Recent Articles
Why Should I Learn English? 10 Compelling Reasons
English has been described as “the language of opportunity”, and by the time you get to the end of this article, we’re pretty sure you’ll agree. If you’re currently in the throes of trying to pick a language to study at school, or you fancy taking on a new language in your spare time, we’re ...
A Brief History of The English Summer Holiday
The history of summer holidays is clouded with myths. One popular idea is that school children have a long summer holiday (six weeks for most pupils in the UK) so that they could help work in the fields over the summer. But the current school system was developed over the course of the 19th century...
8 Trends That Will Matter to Your School-Age Children
The headlines are full of often startling statistics about the state of the graduate job market, tuition fees and other issues affecting the students of today. This may have led you to believe that the prospect of your child securing a job when they leave university are bleak, that they will be competing with dozens...
25 English Expressions You Might Encounter (But Which Now Seem Out Of Date)
Textbooks often contain relics of bygone expressions. It’s tricky to write a textbook targeted at teenagers. The basic curriculum might not have changed in five or ten years, but whether you should have your cartoon teens say “wicked”, “awesome” or “sick” definitely will have done. But this isn’t just about the rapid evolution of teen ...
Not Just Oxbridge: A Guide to Britain's Other Top Universities
Most emphasis is placed on Oxford and Cambridge Universities as the UK’s prime centres of academic excellence. It’s not hard to see why these ancient seats of learning are so sought-after, but it’s also easy to get so swept away by the hype surrounding these prestigious establishments that you overlook the fact that the UK...
A Guide to English Puns and Wordplay
Here in the UK, we love a good pun. You’ll probably notice them in tabloid newspaper headlines, but you might also hear them in everyday conversation, emails, social media, television and any number of other situations in which the speaker wishes to present themselves as comical or witty. They’re not the only prevalent form of...
7 Ways to Gamify Your Studies to Make Learning More Fun
There’s no two ways about it: sometimes studying can feel like a bit of a struggle. Everyone goes through phases when a piece of work or a particular topic feels impossible to master, impossibly dull or impossible to complete in time for a looming deadline. In such situations, and sometimes just in general, what’s needed...
8 Ways to Work Harder Without Even Realising It
What’s the missing ingredient in your studies? Perhaps it’s the spark of understanding that makes the whole course make so much more sense. Perhaps it’s eating better, so you have more energy for post-lunch studying sessions. Perhaps it’s finding a way to become more engaged with the subject, so that your motivation gets an all-important...
An Interview with One of ORA’s Wonderful Counsellors
This week, we’re giving you an insight into the people who make a very significant contribution to the summer school: our brilliant counsellors. Alice, from the Jowett Walk campus, was kind enough to give me some of her time. Alice explained that as a sporty type, one of her favourite things about being a counsellor...