International House World Organisation is a worldwide network of 160 language schools and teacher training institutes in more than 50 countries.
International House was founded in 1953 by
John Haycraft
John Stacpoole Haycraft (11 December 1926 – 23 May 1996) was an English language teacher and author who founded the International House World Organisation, which has shaped the evolution of the profession of English language teaching (ELT) ...
and his wife Brita Haycraft in
Cordoba (Spain), to provide an innovative approach to language teaching.
[ At that time formal programmes of training for teachers of ]English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
as a Foreign Language were almost non-existent.[Obituary: John Haycraft, The Independent, Tuesday, 28 May 1996]
/ref>
John Haycraft
John Stacpoole Haycraft (11 December 1926 – 23 May 1996) was an English language teacher and author who founded the International House World Organisation, which has shaped the evolution of the profession of English language teaching (ELT) ...
was the first to introduce formalised teacher training in 1962, and the course International House developed in the 1960s and 1970s became first the Royal Society of Arts
The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...
Certificate in teaching English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
, and then the current CELTA
Celta is Galician, Portuguese and Spanish for the Celts. It may also refer to:
* Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA), an English teaching certificate
* Celta (train), an international train service connecting Vigo and Port ...
training course organised by Cambridge ESOL.
Teaching at International House schools broadly follows what is often called the "communicative method", which focuses on student to student interaction as opposed to the teacher-centred approach of traditional language teaching. However, since the mid-nineties, this has been augmented into what is called 'principled eclecticism' to incorporate lexical, task-based and generally more 'function-based' approaches to language learning and teaching.
The International House affiliate network
All International House schools are independently owned affiliates which share the same philosophy, branding and many resources. All affiliates are regularly inspected by International House World Organisation approved inspectors for quality control purposes. Administration and control of the Organisation is maintained through a Board of Directors, an Executive Director and a Chief Operations Officer and staff.
The International House World Organisation also arranges annual academic and management conferences for affiliate Teachers and Directors.
International House also has the Online Teacher Training Institute (OTTI) offering teacher development by distance study. These courses are assessed by the International House Assessment Unit.
References
External links
IH World website John Haycraft's publicationsIH OTTI websiteCambridge English website
Language schools
Organisations based in the London Borough of Southwark
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