Educational Philosophy

The educational philosophy behind Uni fun88乐天堂官网versal English Intensive is quite simple: students need to be engaged. Our students are adolescents, and much of their time is taken up by their academic studies. In order to make our curriculum effective, we must find a way to keep the students engaged in the materials. The communicative approach is at the heart of our educational strategies, putting emphasis on student-centered approaches. There are several different ways that we implement this educational philosophy.

Students need to be able to relate to the materials. In other words, students need to feel a connection to the materials. Too often in education, the materials are outdated, resulting in a complete disconnect between students and materials. fun88官网下载app need to feel that the content they learn in class are both useful and meaningful.

Learning needs to be interesting. If students are bored, then they cannot be expected to absorb the lessons taught in class. In terms of learning, and specifically language learning, motivation plays a key role in a student’s cognitive efforts. If a student does not feel that the material is worth learning, then they will distant themselves from it, and learning will be stunted.

The classroom environment needs to be interactive. This is true in all areas of education, but none as crucial as in language learning. Rote memorization and grammar translation are a thing of the past, and the communicative approach is becoming the standard for language teaching across the world. Group work is the focus of our program, and we believe this approach will be the most effective way to keep students engaged throughout their coursework.

The learning process needs to be intuitive. If a textbook or the supplementary materials are unclear and not concise, then the classroom will not be effective and engaging. The textbook series we have chosen to use for this program has very clear language skills activities, and the supplementary materials that will be used for the program are designed to work hand-in-hand with the textbook, giving the classroom objectives more continuity.

An integrative approach to language learning is essential. Too many language classrooms around the world isolate language skill-sets, e.g. a speaking separated from listening, and reading separated from writing. It is impossible to separate these skills without comprising the unity of language acquisition. Our approach integrates all four skill-sets into one classroom, therefore creating a complete language-learning environment.