Methodology

Methodologie unserer Spanisch Sprachkurse

Our Approach to Learning Spanish

At Intercultura, we strive to give our students a true understanding and feeling for the Spanish Language. We believe in the communicative approach, and that total immersion is the best manner to learn. Class sizes are kept small, with a maximum of 6 students per class, in order to maximize student talk time and one-on-one attention from the teacher.
 
What is the Communicative Approach?

The Communicative Approach to language teaching actively engages the learner in the classroom. This system of teaching puts the focus of learning on the learner, meaning that he or she is an engaged and active participant in the language acquisition process. Students learn to speak in meaningful, real-life situations that teach them to communicate appropriately in a social and linguistic context. Our syllabus and the framework for class sessions are tailored to the needs of students in an immersion program, and are designed to integrate the many cultural offerings available into the learning process.

 
“We are trying to get our learners to develop linguistic fluency, not just the accuracy that has so consumed our historical journey. We are equipping our students with tools for generating unrehearsed language performance 'out there' when they leave the womb of our classrooms. We are concerned with how to facilitate lifelong language learning among our students, not just with the immediate classroom task. We are looking at learners as partners in a cooperative venture.  And our classroom practices seek to draw on whatever intrinsically sparks learners to reach their fullest potential."  Brown (1994:77)
 
In a communicative classroom, language is seen as a social tool and the origin of the target language is recognized as having a profound impact on the students’ learning ability and competence. With this in mind, our syllabi not only teach grammatical conjugations and the syntax of the Spanish Language, but also the wider cultural aspects of language and communication, with the hopes that this will engage and stimulate learning; we feel that teaching students how to use the target language is just as important as teaching the language itself.

At Intercultura, you won’t find our Spanish teachers dictating to students, while they frantically scribble down notes! We choose to implement activities that involve real communication, in which language is used for carrying out meaningful tasks and that is relevant to the learner. Social interaction activities such as pair and group work, role play, discussion sessions and dialogues are used, helping students to use the language to express their own communication needs.
 
"The study of language is the world history of human thought and perception."
Wilhelm von Humboldt