King's Training – VirtualCampus

Joined-up communication

Edward George Martin — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 07:33:28 +0000

I have been in the UK as my mother fell and broke her leg and, as an elderley person, needed support to return home from hospital. The care she received was very good but the process was complex. She moved between three different wards in hospital and was then assigned two care companies for home visits. In all, I would estimate there have been around 80 medical professionals involved in her case. Her medical notes followed her around in a thick paper folder, we rarely spoke to the same person twice about her case and quite often they would actually ask us if we knew the pertinent information. Everyone did their job well but the difficulty in accessing information made the experience quite mysterious and stressful, as least to the outsider! The lesson learned? Everyone can do a great job, but in a large organisation effective joined-up communication is perhaps the hardest thing to achieve. I guess that’s where middle-managers earn their wage! Anyway, let me connect this post to our new online activities about connection and disconnection which you should access (seamlessly) by clicking on the picture below!

Plus ça change…

Edward George Martin — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 09:03:20 +0000

“The more things change, the more they remain the same”. Probably my favourite saying, although a major reason for that is how much better it sounds in the original French: “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose”. It also feels true. Things change: technology, politics, economy, culture, identity, the way we spend our time. But, despite this, we still need other people, family, to keep busy, to have fun and relax, to do our favourite things and express our opinions and experiences. Everything changes, but perhaps not so much as we think. In view of that, as this new course begins, we encourage you to click on the photo below to access a new set of activities focussing on the language of change at work. It won’t change your life, but at least you might pick up a new expression or two!

Summertime

Edward George Martin — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 13:38:11 +0000

It looks like it’s going to be a hot one. But even if we don’t reach record temperatures there is a long summer ahead of us. As always at this time we at King’s wish you all an enjoyable and restorative summer season, but we also (for all you English learners) urge you not to park your learning for the whole summer and to interact with our famous and updated summer pack of resources and activities (all levels). Click on the image below for a whole world of independent learning wherever you are this summer!

Life in a bubble

Edward George Martin — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 14:02:39 +0000

These days there is a lot of talk about about how technology and online life cut us off from the outside world. I think this is true but the other day a small experiment left me wondering how much I perceive of the outside world, even when I am really paying attention. I used an app (technology again!) which identifies bird species by their song, while taking a walk through a local park; something I had done hundreds of times before. But this time, in the space of 30 minutes, the app identified 21 different bird species and gave me information on all of them – a hidden world had been revealed to me! I wonder how much more is happening around me that I am basically unaware of. And I wonder how much technology, like my app, can be the solution rather than the problem… Increase your awareness, in this case of the figurative use of bird-language in English, by clicking on the picture below.

Everyday negotiation

Edward George Martin — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 14:36:32 +0000

Negotiation, bargaining, haggling, horse-trading; proposals, offers, counteroffers, leverage, compromises, concessions, deadlock, ultimatums, bottom line, win-win, win-lose… and that’s just to agree what time my daughter should arrive back at home when she goes out with her friends! Whether in the professional or personal arenas negotiation is a constant mode of communication in our lives and not having the right language to negotiate can be a distinct disadvantage. With that in mind I am going to make you a ‘take-it-or-leave-it’ offer: click on the picture below to learn the right phrases to make sure you don’t lose out in your next negotiation.

Ed Taylor (Head of Studies at KT)

The hardest presentation

Edward George Martin — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 14:55:52 +0000

The hardest presentation I have ever had to give was at a wedding, as the best man. The tradition is for the best man to give a speech that is affectionate, entertaining, memorable and also funny in a risky way: telling anecdotes from the groom’s past which everyone can laugh at. The speech must contain ‘naughty’ elements but you have to be careful not to offend anyone. If the best man gets the funny/risky balance wrong the rest of the day can be quite uncomfortable! I think I just about managed to get that balance right and I have the memory of a presentation experience that makes work presentations, for example, seem quite simple by comparison! However, our new interactive activity isn’t about giving a best man’s speech but about work presentations, which is probably a bit more useful Click on the picture below to access it!

Ed Taylor (Head of Studies at KT)

Projects pending

Edward George Martin — Wed, 21 Jan 2026 15:07:58 +0000

The beginning of the year is a good time to think about projects. Let me think of a few possibilities… For example, practical projects: redecorate my bedroom or organise my wardrobe; leisure projects: plan a trip to London or read the His Dark Materials series with my daughter; educational projects: use the El Pais app every day to improve my Spanish vocab or do an online course that interests me; creative projects; write a short novel or start a journal; health projects: increase my run to three times a week or start strength training. Phew! That’s probably more than enough, but I’ve forgotten a whole important area: work projects! Click on the picture below to access our brand-new online activity on the essential language of project management.

One year ends, another begins…

Edward George Martin — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 12:22:32 +0000

The team at King’s Training would like to wish all of its students a very happy and successful new year. Learning is a process which has a beginning but not necessarily an end, especially in the field of languages. Although language learning is continuous, setting time-related targets can really help progress. Why not think of 2026 as the year you reach the next level, or gain the fluency to work internationally, or watch a series in the language you are learning every month? Time-related targets allow us to measure progress which then gives us the motivation to continue learning. Perhaps you could start by clicking on the picture for our English-language quiz on new beginnings as we begin the long and eventful journey to the end of another year!

Having a calm (and spooky) Christmas!

Edward George Martin — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 12:39:47 +0000

Having a peaceful Christmas – with shopping, travel arrangements, presents, school events, lunches and dinners, office parties, decorations, Christmas cards, cooking on a massive scale and all the rest of it – can seem like an unlikely prospect! For that reason I like to find a little time to read, and what better genre to explore than that of the Christmas ghost story. The most famous example of this genre in English is Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, but why not try something a little shorter with the chilling Dark Christmas by Jeanette Winterson. And if you have a few minutes of quiet and fancy something a bit less scary why not click on the picture below for our brand new Christmas quiz. Wishing you all a very happy Christmas and New Year!

The King’s Training team

What’s your office like?

Edward George Martin — Fri, 07 Nov 2025 09:48:24 +0000

Is it big and modern and surrounded by landscaped garden in an out-of-town business park? Maybe it’s in a unit on an industrial estate with a view over a production area. Or it could be in a converted city-centre flat with a parquet floor. Or how about the thirty-eighth floor of a gleaming skyscraper? Of course, these days your office could be a place you don’t see very often as you usually work from home, or you may have been relocated so many times you can hardly remember where it is! In any case, one day you may have to show visitors around your office in English so you really should click on the picture of the lovely office below and do our new interactive activities on that very subject!