Our Educational Approach

What we do in the classroom is both innovative and effective – be it simulations and role plays for adults or stimulating and enjoyable fun activities for young learners – English remains the vehicle for all communication.

We believe in practical approaches to the four skills with a particularly strong emphasis on the comprehension of spoken English and oral production. This approach mirrors, in many ways, the natural process of acquisition of our first language - listening then speaking and only later reading and writing.

Listening

Listening is a receptive skill and that which comes first in the process of language acquisition – it involves the engaged deciphering of incoming information in real time.

Speaking

Speaking, on the other hand, is a productive skill and involves the effective communication of information in real time requiring the ability to both construct utterances and pronounce them in a way that is intelligible.

Reading

The third skill is Reading. As with listening, it is also considered a receptive skill which requires the learner to process and comprehend an extensive variety of textual input. It often has the advantage that you can process it more slowly by re-reading and deploying a range of informed guessing strategies – a vital technique which is explicitly taught in all our courses.

Writing

Writing is the fourth skill and the productive twin of speaking. It involves highly specialized rules of construction ranging from an SMS or an e-mail to a more extended piece of writing such as an academic essay. Modes of writing are often very culture specific – English and Italian writing are two very different animals, for example - and present severe challenges in the higher level Cambridge examinations – B2 and beyond. Effective writing requires highly skilled teaching.

Sondrio

Our School in Sondrio first opened its doors in 1985. All classrooms are equipped with Bose audio systems and there is a large interactive white board in the biggest classroom. The atmosphere is welcoming in the best of British style – especially during our social events!

Meet our native-speaker teachers

Our dynamic and close-knit team of teachers is a group of highly qualified specialists as well as being Cambridge Speaking Examiners. Courses are taken by the same teacher throughout the year, though there are also brief periods when teachers swap groups. This allows our students not only to hear different accents but also to experience the subtly different approaches to teaching.