Theories abound as to which is the easiest way to learning a foreign language, however; no method fits all.
Shetland UK Language School amalgamates good time-honoured methods with the latest research results. We expect our teachers to know and use more than just one technique so that they can find the best way to meet their students’ expectations.
In the globalised world of the 21st century, speaking foreign languages has become essential. When we set our goals and created our teaching programme, we had the following needs in focus: learners want to
- learn the language quickly,
- use it confidently,
- make themselves understood,
- get their message across without ambiguity,
- communicate accurately in speaking and writing alike.
The essence of our professional approach is that we are topic oriented with the necessary grammar rendered to it, and not the other way round. The primary goal is to develop our students’ communication skills so that they can use the new words and grammar both in speaking and in writing.
We expect our teachers to use their own methods and convey the rules of the language to their students in a simple and straightforward manner. They must develop learners’ language skills to help them become competent communicators in both their public and private lives. In order to maintain the quality of teaching, our teachers regularly take part in training courses and their work is constantly monitored.
We use interactive tasks in class to enable learners to communicate fluently and creatively in a foreign language. In the practice phase we apply function-oriented, situation-based methods. Communicative skills are improved by carefully selected, topic-related vocabulary and well-rehearsed situational phrases. We set great store by constant revision since we know that only ’practice makes perfect.’
Shetland creates a natural foreign language environment by hiring native teachers. However, thanks to our Hungarian colleagues, the development of conscious language usage and writing skills are also given due weight. In order to improve learners’ writing skills, we put special emphasis on accuracy—which, for obvious reasons, is not a priority in teaching the spoken language. As some of the language exams in focus require bilingual thinking, we also teach translation, composition and reading comprehension skills.
Shetland meets the challenges of our time and follows an up-to-date communicative language teaching approach, while establishing a solid foundation which serves the needs of those aspiring to take language examinations.
