FAQ 常问问题

For a proper reading experience and being able to recall vocabulary easier, students should have one of the two, or both an Amazon Kindle e-reader and an iPad / iPhone.

Another option is to use an Android phone with the Kindle reader app which has dictionaries and translation built in, plus syncs your notes across all devices.

You should not use Baidu Translate, Google Translate, or any other machine translation software. You should not use a Chinese-English dictionary either. It may seem easier and quicker, but it makes you intellectually lazy and does not expose you to other related vocabulary, other definitions, or context.

You may use the Oxford English Dictionary (monolingual) from level C1 onwards. A better alternative for all levels, however, is to use the Oxford Academic Learner's Dictionary, which uses simpler vocabulary and gives examples of usage that are easier to understand.

The same dictionary can be installed on your Kindle using the file below: download, unzip, and transfer the files to the Documents folder on your Kindle using a USB cable. You can also use the Oxford Dictionary of Collocations to find other words which are ususally used with the word you're looking up.

All writing homework should either be put in the appropriate Canvas test, or on the appropriate homework page in Notion. We check all writing pieces in class as this allows to develop better language intuition and elicit other students’ opinions, as well as point their attention to common mistakes and word choice issues.

Apart from the writing tasks set as homework, you can also practise your writing skills using the Write and Improve tool from Cambridge English—it goves you prompts from actual language exams and checks your work in seconds, giving suggestions for improvement.

You can check the level of vocabulary you used in your writing using this service from Duolingo. You should try to get your writing to C1/C2 level without it being too cumbersome to read.

All listening tasks are available on Otter.ai—register for an account using the same email you used for Notion, download the app, and log in using your credentials. The listening files will be shared with you by your teacher. Otter allows to follow along with the speaker, see an example below.

Although it does make some mistakes in speech recognition, they are mostly due to poor recording quality or quick speech. You should learn to spot such mistakes and report them to your teacher so they can fix them in the master file.

Another great use for Otter.ai is the ability to practise your speaking alongside writing: you listen to a recording on one device and on another simultaneously record your own reading of the text. The fewer discrepancies there are between your reading and the original, the close your speech is to the original. You should share your recording to the teacher's otter.ai email so they can check it and give you a similarity score.

Homework is not optional. If you do not do it, you are letting down not just your classmates, but also yourself.

For any class, go to the last class note for your group in Notion and scroll down to the end of the ESL Vocabulary table. Whenever you see a new word/expression, you have to type it up, look it up in a dictionary and write its definition, and input an example sentence using that word/expression that draws on your previous experience and knowledge (eg. something you know from books, films, school, the news etc.).

Previewing class materials is not optional. For most classes, the homework is to go through material set for the next class. In class, we quickly check the answers to questions and focus on additional material on the same topic, speaking skills, proper grammar, language intution and fluency, ie. classes are for going beyond the textbook and about exposing the students to a multitude of examples and checking their understanding, not teaching them everything for the first time.

This depends on many factors, such as students' prior exposure to the language (eg. having studied abroad), their mindset, diligence in completing homework assignments, their natural inclination for languages, class discipline, use of dictionaries and so on. Cambridge English and Oxford University Press say that one level takes approximately 200 class hours, which should ideally take about a year of classes, but with 2 hours of classes per week would take two years.

Here is what Cambridge English say on the subject:

We give some examples of hours needed for different profiles of learner – for example, for adults, teenagers and primary-level children, and with different levels of motivation or ‘language distance’ from English.  For motivated adult learners, they typically need between 100 and 200 hours of guided learning to get from one CEFR level to the next.  As you go up the levels, you need more hours to get to the next one.  To get from A1 to A2, it typically requires 100-150 hours of guided learning, but it can take 180-260 hours to get from B1 to B2.

When we talk about guided learning hours, we mean learning in a classroom or as part of a programme – i.e. including homework and other language learning activities which have been designed to improve your language skills.  As your level increases, it becomes easier to make use of language learning opportunities outside the classroom – on-line communication or engaging with speakers of that language.  So, you don’t necessarily need more classroom hours as you move up the CEFR scale.

Aside from that, according to the US State Department, for native speakers of English it takes 2200 hours of classroom instruction to reach proficiency (level C2) in Chinese. This can be inverted for native speakers of Chinese who are learning English. 2200 hours, crudely, would approximately equal the following number of class hours:

The more, the better. The minimum we expect in our classes is as much as you spend in the classroom, ie. if you only have 2 hours of classes per week, you should spend 2 more hours on your homework and, if that takes less time, on additional language-related activities such as reading the press, watching English-language films and videos, writing / journalling,

This depends on your prior knowledge in the subject and on your language proficiency, but you should aim for around 360 hours of classes plus some time to complete the required readings, homework, and other assignments. A-level in maths takes approximately 700 hours and is considered by universities to be a more challenging and therefore more valuable qualification.

Yes, by doing extra work on your own. For quicker progress in Englsih, you should listen to audiobooks and follow along with the text; watch films and YouTube videos, read blogs and do language exchange with speakers of English who are learning Chinese. You can also start your own blog / vlog in English and that will help you enormously in obtaining the degree of fluency required for receiving education in the language and passing international exams.

Yes, this is encouraged, but always talk to your teacher about this as there might be situations where it would be advisable for you to stay in the same group. For example, you may think that a group is too slow in terms of acquiring new vocabulary, but your own grammar or pronunciation are not at the same level as that of your classmates. In this case, the teacher will recommend that you stay in the same group and work on your pronunciation and grammar instead. In other cases, a student may be a very fluent user of English with a native-like accent, but that fluency comes at the expense of word choice and grammar. In this case it would be advisable to get ridof those fossilised errors you may have picked up earlier in your language journey before progressing to the next level.

After each unit covered in the book, we have a 'Revise and Check' test, a unit in the workbook utilising the same vocabulary and grammar, and, occasionally, a progress test. The answers to those tests are checked in class and marked by the students themselves. If they notice a disproportionate number of mistakes in one section, they should focus on revising for it before the next class.

Textbooks for each level have a final test which determines how much of the material students have retained. Apart from that, we will have IELTS mock tests to gauge the students' progress on the exam. All feedback is given in class and should be written down and acted on by students.

You can only improve your mark on the exams by improving you underlying English level, removing fossilised errors that have crept into your speech, and learning to use higher-level vocabulary. In this sense, our ESL classes are a perfect fit as they do not preciesly focus on exam methodology, but on improving your overall English fluency and proficiency.

GRE and GMAT are graduate-level qualifications that one takes to get into a postgraduate programme. However, they are based on the same skills and knowledge points taught in out classes: advanced academic vocabulary, fluent and proficient usage of the language, polished grammar, logical inference, and critical thinking.

Both these exams provide a gateway into prestigious postgraduate schools and consist of three parts: quantitative reasoning, verbal reasoning, and analytical writing. Since the quantitative section is based solely on high school-level mathematics, most students should be able to take it without preparation straight out of school. The verbal section is mostly based on obscure vocabulary which is taught in our ESL classes and more so in our Academic English classes. We do not do rote memorisation of such vocabulary but instead focus on context and usage, which makes rote learning unnecessary and, indeed, sometimes detrimental to progress.

Language is inseparable from culture and history, and during our classes we focus broadly on general uses of language in cultural contexts, such as when discussing daily life, politics, academic pursuits etc. We listen to and transcribe music that defines certain decades (eg. The Beatles, U2), we watch TV series that native speakers grow up with (eg. The Big Bang Theory, Yes, Minister, Blackadder), and we read books that make innumerable cultural and historical references (eg. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Inimitable Jeeves).

For an ordinary group expectin to progress at about one CEFR level per year, we would expect to have at least 3 hours of classes per week during term-time, and another 18 days * 3 hours two times during the winter and summer holidays. This would make it approximately 4 weeks * 9 months * 3 hours per week + 18 days * 2 times a year * 3 hours per day = 216 hours per year.

For one-on-one classes, there can be an enhanced schedule with more frequent attendance to prepare for exams / reach a certain level faster, but the overall number of hours will remain the same. For example, if the teacher's schedule allows, we may arrange 216 hours of classes within approximately 2 months if taken at a rate of 6 hours of classes per weekday per week * 8 weeks = 240 hours in two months. This would guarantee a rapid progression within a short timeframe, given proper attention to homework and outside reading.

To maintain your current level and make limited progress towards the next, you would need to devote at least 2 hours of your time per week to classes and as much time to working on your own.

Consistent attendance is vital to a smooth progression to the next level. If you skip classes, you will have to send the teacher an email asking for a recording of your class, watch it and do the same exercises they focused on. You should also reschedule your class for one that is near your current level, eg. if you are studying for C1, you can reschedule your class that week for a C2 level class.

If you do not rescedule your class, you will lose your class hours. If you intend on not coming to class frequently, please reconsider whether you really need to study with us. Students who skip classes disrupt class progress by coming later and the teacher having to explain the same points again—this wastes valuable class time and is disrespectful to the teacher and your classmates.

If you need to inform the teacher of your upcoming absence, you need to do so at least 24 hours in advance using the cancellation link in your email / in the scheduling app, this will inform the teacher automtiacally. You can also reschedule your class there for another one with no penalty.

The only reasonable excuse to skip class is illness, in which case you would need to provide a doctor's note confirming this. Any other excuses such as a holiday, competitions, other classes will not be taken into account and your class hours will be deducted as if you were in class.

The expiration date is there to ensure you use your classes within a reasonable timeframe, make reasonable progress in your language journey, and so that we can pay our teachers on time. This policy is strict and may only be modified on compassionate grounds (bereavement, serious illness).

For a package of 216 hours of class, which is designed to be used within one year, the expiration date is within one year and two months, which already gives plenty on leeway for rescheduling classes.

This is to ensure you and the company have an understanding of their legal rights and obligations and a means of legal recourse. You can request a hard copy of the contract within 14 days of purchase. You will need to provide the address and pay for postage from the UK. A digital contract has the same legal force as the hard copy.

The base rate for classes is £25 per hour, however, this decreases based on how many classes you pay for at once. If paying for a whole year's worth of ESL classes (216 hours), there is a 10% discount which can be combined with other ones such as the one for referring a friend or being an old student.

This rate is valid for groups of 4-6 people.

The base rate for one-on-one classes is £85 per hour, subject to change based on other discounts such as the package discount or the referral discount.

Continuing students can enjoy a 5% discount for each consecutive year they have studied with us. If they interrupted their studies, they will be eligible for a discount proportionate to the number of years they have studied with us.

If your friend signs up to classes and buys a yearly package, both you and your friend will be eligible for a 5% discount from the date they pay for the package for one year.

The maximum discount you can receive by combining discounts is 40%, for example, if you have studied with us for 6 years and brought over two friends in a year.

Currently we accept only Visa, MasterCard, AmEx, and Diners. Apart from that, we hope to be able to accept WeChat Pay and Alipay in the near future. This is because Stripe, our payment provider, accepts WeChat Pay and Alipay only for companies registered in the US and Hong Kong, whereas our registration is in the United Kingdom.

In line with your statutory rights, the standarn refund window is 14 calendar days after the date of purchase where you do not need to provide us with a reason for requesting a refund. We would, however, appreciate it if you could share what has made you request one.

There are no refunds after the statutory limit has passed, which means you will need to use up your class hours by the time indicated in your contract. Any class hours that have not been used up will automatically lapse in our system. There will be no refunds for class hours whose validity has lapsed.

The rule of thumb is that you should work at least as much on your own as you do in class. There are some subjects, like mathematics and economics, where you may have to do a bit more work on your own.

We always aim for the highest possible marks on every exam, but how achievable that goal is also depends on your prior preparation, diligence, and hard work. If you complete all the assignments on time and there are no issues with English language proficiency, you should expect an increase of at least 1 point on IELTS per year / per level (216 class hours + homework), and at least an A on A-level exams.

Parents should provide students with a quiet study space with access to high-speed internet, as well as all the software and hardware mentioned in 1.1 (a Zoom account, an email, access to a VPN, Otter.ai, Canvas, headphones, camera, at least two of the following: laptop / tablet / phone).

You can use Squarespace Scheduling to look up how many classes the student has attended.

The teacher will provide unceasing feedback on Canvas, our online learning platform. This feedback will be availbale on the basis of exercises done in class and as homework. There will also be monthly updates sent out to Notion and via email. If there are any specific questions, queries may be addressed to info@circle.institute.

The teacher's qualifications and detailed experience may be found on this page.

You may write an email to info@circle.institute or request the teacher's work WeChat via the same email.

Yes, if the student's progress is satisfactory.