In order for their children to learn a foreign language, parents are willing to sacrifice the satisfaction of their personal needs. In this effort, many parents are concerned about whether they should choose for their child a SPECIAL COURSE OR A GROUP COURSE at a Language School.
What is the right decision?
As learning consultant Kir. Vassilomanolakis (B.Sc.Hon. Psychology, Adv. Dipl. Child Development), “the possibility of developing the student’s cognitive skills, as well as the learning environment are the key elements that allow us to judge which is the most appropriate solution.
Cognitive skills are developed at every moment of our lives, through the interaction of ideas, suggestions, clarifications, objections, questions from our peers, friends, teachers and family members. More simply, we learn much more easily and enjoyably as members of a group.
Exploiting the advantages of the school environment in the learning process is crucial. The restless young spirits feed, learn and produce in a constantly renewing environment, which, with the predominant element of rivalry, gives them the opportunity to seek new ways of expression and creation, to discover new ways of approaching every lesson.
What does the group lesson offer?
The composition of a group/class is a mixture of personalities with different backgrounds, different learning styles and different talents that may be taught by more than one teacher. Each teacher’s expertise, experience and cultural backgrounds complement, colour, enrich and differentiate each lesson. This makes the classroom the ideal place to learn a foreign language.
On the contrary, the tutor is not obliged by circumstances to differentiate her methods, nor is it possible for her to personify – herself – all or some of the students’ learning types and characters, to substitute the group dynamic and to express the multidimensionality of our time.
In this way, the particular foreign language course ends up, after the first stages, an isolating one-sided approach that can lead to a learning quagmire. The adoption of new teaching methods, the continuous training of teachers and the abundance of supervisory tools (video, computer, multimedia, etc.) in Language Schools complete the composition of an ideal environment for teaching every type of learner, taking advantage of his or her potential, the classroom group and the environment, depending on the learning requirements.”
Determining factors
The required high level of communication in the foreign language, but above all the target degree, largely determine the course process. Candidates must learn to communicate in pairs or as a group. This is exactly how they are treated, by the way, in the examinations for degrees (e.g. Lower – Proficiency).
Special reasons
If, however, special reasons oblige you to choose private lessons, so as not to be surprised afterwards (often students who join a group lesson after a private one find that they have fallen behind in the material).
α. Make sure the teacher has the formal and substantive qualifications to lead your child to obtain a recognised qualification
β. Periodically check your child’s progress
It is certain that a well-organized Language School will offer you the best solution in both cases.
