Academics

The Institute operates Fall, Winter and Spring trimesters, each lasting 16 weeks. The Summer is available for Language Immersion Camps.  

Check your desired language to see course listings, descriptions, availability, requirements. and pricing.

Class schedules for the current trimester are here.

Here are a few quick suggestions:

• Resident English-speakers will want to check out our Essential Spanish (Levels I-VI) and Structured Spanish (Courses I-V) curriculums.
• For local Spanish-speakers, we offer a full English curriculum (Courses Basic, I-IV)
• Visitors and tourist may want to take advantage of our Super Survival Spanish or Easy Emergency English.
• Employers may be interested in our English for Special Purposes Courses for their Spanish speaking staff.

Off-Campus tutoring is available for young people are available as well in both Spanish and English.  Contact us for more information.

We are a bilingual institution.  Therefore, interaction between our Spanish and English students is strongly encouraged to reinforce new language skills.

Methodology.

We strive to provide a quality learning experience in a friendly, fun, and student-oriented environment. The primary focus is on hearing and speaking, not just reading and writing.

Although textbooks and workbooks are used to guide the presentation of the information, a variety of teaching methods (approx 25) are employed to sound it down and emphasize real communication.  Here are a few examples:

• Communicative Approach.  People like to talk about themselves. No one likes sitting.  This method yields perhaps a 1000 interactions in 15 minutes in the target language when you consider the amount of reading, listening, speaking and writing that occurs.
• Community Language Learning.  When the teacher is speaking, the student's aren't learning. The students help each other to learn, understand, assimilate and USE new words.  Huge potential for variety and the students are using words that are important to them.
• Total Physical Response.  Why are 5 year olds fluent speakers before entering school, despite never having a day of formal grammar instruction? hmmm. This is a great method for hearing and recognizing the language.
• Rassias Method.  "Speak a language to learn it; don't learn a language to speak!"  Each student will be using the target language over 100 times an hour and hearing it from fellow students many times more.
• Backwards Build Up.  Go straight to the end of the book.  We often struggle with the last few syllables of words don't we?  This pronunciation drill helps us to learn and retain what is the hard part.
• Graduated Interval Recall. Pimsleur coined this method.  Programmed looping, making you use a word just before you would forget it.

Humor, Videos, Drama, Musical Dictations, Paraphrase Dictionaries, Color Swatches, Exercises (juggling?), Retina Topic Imaging (Flash Cards)...all find their way into our classroom. 

 

Essential Spanish

Espanglish Institute will conduct classes at:
Evie's Simply Coffee
(Evie´s Upstairs).

Jan 30 - Feb 24

Mon
Beginners: 10:30am
Intermediate: 12pm
Advanced: 1pm

Thur
Beginners: 10:30am
Intermediate: 9am
Advanced: 1pm

For pricing, directions and contact info click here.

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