Time spent at Nab cottage was flying. There was always something interesting happening, either workshops or we made up activities on our own, like hiking or visiting local towns.
The workshops were always led by someone else. Some of them were led directly by teachers from Nab cottage, some by their friends. I considered the most interesting Drama, Irish dances or Drumming workshops. We also had workshops focused on presentation skills, about different viewpoints or just ordinary discussion workshop.
Local towns Ambleside and Grasmere have got their unique atmosphere and beautiful English architecture. They are full of tourists and people ready to help whenever you get lost:]. Since surrounding trails are kept in a great condition, it is easy to walk anywhere. The closest places are Buckstone’s jump, which is something like natural swimming pool, or Rydal cave, which is literally in front of Nab cottage. We had parties every Friday. A Barn was transformed into a disco with fabulous decoration and lightning.
I spent there amazing three weeks and met lots of great people, who I probably wouldn’t be able to meet any other way. Regarding my stay, majority of students was from Germany or Spain. I had there much fun and explored wonderful part of England. We were even taught basics of the game of cricket :D.
I have, of course, improved my language knowledge there. During my stay by the fact, that I was speaking whole day only in English, I gradually started speaking more fluently, which had been my biggest weakness. From the beginning it was little difficult, but funny also, because we didn’t know each other very well and therefore, teachers created various games like Find out 10 interesting facts about your mate, etc. And that was the way how we got to know each other better and also didn’t suffer from lack of topics to talk about. We were talking about music, films, free time, family, country we are from, customs, whatever. The aim was to speak…and to speak in English, only in English, because each student is at the beginning of stay at Nab asked to speak only in English at public places. I got used to various different stresses and enriched my vocabulary of new words and phrases.
The school starts from 9,00 a. m. till 1,15 p.m. with one 30 minutes break for tea or coffee and a little snack. We were put into three different groups regarding the level of our English. In each group there was teaching different teacher whose methods of teaching were totally different from those of the others. One group was focused more on grammar and exercises on grammar. We were listening to songs in which the grammar taught was present or we played various games to enforce our vocabulary.
Another group was focused more on conversation and learning new vocabulary. In the group often arose unplanned debate about various topics. The teachers let it flow free and usually everyone contributed on debate.
The third group was for beginners, who were making rocket progress.
Monday was different than other days. On Monday we had whole-group-sessions. It was the time when all students met in top barn and tried to get to know new people more. Mondays were great for building a “community spirit”.
Also, food was amazing. A cook Wojtek cooked us usually very tasty vegetable meals. When the weather was nice, which was almost whole my stay, we ate outside in the garden. When it was raining, we ate inside.
Nab cottage was definitely amazing experience. I will remember this charming place for a long time. It is a place, where everyone can be him-/herself and make him-/herself at home.
