Showing posts with label English. Show all posts
Showing posts with label English. Show all posts

Friday, April 4, 2014

A-Z April Blog Challenge

I've decided to give this blog a rest from the A-Z April blog challenge this year as I have a lot to catch up on from my recent travels and activities with my parents.

However, I have included 2 of my other blogs in this challenge and I invite you to go and check them out throughout this month.


First up is my A-Z of hotels which can be found at Xenodocheionology. I'm quietly excited about this one as I think it will make a very nice booklet/e-booklet once it is all completed through A - Z.



Secondly, you may visit our English business blog where I'm introducing rarely-used English words accommodated in a sentence. Click English Vocabulary to learn some new words.

Have a happy April everyone!



Tuesday, June 18, 2013

When students interview their teacher

Today I just have to direct you over to our English class blog for a great post.

Last week in our English classes, we had our students interview me. And they sure asked some very interesting questions. Questions that made me cringe, questions that made me laugh, and questions that really got me thinking!



Read all of the most notable questions and the answers I gave by clicking this link:



Hop on over and let me know what you think!


Monday, April 22, 2013

Keep Calm and Speak English





This one is dedicated to all my English students. Some of them struggle but keep on trying. You can do it!

Keep Calm and SPEAK English!!!



How many languages do you speak?

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Keep Calm and Imagine




My English students often seem to be stuck for ideas. They're expecting either a right or a wrong answer, when in fact, there can be a vast array of right answers! It just requires a little imagination.

"I" is for Keep Calm and IMAGINE


What sort of things inspire your imagination? What things help to produce a creative imagination?


Saturday, March 30, 2013

A-Z April 2013 blogging challenge topics


Today I'll be sharing with you the topics for my A-Zs on 3 of my blogs. The ideas I came up with changed a few times but now they have all been set in stone.

I originally was thinking of some grand plan which would have required a lot of work, but eventually decided to keep it a little more simple this year, as opposed to the detailed and extremely hard work I put in last year.


For this blog, I'll be sharing one of the famous "Keep Calm" posters each day, going through each letter of the alphabet, along with a few motivational thoughts to accompany each one.

Over at our English blog I'll be taking readers on a journey through the English language and the joys and pains of teaching it in Malaysia. For these first 2 blogs, I'll be asking questions to hopefully stimulate some discussion from visitors.

Meanwhile, my Nature blog will be posting a fascinating image a day from around the world, which I searched for and snapped with my National Geographic Maps App on my new ipad. I am probably the most excited for this one!



Whether you are participating or not, I hope you'll enjoy going through my blogs this April, whether it be my fun 'Keep Calm' posters here, English tips and clarification at Horne Learning Services, or beautiful images of the world at Kuantan Nature.


It's going to be one busy April!


Friday, January 25, 2013

Alien invasion?!

This week we are having speaking assignments on a possible alien invasion of earth in our English classes!



Our students have been enjoying it and have come up with a variety of different ideas.

Head over to our English classes blog to learn more! Just click on the question below . . .





Monday, January 14, 2013

Night at the Museum

We're going to be watching this movie, "Night at the Museum" nine times this week!


Hop over to our English classes blog to learn more!


Saturday, November 24, 2012

Saturday Blog Tour featuring Julia Roberts, an old nature photo and the legend Roger Federer!

Can anyone believe it's the weekend again?! Today I'll tell you a little about what we've been doing this week and show you around  my blogs.


First up, we have been watching the movie "Mirror Mirror" starring Julia Roberts and Lily Collins, with our students in our English classes this week. It's a great movie. We prepared 20 questions to test our students listening and comprehension skills. To read about the importance of listening in English, click the link to go to my latest post.








Next is an old photo but still one of my favourite nature pictures. Check it out at my nature blog. I've also adjusted this blog to make it easier to browse all of my photos on the same page. Go and have a look around at the beauty in Kuantan right here.










The final installment for today is Roger Federer. I miss watching him play now that the tennis season is over. It's been a good year for him. At my Roger Federer Shrine I'm discussing more about this tennis legend and what makes him so great. You could also submit an answer on 3 ongoing polls on the page!


I hope you'll find a little something here to light up your Saturday. Thank you for taking the tour, and I look forward to sharing more photos from my Canon EOS 650D with you next week!


Monday, November 12, 2012

English Workshop #4 at Vistana Hotel Kuantan

Over the weekend we held our 4th English Workshop at Vistana Hotel Kuantan. It was a great success and it was nice to have some new children having their first experience with us.

Group photo of children attending our English Workshop at Vistana Hotel Kuantan

We had 3 sessions which were attended by a total of 37 students. They really enjoyed the games and activities. I hope we will have more workshops in 2013!

For more details and photos from our 4th English Workshop, please click the link to visit our 





Saturday, October 13, 2012

Blog-hop Saturday (13 Oct, 2012)





For those of you who may be interested in this blog's statistics, *Our home called Kuantan* is closing in on 150,000 page views, which should be reached by next weekend.

So this gives me the opportunity to thank each and every visitor to my blog, whether I know you or not, whether you drop a comment or not, whether you are old or new followers. Thank you for visiting and showing an interest in what I have to offer. It's been great getting to know a lot of you better!

This leads me in to an announcement for next week. It's my 30th birthday coming up on Tuesday and I'll be having a guest blogger on Wednesday. Leovi is a talented guy and I'm really pleased that he'll be heading here next week to show his amazing work to you!

Today it's blog-hop Saturday where I show you around some of my other blogs.




First up is Horne Learning Services. Our English learning company is growing with new students filling up our classes. In the most recent post, I'm discussing the important factors that make up composing a great essay.








Over at my Kuantan nature blog you can view a couple of hot pink flowers gracing the roadside.




And finally you can browse my participation in Teaser Tuesday over at Dan Brown Portal, my reading blog dedicated to Dan Brown and other good books.






















I hope you enjoy your tour of my blogs. Do drop a comment on any of my blogs to let me know what you liked. Wishing you a great weekend!


Thursday, October 4, 2012

Guest Poster Diane Croad on finding time for France

Good day everyone! Today is the first guest post (besides my wife's Fidelia's Friday posts) on my blog. It is my pleasure to introduce you to Diane Croad, a lovely Englishwoman and proud grandmother of 60-something years of age, who really should be 30-something! (She'll love me for that!)




Diane and I became good friends since meeting each other in the blogging world, and she has been a faithful follower of my blog ever since. Today she's talking about how she manages her time between native England, and France. After you've finished reading her post, you really should go over and check out Diane's lovely blog


Diane, it's all yours!





“We’re Moving to Paris.....”

The family arrived for their usual Sunday meal with us. (Daughter, son-in-law and six year old granddaughter).

During the course of the meal, everything was very relaxed, when my daughter looked up and said “oh, Mark’s got a new job with exciting prospects.”  We were naturally thrilled for them, until I asked where the job was.  “Paris”, my son-in-law replied.  There was a short silence whilst hubby and I tried to take this in.

My daughter had returned to work when my granddaughter was only seven months old, and I had looked after her for three days a week, taking her to and from school when she reached the age of five.

You can imagine, I am sure, just how much I was going to miss her, especially as she was now such good company.

Looking on the bright side, I was thankful that they were only moving to France, which is just across the channel from where we live in England.  They could have been moving to the other side of the world, like Australia, Canada, or even Malaysia!

I travelled to France to see them after a month, and my daughter took me to Eleanor’s school.  My granddaughter was sitting there whilst all the other children were discussing a project that they had been working on that term.  They were chattering away excitedly and my poor little girl was just sat there.  I just had to go up to her and give her a cuddle. “I can’t understand what they’re saying, grandma.”  My heart broke for her.

Anyway, the good thing was that, with a lot of effort, she picked up the language and now, of course, speaks French fluently, without any accent at all.  She will be fifteen in December, and has turned into a stunning young lady.  I have always tried to be with her for every birthday, and I treasure that time I was able to spend with her during the first six years of her life. 

We get on tremendously well and, in fact, just the two of us will be going on holiday to Gran Canaria at the end of October – at her request! To think that a fourteen year old wants to go on holiday with her 65 year old grandma means such a lot to me.

On the plus side of living apart from the family, I have visited Paris many, many times and what a beautiful city it is.  I have taken a Bateau-mouche up the River Seine, I have visited the stunning Palace of Versailles, seen the Mona Lisa in the Louvre Museum and visited the beautiful Monet’s Garden in Giverny, (Oh, and EuroDisney of course!) to name but a few.




Here is a photo of Eleanor and I taken this summer in Monet’s Garden.



I would like to thank Duncan for inviting me to be a guest blogger here today.  I always enjoy reading his tales of Kuantan, and seeing his wonderful photographs, and hearing all about his beautiful family, so this is a real honour for me.  Thank you Duncan!

Diane, you are very much welcome!


Don't forget to pay Diane a visit here!



Monday, September 10, 2012

My Journey to Kuantan - Part 1 - Raised in England


Over the course of this week I'll be taking you on my journey to Kuantan.


  • How did I, an Englishman, end up in Malaysia?
  • What made me choose to come to this part of the world?
  • How did I discover this little town called Kuantan?
  • Learn of the events that fixed my destination to Kuantan

Today I'll be sharing Part 1 - Raised in England.

I was born in Leicester, England almost 30 years ago. We are as normal an English family as you're likely to meet. Mum and dad both working, earning an average salary, and live in a quite satisfactory semi-detached house in a quiet village called Glenfield.


Here I am at 18 months old. (Credit Joanna Horne)

(Credit Joanna Horne)


The first major event that happened in my life was in 1985 when I was only 3 years old. I don't remember anything about it, but it has determined the life I have lived ever after.

Two sister missionaries representing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church) knocked on my mum's front door, and not long afterwards my mum decided to join the church.

In later posts I'll explain just how vital this was in my journey to Kuantan.

Living in England, we always looked forward to the snow in the winter months. For two reasons - to go out, build a snowman, throw snowballs, and secondly, because if it was a particularly heavy snowfall, there would be no school!

However, as I grew older, I hated the snow, ice, slush, cold and wind - another factor in my journey to Kuantan.


This is my street in England. (Credit Joanna Horne for this image)

Glenfield village Square. (Credit Joanna Horne)

In the distance is my dad. (Credit Joanna Horne)


I lived a real good childhood in England. Got a formal education, had lots of great friends and got up to lots of mischief. Also played lots and lots of sports!


Here I am hitting a serve at the tennis court


And here I'm hanging out with my mates on New Years Eve. (My friends will probably never forgive me for posting up this picture!)


This is me standing outside our home in England


Look out for Part 2 tomorrow!




Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Living the Dream

During a recent conversation on facebook, an old school friend suggested I was "living the dream".

Living the dream in Kuantan didn't begin with a lap of luxury or a turn of luck. I can tell you it all started in a strange and unknown town, amongst complete strangers, with no job and very little money.

It took a lot of belief and very hard work to reach the stage where I'm now "living the dream". At times, Kuantan seemed a difficult and impossible place to live, let alone realise dreams. We had problems regarding finances, employment and my immigration status, continually having to leave the country and go through Singapore to get a fresh stamp in my passport. I have numerous stories on this topic, and although I have almost filled two entire passports, it was by no means easy, and quite terrifying at times.

But six years on and we have created our own dream and are really living it right now!

Let me share a few points as to how I am "living the dream".

Firstly, employment. In England, I used to have some agency work as a picker in a warehouse. It was tough work, heavy lifting and carrying 8 hours (or more) per day. I enjoyed it and gave it my all, but I knew it was temporary in nature. I don't know if I could work in that way on a long-term basis.

I always loved English and teaching English, but opportunities for that in England were limited. I didn't fancy teaching a class of 30-40 children at a secondary school, and I didn't have any experience or qualification to do that anyway.

Malaysia has been a much more fertile ground for teaching English. I'm living the dream by teaching English from home, choosing what hours I want to work and accepting as many students as I can fit in my classes. We have registered our own company, Horne Learning Services in a few simple steps. My wife wrote me an offer letter and along with an application letter from me, I received the necessary permission to work freely in Malaysia for Horne Learning Services.


I decided to walk in to the Vistana Hotel one day to advertise myself as an English teacher. Now I'm working in partnership with the hotel and teach a class of staff every Wednesday.


Being our own boss is a luxury I'm so glad we've achieved. Working from home enables me to spend all day long with my family, being with my wife and children, as well as doing my life's work, which I love! If we want a holiday, we have a holiday. We work for no-one, which means our income is as much as we want it to be.

This leads to the second point - freedom. Being entrepreneurs brings increased responsibility to make things work, but greater freedom too. Working hours are dramatically less, whilst still earning a good income. We are free to take holidays, re-arrange classes any time the need arises, and spend all our time with our children to raise them just the way I dreamed of doing.


Our recent holiday in Kuching. We stayed for a night at Damai Beach Resort for my sister-in-law's engagement ceremony, and enjoyed the lovely scenery as shown in this photo.

Not having to "go" to work means we can spend plenty of time with our children. Such a joy!

The third way I'm living the dream - every day feels like a holiday! Kuantan has turned out to be a beautiful place with gorgeous hot weather every day and lovely, attractive places to go and see. The beach is a 15-minute drive from home, a living dream I would never have imagined to have.

Being from the all-too-gloomy England with its infamous rain and wind, living in Kuantan, Malaysia, really is living the dream. Waking up to bright, warm sunshine is such a blessing and motivation. I just couldn't ask for more.

And it's not just the marvellous weather, but the Malaysian lifestyle in itself. Life is so different here compared to in England. Things are much more relaxed in Malaysia, everything is generously priced, even the TV channels and packages are far more extensive. I see more sports for a better price than I could ever have dreamed of in England.

One can cycle down to the beach or a park and saunter the time away. With the vast majority of my English classes at 8-10pm, I'm pretty much free for the entire day. What a lifestyle!

Finally, I think there's something about making it in a foreign country, including overcoming obstacles and finding success amongst a people who originally are wary of your foreign status. Being able to overcome that barrier and work together with locals is "living the dream". Perhaps my friends, Robert in Kuantan, and Linda in Italy, will agree.


Living the dream is living a lifestyle that you choose, not one that is thrust upon you. I'm extremely fortunate that I've been able to create my dream and live it.


You too can do it if you put your mind to it!



Sunday, July 29, 2012

Beach Chairs challenge!

Today I'm submitting my entry for the Beach Chairs Challenge organised by beachstore.com. I was contacted via email with the offer to submit an entry in this competition to win a beach chair, so why not?!

The beach chair I chose, accompanied by a brainstorming session I held with it, is as follows:


The question is how this chair describes or defines me. So let me explain my ideas.

First off, this beach chair, like all beach chairs, is specifically designed for use on the beach. Like me, it wouldn't do very well in the water - we both don't swim with any proficiency! We are at our best on the sand, not in the sea.

Following is a list of similarities between the beach chair and myself. This will highlight just how much this beautiful beach chair really describes me perfectly.

The first thing I noticed was its red colour. I am a supporter of Manchester United, who likewise wear red, but that wasn't the best way its colour describes me. Like the chair, I go deep red when I spend too long in the heat of Malaysia, so I'm pleased to see that I'm not the only thing that turns red under the sun!

Which leads me to the lovely little roof on the beach chair. In the lofty temperatures of Malaysia, I need a 'roof' too. My trusty cap has served me well, but now I tend to follow the locals a little more and opt for the umbrella to keep those hot rays off my head.

Wherever I go, I am always carrying things with me - from my children, to my camera and phone, to English lessons in a folder. I was delighted to see that this beach chair described this very well with a few pouches to carry things of its own. Here's a picture of me carrying things:


This beach chair is plain, simple and very smart. When working, I also prefer to dress in this same manner, as can be seen above.

Next I looked at the chair's appendages, starting with the sleek, silver legs. This describes me very well as I have lean legs too. It's great to be in good shape!

Moving up to the arms, they are thin too. Same here. But the beach chair's arms are also stable and steady. This is a good description of my arms. Though they are relatively thin, a steady hand has allowed me to excel in art. Recently I drew this imaginary map - in pen:


I am very flexible in my work as an English teacher. Students are at various levels of proficiency and so my lessons have to be adapted as required. I'm also teaching English to a variety of ages and by different means. 


The beach chair folds up and unfolds very flexibly too. It also identifies itself by showing the logo in the top right corner. I too am typical of any businessman, and likewise carry my logo around on business cards.

I have been described by many as being too thin, but like this lovely beach chair, I'm a smart, lean, flexible machine!

Thursday, May 3, 2012

6 years of marriage and Kuantan

My wife and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary yesterday. The month of May also marks 6 years of our living in Kuantan.

Kuantan has been a great home for us since 2006. We started with NOTHING and gradually built up our own presence and now have our own company, Horne Learning Services which is going very well.

Our 6 years of marriage has blessed us with two lovely daughters, unplanned, but deeply grateful for. Yesterday I was teaching English at Vistana Hotel Kuantan in the late afternoon, and returned home around 7:30pm to a surprise dinner hosted by my wife!



After teaching English in the cold air-conditioning at Vistana Hotel whilst having a runny nose, and cycling home feeling quite tired, it was certainly a pleasure to be able to walk through the door to find a lovely dinner waiting on the table, and my equally gorgeous wife welcoming me home.







Here is a beautiful image of a lasting Kuantan sight - Teluk Chempedak beach. We had a nice day out there on Labour Day.