Director's Blog

Another exciting day of interviews in Cambridge has helped in providing a real insight into the homestay concept from the perspective of host parents.

I interviewed two English hosts today about their experiences over the course of the last few years in an attempt to answer some of your questions and queries. The interviews proved to be most insightful in that I found out how homestay works with different families in England, as well as discovering how students make the most of their time in the UK in terms of language development.

I have also been joined by Michaela, a student from The Czech Republic who is interested in both ESL and film production. She has been assisting me in acquiring additional shots of Cambridge while at the same time providing her own insights into what it is like living in this city as a foreign student. Michaela will join me tomorrow when we will continue to find out more about homestay in Cambridge.

Best wishes,

Daniel.

Michaela is assisting with the film production in Cambridge

Cambridge City Centre - After climbing the narrowest of stair cases we took some scenic shots from a tower near the market square.  

Dear All,

It has been quite an experience since landing in England yesterday. I have had a day and half to make preparations for the next week as The Learning English Video Project continues in Cambridge. As you will have seen from previous posts, our objective here is to find out about homestay and to provide you with an insight as to what homestay is like in Cambridge and how it might benefit English language students. I am pleased to say that I am working with Bell International College, one of the biggest schools of it’s kind, and Homestay Consultancy in interviewing hosts, educators and students about their homestay experiences.

Today I met with two Bell homestay students, one from Venezuala and one from Belgium. They both had some very interesting things to say about homestay, making for a great start to the project here in Cambridge.

Keep checking the blog for more updates as I hope to write every day and to start including some pictures of Cambridge very soon! In the meantime, please see a couple of pictures from today’s escapades below.

Best wishes,

Daniel. 

 An interview at Bell International College

 Boats on the river 

Greetings!

I will be in Cambridge, England as of tomorrow! My flight leaves early tomorrow morning and I will begin production on the final film in The Learning English Video Project series as soon as my plane touches down. I will be working with Bell International College as well as several homestay hosts and students through Cambridge’s very own Homestay Consultancy.

I will continue to update my blog regularly (with pictures!) so that you can see what I am up to, and I will also make sure that I find out the answers to the questions and queries you left on my previous post. Please keep the comments coming!

Best wishes,
Daniel.

Greetings Everyone!

Those of you who have followed The Learning English Video project from the beginning stages, may remember that we started filming in Cambridge during September 2008. Due to the fact that this will be the final film in the series (China and Brazil will be available very soon!) we have decided to go back to England and do something extra in Cambridge.

The theme of this particular film will be homestay, where students live with a host for a short time in order to make the most of their language learning experience. Before I travel to Cambridge, I would like to find out if you have had an experience with homestay in the past! If not, perhaps you know somebody else who has? If so, please provide a short description of your experience in a comment below.

If you have not had such an experience before, but think it might be an interesting idea, I would also like to hear from you!

• What do you think could be the benefits of homestay and why do you think it is so popular?
• If you could do a homestay anywhere in the world to improve your English, where would you go and why?

Are there any questions you would like me to ask homestay students in Cambridge?

I will be updating this blog regularly and look forward to reading your comments soon!

Best wishes,

Daniel.

Conversations in Spain

The latest film in The Learning English Video Project series is set to be released later this month! ‘Conversations in Spain’ is a 17-minute documentary style film that explores English learning techniques and methods in Madrid and Granada, two very different cities in Spain.

The finished production will be available to watch for free on EnglishClub.com both with and without subtitles. Versions will also be available for direct download and will be accompanied by free teaching materials, also provided by EnglishClub.com. ‘Conversations in Spain’ is due to be released towards the end of November so keep checking this website for more details.

I began working on the film with my assistant director Joel Carr back in September 2008, when we shot most of the footage. This particular chapter of the project has a very unique feel in that it has been constructed to suit learners who may have problems with listening in particular. As the title suggests, the film focuses on three central conversations that detail various questions and answers about learning English on the European continent. I have been working with Josef Essberger, founder of EnglishClub.com, and Matt Errey, producer of ESL board-game ‘Word Up’, in crafting a film that offers learners the chance to absorb entire conversations with a learner of English, a teacher of English and the director of a language school.

Each of the films from The Learning English Project has its own style and design. ‘Conversations in Spain’ is an attempt at allowing learners to gain an insight into conversational flow that they might not have otherwise had access to. The conversations have been very carefully selected in that they not only provide a chance for learners to practice their listening, but they may also offer new ideas, tips and information about learning English in different parts of the world. As always, the film is stitched together with footage from the location settings, which are very beautiful places indeed. ‘Conversations in Spain’ also features music by electronic composer Tom Carr, who also wrote pieces for ‘Stories from Morocco’ and ‘Lessons from Romania’.

The Learning English Video Project is is proving to be popular all over the world, with ‘Stories from Morocco’, ‘Lessons from Romania’ and ‘Tales from America’ accumulating over 30,000 online views and an average of one hundred downloads a day since the films were released earlier this year. Throughout August and September 2009, Joel and I worked on two more films for the series; one in China and one in Brazil. I am currently editing the Chinese chapter that was filmed in both Shanghai and Xiamen. This film looks at how English is being used for a specific purpose on the Asian continent. I also hope to have more information on this film later on in the month. To see regular blog updates from the film production, simply click on the ‘China’ link on the ‘Director’s Blog’ section of the site.

I would personally like to thank everybody who regularly contributes to EnglishClub.com for all your support and advice throughout the project and I hope that you will continue to express your interest with what we have in store for you over the next few months.

Best wishes,

Daniel Emmerson (Director - The Learning English Video Project)

Greetings! I hope that you enjoyed the production notes from Sao Paulo over the course of the 12 days that we were filming there. As is customary with each location, I have put together a short selection of material shot throughout our stay in South America. This 2-minute film is a supplement to the blog posts filed under ‘Brazil’.

I had a wonderful time filming in Shanghai and Sao Paulo and hope that you enjoy these video blogs! Keep checking the ‘Director’s Blog’ for more information about the project, particularly for release dates and production updates. Remember, there are still 4 more films to be released as part of The Learning English Video Project!

Best Wishes,

Daniel

Shot by Daniel Emmerson and Joel Carr during The Learning English Video Project trip to Shanghai. Full details of this escapade can be found in the blog posts under ‘China’.

Special thanks to Xiamen based street performer Gu Lang Yu for allowing us to use his music.

Keep checking Director’s Blog for more information on forthcoming films!