Get the Frog Out of Your Throat!

This is this year´s message from the Skřivánek Language School. The bold visual with tree frogs invites students to study a language with Skřivánek, which this year not only offers one of the widest ranges of courses on the market, but also more tempting prices for public courses.

The new term starts on 20 September 2010 at all branches of Skřivánek. This year the prices of courses have been cut by more than 10 %, while the conditions that our more demanding students are used to remain unchanged, meaning effective and modern courses in small groups of no more than 8 students.
The language school offers hundreds of courses for the general public, as well as FLEXI packages for those who want a course that is specially adapted to their needs. “The standard languages taught are English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, and Czech for foreigners; upon request we can arrange practically any kind of course, as we also have experience teaching languages such as Polish, Chinese, and Arabic,” says Alice Habartová, Marketing Director of the Skřivánek Language School.

The organisation of courses and the actual languages taught at Skřivánek are based on the European Council document “Common European Framework of Reference for Languages”, which describes how we learn languages, how we teach them, and how we assess language skills. “In line with this we have adapted not only the levels system to comply with the European Framework of Reference, but also the changing approach to teaching. Emphasis is now focused on ensuring that students are able to get their message across. This means that in the classroom the emphasis has shifted away from the proper, grammatically-correct use of language to the ability to successfully communicate in the real world,” adds Habartová.

“The communicative method especially focuses on speaking and the ability to communicate. We use the latest trends, interactive teaching aids and a variety of additional materials in our lessons,” says Habartová, adding that the aim of this method is not just to enable students to master their language skills, but also to develop skills which will help them to understand people speaking naturally in a particular language and to enable them to express what it is they want to say.

Unlike the outdated grammatical/translation methods that are no longer in line with how modern society is developing, Skřivánek teachers do not try to get their students to learn long lists of isolated words by heart, but put new vocabulary in a real and meaningful context and keep the use of the students´ native language to a minimum. “Our teachers motivate their students in a positive way and try to remove any fear or shyness they might have about communicating. This is the key to success,” says Habartová.