Key assumptions
Our pedagogical philosophy is based on the premise that the most effective method of teaching is a combination of many methods and approaches, with special attention paid to agency-oriented teaching.
It is our aim to effectively increase the linguistic and cultural competence of our students so that they can function in a foreign language in every area of life – academic, professional and private, and also to ensure their linguistic and cultural competences facilitate their mobility in higher education and on the international labour market.
As important as developing their linguistic competence is the development of the skills set to be a member of society and a community member (e.g. academic or local community). The competences include responsibility, independent thinking, collaboration with other group members, expressing one’s opinions in a tolerant way and respect for people who hold different views.
Variety of learning styles
We believe that people have varied needs, interests but also different learning styles. Therefore, when developing the system and syllabi of our language courses, we had the following premises in mind:
- the contents of our language courses are connected with the needs and interests of our students
- the methods and techniques of teaching our courses are varied and adapted to the linguistic competences of our students
- we put the greatest emphasis on communication skills, understood as development of linguistic competence, but also intercultural competence, therefore we use authentic materials, both written and spoken, in the area of general and specialist, academic and technical language
- learning more than one foreign language, both at higher and lower levels, in the area of general, specialist and academic language, depending on the level of study and interests of students.
Learning aims
Learning outcomes allocated to each language course should be achieved in a flexible way, adapted to the needs of the students attending a given course. Rules common for all our courses include:
- the student is always the central figure at the heart of the teaching process
- the student is aware of the aims of the language course and each class, and knows the assumed learning outcomes
- a positive atmosphere that facilitates learning, dynamic and varied classes
- teaching techniques adapted to the individual needs of students and course groups, engaging students in the process of teaching
- providing regular feedback, both during classes and during the whole teaching process, taking into account the student’s independent learning.