Teaching methods

The primary goal we set ourselves is to teach our customers to communicate in the foreign language freely at any level of language proficiency. We use the most effective teaching methods to help our students overcome the language barrier and make the learning process meaningful and enjoyable.

We use the communicative approach to language instruction, which allows students to acquire language skills naturally by means of simulating real world communication in the foreign language. This aim is achieved with the help of authentic texts, audio and video resources and activities such as role plays, discussions, case studies, communicative games, etc. Meaningful, goal-oriented tasks engage students in active participation and account for significant progress already at the initial stage of language study.

About the Communicative Approach

The communicative approach is based on the premise that language is a system of human communication the main goal of which is meaningful information exchange. Therefore, the communicative approach emphasizes purposeful interaction and sees it as the most effective way of acquiring language skills naturally.
Here are the basic principles that make the communicative approach the most effective modern language teaching tool:

• conducting classes exclusively in the target language;
• maximizing student-to-student interaction time;
• providing authentic learning materials and vivid real life examples;
• making frequent use of communication activities such as role-plays, case studies, project work;
• varying grouping formats to ensure equal student participation;
• placing special emphasis on the development of language fluency;
• using psychological techniques to create an atmosphere conducive to learning.

Comprehensive Language Instruction

To ensure the highest results in language study, we offer our customers comprehensive language instruction and teach all four language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Although the stress is being laid on speaking fluency, we do not underestimate the importance of the knowledge of grammatical structures and the ability to use them in speech and writing accurately. Therefore, we do not base our language instruction on the communicative approach solely but make use of the best practices of other time-tested traditional methodologies.

Teaching Materials

We use the latest authentic teaching materials developed by the leading publishing houses. The textbooks are supplemented with a vast array of additional resources, including both educational materials and realia items such as pictures, newspaper articles, movie episodes, songs, posters, maps, etc.
To gain a more well-rounded knowledge of the topics covered in the main course book, our students are provided with appropriate supplementary materials during every class at Streamline.
As an extra-curricular opportunity, our customers may make free use of our library, which includes not only texts and audio recordings but also an extensive movie collection in numerous languages.

Exclusively at Streamline!

We offer our customers the unique opportunity to practice their language skills by attending optional conversational classes with native speakers from Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain free of charge! The classes meet every week and are held entirely in a foreign language in a relaxing and positive atmosphere.