Our Pedagogical Principles
How do you learn?
Our approach to helping people improve their English is based on the latest research in language teaching, to help you learn in the most fun, efficient, and useful way possible.
Studies in the field of cognitive neuroscience has shown that you learn best when you're in a friendly, non-threatening environment where you can explore and discover, learn by doing, feel challenged and rewarded, and enjoy yourself.
When you're living outside of an English-speaking country, how can you get enough exposure to the language to be able to improve? This is one of the biggest challenges we hear about, time and again, from teachers and learners. English Attack! is designed to give you bite-size chunks of English practice, on a frequent basis, based on the types of online entertainment and social networking you already enjoy.
Here's how English attack works:
The Key: Short, Sweet, and Often
Research has shown that how often you practice is more important than how long you practice for each time. That's why we've designed English Attack! to be easily used for just 15 to 20 minutes a day, so you can keep up the frequency of your contact with the language.
100% Authentic
Learners want to be able to understand and communicate in real-world English, not some simplified and structured version of it. English Attack! exposes learners to real-life language usage (with all its contradictions and exceptions). All of the content on the site was originally produced to entertain and inform native English speakers (rather than being artificially created for English teaching) so it is 100% authentic. And interesting!
No Grammar Terms
We try to explain why a language form is used in a specific situation (something you just saw in a movie clip, for example) as simply and briefly as possible. You'll see this language in the video and its transcript, then you'll practice it in a game. That way, you'll start to pick up the habits you need, to be able to know when to use it.
No Subtitles
Like many language researchers, we think video subtitles make for fast readers rather than good listeners! You'll see a full transcript of the video later in the video exercise, so that you can work on particular language points once you've already got the general idea.
Practice with Games
We know that you need to see a new expression at least 7 times to memorize it in the long-term, so English Attack! has a range of games to enable you to review and practice all the words and expressions you've seen in the videos and visual dictionaries. Fun; no stress; practice and play: perfect!
Try Again!
When you're learning, you need to get used to failure. It's part of life!
When you succeed, we know you like to feel rewarded. That's why you'll get points, badges, new level cards, and your creature will "evolve" in line with your efforts and activity.
Connect!
Remember that on English Attack! you're connecting to a community of English learners just like you, so don't be scared to get involved! You can send messages, comment on videos and visual dictionaries, and make new English-speaking friends from all over the world.