In a Bangor Daily News article by Sam Schipani, Acadia Center for English Immersion Director Brian Boyd offers advice on how to learn vocabulary in context and stay motivated in your independent langu
age learning.
Acadia English Blog
English Courses Go Online
Due to the global pandemic, for the health and safety of our students, hosts, and teachers, we are not taking registrations for our intensive English immersion courses in Camden, Maine, USA, until further notice. Our thoughts are with those around the world affected by the pandemic, and we are grateful to everyone doing their part to keep their communities safe, especially the most vulnerable.
Online, virtual English lessons are a great way to study from home and improve your English –
contact us for details.
New Intensive English Courses Begin in May 2020
Time now to think ahead to beautiful spring, summer, and fall days in Camden, Maine, USA, and register for a 2020 English immersion course. We offer new courses beginning every Monday from May through October. Come for 1 week or 12 weeks or anything in between, whatever suits your schedule.
Our intensive courses feature a personalized learning program, highly experienced teachers, small group and private lessons, homestay accommodation, family-style meals, excursions and activities exploring our beautiful area, and total English immersion from morning to night with other friendly, motivated adults from around the world. Join us!
Summer in Camden, Maine
Summertime in Camden means delicious seafood, ocean sailing, and a not-to-be-missed opportunity to take a giant leap in your English proficiency at Acadia Center!
The shortest path to reaching your English language learning goals is full English immersion. At Acadia Center, you will practice your English all day, every day, in class and out of class, at family-style meals, and on excursions.
Individual attention to your specific learning objectives is at the heart of the Acadia Center experience.
The classes were very efficient. The teachers adjusted their course content to my needs so that I could reach my goals. The fact that I had several different teachers gave me different perspectives. Because it’s a small school with a few students, you have more chance to practice with native English speakers. -Steve, Montreal, Canada
All was prepared in order to give us the greatest possible integration between the English lessons and real-life conversation. That happened always in an efficient and fun way, including our coffee breaks, lunches, and parties in the evenings at school, when we had the great opportunity to meet new local people, as well as people from different parts of the world. -Waine, Brazil
Camden is a very beautiful town, both its buildings and houses, its landscape, hills, the sea, etc. It is far from the noisy cities and highways, allowing students to focus on their study. -Mauricio, Colombia
New English immersion courses begin every Monday from May through October.
Register now – summer in Camden is waiting for you!
Follow Us & Save!
To keep up to date on the latest discount offers for English immersion courses in Maine, USA, make sure to follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook!
New English immersion courses, featuring mini-group and private lessons, homestay accommodation, family-style meals, and excursions, begin every Monday from May through October.
How to Use Actual, Actually in English: A Top Ten Mistake for Spanish Speakers
One of the top 10 vocabulary mistakes in English made by speakers of Spanish, Italian, French, or other languages derived from Latin comes from confusing the English adjective actual or adverb actually with words that look or sound very similar in the Romance languages, words like actual in Spanish, actuel in French, or attuale in Italian.
In English, actual means real, not current. Actually means really or in fact, not currently or now.
English speakers use actual and actually to clarify something, to correct a mistake or to be more precise.
To illustrate the meaning of actually, the adverb used with a verb, two of our English immersion course students were sporting enough to act out a misunderstanding on a recent excursion to the workshop of the fabulous master furniture makers at Windsor Chairmakers in Lincolnville, Maine.
Lupita: What’s this called?
Rodrigo: Wait a minute. Let me think. A sweep!
Lupita: No, actually it’s called a broom.
Rodrigo: Ah, yes, you sweep with a broom.
Lupita: You got it!
By using the adverb actually, Lupita did not mean to imply that the name broom had changed. She was simply correcting Rodrigo’s mistake. It’s a less formal, and therefore more common, way of saying in fact and then proceeding with the correct information.
As another example, let me ask you a geography question about Camden, Maine, the home of Acadia Center for English Immersion… Which is farther north: Camden or London?
Most visitors to Camden, reasoning that Camden, like the rest of New England, gets considerably more snow than London does, would pick Camden.
Actually, London, at 51.51 degrees north latitude, is much farther north than Camden, at 44.21. In fact, Paris, Bordeaux, and Milan are all farther north than Camden. You would actually have to travel as far south in Italy as Bologna or Genoa to find yourself at the same latitude as Camden, Maine.
False friends is the name we give to words in different languages that look similar but have different meanings. Now that you know the actual meaning of actual and actually, you can avoid this common vocabulary pitfall.
Save 5% with Early Registration Discount
Is your English ready for take off?
Now is the time to take advantage of our Early Registration Discount and save 5% when you register for an English immersion course in Camden, Maine, by January 27, 2018.
New courses begin every Monday starting April 23.
If improving English is important to your professional life or personal life, Acadia Center’s English immersion courses offer a comprehensive program designed to raise your English to the next level.
Featuring small group classes, private lessons, family-style meals with teachers and local dinner hosts, homestay accommodation, and excursions in and around a classic New England small town by the sea, an English immersion course at Acadia Center will give you the conversational and writing skills you need for your work and for travel.
“Everything was prepared to give us the greatest possible integration between the English lessons and real life,” says Waine, an accounting executive from Brazil. “That happened always in an efficient and fun way, including our coffee breaks, lunches, and parties in the evenings at school, when we had the great opportunity to meet new local people, as well as people from different parts of the world.”
Discounts are available to companies sending two or more students in one calendar year, to friends or couples attending a course together, and to alumni.
For the biggest savings of the year, make sure to register for an English immersion course in 2018 by January 27!
Camden: “A Hub of Big Ideas”
In a guest post for the tech community organizer and news website Technical.ly, Camden, Maine, writer and editor Joan Phaup explains what makes Camden a great place to live and visit.
“Camden,” she wrote, “is a community with spectacular surroundings, a vibrant cultural life and an inquisitive, dynamic spirit that grabbed us from the start and has never let go.”
Citing such marquee cultural events as Pop Tech, the Camden Conference, and the Camden International Film Festival, Phaup describes Camden as “a small town with big ideas.”
With its beautiful setting between ocean and mountains and all the cultural opportunities, Camden has the feel of a university campus, wrote Phaup. “This combination of the great outdoors with world-class learning opportunities still astounds me.”
Thanks to Acadia Center English immersion course alumnus Jean-Marc from Paris for calling our attention to this well-written portrait of Acadia Center’s hometown!
Register Now for 2017!
Give yourself a treat! Sign up now for a 2017 English immersion course at Acadia Center in Camden, Maine, USA. New English immersion courses begin every Monday from April 17 through November 18.
If you want to speak and understand English with confidence and communicate about business and personal topics with ease, it’s time to invest in your future and enroll in one of our intensive English courses.
“The progress is very good,” says Steve, a real estate developer from Montreal, “because you are constantly speaking during the day with the teachers or with the host families during dinner.”
“The English lessons were all fantastic,” says Milton, a telecom executive from Argentina. “In particular, I want to mention the variety in background, personality, and teaching style of each professor. This characteristic enriched the classes and made me feel engaged and interested in all the classes.”
Cultural Exchange: Coaching the national tennis team of Jordan
In the 1980s, Acadia Center English immersion course teacher Maureen O’Keefe was King Hussein of Jordan’s personal tennis coach and also the first coach of the national team of Jordan. In this fascinating account published this week on the tennis.com website, Maureen explains how it all came about!