Direct English method

We teach using the Direct Method.
We use the Direct Method which allows the student to master English faster than traditional teaching methods. The Direct Method is highly effective: 95% of students pass the First Certificate exam. In comparison, the international average is 70%. The Direct Method is suitable for everyone, at any age and regardless of the purpose of language study. The method guarantees excellent results with minimal homework. This is possible by making maximum use of the lessons, for which the student pays after all! The Direct Method is easy, interesting and enjoyable. The Direct Method is much cheaper than traditional teaching methods. Firstly, it does not require special equipment (not even a blackboard and desks) or additional teaching materials: exercise books, audio and video cassettes. Secondly, by learning faster, the student pays less and does not lose money, as 100% of the lesson time is used to actively master the language. Our school offers students the opportunity to check the quality of services and methods before paying, thus allowing them to make the right choice.

How does the Direct Method of Learning English work?

A student is bound to wonder how the Direct Method achieves its remarkable results. It could take many pages to explain exactly how it works, but the basic idea is that the student speaks and listens a lot more during the lesson than when using traditional forms of language learning. Therefore, he/she learns in a shorter time than it is possible using traditional methods. Learning a language is not typically an academic subject, it is more of a skill-based subject - so the more you practice the faster you learn - just like typing. When learning with the Direct Method the student is forced to listen for 60 seconds a minute as the class is constantly bombarded with questions from the teacher and students do not know when they will be asked. In traditional teaching methods the student often barely has a chance to open his mouth during the lesson. Most of the time is filled by the teacher talking or writing on the board, and the student has to take notes in a notebook during this time. In the Direct Method, students speak throughout the lesson - they are forced to answer questions all the time.

The student must speak and learn.
Of the four aspects of language learning - reading, writing, speaking and listening - speaking is usually considered the most difficult. As already mentioned above, when learning with the Direct Method the student is forced not only to listen all the time, but also to speak, as he/she is constantly asked questions. In this way he/she quickly overcomes the initial embarrassment that can occur when speaking - which gives him/her the confidence to converse outside the classroom. It is therefore absolutely impossible for a student learning the Direct Method to sit in class and not learn. This aspect of the Method is extremely important for state schools, where students tend to be reluctant to learn. Students learning with other methods spend hour after hour, year after year in class without much effect, and the end result is that they can hardly form a simple sentence. The Direct Method forces students to learn and quickly makes them enthusiastic because they feel that they have achieved something. An additional element that forces students to learn is the nature of the method which makes it impossible

to move from page one to page two until everyone in the class has understood and memorised almost everything from page one,
moving on to a higher level / book without having mastered at least 80% of the material from the previous level / book.
Repetitions
The way the Direct Method achieves such a high rate of speaking and understanding is by regularly asking the same questions every day until every student understands and responds at a good speed. This crucial moment usually occurs after four or five repetitions. The biggest enemies of learning are boredom and poor memory. The Direct Method overcomes boredom through speed, and poor memory through repetition. Repetition of everything four or five times guarantees not only fluent speaking and understanding, but also permanent memorising of the newly acquired knowledge - no matter how weak the student's memory is.

Speed
One of the ways in which the Direct Method maximises speaking time and student concentration is that from the very first lesson, the teacher speaks to students at a speed of around 200 to 240 words per minute. This means that the flow of conversation is much faster than during normal conversation, when we use about 150-180 words per minute. This extremely fast pace of Direct Method teachers is effective in preventing fatigue, forcing students to concentrate, reducing the possibility of translating everything into their native language, and allowing them to hear more words, repeated more often. As a result, it makes it easier to understand English outside of school and ultimately speeds up the learning process. Of course the student does not speak at the same speed as the teacher, the speed of their speech is at the pace of normal conversation. You might think that accuracy and correctness in learning a language is more important than speed of speech. Naturally, correctness and accuracy are important - especially in learning to write, but speed is absolutely essential in speaking and understanding, especially in comprehension. Like most automatic reflexes, language is closely related to speed. In particular, comprehension must take place at a certain minimum speed. One can read, write or speak at one's own characteristic speed, as long as it is not too slow - but listening and understanding must be immediate. An announcer on the radio, television or in the cinema will not speak more slowly. A student must be able to understand English at a minimum speed of 180 words per minute. Some people do not wish to learn English quickly. They want to learn the language well first of all. They fear that if the learning process is fast, they will forget parts of the material just as quickly. However, this is impossible for at least two reasons. Firstly, the speed of learning prevents the student from thinking in his own language and creates conditions for him to think in a foreign language. Secondly, speed has its source in regular repetition.
English language level definitions
Dictations are one of the best indicators for determining a student's level of English language learning. The dictations below show the level represented by each stage of the Direct Method. Each student having reached a particular stage is able to write a dictation appropriate to that stage, translate it and use the vocabulary included in the dictation in conversation. The student will not be able to reach a stage if he/she has not completely mastered the prescribed material.

lesson instructions

Do not make comparisons.

Don't try to guess how the Method works. Accept it and do exactly as the teacher asks. Judge by your own performance.

Constant repetition is the way to success.

Students should know that the most important thing in learning a foreign language is constant repetition and thus consolidation of the learned material in the memory.

The more you repeat, the faster you learn.

The student must understand the importance of repetition, otherwise he/she will become bored, frustrated and doubtful of his/her progress. The less repetition, the more bored the tutee will feel, because as the course progresses, the new material will become incomprehensible because the previous material has not been covered sufficiently.

Expect repetition of all material from time to time.

Systematic repetition is part of the Direct Method, so a teacher who sees students slowing down or forgetting material from a previous lesson is obliged to repeat the material, even up to book one, if he or she deems it necessary. The most common procedure used by teachers is repetition of the last four Stages, at the end of every two Stages of the Method and repetition of the whole material from page one of Book One at the end of Stages 6 and 12.

Learned Reflexes.

Learning a foreign language is, like learning the piano or typing, primarily a matter of developing quick reflexes.

Let the teacher guide you.

When learning, students should relax and let the teacher guide them by putting words into their mouths. They will soon start speaking on their own, using the same words, but without the teacher's help anymore.

90% of the words on any page are found in Book One.

It has been calculated that 90% of the words on a page of any book in any language belong to the set of 1000 words most frequently used in that language. All these words are included in Book One of the Direct Method, and they constitute the basis on which further learning will be based. The student should use them as fluently as he/she does in the native language, for which purpose he/she must make repeated repetitions. The student must use them without hesitation, as they are the core of the language.

The teacher repeats each question twice.

Repeating each question twice allows the teacher to speak quickly and gives the student a chance to hear the question again and provides time to formulate an answer.

The first answer should be a negative.

Whenever possible, the first part of the answer to the teacher's question should be a negative and the second part an affirmative form. This will allow the student to develop sentences and consolidate the negative form, as well as exercising memory by always referring to opposites.

The answer should include the words used in the question.

Questions and answers, on which the Direct Method is based, should follow a strict pattern, i.e. word for word. Neither the teacher nor the student may deviate from this rule. The student is not allowed to make up his own answers (except for Book Five), he should practise the words and phrases used in the question by asking and answering according to a specific pattern.

Do not expect to understand everything immediately. Be like an automaton.

The student should not worry that the teacher does not allow him to think too long about the answer and will force him to answer even when the student does not understand everything. He does not have to understand the question when he first hears it, or understand exactly what the answer is. Understanding will come with time. All questions and answers are repeated until the student understands them without difficulty .

The student's books should be closed.

When the teacher asks questions, students should keep their books closed, concentrating only on what the teacher says. They will memorise the pronunciation of new words and will not confuse it with the way words are written.

Do not question the teacher during the lesson.

Students should not disturb the teacher by asking questions during the lesson. If they don't understand something and would like to clarify some points, they can do so after class .

No chit-chat.

Teachers and students should not chat during the lesson, this is extremely important. You should only ask and answer questions from Direct Method books. Chatting during lessons is just a waste of time and considerably prolongs the learning process. Although it may seem to be a good way of learning that combines pleasure with usefulness, it is not. Sometimes they can be boring. This is because only the most talkative students and teachers take part in such talks. The rest of the class, on the other hand, loses time and money, because such chats increase the learning time and costs.

The teacher should not speak in the students' language.

Even if the teacher is of the same nationality as the students or speaks their language, the lessons at the School should be conducted entirely in English. This is another reason why the teacher and students should not have loose conversations with each other. This would induce the teacher to give excessive explanations and translate sentences into the students' mother tongue.

Do not talk to other students.

Students should not talk to their classmates during lessons. This makes the teacher's work very difficult and distracts other students. It is so important because learning a foreign language, especially with the Direct Method, requires total focus and concentration.

Always use abbreviations.

The student should always try to use abbreviated forms of language during class discussions. In this way, from the earliest stages, he/she will become accustomed to the real language used outside the classroom. Mastering these forms in later stages is much more difficult and unfamiliarity with them is a major cause of trouble in understanding English used outside school.

Dictation.

Many students do not like to write dictations. They are necessary, however, because through them the student learns correct spelling and pronunciation. The student should not worry about the mistakes he/she makes, as over time his/her spelling will automatically improve. With time he/she will make far fewer mistakes. Dictations in Direct Method books consist of unrelated sentences. This allows you to fill the sentences with as many recently learnt words as possible.

Read books and listen to tapes at home.

A student learning the Direct Method does not get homework. A positive result is guaranteed without it. However, it is recommended that the student, in his own interest, reads the book and listens to the tapes, every day for about 10 minutes, especially if he does not attend classes regularly. He can listen to the tapes, for example, during the morning toilet. By learning in this way, students speed up the pace of their learning and reduce the number of learning hours needed to achieve a guaranteed result (by up to 25%), while at the same time making the lessons in class easier to understand. At the end of each lesson the teacher should give the number of the paragraph reached, so that the student can repeat the material and prepare for the next lesson. The money that the student saves by speeding up the pace of learning will cover, by extension, the cost of the tapes .

Practice with a friend.

In addition to listening to the tapes, students can also try to learn by asking each other questions from the Direct Method books. Students should also try to talk to each other in English.

Do not be late or miss lessons.

Regular lateness and missing lessons increases the student's study time. Frequent absences can also lead to increased tuition costs as the student will have to purchase additional lessons to catch up. A student who is late by 5 minutes every day (which is 10% of a 50-minute lesson) extends his/her course by 10%, so that a 10-month course will last 11 months. In language learning, catching up at home will never match the skills acquired in class. There is no teacher at home to correct pronunciation.

Strange questions.

Some questions in Direct Method books can seem a little strange and sometimes a little frivolous. However, questions intended for the student should be simple. After all, at the initial stage of learning the student will not be able to answer complex, difficult questions, because his knowledge of vocabulary is still insufficient. The content of questions is not as important as their structure, vocabulary and intonation. The questions are designed in such a way that any student, regardless of age, nationality or cultural background, will be able to answer them without thinking about the answer beforehand. .

Learning sequence: ear, mouth, eye, hand.

The student should learn a foreign language as he learned to speak his mother tongue as a child. As a child he first heard individual words and phrases, then repeated what he heard, then looked at the letters and learned to read, and finally began to write himself. When a child learns a language, he or she very often repeats the words he or she has heard, without always understanding their exact meaning. Understanding comes later. It should be the same with a person learning a foreign language. A student should not ponder and analyse everything, or constantly ask "why?" Of course, it is understandable that it is difficult for an adult, thinking person to accept such a teaching method and do something without understanding exactly what to do and why. However, constantly asking questions slows down the learning process .

Learning to write starts later.

Learning to write is the last stage of learning a language. The student, like a child, must first learn to speak and understand, and only then to write. Writing is not recommended until the right time, then he starts thinking in English. Before that, he writes some simple essays, but only if he wants to take the Cambridge Preliminary exam. The ability to write essays and translations the student achieves automatically, in parallel with the ability to think in English .

Accept the Method as it is ? it works.

As with most things in life, it is very easy to find fault with the Direct Method. It may happen that a student does not agree with some rules of the Method, or does not like them. However, even if the Method would be full of mistakes it does not really matter - because the Method works. It leads the student to achieve the expected results, and this happens four times faster than with other methods. Unlike in other subjects, in learning a foreign language it is not important how the result was achieved. All that matters is the end result.

How to check if the method is used correctly?
Every student studying at a public school, which uses the Direct Method, should read the following information very carefully before starting to study. In this way he can find out how the Method should be correctly applied. If the teacher does not apply the Method correctly, it may double the student's learning time at school and expose him to much higher costs. One of the problems of applying new inventions is that people do not understand them at first and therefore cannot apply them correctly. It is human nature to want to make changes. People want to change the inventions of others to suit their own ideas and theories. As with the camera, the car, the photocopier - the Direct Method works best when it is used as instructed. Nine teachers out of ten use the Direct Method exactly as prescribed - but it is not uncommon for a tenth teacher to forget one or two guidelines. If this happens, students should bring it to his/her attention personally or report the matter to the secretary or principal. If a student chooses to speak directly to a teacher, they must remember to behave tactfully and politely with the teacher. The student should not be afraid to raise his/her concerns or even to lodge a complaint. He/she must remember that when attending a public school, he/she is a paying customer who has the right to demand a good service. Whatever the situation, the student should not keep quiet about his problem. Of course, like all people, teachers do not like to be criticised. However, if the remarks are made tactfully, they will certainly be listened to and dealt with, so that we can find out what is bothering the student and why. The following is a list of the most frequently disrespected aspects of the Method by teachers.

Strict adherence to the guidelines of the method.

Each teacher, like the students, is required to submit to the rules that the Direct Method requires and to accept them without question. Such an attitude would not be possible in the teaching of any other subject, such as history or literature. However, learning a language is learning to practice a skill. The real reason, however, why the Method should be accepted without questioning it is that it works and leads to the results that the student and the teacher expect. Besides, a teacher who does not stick to the Method is being unfair to the students.

Punctuality.

Teachers sometimes forget how important punctuality is. They do not realise that by being late for work they make the customer wait to receive the service he has already paid for. This means that he is paying for something that he has not yet received. That is why it is so important that classes start and finish at a precise time. If the teacher starts the lesson five minutes late, he should extend it by five minutes at the end of the lesson. If he/she doesn't do so, he/she takes away 10% of the student's learning time, which can prolong the duration of his/her course. The school should have bells which indicate the beginning and the end of each lesson, so that the student is sure not to miss part of the lesson.

Dress code.

During lessons the teacher draws the students' attention not only by what he/she says, but also by the way he/she behaves or dresses. Therefore, it is recommended that teachers dress neatly and appropriately for their profession .

Ask a colleague a question.

When entering the classroom, at the beginning of each lesson, the teacher should arrange for students to ask each other questions in order to use the time he/she spends opening the books. The students, in this way, will have the opportunity to practise question forms and to ask any questions they wish. A similar procedure should be adopted at the end of the lesson.

Asking each question twice.

The teacher should ask each question twice at high speed and immediately give the student the first word of the answer, e.g. ? Is the table behind me? No, the table....."

Extracting the answer from the student.

The teacher must not even wait for the student's answer for a while, he/she should immediately get the student to answer quickly, by so called pulling the answer from the student.

Not a moment of silence.

There should not be a moment of silence during the lesson. The teacher and the students should not stop talking for a moment. This means that a minimum of 210 words should be spoken per minute by the teacher and the students together. In one hour that makes a total of 12600 words spoken in the classroom. Therefore, a student hearing this number of words learns English four times faster than average. With other teaching methods only about 3000 words are spoken during a lesson.

The teacher should not stop talking.

The teacher should speak throughout the lesson. He should answer together with the student, even when the student does not need his help. Also while reading, the teacher should help all the students, even if they have no problems with it. In this way he focuses the attention of all the students in the class. This constant speaking will not be tiring for the teacher, because everything has been prepared in detail by the creators of the Method and the lessons are divided in such a way as to give his voice a rest. Other forms of teaching are more comprehensive.

Instant questions.

As soon as one student finishes answering a question, the teacher should start asking another student the next question.

The same number of questions to each.

The teacher should be sure that every student in the class has received the same number of questions throughout the lesson.

Improving pronunciation.

It is extremely important that the teacher corrects pronunciation errors right away. It is recommended that at the beginning the teacher should correct almost every student answer. Later it may be necessary only in every second or third sentence. When correcting the student's pronunciation, the teacher should imitate his/her mistakes e.g: " No, not' thees ees' , but ` this is' , repeat ` this is'".

Listen to the tape to check the correctness of your own lectures .

If the student wants to learn the correct way to teach the Direct Method, he should listen to the lessons on the recordings, led by an expert teacher, or watch the videos used to train new teachers of the Method.

Number of repetitions.

It is extremely important that each lesson is repeated several times. As this way all students in the class can understand the question even if it is asked very quickly. If students do not hear the question enough times, they will never reach the required speaking and comprehension speed. Determining the appropriate amount of repetition is a matter of great importance. If a student repeats too little or too many times, in both cases their learning time increases significantly. If the teacher repeats too few times, the student may have difficulty in understanding and assimilating the material. On the other hand, too frequent repetition of the same questions may be boring for the student and discourage him/her from learning. There are 5 categories of students: outstanding, fast, average, weak and very slow. About 5% of all students in school are outstanding students; 15% are fast; 60% are average; 15% are weak and 5% are very slow. An outstanding, complete beginner, Western European student can usually learn about 12 new paragraphs from the Direct Method books in a 50 minute lesson, while a fast student can learn 8, an average student 6, a weak student 5, and a very slow student 4. If students are learning less than four paragraphs per lesson it may mean that the teacher is not using the Direct Method correctly. In terms of repetition, an outstanding student will need to repeat the material covered in each lesson twice, a fast student will repeat it 3 times, an average student will repeat it 4 times, a poor student will repeat it 5 times, and a very slow student will repeat it 6 times. The number of repetitions required in a course is not fixed. If a class suffers from high absenteeism, or is just working on a more difficult part of the material, the pace of learning will decrease, which means that the teacher will have to increase the number of repetitions in such cases. On the other hand, if the whole class is making very rapid progress as they have reached a high level of language proficiency, the number of repetitions may be reduced.

Number of readings and dictations.

An outstanding student, who is a linguist by nature, will not have to go through all the readings and dictations. He only needs every third reading and dictation. A fast student will need every second reading and dictation, an average student should go through all the readings and dictations, while a weak student will probably need to repeat all the readings and dictations twice, and a very slow student, probably, three times. Sometimes a teacher may forget to carry out a reading exercise or dictation during a lesson. If this happens, students should bring it to his/her attention. When a teacher does not give adequate attention to the amount of repetition, it can adversely affect a student's progress and prolong study time.

Material from all textbooks should be taught in the same way.

There is a tendency among some teachers to slow down the pace of learning a little at a time. This is a mistake. The basic principles of the Method are the same for all books. The material from all the books should be taught in the same way. Questions should always be asked twice at the same high speed, and the answers should be immediately "extracted" from the students, so that there is not a moment's pause.

No homework.

There is no homework in the Direct Method. When studying with other methods, the student must, after each lesson at school, devote at least 15 minutes more at home to the homework from each lesson, i.e. the study time increases by 25%.