MIDDLESMOOR

Children's English language Courses

link to main site www.middlesmoor.com

comments of children who have been to Middlesmoor

 

 

Brief description of what we teach in the summer courses.  

We have run our 3 week summer courses for foreign children for 25 years. Over this time, without any preconceived theories we have "invented" a pragmatic mix of procedures which have seemed to work better than others.

Perhaps it should be remembered that since parents pay for these 3 week courses, we have had to be very concerned to give value for money and other than ensuring that children are happy, this in the end is measured by school performance after the stay in Middlesmoor.

Firstly we realised that after a long slog of a year's school. Middlesmoor courses had to be fun. It should be self evident that in education, where there is no pleasure or fun, learning is likely to be limited. As we say, "you cannot drag a horse to water". All teaching should make its matter memorable. This depends on motivation and stimulus as well as on the right "techniques".

Our methods are best represented by our theatre work with our own special grammar- focused plays and our grammar focused phrase book. Both of these give grammar an indirect form - more like the way we learnt out own mother tongue: by example and by trial and error.

This easily digestible administration of grammar through plays and speaking and memorising games, is supported by careful but limited explanation of the grammar consistencies ("rules"). "Rules" are reduced to 1-3 key words.

All of what we do is based on this belief: language is not studied but spoken. It is only by speaking that we learn to speak and that by contrast often what we gain through the "study" of a language is not immediately available to us when we try and speak.

I have always been especially proud of the comments that children over a number of years sent us. What they seem to have in common is a memory of happiness . That is important. As for their English, a German mother rang me this year (2002) to tell me that her daughter had got top marks in her private school after her 3 weeks in Middlesmoor. (Now at a German private school, there must be plenty of well taught and motivated students among the competition!)

See www.middlesmoor.com for these comments.

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05.2 children's comments