About The City People

An essential part of any city is its residents, and Languagelab's virtual English City is no different. The City People are native speakers of English: either professional actors, musicians, qualified teachers or people with appropriate specialist skills.

Most people learning English all over the world have very little opportunity to practice and almost no chance of practicing with a native speaker. With Languagelab that is no longer a problem! The City People provide you with a virtual English-speaking city - you can come in any time and talk to someone. You can also practice what you have learned in your local school here at Languagelab - any type of conversation you want to have, you can find someone to practice with in English City.

There are lots of advantages:

  • Start using your English today!
  • Build your confidence using English and speak more spontaneously.
  • Practice as much as you like in a safe and friendly environment.
  • Stop worrying about small mistakes and concentrate on communication – the English City People will correct you.
  • Experience talking to 'real' native speakers and learn to understand English accents from all over the world.
  • Meet people you couldn't meet in real life: famous Hollywood actors, top international lawyers and professors from great universities in the US and UK.
  • Build a social network of English speaking friends - become part of an English speaking community.
  • Practice everyday English: English for shopping, eating out, staying at hotels, renting accommodation, using banking and postal services and more.
  • For Intermediate and advanced students, classes are sometimes too comfortable. In English City, students really need to communicate and understand in order to participate.
  • If you're not a talkative person, don't worry - You can improve your listening skills until you are ready to speak.

Let's meet some of them...

Alastair Twine
Alastair Twine
Name: Alastair Twine
Age: 45
Occupation: A banker
Primary Location: The Bank
Objectives: Alastair wants to make the English City Bank successful and hire new employees to work there, he also wants to make better connections with businesses in the City.
Language and vocabulary: Finance, Banking and business, case studies of real businesses, the language of negotiation, offers and requests and presentation techniques.
Oliver Hoxley
Oliver Hoxley
Name: Oliver Hoxley
Age: 47
Occupation: International Lawyer
Primary Location: His office at the business centre
Objectives: Oliver is not an actor he is a real lawyer from New York who is at English City to give you authentic English practice and discuss international law and global markets with people from all over the world.
Language and vocabulary: Legal English in an international context, global finance, managing an international team, working in different countries.
Name: Bette Jarman
Age: 52
Occupation: Owner of Smart Temps Recruitment Agency
Primary location: Recruitment Agency
Objectives: To build Smart Temps into a major temp agency. She also wants to make sure that her daughter, Lane, is happy.
Language and vocabulary: human resources; recruitment and selection, skills and qualifications, marketing, meetings and presentations
Lane Jarman
Lane Jarman
Name: Lane Jarman
Age: 30
Occupation: Reporter and Owner of the English City News
Primary location: The City News – Newspaper office
Objectives: Lane wants to bring the news to The City, and firmly believes in the Freedom of the Press. The Paper will have Community gossip, fashion ads, sports reporting, marriages, the events of the community.
Language and vocabulary: Current affairs, News and the press, Comparatives, Superlatives, The Narrative tenses, Speculation, Telling a story, Intonation and pronunciation – showing interest, Interview and listening techniques.
Millie Eames
Millie Eames
Name: Millie Eames
Age: 48
Occupation: Millie owns and manages the café, Conversations.
Primary location: Conversations – A café in English City
Objectives: Millie is always working to get more customers. She really wants her café to be a special place for her customers. She wants them to feel comfortable and to think of the conversation café as their home away from home.
Language and vocabulary: Food and drink, books and literature, travelling and holidays, my country, small talk, asking and answering questions, numbers and colours and life in an English speaking country.
Pebbles Kronfeld
Pebbles Kronfeld
Name: Pebbles Kronfeld
Age: 28
Occupation: Pebbles works as a waitress in Conversations. She goes on auditions everyday. She always turns up in costume at Conversations, which Millie kindly allows. One day she might be Juliette, another day Buffy in the new Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical. She rarely gets the parts but is full of optimism. She is often ready with her lines for the auditions to go through with the students and ask their opinion.
Primary location: Conversations Café and English City Theatre
Objectives: Pebbles wants to be an actress, she needs an 'audience'. She is looking for her big break.
Language and vocabulary: Film and television, theatre, pronunciation and accent training, feelings and emotions, music, descriptive adjectives, problem solving, storytelling
Name: Donatella Benoir
Age: Late 30's
Occupation: Donatella is the sales manager at Periwinkles that offers a great choice of the latest fashion and accessories for both ladies and gentlemen.
Primary location: Periwinkles, the high end clothing shop in English City.
Objectives She wants to own her own clothing shop because she doesn't like her boss, and needs you to help her with suggestions.
Language and vocabulary: Colours, clothing and accessories, the body, numbers, shopping, money, making a complaint, quantities, countable and uncountable nouns and offers and requests,
Griffin Morrisey
Griffin Morrisey
Name: Griffin Morrisey
Age: 38
Occupation: Composer for a film. Likes to play the music to visitors and asks them to interact in the scenes or read lines with the music to try out the effectiveness of the music. Each week has a different scene to listen to and work on: cocktail party, barbeque, etc.
Primary location: Griffin lives with his wife and one year old baby in a mansion.
Objectives: Griffin's dream is to write, direct and compose the music for a film so he is always looking for help from people in the city.
Language and vocabulary: Music, pronunciation, the theatre, emotions and states and world music.
Finn Kranfel
Finn Kranfel
Name: Finn Kranfel
Age: 34
Occupation: A politician here in English City who is trying to make politics accessible to everyone.
Primary Location: City Hall
Objectives: Finn wants to help all the residents of English City become more politically aware and become involved in what happens in the city.
Language and vocabulary: Government, Politics, Literature, International Communities
Spyder Wycliffe
Spyder Wycliffe
Name: Spyder Wycliffe
Age: 28
Occupation: Spyder works as a web master for a local technology company in English City.
Primary Location: The airport and driving around the city in his taxi.
Objectives: Spyder wants to start a technology company here in English City
Language and Vocabulary: Science & Technology, talking about the latest web trends, making predictions, hypothesising, summarising.
Pam Sharple
Pam Sharple
Name: Pam Sharple
Age: 33
Occupation: A nurse. Pam is not an actor but a nurse in real life part of our medical English team of trainers.
Primary Location: The Medical Centre
Objectives: To help you explain accurately if you have a medical emergency while travelling and talk about health issues.
Language and vocabulary: Health, medicine and alternative medicines, giving and following instructions.
Name: Kori Blaisdale
Age: 48
Occupation: Hotel Events Director
Primary Location: The hotel or plaza
Objectives: Kori Blaisdale wants to help you with social English and help you improve your general communication skills; listening, speaking and responding spontaneously.
Language and vocabulary: Travel and booking into a hotel, recreation, popular culture, health and beauty
Chandler Kranfel
Chandler Kranfel
Name: Chandler Kranfel
Age : 22
Occupation Currently looking for a job, needs you to help him find one.
Primary Location: Conversations Cafe
Objectives: To find a job and make a new life in English City, Chandler loves to talk and share what he has found out about in the city.
Language and vocabulary: Colloquial English, every day expressions, pop culture, current affairs
Doctor Kegel
Doctor Kegel
Name: Dr. Kegel
Age: 32
Occupation: Doctor - Dr. Kegel is a doctor in real life and was educated at Yale.
Primary Location: The medical centre
Objectives: To provide excellent health care in English City and to work with nurse Pam Sharple to recruit more staff for the medical centre.
Language and Vocabulary: Medical English, talking about the health system in your country, how to be a good doctor, communicating clearly