, Theatreland and up to Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. Big Thanks to Andrei, one of my Intermediate student, for taking some good pictures of the group during the walk. Owen is very knowledgeable about London and has lots of interesting stories which students love to hear. The weather behaved itself too this week, so they had a great time! 
On Wednesday, Charlie and Gavin took students back down to Brixton for what was supposed to be the students' revenge… But it was not to be. The Teachers & Soldiers (T&S) team managed a 20-16 victory, a high scoring game. There were some good team efforts in the other team, but despite the silky skills of Mohammad and Val, it just wasn't enough to prevent a comprehensive victory from the T&S… Better luck next time! (And well done T&S) 
Final event this week was the Tate Britain, same family as the Tate Modern, but located near Pimlico and displaying mainly English Art. Julia took a good group there, there were some injuries near a modern Art piece – apparently a head got bumped against the wing of a plane!! Ouch! Other comments: "I could do this myself!" – Now that is something I sometimes think myself when I look at Modern Art, so I can understand… Finally the highlight was probably the paintings of ancient London, and modern London and being able to see the differences between then and now. Join us next week for another pub outing, a really good show at the theatre, and a cool British film! Have a nice weekend!
10 New Year’s Resolutions for Learning English
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