A Cultural Guide to England Everything you need to know when you visit England by Babylon Idiomas Barcelona teacher Patrick Butterworth This summer I returned home to a cold, wet English summer. While I was trapped in my parents house due to heavy rainfall I thought about the strange rules and cultures of my home country. If you’re thinking of visiting, studying or even working in England one day there may be a few surprises for you. English culture can be a maze of rules and social...

Think green. Think shamrocks. Think Guinness, folk music and the lush rolling hills of the Fair Isle they call ‘Emerald’. Thoughts such as these can only mean one thing: Ireland. And every year on 17th March the world looks to Ireland in the wake of ‘St. Patrick’s Day’. The one day of the year when pubs are filled to the rafters (that’s an idiomatic expression meaning “full” or “overcrowded” for all you English language learners!) and drinking copious amounts of alcohol is...

If you thought Christmas was just about spending time with the family and giving gifts you would be wrong! There so much more to discover. It’s a great excuse for swimming in icy waters, scaring the locals, and other wacky behaviour. We’ve picked five of the best crazy traditions from around the world to show you. 1. England The last place you would want to be on a frosty Christmas morning in England is naked on the beach…. or is it? Swimming in the icy cold waves of Brighton...

One of the top destinations for Spaniards learning English is London. Whether you visit the city for a 5 day holiday or for 5 years of work, there are certain museums and galleries that you will not want to miss. Below is some information on the top 5 most visited museums found in the City of London.   5. Science Museum At number five, The Science Museum, founded in 1857, is a massive five floor museum located in South Kensington. It contains 40 galleries housing some 300,000 exhibits...

Australia has held travellers in thrall since the birth of widespread global travel. The “land down under” which for years had been accessible only by monumentally long land or sea journeys has become a popular tourist destination especially for those looking to learn English. While you can find information on our language schools in Sydney on this link; http://www.ingles.babylon-idiomas.com/es/curso-ingles-australia.htm Here we will look at the country itself, the culture and the...

Those crazy Romans! If you managed to stay awake through one of your high school history classes you’d probably recollect some tidbits about their wild festivals, colossal architecture, or that even some fortunate families enjoyed the convenience of a flushing throne. Although it can’t be considered the primary cause for the collapse of the Roman Empire, the Romans did in fact use poisonous lead as a sweetener! This post is not however about the end of Roman civilization, but the...

TAVIRA!! By coincidence, two members of the English department in Seville spent the weekend on an island of paradise on Portugal’s Southern coastline. Both found that it would be a great place for their students to have fun and practice their English.  They share their experiences here: DAVID, Director of Studies We stayed in a sprawling resort complex with tennis court, swimming pool, two restaurants, bars, and lots of room for our kids to run around. We marveled at the lush grounds...