Want to learn English? Go to the coffee shop.

Yesterday, I walked home from teaching my Monday exam preparation course and, as usual, I passed through the main station. 

I noticed that Tchibo, an outlet that sells coffee (and now a lot more), had new non-food goods in, so I walked in to see what diverse objects they were touting this week.

What pleasantly surprised me was the way the goods were labelled. On the boxes, the package band and tags, not only was the German word for the item mentioned, but also the English word underneath it.

Words like 'socks' and 'pyjamas' were easy, but yesterday, you could have learnt the words for 'organiser boxes' and 'roasting tin'.

So...if you've got time on your hands while waiting for a train, pop into Tchibo and give yourself a quick vocabulary test. 

Practice makes perfect.