Philosophy

A major component of this method is our philosophy around motivation and learning.  'Sam and Mel' provide motivation for learning English in two ways:

1. Children are motivated by fun. They will want to learn English because 'Sam and Mel' is fun.

2. Children are motivated when they receive praise for trying. Sam and Mel will often say "good", clap, or give the thumbs up. Parents and teachers should also give praise when their child or pupils make an effort.

Learning Rhythm

Your child or pupils can learn at their own pace, moving on to each new lesson when they are ready.

We recommend that children study for 10-15 minutes per day in order to maintain maximum concentration during learning.

On average a child or class will need to watch each lesson and revision exercise three times.

Our story...(continued)

I concluded that the problem started at primary school.  These students’ first steps in English were guided by teachers who were neither fluent in English, nor qualified to teach a foreign language.  I wanted to help these teachers, and the parents who were also frustrated with the situation.

Innovative pedagogy is key to making ‘Sam and Mel’ an effective video-based method of language learning.  It takes into account the importance of relationships and the power of stories.  Pupils get to know and like Sam and Mel in the humorous situations that occur in each lesson.  This prepares them for the interactive audio-visual exercises that include gestures, chanting, repetition and singing.   

With ‘Sam and Mel’, teachers and parents can step back and become facilitators, while their pupils and children develop a wide vocabulary, and sentence structures that enable them to communicate meaningfully in English.  Our focus is primarily on the skills of Listening and Speaking.  Any Reading and Writing activities are designed to support and reinforce the acquisition of the oral skills.

Features

• Each lesson of the 20 lessons lasts 8-10 minutes to match children's attention span.
• 200 videos introduce and reinforce 200 high-frequency words used in situations suitable for children.
• Lessons consist of 3 presentation scenes for children to watch and understand. The 4 other scenes are opportunities to interact with our presenters, Sam and Mel.
• The interactive scenes engage different learning methods: Gestures and pictures for memorisation of words; recognition reading; word emphasis for pronunciation; and singing for fluency.

• Downloadable translations can be used for understanding each new lesson.
• Each of the lessons is accompanied by 9 additional revision exercises which reinforce learning.

• The 20 lesson songs can be downloaded as an mp3 file.
• Additional PDF resources can be downloaded for printing.
• Children receive a downloadable Certificate of Completion when the parent or teacher is satisfied that the learner has completed the course.