Centro de Idiomas Macarena

The English School Macarena in Seville was founded in 1983. Its organization is based on the following principles.

(1) The importance of good personal relations

This is a friendly school where equality and respect are the basis for interaction both inside and outside the classroom.

• In the classroom the relationship of the teacher with his or her students is quite important. Teachers normally have an easy going but mutually respectful relationship with their students.
• Teachers need to work and interact well together.
• Teachers need the support of the centre where they work.
• There should be the maximum contact possible between administration and students, who need to feel free to express their suggestions and opinions.
• It«s fundamental that parents should have contact with teachers, the Head of Studies and the Director.

(2) Information to students, parents and the public.

The most complete information possible should be given about the school, its methods and student progress. This process begins when students first walk in through the door. The Director, The Head of Studies, the teachers and the secretaries are all responsible for making sure that it is as accurate and complete as possible. It needs to be both oral and written. Parents of children and teenagers receive progress reports at the end of each term and are invited to meetings with teachers after Christmas and at the end of the school year.

(3) A good organisation.

(4) Care for the individual student.

• We believe everybody can learn and try to help each person learn as much as possible in the way that best suits them.
• We put students into groups according to age, level, potential and other factors.
• If there are any problems we try to resolve them as harmoniously as possible, taking into consideration the interests of the individual and of the group.

We never believe we’ve arrived.

We«re always trying to improve our organisation, methods and installations. While wishing to conserve the fundamental spirit we try to maintain a critical and innovative attitude.

THE TEACHERS

We have a professional and motivated team of experienced and caring teachers. Many of them have been with us for a number of years and are experts in particular areas. We believe in the importance of training and have on going training sessions for all teachers and encourage teachers to attend external training sessions when possible. However the most important characteristic of teachers at THE ENGLISH SCHOOL MACARENA is that they are open and friendly people with a commitment to what they do and the capacity to give lively and interesting classes.

THE ORGANISATION

Groups are as homogenous as possible. Students are divided by age and level and in many cases we take into account factors such as ability and motivation. With 35 different levels we are able to cater for a great variety of students. In our system the relationship between teacher and class is fundamental. During the school year it is very rare for students to change teacher. We think that students should continue with the same teacher and classmates. Our structure of courses is designed to enable each student to advance according to their ability, skipping levels or going up “half levels” if necessary. New students are given entrance tests (written, oral and grammatical) so as to be able to place them in the most appropriate level. There«s a system of Continual Assessment based on written and oral tests as well as class work. Students progress according to the recommendations of their teachers, not only exam marks. Individual records are kept on all students. Parents are given Reports on the progress of their children.

METHODS

We have a human approach. This means:

1. Classes should be interesting and enjoyable.
2. Communication should be real, relevant and related to the learners and their interests.

• We want our students to feel comfortable and at ease because we believe that students learn better in these circumstances.

Language involves communication. In order to learn a language you need practice in communication so the learning has to be practical. Learning a language isn«t learning the theory (Grammar or Phonetics) although this knowledge can help to improve the practice. What is important is the PERFORMANCE not the THEORY.

We cater for individual learning styles and for the different needs of different age groups. We use a great variety of activities to get the students to use the language in a way which is interesting and natural for them. We teach all 4 skills. In the early stages we put more emphasis on the oral skills (listening and speaking). In the later stages Reading and Writing become increasingly important. We follow a textbook. However, it is always used as a tool and in a flexible way. It«s supplemented by interesting materials because we want to get the students actively engaged in the lesson and in their learning process. We evaluate students progress regularly in different ways according to the level, because we want the students to become aware of their own progress. We set objectives because we think it is important that students have goals and are motivated to work towards these. We use a combination of exams and continual assessment, but the assessment is always more important than the exam result. We aim to give our students the tools to make as much progress as possible and to become autonomous learners and users. Students learn how to learn languages. We believe that learning a language is not only learning a skill. It is an education. Students learn about other cultures and countries, other styles of doing things, and they learn to talk to people from different backgrounds. It broadens their horizons. It opens doors to lots of possibilities, not only in the world of work but in a cultural sense too.

INSTALLATIONS

The school has 21 classrooms on two premises which we try to ensure are well equipped and attractive. This requires constant redecoration and renovation of furniture and equipment. Air conditioning and centralized heating has been installed in all of the classrooms.Other installations include a library from which all students are encouraged to borrow books and magazines with CDs, in addition to a video and DVD library.