When it's time to learn English, you start choosing, comparing, doubting...

Which course will be the most effective: individual or group, standard or accelerated course ... We have no choice but to alleviate your plight and conduct a comparative analysis on the topic: “What to choose - standard English course or intensive».

First, let's talk about the similarities between these two programs in British Skylines school.

Both author's methods are designed specifically for those who want not only to learn English. If you think, speak it, then you come to us! Whatever course you choose, we will help you remove the language "clamps". In the classroom we work correct pronunciation and develop communication skills. After all, we, teachers, ourselves have gone through all this. Once we studied all this, and now we want to pass on all the secrets of successful study to our students.

Training, both the standard course and the intensive course, takes place in certain unique areas. Team teaching (There are 2 teachers per class.

Speaking Focus (classes with maximum conversational skills). Active Scenario

(classes with role-playing performances).

Number of students in groups from 5 to 9 students. Tested by experience: exactly t what a cheerful company allows not only to pay attention to everyone, but also to create a lively environment, similar to the one you will meet in the future.

What is the difference between intensive and standard training .

To begin with, get ready for everyday and continuous study and pronunciation of new English words. Choosing this course, you will not have such a sweet opportunity to relax for a day - two - three. Undoubtedly, at intensive English course, a student for a very a short time receives a huge amount of information.

The feature of British Skylines is that, thanks to our unique technique, this flow is not dissipated in the remote corners of your subconscious, but is concentrated into an alternate and strong chain of knowledge. You must prepare yourself for the fact that in addition to everyday classes at school, you will be doing homework. Alas and ah, without this important link, the system is ineffective. And if it bears fruit, then not with such force as is needed for an ideal knowledge of English. Another question is that our “homeworks” are not at all boring, but interesting and informative.

The cost of the program English intensive»

1 month of training - UAH 3,000;

3 months of training - 6 000 UAH.

Price standard group training:

(Add it yourself, I did not find it on the site.)

Of course, it is not so difficult to learn a language when you have the time, when school knowledge for years you have been supporting ... In ideal reinforce knowledge with practice in a language environment. But does everyone have the money and opportunity to go abroad to improve their vocabulary and hone their pronunciation? If you, suddenly, are not the son or daughter of a minister, deputy or a big businessman - no need to cry! In one way or another, all our programs are effective. And if you wish, you will know English perfectly! Don't take my word for it that you can easily learn a language with British Skylines? Correctly! Come and see for yourself!

Extensive farming involves the expansion of sown areas without improving the quality of crops. At the same time, farmers get a lot of crops, but on each individual plot, yields are low. The task of intensive farming, on the contrary, includes the maximum development of the potential of one area. To do this, crop varieties are worked on so that they become as productive as possible.

Approximately the same two scientific and educational approaches look, one of which involves the development of different areas of knowledge, and the other - an in-depth study of a narrow specialty. What were the views on this matter in different eras, and is the opposition of “broad” and “narrow” education relevant today?

"Man-encyclopedia" in the classical tradition

Greek philosophers with skill spoke about the structure of nature, mathematics, the laws of the state and the canons of literary creativity at the same time. The corpus of Aristotle's writings, for example, includes works on logic, physics, botany, zoology, politics, rhetoric, drama theory, and more. The same approach existed in Hellenistic education - it was believed that a young man should be developed comprehensively.

Since antiquity, there has been an ideal in culture homo universalis,"universal person" who has knowledge and can work simultaneously in different areas.

Renaissance thinkers fully adopted the ancient approach. The fact that Leonardo da Vinci was engaged, in addition to painting, also in music, architecture, natural sciences and engineering, everyone knows. Da Vinci is sometimes called a genius because of this, but he was not a genius at all because he knew how to do different things. The breadth of interests and skills was the norm of an educated person of his era. All humanists, even if not so famous, spoke several languages ​​and wrote works, and also, combining these activities in various combinations, were engaged in natural philosophy (natural sciences), exact sciences, designing devices, history, painting, sculpture, music.

During the Age of Enlightenment, the encyclopedic canon was held in high esteem. The science of the 18th century is a whole parade of encyclopedists. Simply put, until quite recently, it was assumed that if you are a scientist, understand science. In which one?.. In science in general! It is possible, of course, to divide all knowledge about the world into sciences about the spirit and sciences about nature, but even here the thinker was not limited to only one half.

Classical education sought to consolidate this ideal and pass it on to new generations. The fine arts were also part of the personality development program. Young ladies and young people from society have always "drawn a little", dabbled in poetry, played on musical instruments. However, now not only the privileged class has gained access to knowledge. The Enlightenment, with its idea of ​​the tabula rasa, was actively engaged in the formation of a project of universal education.

Specialists of the "machine age"

Back in the Renaissance, the transition to urban culture and the development of market relations became a prerequisite for the formation of a profession as a phenomenon. Subsequently, as a result of industrialization and the emergence of more and more complex machines, a need arose for a large number of technical specialists.

In the 19th century, with the development general education, industry and technology, it became obvious that a deeper, more detailed consideration of the sciences is required.

Instead of one scientist who did experiments in a home laboratory - and, according to many, knew the devil, because the attitude towards experimental science remained wary for quite a long time - now entire organizations, institutes, design bureaus began to work on inventions.

Specialization became narrower and narrower as each field of knowledge and industry developed and became more complex. As a result, a gap formed between the regions, and an abyss completely lay between the "physicists" and the "lyricists". Now no one would expect an explorer to conduct chemical experience, and then break out into a poem or write a treatise on anthropology, although before scientists coped with this.

Interdisciplinary approach

At the end of the 20th century, new changes became apparent: now there is a need to consider issues in a comprehensive manner. What works for an industrial society is not suitable for the post-industrial, informational world, in which complex structures appear, and phenomena lose their binary nature.

Fundamental science began to move towards complexity and multi-basicity, and in education, interdisciplinarity is becoming more and more relevant.

Classical culture believed in the existence of an absolute cause and in a truth that could be written into the pages of a book. This setting assumes that the bearer of objective knowledge, be it a priest or a scientist, will come and explain how everything really works. However, over time, it turned out that the picture of the world is becoming more and more relative as scientific understanding expands. Nietzsche's idea of ​​"the death of God" is just about this - from some point on, the objective ceases to exist, and the ontological state of the world becomes infinitely more complicated. The theory of relativity, quantum physics, neurobiological studies of the brain are more likely to deprive the ground underfoot than give certainty.

Today in demand Creative skills specialists, the ability to design new ideas becomes more relevant. Systems tailored for the training of a narrow profession, and education, which boils down to coaching for specific tasks, require modernization today. For example, in modern Japan, due to this approach, now . Gaining popularity educational programs built on a model that supports individual itinerary and interdisciplinarity.

The 21st century provides a new way of "farming" in which territories expand, but at the same time qualitative improvements occur - because, as it turned out, qualitative change is directly related to expansion.

A professional seeks to improve his skills and concentrate on the minutiae of his field. This method of teaching allows you to be well versed in particulars and be a good practitioner. At the same time, it narrows the range of interests, moving a person away from the classical encyclopedic ideal, and reduces his creative abilities in his own field, since it does not allow him to see the whole picture and from unexpected angles. Now more and more people are talking about an integrated approach, and the rapid development of technology blurs the boundaries between professional fields.

In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the boy's dad, Charlie, was fired from the factory where he screwed caps on tubes of toothpaste because a machine took his place. Charlie's dad didn't lose his head, changed his profile and became involved in the maintenance of this car.

Free distribution of knowledge

In ancient times, students gathered around philosophers for walks and feasts to hear about the structure of the world. In modern times, students filled the classrooms of German classics in their lifetime in order to join their wisdom. The teacher and scientist was a source and carrier of knowledge, a living interactive encyclopedia.

Are such wise men needed when knowledge is available to everyone without the need to follow Socrates through the dusty Athenian streets or go to Kant in Koenigsberg?

In the narrow sense of the word, an encyclopedist is someone who compiles encyclopedias. Today, anyone who is actively involved in writing and reviewing articles on wikis can be called an encyclopedist. On the one hand, it looks like a dream come true for Renaissance scholars, who dreamed of general literacy, and Enlightenment philosophers, who adored encyclopedias. However, there are often complaints about the objectivity, literacy and depth of Wikipedia articles.

The amount of data about the world is growing, and now it seems unrealistic to keep in mind all the information in all disciplines at the level of a specialist. Now it is more important to have a method and be able to think for yourself. Figuratively speaking, one does not need to know by heart all the articles of the encyclopedia, but to understand the principles of its structure, the concept and structure of sections, and be able to revise the rules if necessary.

Encyclopedic thinking of a new type does not involve compiling directories as such, but the ability to filter information, form your own strategies for trusting and testing knowledge.

Psychology and pedagogy

Wide or deep? Extensive and intensive education

Both approaches are bearing fruit. If we consider these principles in other industries, the effect will be as follows. For example, intensive agriculture is engaged in the development of the productivity of a certain piece of land, giving it all the strength and attention. It is sure to bring a wonderful harvest. Whereas the task of extensive farming includes the maximum expansion of the area under crops. There will be a lot of harvest, given the territory as a whole. However, in each individual area, the indicators will be low. So which direction is most effective: deep or wide?

Encyclopedia Man: Philosopher's Ideal

Antiquity. In Aristotle's time, Greek philosophers spoke confidently on any topic. Equally wise speeches poured out both about state laws and questions of art, both about the exact sciences and about being in general. Aristotle himself, creating a comprehensive system of philosophy, touched upon many areas of human development: philosophy proper, politics, sociology, logic, physics. In addition, his writings include works on rhetoric, botany, zoology, and the theory of drama. Aristotle believed: "There is the same difference between an educated person and an uneducated person as between a living person and a dead person." A similar "comprehensive coverage of knowledge" was observed in Hellenistic education - if you are developed, then you are developed in everything.

Renaissance. Renaissance philosophers continued the ancient principles of personality formation. Breadth of outlook and skills is the norm of any educated person. The great Leonardo da Vinci was not only an artist. His field of activity included sculpture, architecture, music, and anatomy. Da Vinci was a naturalist, writer and inventor. Now for us this seems incredible, ingenious, but in that era every humanist spoke several languages, wrote works, paid attention to the exact sciences and art.

Education. This era gave birth to a real "encyclopedia man." It was impossible for a scientist to engage in a specific direction in science, to devote himself to the study of one problem. No, the thinker is obliged to understand science as a whole. And even if there was a division into the study of the spirit and the science of nature, the scientist could not limit himself to knowing only one part.

Classicism. Classical education has readily taken up the model comprehensively developed person- as A. S. Pushkin wrote: “We all learned little by little something and somehow.” Skills from the arsenal of the fine arts were also necessarily present in every educated person. Young people and girls from society knew how to "a little of everything": they composed poems, drew, played music, and danced. Young men fenced and rode horses.

Modernity: expansion of views and creativity

The end of the 20th century brought with it new trends: science became more complex, and education began to gravitate toward interdisciplinarity. In the days of classical education, it was assumed that a thinker who brings knowledge to the masses will convey this very knowledge simply and easily. But over time, it became clear that much in our world is relative, and everything is not as simple as we would like. The quantum physics, neuroscience raises more questions than answers.

At present, creativity and creativity have "raised their heads" from oblivion. If earlier in education there was a certain “sharpening” for a specific task, and professions became narrowly focused, now a fresh stream was needed. Every year, the number of courses on the development of creativity, trainings that promise to teach you to think outside the box is growing. The idea of ​​liberal arts built on an individual trajectory is becoming popular, independent work, discussions and feeling in this world.

A person who wants to succeed in his career is constantly improving. , courses, studying the intricacies of his profession makes him an excellent practitioner, but hinders the expansion of his horizons. Little by little, a professional loses the ability to see all the facets of one problem, as his knowledge has gone too deep. That is why an integrated approach is becoming more and more relevant, which would reduce the difference between professional areas and thereby allow “broadening the view”.

There was a synthesis of expansion and deepening. Now the fields of knowledge are expanding, absorbing the maximum, but a deep study of a particular subject does not disappear anywhere.

Education without borders: each person as a source of knowledge

In Antiquity, students listened to philosophers at feasts and meetings. In modern times, followers of German thinkers attended their wise speeches. The students followed their teachers. But a lot has changed since then. Now, in order to gain new knowledge, it is not even necessary to leave your own home. On the Internet, we can absorb any complete information considered from different angles. However, here lies a problem. Whom to follow and who to learn from?

Now literally anyone can write articles, blog, be a coach (sometimes self-invented discipline), edit information on Wikipedia. The very concept of an encyclopedia (albeit a virtual one) has been distorted.

The man-encyclopedia connected with the very idea of ​​the liberal arts. The school and the institute teach the ability to search for information, absorb the necessary, form one's own opinion and issue non-standard solutions. A real synthesis of human encyclopedia has taken place, striving to develop in breadth and depth, generating new ideas.

Behind last years promising results have been achieved in the practice of intensive training foreign languages a wide variety of student populations. Intensive methods are understood as the optimal implementation of some progressive trends in general pedagogy and psychology, in particular, in the context of the problems of the educational role of learning processes. Intensive training offered the methodology a realistic and consistent approach to mastering a foreign language as a socio-psychological problem, on the one hand, and as a controlled speech activity, on the other. This approach is also due to socio-historical patterns that determined the new goals of learning: if earlier teaching a foreign language was reduced to learning the language as a system, now the main goal of teaching is the mastery of foreign language by students.

Modern communicative linguistics sets new tasks for the methodology, of which the main one is mastering the language as a means of communication. A transition is required from teaching the language as a set of forms and means to the integral assimilation of the language by students.

In practice, intensive learning has long been established and is perceived by most teachers as a specific learning system that differs in a number of parameters from the methods of teaching foreign languages ​​currently used. Within its framework, new principles for the selection and organization of speech and language material have been developed, of which the leading ones are activity, personality-role, situational-thematic. A new, dynamic model of learning and managing the communicative and educational activities of students has been created.

Controlled mastery of foreign language speech by trainees is their modeling in foreign language speech practice of the processes of generation, semantic perception and communicative interaction of speech utterances and the formation of appropriate mechanisms.

However, it is still not clear what features of intensive learning determine its specificity. You can find a sufficient number of definitions of the intensity and intensification of training, but they do not have a certain clarity and unambiguous initial criteria. In other words, under what conditions can we speak of intensive learning? In addition to theoretical significance, the answer to this question has also practical value. The fact is that in recent years, based on the experience of intensive learning, a number of specific methods have been created and are being used, which are more suitable for the concept of intensification of learning than for the concept of intensive learning itself. Finally, there are a number of methods that are specific in terms of tasks and means used, but partially implement the principles underlying intensive learning in its various varieties.

Let us analyze, first of all, general character criteria by which the content of the concept of intensive training should be determined. Obviously, the first criterion - the nature of the contingent of students - is not directly related to the content of this concept. Practically various forms intensive training, at least in the experiment, now covers a wide variety of categories of trainees. All of them can be grouped into three main types: pre-university, university and postgraduate education. Accordingly, the basic organizational forms of education are changing. The second criterion by which intensive training is usually determined is its timing. Typical is the identification of intensive training with short-term training, which sometimes corresponds to the formal side of this concept, but does not reveal it. Similarly, definitions related to the concentration of hours and the temporal isolation of the course of study, i.e., its relative autonomy, etc., are hardly acceptable.

The purpose of intensive training is to achieve the assimilation of the maximum volume in the shortest possible time. educational material. The goal formulated in this way and the methodological methods used to achieve it determine the expediency of a relatively large concentration of teaching hours. The content of intensive training is mastering a set of skills and abilities that are sufficient and necessary for the effective implementation of activities in a particular area, as well as mastering the language material that ensures the formation, development and use of these skills and abilities. However, in this definition only one aspect of intensive learning has been touched upon—its teaching function. In fact, intensive training, like any full-fledged methodological system, also acts in its educational function. The most important feature of intensive learning lies in the organic unity of these two functions at different levels, up to specific ones. methodological techniques. We can say that in intensive training, the educational side includes the teaching function, and the teaching side includes the function of education. In essence, these are the requirements for any methodological system; however, at present, it is in intensive training that such organic unity is realized most consistently.

So, by intensive teaching of a foreign language, we mean teaching aimed mainly at mastering communication in the target language, based on the psychological reserves of the personality and activity of students that are not used in ordinary teaching, in particular, on managing socio-psychological processes in a group and managing communication. teacher with students and students among themselves, and usually carried out in a short time.

Based on the main goal of intensive training - to master the skills of foreign language communication in the shortest possible time, two main factors characterizing it can be distinguished:

• 1) the minimum required training period to achieve the goal (future speech activity) with the maximum necessary (for this purpose) amount of educational material and its corresponding organization;
• 2) the maximum use of all reserves of the student's personality, achieved in conditions of special interaction in the study group with the creative influence of the teacher's personality.

The first factor clearly relates the nature of learning to its specific purpose. For example, if the goal is to achieve the level of everyday communication, you can limit yourself to the initial stage of learning (basic dictionary up to 2500 lexical units, normative grammar of oral speech). As experience shows, with the appropriate organization of the educational process, at least 120 academic hours are required to master such a volume of material.

The second factor involves the creation of a special psychological “microclimate” in the classroom, trusting relationships between the teacher and the teaching staff, within the teaching staff, between the teacher and each student individually. The high emotional tone of the audience, its emotional involvement, empathy in the process are of paramount importance for the maximum use of the creative reserves of the student's personality. learning activities. Ensuring the emotionality of learning and creating a favorable learning atmosphere is one of the essential conditions that affect the level of activity of students' learning activities. Another prerequisite for activating the reserves of the student's personality is the teacher's knowledge of all the factors that determine the process speech communication, the mechanism of communication and the ability to manage them.

This understanding of intensive learning most adequately reflects promising direction, which crystallizes in recent studies of domestic educational psychology.

Today, intensive training can be presented as an experimental model for further development of the methodology. The impact of such training is already largely felt in the mass practice of teaching foreign languages ​​- in the design of a communicative-situational approach, in the creation of communicative textbooks, in the use of elements of the theater system of K. S. Stanislavsky, in teaching foreign language communication, etc.

Intensive training has affected a number of actual problems teaching foreign languages ​​and drew attention to new aspects of methodology in general.

The educational process (learning process) is a very complex process of objective reality, yielding, perhaps, only to the processes of upbringing and development, of which it is an integral part. It includes a large number of various connections and relationships of many factors of various order and nature (see Fig. 1).

Picture 1

The problems of teaching and education are dealt with by a part of pedagogy - didactics. Its main categories are teaching, learning, learning, education, knowledge, skills, as well as the purpose, content, organization, types, forms, methods, means, learning outcomes.

Teaching methods - a system of consistent, interrelated actions of the teacher and students, ensuring the assimilation of the content of education, the development of their mental strength and abilities, mastering the means of self-education and self-learning.

In didactics, one can come across such a concept as a type or methodical system of education. The type (methodological system) of training is understood as the general orientation of training. If, for example, the goal of learning is the assimilation of facts or the description of phenomena, then the leading psychological mechanism will be association, and the main activities will be perception, comprehension, memorization and reproduction. Appropriate teaching methods are presentation, reading, reproducing conversation, viewing illustrations. Together, a system of explanatory-illustrative, reproducing education is obtained.

There are many methodological systems, one of the most ancient is dogmatic teaching. It corresponds to the craft type of organizational culture. The type of church-religious education that developed in the Middle Ages through listening, reading, rote memorization and verbatim reproduction of the text. At present, dogmatic learning takes place when memorizing facts, memorizing texts, and their comprehension is not mandatory. Elements of such learning are used when memorizing facts, names, dates, coefficients, formulas without derivation, foreign words, and some symbols. Of course, elements of comprehension, establishing associative links are inevitably present, but the main attention is paid to memorization, accurate reproduction.

Close to dogmatic learning are modern methodological systems: hypnopedia (learning in a dream), relaxopedia (training in a state of relaxation, release from constraining conventions) and suggestopedia (training with the help of suggestion), which are classified as intensive training.

Intensive teaching methods - a group of methods for teaching a foreign language, leading its origin from the one developed in the 60s. Bulgarian scientist G. Lozanov of the suggestopedic method and including the following methods: the method of activating the reserve capabilities of the student (G.A. Kitaigorodskaya), the emotional-semantic method (I.Yu. Shekhter), the method of accelerated learning for adults (L.Sh. Gegechkori), the method immersion (A. S. Plesnevich), suggestive-cybernetic integral method of accelerated learning for adults (V. V. Petrusinsky), rhythmopedia (G. M. Burdenyuk), hypnopedia (E. M. Sirovsky), course speech behavior(A.A. Akishina), "express method" (I. Davydova), etc. .

They are based on the following methodological principles:

The principle of collective interaction. This principle links the goals of training and education, characterizes the means, methods and conditions of a single educational process. Group training contributes to the emergence of additional socio-psychological incentives for learning in the individual, maintains such a psychological atmosphere in the educational team in which students get the opportunity to meet very important socio-psychological needs of people: recognition, respect, attention from others. All this further stimulates the cognitive activity of students. In the conditions of collective joint activity, a common fund of information about the subject being studied is formed, to which each student contributes, and they all use it together. Thus, communication with group partners becomes the main "means" of mastering the subject.

The principle of personality-oriented communication. In communication, each trainee is both an influencer and an influencer. Under these conditions, the process of personality formation is determined by the relationship of a person to a person, their communication. Language proficiency is, first of all, the ability to participate in real communication. The system of concepts in which communication can be described includes the concept of "role". Communication turns into a creative, personally motivated process. In this case, the student does not imitate the activity, but "owns" the motive of the activity, i.e., performs motivated speech actions. Personal-speech communication is the basis for building an educational and cognitive process in intensive teaching of foreign languages.

The principle of the role organization of the educational process. Role-playing communication is both a game, and educational, and speech activity. If from the position of the student, role-playing communication is a game, then from the position of the teacher, this is the main form of organizing the educational process. In accordance with the idea, the main educational text for students is a polylogue, and the participants in the actions described in it are the students themselves. Thus, one of the techniques of the method of non-directive regulation of the student's behavior in the group is implemented.

The principle of concentration in the organization of educational material and the educational process. This principle characterizes not only the qualitative, but also the quantitative specifics of intensive communication. This specificity is manifested in various aspects: the concentration of educational situations, classes, the concentration of educational material associated with its volume and distribution in the course of study. A large amount of educational material, especially at the initial stage of training, makes it possible to organize situations as close as possible to real communication already at the first lesson. This creates a high motivation for learning, as if bringing the result of learning closer to its beginning. Concentration in the organization of educational material entails a specific organization of the educational process, which manifests itself, in particular, in a high "density of communication", a variety of types and forms of work, etc. In conditions of a large amount of educational material, the following are effective: a) plot construction of the course and individual microcycles; b) plot organization of classes and their fragments; c) construction of educational texts as a model of speech behavior in certain situations, etc.

The principle of multifunctionality of exercises. This principle reflects the specifics of the system of exercises in the activation method. A language skill formed in non-speech conditions is non-durable and incapable of transfer. Therefore, an approach to learning is productive, in which simultaneous and parallel mastery of language material and speech activity is carried out.

The main goal of intensive teaching methods, as well as other teaching methods on present stage development of education, - the implementation of a communicative approach in teaching a foreign language, i.e. training in communicative competence (the ability to establish and maintain the necessary contacts with other people), but under a strict time limit.

This leads to the following definitions of intensive learning:

“Intensive teaching of a foreign language is training aimed mainly at mastering communication in the language being studied, based on the psychological reserves of the personality and activity of students that are not used in ordinary education” - G.A. Kitaygorodskaya.

"Intensive learning is not just effective learning, but one that achieves maximum efficiency in the minimum possible study time, with the minimum effort of the student and teacher." - V.M. Blinov, V.V. Kraevsky.