FIDES methodology aims at creating the ability to use the respective foreign language efficiently in all concrete situations that the learner encounters in their everyday life, professional, public or personal.
Our pursuit is not the passive recognition of the meaning, but the active use of language in real situations.
The starting point is the actual need of the learner. The target is the gradual progress in the five skills internationally acknowledged: understanding spoken language, reading and understanding of a written text, ability to communicate orally (to participate in a conversation), the ability to deliver a speech, to draft a text correctly and coherently. The route is marked by interactive teaching, where grammar rules are being learned naturally from current communication and are intertwined with enrichment of vocabulary in dialogue and conversation.
Furthermore, we choose topics that help the learners to become familiar with the mentality, traditions and social behaviour that the language expresses, and thereby understand the spirit of the particular language and broaden their own cultural horizon.
Professors
All FIDES professors belong to the professional teaching staff. They are University graduates and have solid knowledge and experience in teaching foreign languages, having completed refresher training stages at home and abroad. They are familiar with modern interactive teaching methods that focus on communication, without neglecting explanations, grammar and lexical exercises. They guide and monitor their students’ progress step by step.
Handbooks
FIDES students receive, against payment, the latest textbooks from publishers of greatest international prestige, such as Oxford University Press, Macmillan, Longman, Express Publishing, Hatier-Didier, Hachette, Guerra, Edilingua, Langenscheidt, Hueber, SGEL-Madrid etc.
Depending on the language and level, textbooks are complemented by workbooks, grammars, audio and video tapes, CDs. Depending on the language or level, the handbooks cover one or two course modules. Professors are currently adding texts, lexical and grammar exercises and audio recordings provided by the FIDES resource centre, and adapted to the specific needs of their learners.
Monitoring progress
Each course module is designed to be covered in a certain period of time necessary to acquire a particular subject that constantly observes all the five standard learning skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing). There is a pre-set rhythm that the student or group should maintain.
Nevertheless, the Professor is the one who, in actual contact-en-en with the participants and the group, will determine the pace of teaching and level at which they can bring them by taking into account the possibilities and real performance of each student.
The student’s performance will certainly be influenced by the group structure, by their attendance and active participation, and also by the quality of their homework.
To realize the progress made along the course:
- each course module (except the one for absolute beginners) starts with a test that allows the teacher to evaluate the actual knowledge level of each learner for a correct homogenization of the group;
- homework is given during the module, then corrected and discussed in class. All the intermediate tests provided in the textbook are taken;
A final test is given at the end of each module, followed by comments upon the results and the Professor’s assessments regarding the five basic language skills.
The Professor will also suggest to the student how to continue improving.