I have recently completed a Level 2 Languages For All online Spanish course at York University, and I have loved it!

I understand that in her teaching, my tutor Amanda, used her work at the NCELP, and that she drew on research-informed principles and materials that the Centre have developed and provide freely.  

She has made every session interesting, purposeful, and highly effective, because during each two-hour session there have been rigorous opportunities to focus on developing specific skills; these have included:

• Specific opportunities to review and practice sounds and pronunciation, focussing on common errors and misconceptions.

• Direct teaching of relevant grammatical structures with opportunities to practice these in pairs or small groups.

• Sequential teaching of verb conjugation in different tenses and their application in meaningful contexts.

• Varied activities to practice reading, writing, listening, speaking - including during homework activities - which are always revisited during each subsequent lesson so that learning is built sequentially.

• Appropriate challenge to address misconceptions in a supportive (friendly) way.

• Sessions constructed within the parameters of syllabus but also in response to the precise assessment of our needs, so that the activities are never too hard nor too easy

• Lots of variety in each session so that there is never a dull moment!

As an ex-headteacher and I recognise the skills which has gone into creating this wonderful learning opportunity.

For me, each session just flies by (and I know I have a low boredom threshold!) and I can hardly believe where the year has gone.  I also recognise that my Spanish has really improved (as has my confidence) and I can hardly wait to get to Spain to use it!