Innovative English Language Learning at ‘My English House’

*We were grateful to receive a free sample lesson for our kids at My English House, Torrevieja, in return for evaluating and promoting their services. All opinions expressed below remain our own.

Introduction

A good knowledge of the English language has come to be seen as an essential life skill for modern, global living. With that in mind, more and more people are looking to enroll themselves or their children onto English language courses in Spain.

However, learning a new language is never an easy thing to do. Because of this, teaching methods are constantly evolving to try and find new and innovative ways to teach language learning. These attempt to keep the learning fun and engaging, while also aiming for maximum retention of any knowledge gained.

My English House is one such establishment trying to achieve just this. We were lucky enough to be invited to our local centre in Torrevieja to take a look for ourselves.

What is My English House?

My English House have looked to revolutionise English language teaching in Spain with their philosophy of ‘learning by doing’. Rather than stuffy classrooms and book learning, they look to instead host lessons in modern, glass-fronted units that offer the opportunity to learn English while carrying out other tasks and activities.

Classes are split by age and ability, with students rotating between the subject areas of Arts & Crafts, Cooking & Gardening, Science & Robotics, Writers & Readers, and Drama & Media. Each subject area offers imaginative lessons with workshop type activities to take part in, all while improving the students’ knowledge of English language structure and vocabulary. The course never repeats and each level typically takes 2 years in total to complete.

Once enrolled on a course, students are given a branded bag to keep their belongings in, and all further course materials are provided. The centres also operate a points reward system, incentivising attendance and achievements in classes with points that can be collected and exchanged for rewards.

Where is My English House?

The success of My English House in its teaching of the English language has led to its rapid expansion throughout Spain, with the opening of no less than 21 centres, including 4 right here in Costa Blanca.

The centres in Costa Blanca are located in Denia, Alicante, Elche and Torrevieja.

Who is My English House aimed at?

As you would imagine, My English House is aimed primarily at non-English speakers looking to learn or improve their English language skills.

There are separate classes for children (split by age groups), teenagers and adults. Classes are taken either in weekly or twice-weekly sessions of 1 hour each, or in intensive blocks (like during school holidays). It is possible for older children and adults to gain recognised qualifications, if required.

While aimed primarily at non-English speakers, My English House can also fulfill a useful role for English or other English speaking children who are living here in Spain. This is because typically, if attending a Spanish school, the English learned in school is only to a basic level, leaving English children short on the detail of English language learning that they might be getting from a school in England, particularly grammar and language structure.

Our Experiences at My English House

We weren’t quite sure what to expect when we made our way to My English House in Torrevieja. It’s safe to say our children were a little apprehensive at first and anxious about being left alone. They really needn’t have been. From the moment we arrived we were met by friendly staff who greeted us all in a very professional way, while ensuring our kids felt relaxed and happy in the environment.

The centre seemed well organised and all members of staff seemed to know what they were doing, with lessons starting at the expected time. The glass-fronted classrooms made the centre feel modern and spacious, while also reducing the anxiety of our kids by not shutting them away behind closed doors.

3 of our kids (aged 8, 6 & 4) were all left to participate in different lessons that were age appropriate to them. Luckily for us, there was a nice cafe down the road for us to sit in with our youngest while their lessons took place.

After the hour was up, we returned to find out how they had got on. After a liitle initial nervousness (as was to be expected), they all seemed to have settled in comfortably to their lessons and had enjoyed the activities they were doing. When asked, they all said they would be happy to return for more.

They particularly enjoyed the fact that by attending their lesson, they had all earned 1 point from the rewards scheme that they were able to exchange for a lollipop!

In Summary

While our kids generally have a better than average grasp of the English language already for children their age, so are perhaps not the primary target market, the fact that they enjoyed the activities and structure of the lessons leads me to believe that this environment and method of teaching could be very successful as a way of teaching English. The smiling faces of the other children, all of different nationalities, emerging from the classrooms seemed to confirm this.

Whether looking for ways for your children (or indeed yourself) to learn English better outside of a traditional school setting, or for ways for an English speaker to improve and formalise the learning of English language structure, My English House provides a great space with innovative and imaginative teaching methods for doing just that.