The method to learn English

With the perfect dose of English and fun! The classes are a combination of linguistic knowledge, spiced up with songs and games, behind which there is intense grammar work to consolidate the learning objectives. Whether inside or outside the classroom, all the ingredients of the Kids&Us method are meticulously calibrated to make learning effective, dynamic, and motivating.

All the activities carried out in class have a communicational purpose and are designed to consolidate and enhance the contents and objectives of each course. In our method, nothing is done just for the sake of it; everything has a reason!

With our method, the children learn in a natural way by making the most of their innate resources. We want them to be in contact with real English from day one, without adaptations or omissions, so that their learning is comprehensive. In other words, we want them to be able to communicate, have good pronunciation and develop good oral and written comprehension.

At Kids&Us we do not distinguish between levels of English, in the same way that there are no levels when acquiring the mother tongue. We use stories and characters relevant to each age group. During the classes, the children will learn that their surroundings and the things they are familiar with also have their own names in English.

With Linda, the character for 2-year-old Babies, the children will see how she stops wearing nappies and starts to use the toilet. However, in Oliver (6 to 7-year-olds) one of the character's teeth falls out. This makes it easier to pique the children's interest and keep them motivated.

Up to the age of two, the children attend one 45-minute class per week. From the age of three until they begin to read and write, they come for one hour a week. And from the age of 8, the number of hours of class per week will gradually increase to 3 hours per week, spread over two days. In short, it is an effective and sustainable dose over time, in accordance with the age of the students.

We believe that continuous exposure to language is essential for learning. By repeatedly listening to a particular audio track, it aids the children in retaining a large number of words and structures in their brains, so that when they hear them or work on them in class, they can identify and reproduce them much more easily than if they had not heard them before. At this point, it goes without saying, the importance of listening is not to be underestimated; through listening, the ear becomes accustomed to understanding English and its pronunciation.

These tracks are approximately ten minutes long. They can be listened to at any time and during any activity, as long as it is not watching television or any other type of audiovisual stimulus that may distract them. In this regard, it is important to find a time to listen to them on a daily basis, in order to integrate this habit as a routine (at breakfast, before going to bed, etc.).

If they do not listen to the audio track then the method becomes less effective. This is because the classes are planned around activities that use vocabulary the children are familiar, so if a child does not listen to the audio track then it is more likely they will struggle to follow the class, and, as a consequence, lose motivation. 

No, it is not necessary! You, the families, are the best support for your child to learn English, by showing interest and enthusiasm for what they are learning. With your emotional support you contribute more than you can imagine to the success of the learning process.

It is only necessary in the first years of the method (1 and 2 years). Your presence makes the children feel safe and comfortable in the new environment and they begin to connect emotionally with the language, generating a very special bond that will make their learning productive.

When families stop attending class, halfway through Linda, you should make sure that the children listen to the audio at home on a daily basis and, if you wish, carry out the complementary activities that we suggest.

At Kids&Us, our method could not be more different from what the children learn at school. Our method is based on complete linguistic immersion and comprehensive language acquisition. Grammatical structures and vocabulary cannot be learnt in isolation but rather in real contexts. Moreover, we take full advantage of the fact that we work with smaller groups in order to promote and provide more opportunities for oral expression.

It is not a question of starting late but of starting when the students are ready to succeed. In fact, with our mother tongue we do not start speaking, reading, and writing simultaneously, but we first learn the language and then learn to read and write it. Therefore, we believe that it is more natural and fruitful to promote listening and speaking during the first years of learning English and to introduce reading and writing later on.