C’est possible! follows in the footsteps of ¡Es posible!, the Spanish course published in 2007, which has been warmly welcomed by teachers and advisers. Here’s what some of them are saying about the Michel Thomas Method.
"I thought you and your pupils were excellent. I have never seen pupils who can manipulate difficult grammar at such lightning speed - and with such accuracy and enjoyment - after such a relatively short time of learning the language. Even hard-bitten, experienced teachers were hugely impressed. I think this is the way that every child in every school in the country should be taught languages."
Mike Lomas, Hulme Boys' Grammar School, Oldham
“I’ve been teaching MFL for more than 25 years now, so it really takes a lot to excite me when it comes to new courses – so many seem like over-hyped rehashes of whatever’s gone before. But when I was introduced to the new ¡Es posible! package, I knew I was on to something different. What particularly impressed me was the inspired combination of well-established, reliable and effective methodology with fresh and innovative delivery. It was clear to me that here at last was a course the pupils would really take to, and I can't wait to get started. I'm sure my classes will love the ICT approach, while I'm looking forward to the firm focus on structures and on truly understanding how the language works – a far cry from the jaded ‘topics’ and endless lists of vocab which have characterised language teaching in recent years.”
Tom Manning, St Edward’s College, Liverpool
“My brief this academic year was to introduce Spanish on to the curriculum at Stockport Grammar School. I had lived in Chile several years ago and my Spanish was dormant in the recesses of my German and French teacher's brain. Thus I decided to revive it by using a Michel Thomas course during the long summer break. Immediately I was impressed by the ease with which I assimilated the Spanish. I started to take copious notes on how I might use this method to teach my new class in September. I was going to take a group of capable 4th years through to GCSE in just two years, with no previous knowledge of the language.
“Then I realised that this method was being trialled in schools. I rang
Hodder, who put me in touch with Paul Howard, and I agreed to be a champion school for this course. In September, I introduced the class to the Michel Thomas Method. I wanted to cover all 30 modules of the first course in one term, so I had to leave out the games and focus on two units per lesson. It was a tough rate of progress but VERY motivating, as the class could see clearly how much they had learnt. By Xmas, we had a good knowledge of five tenses, the imperative, use of pronouns, plus a vast vocabulary. In January,
I was able to start the GCSE course in earnest with a sound background of grammar. I have missed the teaching method since Christmas and intend to use the advanced course to introduce the Preterite before the end of this term.
“It seems very successful to teach this way for Spanish. The ability to translate is very satisfying for the pupils and the vocabulary seems immensely practical and transferable to real-life situations. It is, however, much more than a guidebook to being on holiday in Spain. It has helped the class to be able to launch into coursework writing with relative ease. In the current climate of decreasing take-up in languages, this seems to be a new and potentially very motivating way of winning back numbers, rather than continuing to use the topic-based classic approach.”
Janine Turner, Stockport Grammar School
“After only three weeks of experimenting with the course …, I saw good results. Pupils remembered far more words and key structures and were able to manipulate sentences with much more independence. Their spellings became more accurate, as did their spoken fluency and pronunciation.”
Martin Cosgrove, Gateacre Community Comprehensive School, Liverpool (TES, 7/9/07)
“Having evaluated a pilot of this method with one of our comprehensive schools, I was amazed by the heightened levels of pupil attainment and motivation. Pupils were operating at Level 6+ in the early part of Year 8, comfortably producing extended utterances in class. Pupil voice interviews showed pupils were very motivated by both the challenge of the method and their levels of success.”
Local Authority adviser, North West England