Building Bristol Home Stay Tuition: Spring in my new kitchen!

Cristiana at lunch in new kitchen

Spring has almost arrived - the days are starting to get lighter, spring flowers are growing and the sun is shining! What a relief to arrive here, after the difficult and dark winter, struggling to complete the extension and hopingeverything would be ready for my first students.

Above you can see Cristiana, having lunch with me after her morning of classes. Cristiana is a teacher of English at a secondary school in Rome. Her students are aged between 11-14 years. She came for a short and intensive course over Easter to refresh her English. She arrived on Tuesday 22nd March. We had four hours of classes every day from Wednesday morning to Easter Saturday morning and again from Easter Monday to Tuesday 29th March. She returned to Rome on Wednesday 30th March. 

Lunch at Wild Garlic

We had a rest on Easter Sunday and I drove Cristiana to the Cotswolds. She had told me that she would love to visit this area, which is well-known in Italy. We visited the pretty village of Tetbury and after we had a special Easter lunch at Wild Garlic in Nailsworth. We were joined there by Sandra and her partner, friends of mine who live in Nailsworth. This was a great opportunity for Cristiana to practise speaking English. The food was delicious!  

During Cristiana's course, she came with me to a morning of coffee and hot cross buns  on Good Friday. This was at a neighbour's house and was another chance for Cristiana to meet and talk to English people. She also enjoyed tasting a hot cross bun - she knew about this traditional Easter bun but had never tried one before.

Cristiana chatting to Maggie

We also went out to listen to live music, a duo of guitar and singer, called The Black Feathers. They played upstairs in local pub and were very, very good. Beautiful harmonies and wonderful voices. We were also invited me to meet other friends and neighbours of mine, who were all happy to meet Cristiana and talk to her; thank you Giles and Mora and Lindsay and Derek!

Now I am having a short break which gives me an opportunity to continue with the work on my house. This week, the exterior of the new extension and the courtyard were painted. Next steps are to build a deck outside my patio doors into the garden and then a garden shed and finish my courtyard and fill it with plants.

Newly painted courtyard walls

On Sunday 17th April, my next student will arrive. Marcus is a German policeman who lives in Zurich, Switzerland. He will study with me for two weeks. After he leaves, a Catalan man will come for a two week course. Rudi wants to improve his English because he is semi-retired and wants to travel. English has become the global language, as you can see!

After he leaves, I will go to visit Cristiana's students at her school in Rome. This is a great opportunity for her students to speak to a real English person and practise asking and answering questions. And it will be great to see Rome in May, a city I once lived in!

ss Great Britain, Brunel's  steamship

Beautiful Bath Abbey