The Callan Method. Any experiences?

The title says it all.

Have you ever taught or studied using the Callan Method?
Do you have any comments about the method, either positive or negative?
MrsHill has reached a bottleneck with her English studies and needs some way to go from competent to confident speaker.

I would value your comments, and can only repay you with my love.

[quote=“TomHill”]The title says it all.

Have you ever taught or studied using the Callan Method?
Do you have any comments about the method, either positive or negative?
MrsHill has reached a bottleneck with her English studies and needs some way to go from competent to confident speaker.

I would value your comments, and can only repay you with my love.[/quote]I’ve neither taught nor studied using it, but I looked into it a while back and was unimpressed. There are some interesting comments about it on Dave’s ESL Cafe and elsewhere. They confirmed that the methodology has predictable results: a kind of “drilling effect” resulting in seeming fluency when it comes to certain set questions and answers, but a lack of real creative linguistic ability.

Where is Mrs Hill? Can she try classes at the British Council?

Thanks Joesax, I will check Dave’s for comments.

MrsHill will be studying in London, (west).

No offense intended, but if she’s in the UK won’t she learn funny English anyway? Wouldn’t she rather study in the US and learn proper English? :wink:

The irony there is that for the last two years she has been the company liasion between her employers’ American and Taiwanese branches, and so she also needs the American English she has picked up to be stamped out! No offenCe intended! :sunglasses:

“English in a quarter of the time!”
I recall is their slogan. I wouldn’t study with them in the UK, I had a friend who taught there for a while (no teaching cert or TEFL etc. mind, but very good at languages to be fair). From what she told me, it would mainly work for beginner level learners, repetition seems to be a strong part of it, and immersion, " This is a pen. What is it?That’s right it’s a pen. This is a ruler"… etc.etc.

Have you looked at the London Institute? I think they’re supposed to be very good.

[quote=“kitkat”]“English in a quarter of the time!”
I recall is their slogan. I wouldn’t study with them in the UK, I had a friend who taught there for a while (no teaching cert or TEFL etc. mind, but very good at languages to be fair). From what she told me, it would mainly work for beginner level learners, repetition seems to be a strong part of it, and immersion, " This is a pen. What is it?That’s right it’s a pen. This is a ruler"… etc.etc.

Have you looked at the London Institute? I think they’re supposed to be very good.[/quote]

Hi KitKat. Thanks for your comments and your time. I have a question: To which London Institute do you refer?

I don’t know anything about the Callan Method, but Wikipedia’s very brief article on it has some links.

Here’s a thread about it, a little more than three pages long, on a site called Englishforums.com.

Here’s a Dave’s ESL Cafe thread on it.

Here are some opinions about it on a site called antimoon.com

I don’t know anything about The London Institute, either, but maybe kitkat is referring to the University Language Centre of the University of the Arts, London. This University used to be called The London Institute. Then again, maybe that’s not what kitkat is referring to.

Sorry, I missed this.
Yes that is exactly what I was referring to.
http://www.arts.ac.uk/languagecentre/languagecentre.htm

My brother used to teach there (PGCE- mod languages, taught Spanish, seemed very happy there, only left for a complete change of career direction). I believe that all their teachers/lecturers are properly accredited (although you should be able to determine this yourself with a little enquiry of course). I’ve also met several students from there (from TW and Japan) who had gone to pursue further English study and seemed very comfortable conversing in English.

Might be worth looking into. After all, there could be nothing worse than paying up at some Language centre and getting taught by a ‘trainee’ getting ready to go and teach abroad, yet paying full whack for what may or may not turn out to be a worthwhile course, depending on the teacher’s ability/experience. Like I said in my first post my friend had no formal teacher training and was just out of Uni. Places like Callan rely on the fact that their method is so prescribed that anyone with an ounce of common sense can teach the lessons. All fine and well, but as I said earlier I doubt that it’s much use beyond the beginner level.

Cheers
Kitkat

Sorry, can’t help you there, bro.

Now, The MACCallan method, I’m your man…

[quote=“the chief”]Sorry, can’t help you there, bro.

Now, The MACCallan method, I’m your man…[/quote]

I’m trying the new Artois method myself. It’s all repeat repeat repeat, which I find both satisfying and refreshing.

[quote=“TomHill”][quote=“the chief”]Sorry, can’t help you there, bro.

Now, The MACCallan method, I’m your man…[/quote]

I’m trying the new Artois method myself. It’s all repeat repeat repeat, which I find both satisfying and refreshing.[/quote]I think you’re barking up the wrong methodological tree there. Everyone knows that the most important thing is copious quantities of varied input.

Call it the Weissbeer-Schnapps-Baileys-Bordeaux method if you like. I practiced it myself on a school trip to Germany with spectacular results.

You pulled a German?

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