Teaching specialists have built up a huge pool of knowledge in recent years about how people learn new languages. The bad news is that no one system suits every student. The good news is that great teachers, using the best of modern technology, can meet the highly varied needs of their students. Starting with the overall environment, we know that stress gets in the way of learning. So any language school has to provide a relaxed, comfortable informal environment where students are happy to be. You need refreshments at intervals, exercise at intervals, and great teachers all the time. Aim was set up from the start with this in mind.
Another thing we know is that new skills are easier to acquire if they are interesting, and can attach themselves to skills you already have. For example, the fact that you’re reading this means that you are computer-literate. Most language students today are highly skilled digital users. So using computers and MP3 players to record language comes naturally to you. Digital surround sound is your norm. And sitting at a pc to review notes is more efficient than the drudgery of re-reading handwritten notes. As a student at Aim you can do all this.
Aim’s students can download their notes directly from an interactive whiteboard that converts your own or your teacher’s scrawl into print and adds in materials pulled off the Internet. The download may be to a school pc or your own laptop or PDA, using a wifi network. There is no doubt that learning a language is a serious task, but all this technology makes the process more stimulating, doesn’t it? And research has shown that we learn much better if we feel engaged and stimulated.
So here at last are the key elements of language learning in the 21st century. Of course you need great teachers who understand the need to cater for human variety. Then you also need a relaxed environment that de-stresses the process. And you need to exploit digital technology to absorb some of the drudgery and make your learning process more stimulating. Only here at Aim do these three key elements come together.
Come and find out how the 21st century learning environment can benefit you!
