There are three directions that we follow in language learning in Word World:

 

1. Focusing on practical language usage in real life situations
2. Motivating students to reach an academic level of knowledge 
3. Integrating all skills

1. Focusing on practical knowledge usage in real life situations

How do we do this? The point is to personalise the content of the course book, to make it relevant to the kids. The more emotionally engaged they get in a topic, the easier their brain will find it to get involved. And that is exactly what we want! An involved and engaged brain!

 

An interesting survey was carried out at the Faculty of Philosophy. 150 final year students from different faculties took part in the survey (age range 23-27). The question they were asked was:

What kind of lessons do you remember the longest?

• The ones that were presented in a clever and inspiring way
• The ones where you made no mistakes when doing exercises and got an A
• The ones where you got your first bad mark
• The ones where you were involved in activities such as acting, music, dancing, giving a presentation, etc.

Can you guess what the result was?

• 22 students – People find well laid-out and engaging lectures inspiring
• 9 students – Good marks affect our ego and we feel good about ourselves, but this is short-lived
• 25 students – This was an emotional disappointment and it stays imprinted in our memory for a really long time
• 94 students – classes which stay with us the longest are the ones in which we were INVOLVED in creating or discovering something.

"Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.”

Benjamin Franklin

 

2. Motivating students to reach an academic level of knowledge

Another direction which we motivate our students to follow is acquiring a world-renowned certificate which demonstrates that they have reached an academic level of knowledge. This enables them to study abroad listening to lectures in that language. It also means that they will be able to follow current affairs around the world in their field of interest with no difficulties.

 

In English, these are Cambridge certificates FCE, CAE, CPE and IELTS

In German, these are certificates awarded by the GOETHE-Institut

In French, these are DELF and DALF certificates

 

These certificates make it possible for learners to have an official confirmation of their level of knowledge and of their practical language skills.

 

3. Integrating all skills

This means we are expanding our perspective and using our language skills to learn in other areas of life. We could call it “double learning”.

 

We learn how to learn, we practice memory techniques, we inspire kids to create their own symbols while learning.

 

We learn poetry, Maths, History, Biology, Geography. We sing songs, carry out experiments, we protect the environment and learn to be responsible from an early age. We pay special attention to writing as the most challenging language skill, since thoughts put into words and committed to paper can be of vital importance in life.