Come on Guys, a Little Bit of Common Sense!

Welcometo our school,

we share with you the thrill of breaking linguistic barriers and sharing our experiences with the rest of the world,

there's nothing more challenging and enriching than getting to know other cultures, their social and even working conditions.

We only hope you students don't expect to learn a foreign language

just by coming to class,

that'd be totally unrealistic and immature!

In a way, a language school's like a music school,

you NEED TO PRACTICE your instrument -that is, your voice- outside so

Homework

is essential to complete your learning process; otherwise, please forget it, don't waste your time and ours.

READINGout loud and SPEAKING must be part of it, not for too long, but at least five or ten minutes of your daily homework routine:

Read the transcripts of any LISTENING activity while playing it; then, tape your voice. Wait for a few days, and replay both your own recording and the listening track. Can you recall most of the message?

PLEASURE& COMPANIONSHIP

are usually the keys to keep up these challenges, so try to enjoy the ride with someone else:

Read lyrics, Listen to songs, Sing along and Learn them.

Read movie transcripts and watch them, then memorize a few sentences, play with pronunciation and entonation.

Review the upcoming lesson beforehand, complete the new VOCABULARY & GRAMMAR activities on your workbook and check it out with the answer key. Then,make a point of practicing the new stuff in the SPEAKING activities of the next class.

Keep in mind that we're all competent speakers of our mother tongue without any grammar explanation whatsoever, and so are speakers from other languages,

Which, of course, doesn't release us teachers from the resposibility to explain GRAMMAR or answer your doubts, but it gives you enough autonomy to practice SPEAKING in the classroom with limited supervision for

both purposes: accuracy and fluency.

Remember that understanding, completing and checking any activity from the student's book, workbook or grammar book is only half of your assignment, the other extremely important half is to transform those examples into personal statements with an emotional load and the commitment to verbalize them right away.

Being repeatedly exposed to the new code and using it is obviously the best way to increase your activevocabulary and language structures -particularly in advanced courses.

If you follow these instructions, you can rest assured that your real command of a foreign language and your self-esteem will increase dramatically; were you visiting or working in another country, your linguistic adaptation should be fast and smooth; otherwise, you might pass a certificate exam, but you won't experience the deep satisfaction of sharing your music, that is, using a language with ease and fluency.