“Both of the girls are very happy to come to Helen Doron classes at the Lendava, Slovenia Learning Studio where they enjoy the activities, and love to dance, sing and play with the teacher and the other kids. Even when they are at home, they play that they are in English class! Ana’s English is much better than her school classmates, as she has correct pronunciation and a good vocabulary. Both girls are very proud of their English progress and like to talk to everyone about their Helen Doron teacher, friends from class and fun activities.”

Marina, who wishes she had a better command of the English language, explains why she insisted on sending her children at such a young age. “If you are good in English, you will have more self-confidence in school and qualify for student exchange programmes. Adults with good English do better in global business settings and from my personal experience, the best job positions are reserved for people who are fluent in English.”

Why Helen Doron and not one of their competitors? “Helen Doron is designed for children from when they are babies, when the brain is like a sponge and it is easy to learn. The courses are fun and full of songs and activities for children and they learn English like a mother tongue, first learning vocabulary they use in daily conversation, and later learning writing is easy, as they already know the words.” The family also uses the wide variety of Helen Doron educational apps at home, and appreciates all of the tools provided.

Find a Helen Doron Learning Centre Near You!

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She enthused about the methodology and how effective and comprehensive Helen Doron is. “Students who started at the age of 4-5 now speak fluently, with Cambridge certificates proving their knowledge. We have prepared our students for Cambridge exams for 6 years and their results are always outstanding. I love that the methodology is playful, children pick up the language easily and enjoy the whole learning process. Classes are full of fun and positive reinforcement and we teach children not only a foreign language but important values for life.”

Her message for parents considering enrolling their children at Helen Doron: “We live in a multilingual world, the more languages you speak, the better for your children. Give them a chance to learn a new language in an easy, natural way without even realizing they are learning, as they are having so much fun.”

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This realization led me to believe that language learning, particularly teaching English as a foreign language, should be approached in a similar manner. In 1985, I began teaching English to young children aged 1 to 6, with the goal of testing my theory that young children learn a foreign language best through repeated exposure and positive reinforcement from the teacher.

I made audio cassettes of myself singing and playing the piano, as well as home recordings of poems and stories, to provide the necessary background exposure. The response was overwhelmingly positive, and I had many more students the following year. This made me realize the importance of training teachers in methodology and developing professional learning materials.

My true passion has always been teaching English to young children because I believe that establishing a strong foundation in language skills at a young age can have a long-term impact on a child’s development and future success. Up to the age of seven, the early years of a child’s life are critical for brain development, and the right mental and physical stimulation can help create greater brain connectivity and prepare children for success.

Discover more about the Helen Doron English and Helen Doron Academy language learning programs, as well as the benefits of obtaining a TEFL certification to teach English as a foreign language. Consider language education options like language schools and private tutors, as well as the distinct benefits that native English speakers have.

The post The Best Way to Teach English as a Foreign Language appeared first on Helen Doron English Magyarország.

Proud mom, Sonja, started her career with Helen Doron as a teacher, when searching for classes for her three-year-old twins and advanced from teacher to franchisee, while raising her three daughters in the Helen Doron network.

Laura enthusiastically told us in fluent English that it was such a great experience for her growing up in the Helen Doron family that she “decided to do the teacher training course and become a teacher, as it’s so important to be able to communicate well in English. Learning at a young age is so much easier, and I want to help others to have what I did as a young child…to give back what I got! Learning English with Helen Doron is like a game, you are having so much fun that you don’t even realize you are learning.”

While abroad, Laura found that her level of English surprised the Americans, as it was so much better than other exchange students on her programme. She explains, “In public school English classes in Austria, you don’t learn pronunciation, just grammar rules. You don’t learn how to use the language, so my background in Helen Doron really gave me an advantage that the other students didn’t have. I want to pass this advantage on to others!”

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The Helen Doron Group, international leaders in teaching English as Foreign Language (EFL) has launched its first educational centre in Dongtan, South Korea. Building on the success of the company’s kindergartens launched in 2014, the state-of-the art centre incorporates the first Helen Doron Baby Centre, the classic Helen Doron English centre and kindergarten, all designed to offer optimal stimulation and development for young minds and bodies.

“My goal was and still remains excellent education for babies and infants as a means to assuring a wonderful life,” said Helen Doron, founder and CEO. “Children’s emotional wellbeing and happiness are our priority,” explained Doron. “Our unique centre, serving children from birth onwards, features activities that provide children with maximum brain stimulation while ensuring learning is joyful and stress-free.”

The Helen Doron Baby Centre offers a variety of courses which introduce babies to English using the proven Helen Doron English methodology. The centre will also be introducing the new DadaVinci^TM brand for sensori-motor development as well as in-depth knowledge of the world  – all including songs. A beautiful 4^th floor swimming pool with balconies serves both baby swimming classes as well as the kindergarten. “Learning is designed to challenge the infant brain as well as bring parents and children closer,” Doron notes.

The kindergarten, a one-of-a-kind environment catering to children from 2½ onwards, features the unique and carefully-planned Helen Doron Kindergarten courses including English, Multi-Music (songs in 7 languages for linguistic sensitivity and brain stimulation), art, science, mathematics and specialized exercise programme that includes dance, Yoga and Pilate.

The Helen Doron English centre, aimed at children from ages 3 to 9, offer the best English programmes for speaking English fluently, as well as reading and writing.

„Many countries, including South Korea, understand that English is necessary for communication throughout the world,” said Doron. “Dongtan is the ideal location to launch the first Helen Doron International Centre, as South Koreans want only the best for their children’s education and understand their children’s limitless potential. Now these parents have the ideal setting in which to stimulate and nourish their young children’s brains and bodies in a way that is systematic, healthy and enjoyable.”

Students are taught by specially trained teachers who focus on building children’s confidence through positive reinforcement and personal attention, with only 8 students per class. The cutting-edge facility features 14 classrooms, gym, indoor swimming pool, indoor and outdoor playgrounds, as well as a plant-based kitchen stocked with vegetables from the centre’s organic garden.

The launch of the flagship international centre is a significant step in the Group’s planned expansion into Asia. “We believe our investment in Korea is a significant step which positions us to increase our foothold in the Asian market. We want to bring our proven methodology to children throughout Asia, teaching and maintaining bright young minds English from their earliest years,” commented Doron. “In addition, our curriculum nurtures important values such as giving, empathy, compassion, and joyfulness.  In addition to South Korea, the company maintains a strong presence in China and Thailand. Extended expansion is planned in both those countries, as well as in new Asian markets.

On a personal note, Doron shared an additional reason for choosing Dongtan to launch Helen Doron International. “I have two Korean grandchildren from my son Benaya and my Korean daughter-in-law Kyungeun. I want them to enjoy and benefit from what I believe to be the world’s best kindergarten education. Rohan started kindergarten with the beginning of Helen Doron International in March, and his younger brother Leeon is set to follow in his footsteps; so that goal has been achieved,” she concluded.

About the Helen Doron Educational Group

The Helen Doron Educational Group stands at the forefront of innovative educational systems, providing exclusive learning programmes and quality educational materials for babies, children and adolescents throughout the world since 1985. The company’s flagship franchise, Helen Doron English, together with Helen Doron Kindergarten, MathRiders and Ready Steady Move! Franchises today encompass 1,000 learning centres in 35 countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America. Today, more than two million children have learnt with the unique Helen Doron methodology. http://www.helendorongroup.com

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Raneen relates her Helen Doron history over the past 15 years. “A friend of mine used to be a Helen Doron teacher and she was so enthusiastic about it that I decided to look into it. I started as a Helen Doron English teacher as a part-time job, fell in love with the methodology, with the kids, and with the results and decided that it is not going to be just a job for me—it’s going to be my vocation!

“After being a teacher for around 6 years, I decided to take it one step further, and I became a franchisee.  Now I have five teachers working with me, teaching about 300 students.”

Raneen sees the methodology as being quite different from other English courses she has encountered. “It’s not just teaching English, its being part of an international community. The students are part of a class that speaks only English, with a maximum of eight students per class, with many games, fun, movement, dancing, great books and a lot of apps and online games. My students have great English with the right accent and most importantly, a love of the language.”

She highly recommends the company to those who are looking for teaching and/or franchise opportunities. “It’s an international method that is being taught all over the world! You get ongoing training support, flexible hours, good payment and a lot of satisfaction and fun.

As I always say, you have to love what you do in order to succeed. I love being a franchisee, and a teacher, and especially seeing so many students speaking fluent English— thanks to Helen Doron English courses.”

Find out about business opportunities with Helen Doron English!

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In 2009, Ana completed her degree and started searching for a job. “I saw an ad that the first Helen Doron English centre was opening in Zagreb and that they were looking for teachers. I knew very little about the method back then, so I started googling and immediately fell in love with the whole concept. I sent my CV to our National Franchisor, Danijela Haralovic, met with her for an interview, and the rest is history.  I moved to Zagreb and became one of the first two certified Helen Doron teachers in Croatia, and I was hooked for life!”

Eight exciting years later, Ana has taught all of the courses: starting with babies, all the way through the teen courses.

Ana explains her personal philosophy about her chosen career. “I am first and foremost, a teacher who loves her job and my goal is not only to educate children, but also care for their general well-being. Working with children, watching them learn with such ease and seeing how quickly their confidence grows from lesson to lesson is the best part of this job. Throughout all of these years I had countless moments during my classes where I whispered to myself (or shouted out loud) that I truly have the best job in the world. I love the fact that as a Helen Doron teacher you constantly have to work on yourself and learn, attend seminars and improve your teaching skills, there are always new challenges, classes and groups so work never becomes dull.  I am proud to say that the Helen Doron English method is well-known in Zadar, so we are always filled to capacity. It’s a lot of work, but when you love what you do, success comes naturally.”

She is proud of what she is accomplished and how Helen Doron stands out from the competition. “Immediately upon entering our Learning Centre, it’s obvious that our school is unlike any other. We have highly trained, dedicated teachers that hold classes in a friendly and colourful environment. Our methodology and programmes are unique and based on up-to-date scientific research. We have high-quality learning materials and we even implement modern technology into our teaching. Children are taught in small groups of eight while singing, dancing and participating in fun games and activities, exclusively in English, without any translation, which allows them to learn English in the most natural way possible.”

As a parent herself, Ana’s message to other parents is “What are you waiting for? Giving your child the gift of learning English at an early age is a great gift and one of your best investments. Helen Doron is so much more than English; we socialize your children, boost their confidence and teach them to grow into caring and responsible human beings.”

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Which values are best?

The question isn’t whether or not teachers should be teaching values, but what kinds of values should teachers help students develop. First, by being a positive role model, a teacher models the right behaviours. These include honesty, showing respect for others, taking responsibility for one’s actions, cooperation and caring. Students are the reflections of their teacher. The way teacher acts, behaves and talks, is observed and evaluated by the student.

Secondly, by teaching students how to think and evaluate what they are learning, they are teaching values along with course content. For example, a lesson that teaches about Earth Day not only teaches facts and numbers, but also about caring for the environment.

Language impacts our values

English teachers, by the very nature of their course content, teach values. The languages that we learn and speak impact the way we think, the way we see the world, and the way we live our lives.  When children learn a second language, they learn more than words. They learn about different cultures, about different ways of thinking and about how to accept and respect differences.

More than 30 years of experience in teaching English as a Foreign Language has shown me that the original methodology that our trained Helen Doron teachers use in the classroom to teach English supports learning good values. Our teachers use positive reinforcement, which teaches students respect for others, as well as respect for themselves. Learning through fun and games in small groups of 4-8 students teaches good sportsmanship and team building skills.

Be part of a global community

Helen Doron is a community and Helen Doron lessons bring out communal awareness. This is something we teach in our classes. While I don’t usually use this blog format as a personal platform, I am quite pleased to announce our global campaign, Young Heroes, which empowers children to bring about change in their communities. The campaign will run from April to June, 2017 and speaks directly to values of Helen Doron English: teaching students about caring for each other, the environment and the community. Helen Doron English learning centres from all over Europe. South America and Asia will be participating in this worthwhile campaign that encourages children to embrace their inner hero and become better world citizens. We’re calling on all students to join our campaign. The Young Heroes project isn’t limited to Helen Doron English students; anyone from a school, club or community centre who wants to form a team and participate in this worthy endeavor can do so. Anyone can be a Young Hero!

Young Heroes emphasizes that being a hero doesn’t require superpowers or even special skills. It is about children working together as a team to improve the lives of the people and animals around them.

The Young Heroes project is divided into three key phases: Discover. Dream. Do. Under the guidance of our teachers and with the support of their parents, we encourage children to go out into the community and Discover challenges that need solving. Next, they are asked to Dream up solutions. Finally, they are asked to carry out the project — to Do what they planned in the classroom. Any child, no matter how small, or tall, can make a difference in their community. Young Heroes shows you how. Join us, as we lead change in our communities.

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Tea relates some of her experiences: “As soon as I started teaching in a Helen Doron school, I realized that this was the job for me. This job is energetic, creative and very rewarding. I love working with children because there is never a dull moment with them. Every group is specific and unique, so every class is different and interesting in its own way. Working with young children can, at times, be exhausting, but when I see how much they have learned and how much they like it here, it’s all worth it!

What I love about the Helen Doron method is that it is so different from English taught in most kindergartens and primary schools. The groups are much smaller, so children have more opportunities to speak and participate in all the activities. Children learn the language through pictures, games, songs and movement which enables them to learn faster and better, and the best part is that they are often not even aware that they are learning a new language.”

Tea has a message for parents considering enrolling their children in Helen Doron English. “Every parent who is considering enrolling their child in an English course should come to our demo lesson and see what our lessons look like, and why so many children and parents return to our school year after year. Children love coming to our classes, because they have a lot of fun, they play with other children and learn a language in a stress-free environment. That is mainly because Helen Doron lessons are held in small groups, where the teacher can individually work with each child, where she knows her students very well, and knows what they like and do not like to do, so she can adjust the lesson to suit the group’s needs.”

Additionally, she would like to tell potential teachers “if you want to teach English and you like working with children, a Helen Doron school is the best place for you. You will have the opportunity to work in a friendly and creative environment, with students who look forward to their every lesson and enjoy spending time with their teacher.”

Find out more about becoming a Helen Doron English teacher!

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There are a variety of components that contribute to the success of the methodology, and we have more to explain about the important features that spiral learning contributes to its success. Spiral learning is a relatively new concept in education. Rather than trying to master a subject all at once, spiral learning teaches a concept gradually and repeatedly, reinforcing concepts over time. The idea is that each time a student encounters the topic; the student expands their knowledge or improves their skill level. It is a very natural process.

I’ll share an interesting anecdote with you: I had a two-year-old child attending one of my classes that was mostly four-year-old children. In the early years we didn’t have the wealth of learning materials that we now have and we varied the ages in the classroom. Today we are more precise. This child was what we today might call hyperactive and he spent all his time going around the class moving and making sounds like an airplane. When I would teach a new idea he would stop, the airplane would come into land and he would sit mesmerized and lap it all up. When I finished teaching the new materials he would get up and return to flying around the class again. He knew what was new material, it was absolutely clear.

Spiral Learning is a much better method than the mastery method. When you teach mastery method, even if it is through different and enjoyable activities, the material is not new and this does not stimulate the children the way new information does. The children want to learn new ideas. They are comfortable with not having complete mastery of all the information from the start.  They do not feel that they need to know the information thoroughly before they continue and learn something else.  With spiral learning, when the students return to the information the next month or year, they will learn it in a new and different context. They will learn different nuances of the concept and they will gain an even richer understanding of the language.

For example, what is the word ‘train’? To a toddler, the word simply refers to a ‘choo-choo train’ but as the child grows and learns, the word takes on additional meanings and what might come to mind is long back of a wedding gown, a ‘wedding dress train.’  The word ‘train’ can also be used as a verb – to teach, or ‘train’ someone. There is also the concept of a ‘train of thought’ and so on…. So, with each stage of development, when the child learns the word ‘train’ in a different context, he understands that the meaning can have many different nuances. 

If spiral learning is a natural way of learning, then why is the mastery method still used so much?

The truth is, some teachers and parents prefer the mastery method. They believe the right way is to teach the child until they fully know whatever is being taught and will teach it again and again through different activities and different approaches but won’t move on until they know it. The reality is, the child won’t remember all that was taught and will often forget much of what they have learned when the information is stuffed into them.

Now, in truth, the mastery method can be a more satisfying way of teaching, it is much easier. With the spiral learning method, you really have to plan your curriculum and you have to know where you are going and plan ahead for the different stages that an idea is introduced. Many teachers don’t have such well-planned curriculums.  When kids start learning with the Helen Doron programme we know what they are going to learn at 3 months old, the week after, the month after, at one year, five years and even 15 years on. We have a very strong curriculum built on spiral learning. I have worked with experts in education and child development to create a scientific and researched curriculum.  The beauty of it is, the kids don’t know the technicalities, they are just having fun learning. So, while it is more challenging to teach this way because of the thought and planning required, I believe that this natural way of learning is more satisfying. It takes into account that learning naturally is fun, engaging, and is an anecdote to boredom.

There is an old story where the teacher leaves the classroom and enters the teachers lounge. When asked by another teacher, what did your class learn today, he replied, ‘I know what I taught them but I don’t know what they have learned.’ It is sad but this is how much education is taught worldwide. It is defunct but parents will sign them up for this type of class because it is how they learnt and in their minds, this is the correct way. It is not logical for the child’s mind even if it is for the parents. The child will not enjoy it and the parent may not recognize that this is not how a child naturally learns. They need to get comfortable with the idea that the child will learn and will retain the information. Young children’s minds must be allowed to grow and develop confidently and not worry about exactly how much they know but to rejoice in the learning process itself.

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