😊Introducing The New 2021 LEARN ENGLISH WITH AFRICA WEBSITE, with Fun Quiz on Internet Vocabulary❕

The New Learn English With Africa website is finally here!

Hello and welcome!

I knew that 2021 was going to bring a lot of changes as I mentioned here, but nothing would have prepared me for this major overhaul.

First of all, I need to thank the following people who made this dream possible: my supportive husband Brice Gatignol, who helped me financially and Adam Wójtowicz, the talented Web Developer from Digital Dumpling, who worked tirelessly and came up with this beautiful design.

I would also like to thank former, current and future subscribers. Your contribution to this website is immensurable and you help me to keep motivated so that I can continue to create great content!

By the way, you can download the following free Word Search on Internet vocabulary by clicking on the links below:

• Fun Word Search: Internet Vocabulary (PDF)
• Fun Word Search (Correction): Internet Vocabulary (PDF)

****

Before I introduce you to the new functionalities that the new website has, why don’t we also do a fun quiz in order to review some Internet vocabulary and to make the subsequent task easier?

Here we go!

Internet Vocabulary Quiz

What’s New on the 2021 Learn English With Africa Website?

When I created Learn English With Africa in October 2015, little did I know that 2021 would bring a totally different website.

The changes that we have brought about, reflect the growth of the website and the urgency to organise existing content and offer new functionalities.

Subscription Service

This has been the greatest change and challenge.

If you know my career trajectory, you should be aware that I quit my job as an English teacher in an international high school in order to start this project.

Why did I quit my comfortable, cushy job😱😮, you might ask?

Well, teaching is not easy at all. First of all, the number of working hours is insane. Students need to be constantly stimulated and (entertained!) in to have a functional classroom and not a mad house. Parents are relentlessly on our backs and the administration is busy worrying about careers, so much that students are almost a second thought!

What hurt me the most was seeing students with a lot of potential being left to rot in the system because people who could do something chose not to do anything!

Most of all, I felt that the available teaching materials all looked the same: dull, repetitive, meaningless and cumbersome.

I wanted to be able to use worksheets or vocabulary charts that would be visually, emotionally and intellectually appealing😊.

So, I decided to create them!

My first posts were mainly about Africa and African heroes, but my writing style gradually evolved as I noticed what worked best.

As a matter of fact, I saw that people liked original vocabulary and grammar charts. They also loved my short stories, therefore I decided to write more.

No wonder, the number of visitors grew as each year passed!

The first half of the year 2021 saw the website obtaining more than 200,000 visitors and more than 350,000 page views.

Yet, I was not making money out of those views🙃.

Why?

Putting adverts on the new Learn English With Africa website was out of question as it lowered the value of the content and distracted learners. You can find more explanations about the strategy I decided to use here.

What was the next step then?

I resorted to create my own products which I would promote. This would be more valuable in the long run than promoting other people’s products.

So far, I have self-published seven books. The collections of short stories namely B2 Short Stories in English, B1 Short Stories in English and A2 Short Stories in English are the most popular.

As of now, I sell two books per week on average. The biggest surprise has been to find out that my best customers are from Germany and Japan, followed by France, the UK, the United States and Italy.

To whoever bought my books, thank you so much for doing so! This means so much to me!

By the way, if you are curious to know who visits the website the most, then I can tell you that Spanish-speaking people from Spain, Argentina and Mexico do remain consistent in their knowledge-seeking process.

Additionally, people from the Philippines, Turkey and India do grace us with their presence too. THANK YOU!

****

Therefore, to cut a long story short, I decided to create this subscription service in order to make a living out of my sweat.

So far, I have one subscriber. If you are reading this, thank you so much for subscribing to the service. You have no idea how happy I was when I received the notification! May God shower you with plenty of blessings and give you the courage to fulfill all your dreams🥰❤️.

I would also like to thank my 19 subscribers on WordPress.com. Some of you have been following me for years and your support has always meant so much to me. I remember that in 2019, I created posts every day out of a sense of urgency and only one person unsubscribed. This loyalty meant so much to me and I will always appreciate you ❤️ 😍 !

Currently on the new Learn English With Africa website, visitors click on the subscribe or login buttons quite a lot but they cannot move on to the next step. Some EVEN send requests for lost passwords 🙃!

However, let me reassure you. It is really safe and worthwhile to subscribe to the service in order to access all the materials as it is explained here.

The yearly subscription is only 45 euros and the website is ripe with a lot short stories, grammar and vocabulary lessons, not talking about the plethora of visuals.

So why don’t you make up your minds?

Dedicated Courses Section

Since 2015, I have created at least 200 posts, hundreds of images and worksheets.

Phew! It’s been such a long journey!

As I mentioned earlier, most of the content used to be mainly based on Africa.

However, as time passed, it became evident that three language fields stood out namely grammar, vocabulary and stories. In fact, it was not such a big surprise as people were able to view these language tools in context. Isolated words or terms became meaningful when used in a specific situation.

I was elated because I could express my passion for Africa and writing stories while drawing upon my teaching and journalism skills and qualifications😊 .

This is why we created three separate sections for this content on the new Learn English With Africa website. This new feature allows you to easily find old content.

In the future, I will be creating new lessons each month in order to make your subscription worthwhile. I am also planning to create specific writing and teaching courses with several lessons and tasks in order to satisfy special needs.

Three titles immediately come to my mind: ‘Teaching With Short Stories’; ‘Effective Short Story Writing‘ and ‘Writing on the Web’.

Below you will find links to the website’s popular pages as far as the number of visitors are concerned:

Stories

• English Short Story: The Perfect Present, with the Present Perfect (Level B1-B2)
• English Short Story: When Lions Come to Town, with Adverbs of Time, Level A1-A2
• English Short Story: The Will, with Modals or Modal Verbs, Level B1-B2
• English Short Story: Unconditional Love, with Conditionals, Level B1-B2
• English Short Story: The Most Beautiful Garden (Level A1-A2), with Superlatives

Grammar Lessons

• English Grammar (The Simple Present): Lesson 2-Talk about Habits and Daily Routines
• English Grammar (Reported Speech): lesson 1-in the News (with effective examples)
• English Grammar (Comparatives): Lesson 1-Talking about Differences (with memorable charts!)
• English Grammar in Context: HAVE GOT (Simple Present), with Captivating Dialogue and Very Detailed Worksheets (A1-A2)
• English Grammar (Lesson 3): Dialogue Using the Present Perfect Continuous Tense (with Detailed Charts)

Vocabulary Lessons

• Media and Journalism Vocabulary, Level B1-B2 (with detailed and meaningful examples!)
• English Vocabulary (Lesson 3)-Describe your City or Village
• English Vocabulary (Describing Pictures): Lesson 2-How to Describe a Painting in an Effective Way
• English Vocabulary (Describing Places): Lesson 1-Where Do You Live? (with perfect examples!)
• Vocabulary for Describing Schools (with examples!), Level A2-B1

And that’s not all!

Separate Blog Section

Navigating the new Learn English With Africa website has become easier with the new organisation😌.

As you can see, we no have a separate Blog section which is mainly dedicated to posts about African culture, teaching practices, useful tips for learning English and miscellaneous subjects.

With my new responsibilities, I will only be able to write one blog post per month. However, these will be in-depth articles or features in English and will include both written and audio material.

Here is a sneak peek of what the topics might look like!

Articles about People

• A Day in the Life of Maria K., a Ugandan English Teacher
• Meet Diana, an Inspirational Zambian Entrepreneur Who is…
• I interviewed Jack P., a Senegalese Human Rights Activist, and This is What He Said…
• What do Malawians Think About Climate Change? I Talked to 10 People and This what I Learned…
• Cooking Lessons from Christine , a Congolese Restaurant Owner Living in Warsaw…

Articles About Places

• Why do People Love to Visit Mulanje Mountain?
• The 7 Wonders of Lake Malawi
• 100 Adjectives to Describe the Beauty of Africa
• Spot the Odd One Out: Which Place is Not Located in Africa and Why?
• 5 Reasons Why You Should Visit Namibia

Articles About Food

• Sunday Delights: Learn How to Cook ‘Mandasi’, the Mouth-watering Malawian Snacks that Everybody Loves
• What is the Baobab Fruit?
• Top African Dishes That Are Served in Restaurants
• My Favourite Childhood Snacks
• What Do Zimbabweans Eat on A daily Basis?

Articles About Learning English

• The Fastest Way to Learn English Vocabulary
• 10 Tricks that Really Work When You are Studying English
• How I Became Fluent in Italian and This What You Can Also Do to Improve Your Level of English
• How You can Learn Many Languages, Including English
• 5 Effective Habits You Should Have on Your Road to English Fluency

Articles About Teaching English

• Teach Your Students to Love English, and they Will Love It!
• Why I Stopped Teaching English in the Classroom?
• How to Teach English Using Short Stories
• How to Unleash the Creative Potential in Your Students
• What are the Most Effective Methods For Teaching English?

I am thrilled that there is a separate Blog Section! This where I can express my creativity and I promise you that the articles will not disappoint you!

Bookstore

I am also really grateful that there is a possibility to directly sell my books on the new Learn English With Africa website.

So far, I have managed to self publish 7 books, which is no mean feat. The books were written in the span of 10 years and are set in Africa or the diaspora.

Below are the reasons why I love these books💕💕:

Salt No More

The characters are strong and full of life. Hence, we all want to know what will happen to them as the story unfolds. There is also a lot of tension in the book which makes it a page turner. Additionally, I like how I was able to depict both village and city life. The mundane activities give a sense of reality and it is really easy to forget yourself in the book.

B1-B2 Short Stories

This is one of my favourite collection of short stories. I poured my heart out in these stories and each time I read one of them, I am filled with gratitude for being given the ability to create beauty out of hopeless situations.

A2-B1 Short Stories

I like the variety of themes in this collection of short stories. Some of the stories are really light-hearted and fun to read. You will find other stories difficult to read because of the subject matter. However, the fact is you get something out of all the stories which makes reading a pleasurable and enriching experience.

A1-A2 Short Stories

People love this collection of short stories and I am not surprised because I also do. Not only is the language accessible, but the subjects are also intriguing and relatable. Thus, the book is quick to read and you barely notice that you are actually learning English at the same time!

The Perfect Present, with the Present Perfect (Short Story)

This is one of my favourite short stories. I like the title and how it perfectly fits the grammar target. In this short story, I was able to show the meaning of the Present Perfect in a subtle way and I cannot thank the gods enough for helping me to create this jewel. I just love how meaning is created in a lasting way.

The Pinnacle of Irresponsibility (Short Story)

I wrote this short story about 7 years ago. It was during a time when I was under intense pressure and was seeing so much suffering around me. Writing helped me to put words on what I was going through. This is a story that reminds me of that period, but it is also a story that gives me hope because I know that there is always light at the end of the tunnel ❤️❤️ .

The Departure Lounge (Short Story)

I also wrote this short story around the same period. It was a time I was also learning how to write. I remember how proud I was after finishing this piece. As a matter of fact, I love the descriptions and the main character. In this short story, I see the beginning of the writer that I am today. Actually, The ‘Departure Lounge’ was the starting point of my writing journey and since then, I have grown both in character and strength.

Conclusion

6 years ago, I quit a stable job in order to follow an uncertain path.

After many years of trial and error, I have learned to see what works and what does not work as far as English language learning is concerned.

The new Learn English With Africa website is the result of all those efforts.

I cannot lie to you. During these years, I have spent many a sleepless nights wondering if this was a worthwhile pursuit.

During those interminable six years, I have shouted of triumph when a post was doing really well.

Yet, at the same time, I have been paralysed with fear and hopelessness because I did not know where I was going.

I have also cried many a times out of frustration.

Yet, I have kept on because I knew that what I was creating was useful to many people.

The greatest gain has been to teach more that 1 000 people a day instead of a handful in the classroom.

Therefore, I do not regret my decision of quitting my job six years ago.

The Future of New Learn English With Africa Website

Below are my main goals for the new Learn English With Africa website:

• Make it a viable business entity that enables me to continue creating quality content for teachers and students
• Create unique, original and excellent content that stands the test of time
• Develop an intelligent learning community that loves English and would like to contribute to the learning and teaching dialogue
• Showcase African beauty and culture through in-depth articles and travel

Come along with me on this new and exciting journey! You won’t regret it!

Further Exploration: New Learn English With Africa Website

Read:

• Malawi-the Warm Heart of Africa (Level A2-B1)
• English Poem : Growing Up, with Vocabulary for Talking About Childhood and Adulthood (Audio included!), Level A2-B1
• Sunday Delights: Baked Plantains with Cinnamon (Level A2-B1-B2)

Watch: Video Introduction of The New Learn English With Africa Website