Hi,

I hope this is the right place to ask this: I would like to enroll my girlfriend in a respected English-language school. I have been told that British Council is a good bet? As an ulterior motive, I am thinking if she ever tries to come vist / immigrate to the states it might look good to have taken lessions at a top flight school. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Lewis.

I used to study at British Council over a decade ago. They were somewhat ok imho. Frankly I prefer AUA (American U.... Alumni). They had wide variety of native English teachers. I remembered having an Australian teacher and American teacher while studied there. BC seemed to have British teachers only. The type of students were also different. People who went to BC were more like college/school kids while AUA was more like adults (working professionals). Don't get me wrong. There are some school kids who attend AUA as well. It's just not as many as BC. If you plan to have your girlfriend visiting the states, she would do better learning from American teachers (to get use to American accent).

Just my 2 cents

Edited January 10, 201214 yr by ZeroDesire

I too studied at AUA before permanently moving to the States. I was also in college at that time. To master American English accent is more important than to study grammar; I can confidently say this from my own experience mastering other foreign languages. Why? Because speaking and listening skills are a natural way to acquire a language. This is how we all learn our mother tongue. Rules and grammar will come later.

In addition, if AUA or other book stores don't have these books, you may try to get them for her through amazon.com or other on-line sellers.

1) American Accent Training, Ann Cook, Barron's, 2nd edition, 2000, about $40

2) Mastering The American Accent, Lisa Mojsin, Barron's, 2009, $20

3) Side by Side, Steven Molinsky and Blii Bliss, Prentice Hall, various editions. These are textbooks used by adult education schools offering English as a Second Language (ESL) programs.

For the first two, each comes with a book and 4 CDs.

Guarantee that at the end:

1) She will clearly state that she wants a piece of that delicious cake for desert and wants to visit Mojave Desert during her trip with you to the States.

2) She's never "bin" to the U.S.

3) She drops all her t's when saying that she had an interview at two twenty at that place near the international center.

4) She knows that "peet-sa" is your favorite food.