Idiomaster
Lucena
Idiomaster has two English language schools in the province of Cordoba. The first of these schools was opened in Lucena in 1989. The second was opened in Montilla in 1990.
There are approximately 600 students between the two schools, the majority being children from 7 to 16 years old. There are also classes of smaller children, from 4 to 7 years old. The children make up about 70% of the pupils, the rest being adults from beginners up to Proficiency. The classes are all small with a maximum number of 10 students in a class, as we aim to offer a high standard of tuition in order to strengthen the position of the school in a highly competitive market. Apart from these group classes we also offer one to one private classes in the home of the student, and business and technical English to companies in the zone. Idiomaster is an official examination centre for Trinity College, London and organises annual examination sessions, it is also a preparation centre for the Cambridge suite of exams. This year over 100 students sat these exams.
The course books used are Pingu, Robby Rabbit, the Find Out series, Sky series, English in Mind series, Inside Out series, English File series, Complete First Certificate, Objective FCE and Fast Track to Advanced amongst others, although we frequently pilot new course books. Other resources include whiteboards, audio-visual equipment - CD's, cassettes, DVD's and videos, library and video library, PC with broadband access to Internet in every classroom, laser printer, scanner, photocopier, laminator, resource materials and photocopiable materials for general, children's and business English, realia, games, flashcards, story books, toys and teacher training resources. All of this is constantly added to and updated.
Teacher support, both personal and professional, is very important. Assistance will be given to find accommodation and to help you to settle in as smoothly as possible. Often problems that can appear enormous to a newcomer in strange surroundings can be resolved very quickly by an old hand. Equally support is always available for class planning, class management, material design and any other area of a teacher's activities.
We have a policy of continuous staff training as we regard this as being vital to the ongoing development of the teachers as individuals and the schools as a whole. Teachers are observed once a term and their performance assessed. There are teachers' meetings and in-house and external seminars which include some weekend seminars and conferences, normally in Seville or Cordoba. These are usually organised by TESOL, book publishers and ACEIA (The Andalusian Association of Language Schools of which Idiomaster is a member).