Language lab
The Imagine Learning program, used in our Language Lab from K-2 through Grade 6, focuses on five fundamental aspects of English language acquisition: vocabulary, reading, listening, grammar, and speaking.
The program was specially designed to sharpen the vocabulary of its users, a fundamental aspect in the acquisition of a language. Vocabulary is taught to students through videos, pictures, glossaries, and direct translations. Words and concepts are repeated in multiple contexts in various activities, providing students with a rich language experience, and deepening their understanding. The program highlights both academic and context-specific words so that students can use the new vocabulary in any part of the curriculum.
Additionally, the program makes use of the five essential components for reading: phonological awareness, phonetics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Imagine Learning provides explicit instructions in each of these areas, paying particular attention to reading comprehension, as it is a difficult skill to master. Imagine Learning helps its users build background information through pre-reading activities, and then provides tiered reading opportunities with multiple levels of feedback. This strategic approach prepares students for the text while promoting comprehension, achieving a higher level of proficiency in the language.
To promote listening comprehension, the program asks students to focus on specific words or phrases so that they can practice selective listening. This exercise helps them learn to identify key points. In other parts of the program, students actively listen to various conversations in order to interpret their content, paying attention to both verbal and non-verbal cues. By increasing their ability to understand the world around them, students can gain self-confidence.
Grammar is a basic knowledge required to be able to communicate with the speakers of any language, and it is of utmost importance when learning the English language. Various studies show that explicit education in this area improves both oral and written skills of students. The program provides direct instructions for concepts such as subjects, verbs, adjectives, plurals, and affixes, and reinforces grammar skills by listening to correct syntax, allowing students to deduce the rules on their own by noticing repeating patterns. .
Oral proficiency is essential for language learners, which is why Imagine Learning directly teaches conversational phrases. In these activities, students listen to each phrase several times, learn its meaning, and then have the opportunity to practice saying it and recording themselves doing it. This method of listening, repeating, recording and listening to the recording has proven to be one of the most effective ways to improve speaking skills. Students also listen to and record songs and chants in the program, facilitating the acquisition of proficiency in speaking the language.
All these areas together facilitate, and speed up, the acquisition of the English language, at the same time that they polish the skills acquired by the students.