Writing in the style of a magazine article part three - from our students.

Last in our little series of examples of writing from our students.

Talking to Claire

by Qasim and Asier

Claire sits in front of her computer typing when we arrive. She introduces herself smiling and we move to another room to do the interview. Afterwards she starts to talk about her early life.

It was very different from ordinary childhood. “I was brought up on a barge where I spent almost all my childhood. When I wasn’t at school I was sailing and swimming in the river all the time” She lived there for 9 years until a strong gale came and the boat she was sleeping on capsized, so they had to get off in the middle of the night.

For a short period, she became homeless and had to move to another barge. “It wasn’t until I was 16 that my mother sold it and I went to live in a house, terrible!” It’s clear that it had a big impact on her future life.

On the one hand, she experienced different problems at school during her infancy because of dyslexia. “School in the 1950’s didn’t know anything about dyslexia and they used to call me stupid and lazy, even though I knew I wasn’t. It wasn’t until I found out that my children were dyslexic that I thought that perhaps this was my problem. Because of that fact, I took up teaching.”

“A friend of mine said I would make a very good teacher. I disagreed!” she felt dubious about this, but before long she took a course and she actually became one. By that time she was 45 and her children all were grown up and had left home. Currently, she is retired from teaching, but still working at LSI.

On the other hand, she started learning music, playing the clarinet and the piano. Shortly afterwards, she had an accident and stopped playing, but kept studying the theory and started to play percussion in the school orchestra.

When she moved to Wales, where she worked growing and selling organic food and vegetables, she stopped playing drums too. It was only when she came back to England that she started to play the hand drum again.

She used to play in a band with her second husband until they decided to found their own band in which she played for 6 years, between 2006 and 2012. But then she left again. “I had to leave the band because of a hip injury, but then I joined them again   last summer in Gosport, so… I have three gigs soon”. Looks like performing in front of the crowd amazes her, as if all her problems disappeared when she plays music.

She also studied art in London, where she used work in a theatre making clothes and dressing the stars. In addition, she used to sew her own clothes, which is quite impressive even though she considers herself very “slapdash”.

Writing in the style of a magazine article part two - from our students.

Talking To Ross

by Fatemah and Peter

Our mission for today was an interview with ‘Ross the boss’ who is a teacher and a manager at LSI Portsmouth. Deciding to do this interview in a classroom, we leave his office to find a suitable room. Ross looks relaxed, answering clearly every question. Fidgeting with his hand he tells us about his childhood. “I grew up happily in Hong Kong, I learnt how to be independent with a life full of sports and fun”. “Because of my father’s job I was always able to live at the university sports centre during the holidays”. Having a vivid memory of playing table tennis, badminton, eating noodles in a canteen, and going swimming with his friends, he talks about his life enthusiastically, realizing how lucky he was. Some of his friends at that time were English, Australian, European but occasionally Chinese.

Ross went to boarding school in Ireland. “It was a kind of prison but in fact I quite enjoyed that “. So it seems that school shaped the person the Ross is now. Losing his independence Ross followed the rules at school. “It was very cold in the mountains of Dublin, you always had to wear a uniform. We were always cold and hungry”. He told us that his father wanted him to find a job for life, pushing Ross to study engineering. “After two months starting my engineering course I realized that I had made a terrible mistake”. For the third year of his studies he went to France as a part of his degree. Finishing his university he knew that engineering was not for him. So he got a job which gave him the chance to travel to other countries like Japan.

Ross started to speak about his family smiling broadly showing us how much he loves them. “I have a different job which is raising my two children, keeping my wife happy”. They do everything as a family and there is no time to be selfish. Asked about having independence in Hong Kong and then losing it to school and later to family life, he replies that “it was a real struggle”. His independence is reflecting onto his children. “I’m probably breaking all the rules about being a parent, I’m always allowing my son to use saws, drills, and hammers”. Starting to teach his little daughter to have her own independence, she always tries to copy her brother. He goes on to say that although he no longer does loads of sport, his family had become his hobby.


Ross prefers the beginning of summer and doesn’t like the really short cold winter days.      

Writing in the style of a magazine article part one - from our students.

Talking To Rosie

by Isabel Rolf

For the last two and a half years, the lovely Rosie has been the 'Director of Operations' for all the “things that happen in the non teaching part of the school”, she tells us.

Although she is clearly a really busy woman, she kindly gave us her time for a short interview.

We meet her in her office, surrounded by lots of papers and folders. Smiling in a way that makes us feel relaxed, this elegant and sporty woman welcomes us warmly.

Starting her career as an events manager, Rosie worked six months for Walt Disney World in Florida, where she learnt how to organise. Then she moved to Bristol for five years, working as a registrar where she could implement the theory she learnt when studying public relations in the North of England.

All the knowledge she gathered when working in these different jobs has helped her with the logistical side of LSI.

However, there is another life besides her job. Asking Rosie what’s important for her, she answers that sport plays an important part in her life. “You will normally see me hobbling around”, she says. Actually she likes playing tennis and doing Boot Camp, which is “really hard but really good”, she mentions. From what she says, Rosie seems to be a very dynamic woman who needs a valve to release her huge reserves of energy. Obviously she found this valve in doing Boot Camp where she gets shouted at while doing her exercise.

The other important pillar in her life is her family, like a haven where she can find support coming back from travelling.

On the subject of travelling, Rosie has seen many countries from different continents such as North America, South America and Europe. Expecting her to speak several languages she admits not being able to speak any others well apart from English. Her biggest regret is having given up learning languages at sixteen, when she had to decide on her speciality at high school. “My mother told me to continue studying languages because I was good at it, but, you know, in this age teens don’t want to listen to their mothers…. I should have done it.”

Isabel Rolf

Writing in English - choosing your style.

Writing is nearly always the hardest thing to develop in another language.  Recently teacher Jon D's class were focusing on improving their writing skills, and were looking at 'writing in the style of a magazine article'.  This week we are publishing a couple of Jon's student's work, because we think it really shows not only superb imagination but also excellence in their ability.

Singing Their Hearts Out!

Where else could you find such a diverse group of creative individuals.  It really is quite stunning; authors, actors, artists, musicians, producers, composers, photographers, poets, crafters (and there are undoubtedly some that have been missed) - here at LSI Portsmouth we are incredibly blessed with the people we have in this school.  

A week or so ago one of the teachers came and announced that his class (GE Intensive D5) had written a song and wouldn't it be nice if it was filmed?  He was right! 

So here is Jon D; mad, crazy, lovely Jon D (Dobbin) and his fabulous class of students, with a song they wrote.  Jon is playing the guitar, the students sing and the very talented Dan Pringle produced the music. Enjoy!