But, back to the point, the MyOxfordEnglish online course will now offer a button, cleverly called 'Bed Mode', which will have the camera rotate 90º, making it easier for students to follow the online course on a TV format and, as a bonus, horizontally. In addition to that, students will be able to get loudspeaker cushions to do exercises while curled up in bed or on the sofa. This new bed feature will be presented to the press on March 4th at Libreria Catalonia at 11am, from what else? A queen-sized mattress.

I am all about comfort when language learning. After going through some painful courses myself, one smacks back into my mind, like getting it with a frying pan: picture it, 1998, a university classroom in Madrid, where I was studying abroad. It is 8.30am, or some very early hour, in Phonetics and Phonology. We get in our seats and our professor, I think her name was Margarita walks over to the window (as she always did), gently closes her eyes, basking in the sun like a house cat and says forcefully, "Carey, las RRs." This was my cue to try my best at rolling my RRs, which I have come to the conclusion is PHYSICALLY impossible....I would sit there, like a lawn mower that couldn't quite get going trying to force them out, and after about 15 minutes gave up. I was pretty much scarred after that, so the idea of sitting in the comfort of my own home, curled up with my cushion-cum-loudspeaker, some snacks and in footie PJs, while learning those language lessons, sounds pretty damn fine to me!