Our blended learning methodology

Face to face lessons are the cornerstone of language training. They provide opportunities for personal and group interaction, activation of knowledge, development of skills, immediate correction and highly tailored programmes. A good trainer will always incorporate the client’s own materials and situations to develop themes and situations.

Pro’s

• Direct contact, interaction and correction with individual and groups.
• Fast and efficient development of skills.
• All skills can be practiced by learning, role play or simulation.
• Natural, human interaction focusing on the situation and required language at hand.
• Encourage full participation and private study.

Con’s

• Large groups (more than 6) reduce interaction and personal attention.
• Costly in terms of time.
• Can be difficult to schedule, particularly with larger groups.

Our solution

The Square Mile offers face to face training packages to meet all needs, including:

• Intensive Programmes. Sessions of up to 7 hours a day for 1 or 2 weeks.
• Semi-Intensive Courses. Sessions 2-3 half days a week for 5-10 weeks.
• Weekly Courses. Our most popular option, sessions of 2-3 hours, once or twice a week for 10-15 weeks.
• Refresher Programmes. Individual days of 7 hours tuition.
• Individual personal coaching sessions between group lessons.

The Square Mile also offers an executive package for senior managers featuring MBA educated (or similar) trainers and additional flexibility in terms of scheduling.

E-mail is the most common form of business writing today. Using E-mail as a channel for language learning is by definition practical, but it does have its disadvantages:

Pro’s

• Practical, business skill that is essential to all working people.
• Location independent. E-mail can be used any time, (almost) anywhere.
• Excellent for writing skills.
• One to one coaching.
• Track changes and build a portfolio of correspondence for common situations.

Con’s

• Can only practice writing and reading.
• Low interaction levels unless combined with phone contact.

Our solution

The Square Mile uses E-mail as a channel in the following situations:

• As homework: participants continue a role-play or task between lessons and correspond through e-mail.
• For personal coaching. Combined with trainer access by phone, we offer participants the chance to write, respond to and review correspondence.

Books are one of the traditional sources of lessons and materials. Today’s publications are usually accompanied by DVD’s or CD-Rom’s and most come with additional online resources. All our courses are accompanied by a book that meets the participant’s underlying linguistic needs. Depending on the level and objectives of the course, books will be used as the core or more as support and consolidation for the progamme.

Pro’s

• Low Tech! Unbreakable, always available, usable for all.
• Product of many years of experience from the publishers.
• Clear linguistic concepts, lesson structures and objectives.
• CD-Roms provide additional, interactive lesson material, usually integrated into a lesson.
• CD-Roms are generally easy to install, no internet access required.

Con’s

• No book ever meets all the participant’s needs.
• Can become dated.
• Biased towards passive skills (listening, reading, understanding) and writing.
• Little interaction.

Our solution

The Square Mile provides books to accompany each course. We regularly meet publishers and update the publications we use, choosing titles to suit each course and participant.

Radio and TV are often used as media channels for language training. We believe strongly that participants should expose themselves to natural language usage and TV & Radio media is an excellent source.

Pro’s

• Free & readily available.
• Listen to language in natural context.
• Learn idiom, accents and expressions.

Con’s

• Cannot be adapted to the learner’s level (although you can choose a different programme).
• No formal learning objectives.

Our solution

The Square Mile trainers recommend different programmes to listen to or watch. Using iPlayer facilities online it is often possible to revisit programmes several times to incorporate more learning.

Telephone lessons are sometimes used to bridge distance between the trainer and participant. They have some very clear advantages and disadvantages:

Pro’s

• Telephone is the second most common business communication channel. Language lessons by phone are by definition excellent practice.
• Lessons are not location dependent: the participants can be anywhere in the world.

Con’s

• Unless used with screen-sharing or document sharing technology, telephone is a single source channel which limits the ability to explain new material.
• Telephone lessons can be very intensive and generally should not last more than about 30-60 minutes depending on level.
• Telephone lessons are unsuitable for very low levels.

Our solution

The Square Mile offers clients the option of telephone tutorials between lessons to support homework and also as post-course support for participants to help with practical problems and to offer advice.

The internet offers unlimited opportunities for language training. Customers, competitors, product information, service agreements and process descriptions can all be found with relative ease. There is also a wide range of providers of blogs, webcasts, games and lessons online.

Pro’s

• Almost limitless source of material.
• Easily available and often free.
• Able to find relevant vocabulary and materials for your particular area.

Con’s

• Users can get lost in the volume of material.
• Authentic material isn’t always good teaching material.

Our solution

The Square Mile views the internet as an excellent source for language materials. We use the internet in two ways:

• As a source of lesson material. We collaborate with our participants to establish their lexical needs (vocabulary and context) and identify relevant sources online for teaching material.
• As a source for private study. We recommend sites and content for participants to visit and use at home.

Document Sharing is a new way of working associated with “cloud computing”. Documents (word, excel, powerpoint) can be placed on a remote server and accessed by both trainer and participant. When combined with a telephone tutorial, document sharing is a powerful way of improving writing skills.

Pro’s

• Real-life documents can be stored, shared and worked on.
• The technology used is simple and can be accessed through any computer workstation.

Con’s

• The participants need access to an internet connection to manage their documents.

Our solution

The Square Mile offers document sharing as part of our tutorial product. Participants can use document share online during a telephone conversation with a trainer to discuss real-life correspondence, complete exercises or share ideas.

The Internet has encouraged publishers to go online with language learning programmes. These progammes promise learners a unique, interactive experience and language learning any place, anywhere. Given the size of the business, surprisingly little independent research has actually been conducted into the success of these programmes. Our view is based on our experience and that of trainers and participants who have worked with these packages:

Pro’s

• Wide range of vocabulary and grammar tasks online.
• Ability to learn at your own speed at a time of your choosing.
• Automatic tests determine the participant’s level and content needed.
• Wide choice of games and activities to stimulate learning. Some programmes have speech recognition for pronunciation skills.

Con’s

• No interaction with other people.
• Focus on reading and listening.
• Lack of teaching language within context.
• High level of discipline required to complete a programme.
• Very limited tailoring of package to meet specific business needs.

Our solution

The Square Mile offers two online learning programmes. 360 and Tell Me More:

360. Based on Cambridge360, this is an online language training system specifically designed for tailor made courses. Each course can be accompanied by a 360 learning package designed specifically around the participants. The Square Mile adapts material from the participants, online sources and resources and from Cambridge University to produce online listening, speaking, reading and writing exercises that meet your particular needs and integrates into your course.

Tell Me More. One of the more advanced classical online learning products, we offer Tell Me More as support for learners, particularly those on a limited budget at lower levels. The system provides learners with a wide variety of learning exercises in all major European languages and can be supported by The Square Mile on request.