|
Callan method at the Callan School of
London
Official
surveys have demonstrated that with the classical teaching methods of
the English language the results are little effective, antiquated,
borings and slow to achieve.
If you compare the prices of some Schools of
English in your own country you will notice that they are, at least,
doubles in respect of the ones offered by the Callan school. The reason
of this is to be found in the poor quality of the teaching a normal
school is often offering you, little offer with the highest prices.
Further, these schools also have the aggravating
circumstance to have no-native English teachers.
More and more companies are nowadays requiring
employers to posses English language skill certified by a Cambridge
examination. Today for instance the English language is the
communication language of our time, useful in many cases, a must in
others, above all within the world of business and trade.
Learning a language, especially at its early
stage, means that it needs to be studied in the country where it is
spoken and it is also true that this will not take months or even years
to be achieved. For instance, many of the Callan School customers are
professionals who have only weeks on hand. As a matter of fact, the
secret of learning a language is the repetition of it: repeating without
thinking.
Learning a language at its best require a
sort of conditioned reflex. Speaking a language is like playing
piano or typewriting on the computer, an intrinsic need to
develop a rapid reflex without thinking.
For instance, in order to learn a language,
experiences show that one must learn to speak and to understand without
thinking. A linguistic reflex hence starts from the mouth not from the
brain; the pianist does not have the time to think where to put his
finger since a rapid reflex can be obtained only by a mechanical
repetition.
As language learning is a question of developing quick
reflexes, how else can this be done than by a system of
stimulus and response? The same psychologist went on to
take an exaggerated example, by adding that one could
teach a monkey to play the piano, given such techniques.
In other words th e
monkey, like a pianist, a typist or a language student,
is learning to perform a trick, and tricks are best
learnt through practice and through a system of stimulus
and response, which in the case of the Callan Method
means quick-fire questions and answers. The difference
between the monkey and the pianist, typist and language
student, however, is that the monkey cannot do much with
the trick he has learnt, whereas the pianist, typist and
language student can; for them the trick is a means to
an end. For the monkey it is an end in itself.
The average student usually takes 350 hours to
obtain the diploma of English with the Cambridge First Certificate,
whereas the same needs only 200 hours with the Callan Method.
Further,
95% of the students using the Callan Method are recorded to have succeed
in the examination against the 70% of the normal schools of English
which are said to be slow and boring as far as they are still based on
the classical teaching of a Victorian times grammar.
Mr. Callan has invented a method called
Direct Method. As stated above, its main advantage is the rapidity of
learning.
Children learn the language with a precise method,
which is translated in the Callan method by the formulation from the
teacher of quick-fire questions to which the students in turn must give
a quick answer, in an instinctive manner, pronouncing the same words of
the teacher.
Again, as stated above, the Callan School boasts a
percentage of promoted to the Cambridge First Certificate and to the
various examinations of English at University level of 95% against a
poor 70% at the average international level.
Further, in the rare event of unsuccessful results
in the examination, the Callan School is the only school worldwide to
guarantee free lessons until the achievement of the certificate.
|
