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Dear Reader,

What. a. week!

Two lessons down this week, two more to go next week: Culture in English-speaking countries is officially underway 🚀

Here's something you might not know: I was well nervous before we started.

I care about my courses a lot and every new one pushes me a little more outside of my comfort zone... so I did not sleep like a baby¹ the night before the first lesson.

But here's the funny thing: once I get started, I get in the zone and then I just enjoy it.

I loved giving the first two lessons, I'm ever so grateful for the many people who joined live (even from the beach: biggest career achievement of my life) and although I know some of what you learned was rather shocking, I hope a lot of it was good food for thought to share with friends at the dinner table.

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So it's safe to say I'm very happy with how it's been going and I look forward to sharing more next week.

The video recordings of the first two lessons are already in the course if you fancy having a look: you're still in time to join us 🌟

View lessons and join

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My hope with this course was not just that it would prepare you for the concorso, but also that it would be an enriching and stimulating experience.

The timing of it, smack bang in the middle of the summer, may be odd, but maybe it's exactly right: downtime can be a time to refresh and energise our minds.

And since I know that's been the case in my life many a time, let me help you do this with something easygoing, perfect for this summer read: 7 signs that have made me laugh (in English).

They're all signs I've carefully photographed in various places in the UK throughout the years.

Initially, I did this because I felt like the town was trying to make me laugh at times when I wasn't so inclined to laugh, shall we say. Then I realised they made excellent lesson materials, and more recently, I've been curating a folder with this newsletter and its wonderful readers in mind²: I didn't know when I would use them, but I knew they would come in handy, and now they have ❤︎

So, sit back, relax, and enjoy these 7 signs: I hope they make you chuckle just as much as they made me chuckle.

(And yes, if we want to temporarily pull our teacher hats out from the very bottom of the drawer we buried them in for the duration of the summer, we can acknowledge these are great lesson prompts, so you might like to save them... for that time in the faraway future when you get back into the classroom).

Without further ado, let's get going 🚀

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1. The one with the unruly ducks

Spotted near a pond on a university campus. I can't confirm nor deny trying to have a conversation with those cheeky duckies (they were newly born, i.e. adorable).

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2. The one that hit the ears as well as the tummy

Carbs and clever puns: you don't need much more than this to earn my business. Whenever I get mad at English for discovering its umpteenth irregularity, I think back to this and fall back in love with it.

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3. The one where the Beatles spoke to me

I wasn't mad at my significant other, but had I been, this would have fixed it rightaway (plus it was sunny, can it get any better than this?)

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4. The one with the not-so-subtle warning

This was taken at a café just outside an airport. The speed limit was 10 miles per hour, which in case you were wondering, means DEAD SLOW.

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5. The one with the dream job

I mean, who says we have to be teachers forever?

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6. The one with the clever barbers

I must say, witty names for businesses are super common in the UK, and these barbers made me (briefly) consider switching to them. I keep wondering if they rented the space on the corner just so they could use this name? One day I'll go in and ask - stay tuned.

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7. The one with the uplifting message

Clever pun using features of spoken English, how could I not love it?

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I hope this put a smile on your face. And if you enjoyed these 7 signs, here's your reminder to save them for your lessons before you forget!

I wish you a lovely Sunday, full of rest, peace and laughter.

Take care, dear teacher ✨

¹ I've never seen a worse idiom than this. Whoever thought it up has clearly never been in the presence of an actual baby sleeping.

² Proof just in case you needed it:

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P.S.: My weekly suggestion for things to listen to/watch/read to improve your English while relaxing: Although the Culture course focuses a lot on the UK and the US, because that's what the exams have traditionally focused on, there's also plenty of space for other English-speaking countries. This week, we talked about the interesting case of Singapore, an absolute star in terms of education, a country with a fascinating history, and a place where multilingualism takes on a whole new meaning. Have a look at this article, taken from the reference list of Lesson 2, about the history of Singlish (Singapore English) and why Singaporean governments have tried to eradicate it.

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