How We Teach

Our Classroom Methods

Click the window to the right to see an animated presentation of our proprietary instructional system: COLA®.

Our methods move students away from traditional foreign language teaching models where the greatest emphasis is put on reading and writing, to a COLA® model which starts with speaking and listening. Our students do not read and write about scenarios, they experience them in context first.

We de-emphasize grammatically perfect constructions and we focus on comprehensible input and student engagement with small amounts of relevant language, which leads very quickly to spontaneous output - or speech! Our activities center around instructor-led, near-native speaking in the classroom with which all students interact and demonstrate comprehension. By the end of every class, all students are uttering comprehensible 'bites' of language applicable to the scenarios - without reading and memorizing.

Our students have internalized the language for deep retention and recall over time. Having already spoken and internalized this sheltered language in context, reading and writing are introduced, and the learner is more readily able to decode and comprehend it.

COLA® means: Context-based, Optimized, Language Acquisition®.

So let’s break down each word of  COLA®:

• Context-based – this refers to 2 different levels of our instructional system – the methods and the content. Our methods prioritize presenting and working with language in context first, and then taking apart the ‘bites’ to work with them in other forms. The content of each course is custom-tailored to focus on the specific workplace of the participant. Hence the language acquired has a depth of relevance and is immediately more usable and comprehensible.
• Optimized – As adults, we have a lot of barriers to learning, so in our Reality Language® courses we use language ‘hooks’ to link the vocabulary to the existing life experiences of the learner. This deliberately creates safe emotional learning situations to maximize vocabulary retention, utilize scaffolding, sheltered language, and other second language acquisition methods specifically geared to adult learners. Vocabulary and phrases in our programs have been deliberately chosen for their versatility and applicability, thus optimizing acquisition leading to greater reproduction, more quickly.
• Language – We 're-represent' language, and in doing so, help our students understand how much language – and the culture it represents – inform every facet of our lives. Seeing and understanding language in a new light is the first step to truly buying-in to the need to learn a second (or third) language. Through our work with comprehensible language in written and oral forms, along with the students’ manipulation of layers of learning, they can internalize the impact language has on themselves and how they interact with people who don’t speak their native tongue.
• Acquisition – Our students internalize new language deeply and permanently in a more naturally involved state than traditional ‘foreign language’ classes where they learn about language and its structure. Immediate, work-specific fluency, raises buy-in and hope within the learner and they will come away having acquired usable target language, perhaps for the first time in their lives.

We developed COLA® after using and building upon the following research-based and highly influential theories and practices:

• Dr. Steven Krashen’s Natural Approach – stressing the value of presenting language to new learners the way we human beings naturally acquire our first language – through experience, safety, and context.
• Dr. James Asher’s Total Physical Response – which prioritizes the use of the whole learner. Muscle memory and learning vocabulary through gesture is a basis for this approach.
• From TPR, Blaine Ray developed the kinesthetic and multi-sensory language learning into the context of storytelling to create TPRStorytelling®. He achieved amazing results in the high school Spanish classroom, presenting vocabulary pieces in a holistic form through active and engaging storytelling.

Our COLA®  courses offer all the benefits of the above methods and in addition include:

• Workplace-specific language and scenarios, we make language learned this morning usable this afternoon. Professionals are empowered in new ways to enhance relationships, safety, and efficiency on the job.
• Interactive, integrated student materials: CD-ROMs, workbooks, and Audio CDs reinforce the target vocabulary, phrases, dialogs and stories for personal, self-paced learning outside of the classroom
• Flexible delivery: due to our work with adult learners, the tools, methods and resources are presented to maximize learning within a busy schedule where a class meeting only once a week may be the norm.
• Cultural awareness is central to our work as language educators and is included in each module of study.  Awareness of culture relevant to the language spoken at your workplace is crucial to understanding those who speak it. It is amazing to see the culture of a workplace come alive - enhanced through direct communication.

“It Actually Works!” Kathy Devor, Trainer, Olathe Elementary School, Colorado.

We're Grounded in Research

Below is the abstract – and link to the full study – of a research study conducted by Dr. Gaye R. Jenkins in collaboration with Clark County School District, Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2007, looking specifically at Reality Spanish® for Teachers Level 1,

The purpose of this study is to prove to a significant degree that participation in a 12-week course of Reality Spanish® for Teachers Level 1 significantly and actually improves the teacher’s ability to relate to and communicate with Spanish-speaking students and their parents at the K-12 level. The subjects were 223 staff members employed by Clark County School District (CCSD) in Las Vegas, Nevada. Participants included male and female classroom teachers of varying ages, ethnicities and subject assignments across the K-12 grades. Principals, support staff, and school nursing personnel were also contained in the group but not specifically identified.

Subjects responded to two research instruments: anonymous pre- and post-course fourteen-item surveys utilizing a 5 category Likert scale; and reflective journals designed to elicit anecdotal data reporting details of the subjects’ learning process and the extent to which they personally used Spanish to communicate directly with Spanish speaking students and parents, and increased their personal awareness and understanding of related cultural issues. Results of the analyses used to determine the significance of improvements in direct communication between educators and their Spanish-speaking students were highly significant; improvements were made in direct communication between educators and Spanish-speaking parents but were not statistically highly significant; significant improvements were reported in educators’ personal awareness and understanding of Spanish-speaking cultural issues as they relate to the school environment. Conclusions state that participation in a twelve week Reality Spanish® for Teachers Level 1 did significantly and actually improve the teacher’s ability to relate to and communicate with Spanish-speaking students and their parents.

Click here to download the full study!