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ESL forum >
Techniques and methods in Language Teaching > callan method
callan method
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ybutterfly
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callan method
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Please help me,
I attend a new course about this method. Do you know anything about it? What do you thing about it? Do you have any experiences and example papers about it?
And do you have any information about this topic?
Thanks |
22 Jan 2009
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Zora
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I worked with the "Callan Method" for a few months. I didn�t like it, it�s too structured. It might be okay for for some people learning the English language but I found it to be too strict and uncompromising. And to me it�s like "parroting"...
Example:
People have a book, they learn key sentences for homework and the next day we go over them BUT the students should not deviate from the learned response.
i.e.
I ask: What�s Mr. Smith do?
Answer: He is an interior designer.
Students should repeat that exactly not say - he�s a designer.
Now, I can�t say how other centres do it but my experience was like that.
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22 Jan 2009
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BRAHIM S
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This is precisely the reason why whenever I have a choice I decide not to use a coursebook at all, but RATHER bring from various sources (internet web sites, including this one, different methods, not just one.... etc
Regarding the "Callan Method" , I have never used it |
22 Jan 2009
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Zora
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Definitely have to agree with Brahims, now that I can do whatever I please - because I am my own boss (Love it  ) - I also use a mix of styles, methods, resources, etc. I have never found any one "method" to be perfect so now I just adapt things to my students needs.
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22 Jan 2009
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dennismychina
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From what I can remember the Callan method works on the premise that a person needs to know a certain number of words to enable him/her to pass say the Cambridge university entrance exam. They go as far as guaranteeing a result. They also guarantee that after the cause the SS will know the 3000 or 4500 (not sure) words needed they also claim they their SS learn English 3 or 4 times faster than the �norm�. So (and please don�t quote me on this) I seem to remember that it is more of need to an end type of course rather than the ESL that most of us know and use. It is very structured and leaves no room for teacher individuality or expression. But they do say that SS learn English faster and retain it longer than other methods.
Much like you said Zora. |
22 Jan 2009
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dennismychina
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Sorry one more thing Butterfly. It would depend I think what the goal of the course was. As a teacher or ad an owner. As a teacher it could be a bit of a mindless job I figure but as an owner, it is a franchised business so all materials must be got from the UK head office, along with the norm marketing ect. ect so it could be pretty lucrative. |
22 Jan 2009
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Zora
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"I seem to remember that it is more of need to an end type of course"...
That�s exactly what I thought when I was teaching it. It was like if the student already had a good grasp on English structures and such, it was okay but not if they had problems or needed extra "help".
In fact, when I left and went to another English center, I had students there - who had difficulties with English - that had been studying at a Callan center and they were not happy at all there.
Like Dennis says, it�s a means to an end... nothing more really. And I honestly believe that nothing is that "magical", if it was we�d all be using this method... A person learning "in a quarter of the time" (as their webpage cites) using this method sounds highly "fishy" to me and honestly, something that takes 3-4 years compressed into one means that something is obviously missing...
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22 Jan 2009
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