Native speaker teaching an A0/A1 Start course

Unfortunately, Czech students still often naturally gravitate towards the approach they remember from their school days - grammar is to be explained to them, vocabulary translated and teaching is to be conducted in the intermediary language. From a methodological point of view, this approach is long outdated; the knowledge thus acquired is short-lived, the student makes more than the necessary number of mistakes and departs from the natural structures of the target language, since they remain consciously in their first language.

Try Coach&Practise

The essence of the Coach&Practise method is communication in the target language, starting from the first lessons and basically from zero level of the students. We pride ourselves on this approach, as it familiarises students with navigation in the target language from the very beginning and does not burden the acquisition of the new language by interfering with the first language or other possible intermediary language to a greater than unavoidable degree.

Trust the process

Stežejním faktorem ve vedení kurzů na úrovních A0/A1 Start je důvěra studenta v lektora, ochota pracovat jinak a osvícené vedení kurzu. Lektor si musí být maximálně vědom studentových očekávání i náročné situace, do níž je student postaven, a systematicky budovat bezpečné prostředí založené na důvěře; student v lekcích nesmí pociťovat výraznou nejistotu.

A key factor in running courses at A0/A1 Start levels is the student's trust in the teacher, willingness to work differently and the teacher's awareness of low level specifics. The teacher must be as aware as possible of the student's expectations and the challenging situation in which the student is placed, and systematically build a safe environment based on trust; the student must not experience significant uncertainty in lessons.

The following factors help the teacher to run the course successfully:

> textbook-based course management (the student always knows where they are in the course, where they are coming from and where they are going, they can return to the clearly laid out material at any time for reference)

> clearly and comprehensively structured lessons

> adapting (slowing down) the pace of the lesson; the student needs to have enough time to think

> grading of language (pace, sentence length, simple instructions) and frequent repetition

When the teacher conducts the course in this way, the students get used to the fluency of the language from the beginning, they learn to understand and stand confidently in situations where they do not understand every word. Of course, it is a great advantage if the teacher and the students share a common language of communication for dealing with crisis situations; however, it is also essential that the students do not abuse the situation, do not demand the use of the mediating language and do not avoid the target language.