If you want to learn or improve your English, a language holiday to Cornwall with Skool combines learning with sea air, friendly faces, and (at least in our house) a kitchen table that seems to attract long conversations like a magnet.
We’re not your teachers; we’re your hosts. We take over when your English course at Skool wraps up for the day, and that’s when the fun continues. We cook, pour the wine, and create a space where you can relax, eat, and chat. Because when you’re sharing a meal, language starts to come naturally. Mistakes? Absolutely. And that’s where the real learning happens.
Our kitchen is your kitchen
When you come to learn English with Skool, you’re not a student, you’re a guest. As hosts, we take the same approach. We cook together, eat together, and often end up chatting long after the plates are cleared. Of course, if you’d rather have a quiet evening to yourself, that’s completely fine too. The kettle’s always on in our kitchen…which means so much more than having a tea.
We live in a multilingual household. I moved from Germany to Cornwall 8 years ago, my partner is English, he also speaks Cornish (yes, it’s a real language, and no, it’s not just old pirate talk). So even after a few years of living together, we still find ourselves discussing food in at least two and sometimes three languages. As proper food lovers, that’s probably no surprise. In fact, most of the German that my partner has picked up revolves around the kitchen and food. Ask him about Frankfurt’s (my hometown) world-famous Grüne Sauce and he will tell you all the ingredients.
So when we have guests, it’s no surprise that conversations often circle back to food:
What exactly is a Sunday roast?
What do Brits eat at Christmas?
How do you pronounce pasty?
And why can you find “proper” Cornish pasties in South Africa?
Don’t get us started on the great jam first debate. (For the record, the Cornish insist it’s jam first, cream second) I sometimes skip the jam altogether and just go for clotted cream. Slightly scandalous….
We don’t plan these chats. They just happen. And they’re probably the most useful English practice you’ll get all day outside Skool (Sorry, Toby!).
“Tea”…”Dinner”…”Supper”: Please clarify!
You’d think meal times would be straightforward. But welcome to British English. Even after eight years, I still get caught out. More than once, I’ve been invited for “tea” happily expecting cake and, well, tea, only to be served something more like a light dinner…at a time that’s too late for afternoon tea but somehow too early for dinner. It’s a mystery I’ve learned not to question. I just show up hungry. Let’s break it down:
- “Are you coming in for tea?” Depending on the region, this can mean a hot drink or an entire evening meal.
- Dinner: Usually the main meal of the day. Which may or may not be at lunchtime.
- Supper: Light, late, and not a word you’ll hear in every household. Unless you count a biscuit at 9pm.
Other useful phrases from the kitchen table
- “I’ll pop the kettle on.” Let’s have a tea break. But there’s more to it than just tea, it’s also an invitation to sit down, have a chat, and take your time. However long it takes.
- “Do you want to give that a stir?” Help with the cooking, and don’t let it burn.
- “Would you like a top-up?” More wine. Always a popular one.
- “Go on, have seconds.” It means you’ve passed the first test (surviving British cooking).
- “I’m stuffed.” Very full. Usually after a Sunday roast!
- “Dreckly” Dreckly is a famously flexible word that means “later”—but exactly when is anyone’s guess.
You might even learn the phrase “That’ll stick to your ribs” which is how we describe hearty food that keeps you warm after a blustery Cornish walk.
There’s something about a shared meal that makes language barriers feel smaller. No pressure, no grammar drills, just real conversations in real situations. Sometimes funny, sometimes chaotic, sometimes not finding the right words. And that’s the beauty of staying with a host family: you’re not just learning a language, you’re living it. And in between the bowls and plates, you’re speaking English without even thinking about it.
Start your English journey with Skool. Let’s cook, chat, and learn together.