Callan School Brochure

Citation preview

cA SCHOOL FOUNDED 1960

ENGLISH

IN A QUARTER

OF THE TIME!

As this brochure is rather long, it has been divided into three parts. Only the first part needs to be read initially. Th e second part contains the student's guarantee and further proof of the Callan Method's claims, whilst the third part explains how the Method works and only need s to be read when the student starts his studies.

PART ONE

30 GOOD REA SONS FOR CHOOSING THE CALLAN SCHOOL No other school in London offers the student the following conditions - they are nearly all unique to the Callan School.

The Callan School teaches English in a quarter of the normal time, And at a quarter of the cost. It gives every student a written guarantee of success for the Cambridge exams in a quarter of the time taken by any other school in London, and for any other exams at the same level, And gives free lessons if the student fails. It has a 95% pass rate for these exams. It allows the student free trial lessons before enrolling. The student pays. for his lessons in arrears and on results, and does not pay if he is not satisfied. He is guaranteed to reach a certain level in a certain number of lessons, and never pays for more lessons than he is guaranteed.

And he progress.

can

monitor

his

own

There is little or no homework. With its "3 lessons for the price of 2" the School's fees are some of the lowest in London, and the student does not pay for public holidays. Because of the School's smallish classes the students enjoy 40% more speaking time than at most other schools, And due to the unique nature of the Callan Method the students speak the entire lesson. The School's 40 classrooms and 1,200 students make it the largest school in London, Which allows it to grade students more accurately. The Callan Method is infallible - it works with everyone. It is easy, interesting and pleasant to use. The claims of the Method have been checked (with positive results) by one of the highest authorities in the English-teaching profession.

The School is open from 8.30 a.m. to 8.30 p.rn. The student can start, stop, and restart his studies whenever he wishes without damaging his studies or forfeiting his fees. He can choose whatever number of hours he wishes to study per week, and whatever hours of the day he wishes to study, and, because of the extreme flexibility of the Callan Method, the student can move with ease from one course to another and change his timetable whenever he wishes, And he can sign on for any number of weeks. If the student wishes to pay in advance (for a discount), his money will be refunded if he finds he cannot complete his course. The student does not need to book his course in advance, even from abroad, and consequently does not need to make any deposits or advance payments lo secure a place on a course - a place is automatically guaranteed him - and he does not have lo sign anything or agree lo any terms of enrolment. At other schools the student has to pay for his lessons in advance, is not guaranteed a result, is not told how long he will lake to reach the level of the Cambridge exams, is

not allowed trial lessons, is nearly always obliged to study 3 hours a day whether he wishes to or not, and is given a limited choice of timetable. He is almost never refunded his money, and usually can only begin his course on certain dates. The Callan School's conditions are made possible only by the extreme flexibility of the Callan Method and the size of the Callan School. They cannot be matched by any other school, and surely make it impossible for the student to enrol elsewhere. If the claims and conditions of the Callan School sound too good to be true, it must be remembered that it is against the law in England to make false statements in publicity. One of the reasons the School offers such remarkable conditions is that, with its new and revolutionary method, it has something very special to offer the student, and consequently wishes to remove all obstacles that might be in the way of the student signing on.

In addition to its normal courses the School holds special courses for those wishing to improve their pronunciation. Founded in 1960 the School is one of the oldest in London.

PART TWO

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A Magazine Article on the Callan Method The following article appeared in the EFL (English as a Foreign Language) Gazette in 1986. Mr David Morgan, who investigated the claims of the Callan Method, is an Oxford professor and has been associated with the teaching of English as a foreign language for over 45 years and, as a member of the British Council Institute, is an inspector of language schools. He was not able to commit himself to finding the Callan Method four times faster than any other method because in order to do so he would have had to keep his own statistics on Callan students independently of the Callan School for about two or three years, which was not part of his investigation. It is sufficient, however, that he found the Method faster than any other he had ever known in his 45 years experience. That it teaches English four times faster is proved by the guarantee which goes with the Method. Despite the fact that 4,000 copies of the article were sent to schools all over the world, not one school enquired about the Method. The profession's fear of the Method and the fear of losing three-quarters of its income is so absolute that it will only be overcome when the Callan Method goes into the shops.

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Fast talking - does it bring faster results? by Jeff Harvey FEW EFL institutions outdo Oxford Street's Callan School when it done the number of stipulated comes lo strong selling. lessons. Three of them have taken I ls brochure proclaims a method that can "teach English in a up the offer of free lessons. The quarter of the time taken by any other method on the market." The others can come back whenever school backs up its claim with a survey of a dozen London schools, they like." showing how long each would need to take an average beginner up to the Is the Callan method chiefly level of the Cambridge First Certificate. about passing exams? Callan's average is 200 hours at a cost of £600, the rest average 1,186 "No. Our main aim is to teach hours al a cost of £3,635. people English. Exams are a byAs the brochure admits, the claim is difficult to believe. product. The reason we give a In support of the claim, the guarantee based on the Cambridge brochure puts forward a variety of First Certificate is that it's the evidence. The Duke of Edinburgh, most internationally known and no less. has "had the Callan recognised in the world." method put lo the lest and found How does the method work, why its claim to be justified." It says is it so much faster? Callan students listen and speak "There's a highly structured set four times as much as students at of course material which teachers other schools. The claim must be are trained to use. The teachers true, it goes on to say. since false are interchangeable - you have the claims are against the law and method there, everybody teaches would be bad for business. It also like that and all the students get promises that if any students fail the results. No timie is wasted in the Cambridge Preliminary exam the lessons and there's no problem or the First Certificate in the of good and bad teachers. predicted number of hours, the school will give free lessons until Urgency they are successful. This evidence hardly constitutes There's also a high degree of proof, but Mr Robin Callan. prinurgency - teachers are trained to cipal of the school did indeed conspeak at 240 words a minute, tact the Duke of Edinburgh at the BIT FOR A DUKE: Callan's bl@el rather than the 180 words of normal conversation. Students are end of 1982, who then contacted nd gold brochure cover the English Speaking Union. 'They continually revising what they've asked Mr David Morgan, a for a school to answer generally, done before. Everybody starts at member of their English how long it would toke a beginner page one of book one and goes Language Committee, to in- to get up to First Certificate level? back to it next day, working "Why should it be? Why should through the material more quickly vestigate the school's claims. A message from Mr Morgan, via a sludent be obliged to pay £1,000 the second time through. the English Speaking Union, con- for a course and at the end of it Everything is repeated at least firmed that he visited the school have no guarantee that he's ac- five times, often 10 times. It just and reported in September 1984 tually going Lo learn anything? becomes. automatic - they know that the method worked and was Let's say I want to learn Polish. I how to say something without faster than other methods. He want to know how many lessons it thinking about it." would not, however, commit will take me Lo reach a certain It sounds like a Berlitz-type of course with a structured teachers' himself to finding it was four level." How docs the gunrnnlee book and a lot of repetition - how times as fast. docs it differ from, say, Berlitz? Mr Jon Home, director of the operate? "It's for more structured than Oxford Street Callan School, proWhen students arrive they are vided answers to some of the ques- graded for level and also for speed Berlitz. Whenever we ask a quesions readers of the brochure of assimilation. They arc then Lion we want the longest answer given a written guarantee that possible. For example, 'ls it pleamight be prompted to ask. First of nil, what is the claim Lo they will reach the level of First sant to walk in the rain?'. That's tench four times as fast based on? Certificate or Preliminary English repented, we ask the question 'It's based on the statistics. Test in a certain number of twice,and the answer we want is Originally the statistics came lessons. If this is not achieved, the 'No, it isn't pleasant to alk in the from Cambridge, who stated that student receives free lessons until rain, but it's unpleasant to walk in the rain.' the average beginner would take he has reached that level." It sounds a bit boring for the How many students fail after 640 hours to reach First Certificate level. Our statistics were doing the stipulated number of teachers - do you hove a high turnover of teachers? originally based on the first Callan lessons? "About five in a hundred." "Most people have a high turschool which was in Italy. They What about the results from the nover of teachers. Whether we worked out at 160 hours for our last First Certificate Exam? have a higher turnover than other students to reach that level. "Seven students foiled, having schools - I don't think so." But isn't it a difficult question

Ai

Sels, Cambridge and Berlitz The figures given by the two schools Sels and Cambridge on the Survey are rather low, and are therefore probably not for complete beginners. The Berlitz is not included in the Survey as it does not take complete beginners or prepare students for the Cambridge exams. The complaint of the schools The schools on the Survey tried to take legal action against the Callan School, complaining that it was not possible to define an "average student" or a "complete beginner" and that the figures on the Survey were incorrect. Such complaints could not be upheld. There is an "average" in every field of human activity, and a "complete beginner" is obviously someone who knows virtually no English, whilst, as for the correctness of the figures, these were given by the schools themselves to the student who conducted the Survey. The schools were obliged to drop the action against the Callan School, for if they had shown that they did not know the correct figures for the "average complete beginner", it would have made them appear incompetent, whilst if they had refused to give the correct figures, it would have appeared that they had something to hide. In any case, whatever the schools might claim to be the real figures, they are of no value if they arc not supported by a written guarantee. Without giving a guarantee a school can. invent any figures it wishes. The ethics of the Survey The Survey proves quite unequivocally that the Callan Method teaches English in a quarter of the time taken by any other method on the market. Under the Fair Trading Act it is against the law to falsify such Surveys. The Callan School is therefore being quite legally and ethically correct in publishing the above figures. By law it is the customer's right (under, the Trade Description Act) to know exactly what he is buying before he buys it, and also it is perfectly legitimate to publish comparisons between various products if what is said is true. For example, Volvo advertise in the following way: "Why is the Volvo twice as good as the Fiat, Ford and Volkswagen?" - Answer: "Because it only needs servicing every 6,000 miles, whilst they need servicing every 3,000 miles".

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PAYMENT ON RESULTS Naturally, the claims of the Callan Method sound too good to be true. They sound humanly impossible. Like a man claiming he can run a mile in one minute. To teach English in a quarter of the time taken by any other method on the market sounds miraculous - and most people do not hclicvc in miracles. The Callan School therefore runs the risk of making itself look absurd - which is often the fate of new inventions when they first appear. They sometimes even get violently attacked. The Callan School, for example, gets attacked by other schools. It is for these reasons that the Callan School offers the sceptical student a system of "Payment on Results" in order to prove to him beyond doubt that it really can teach him English in a quarter of the time taken by any other school in London without him having to risk his money. When something sounds too good to be true, people quite naturally sense a trap. With the Callan School's system of "Payment on Results" the student never puts any money up-front. He only pays when he is satisfied that the School has proved its claims to him. Consequently, there can be no trap. Hlow the system works As elsewhere explained, Cambridge University calculate that.the average student studying at the average school throughout the world takes 350 hours to reach the level of the Cambridge Preliminary exam. The Callan Method gets him there in 80 hours. According to a Survey, the average student studying at schools in the centre of London takes 593 hours to reach the same level. The reason students in London take more hours than students abroad is that, in London, they study more hours a day over a shorter period of time, which is quite tiring. Consequently, many of the hours are not very productive. Also, in London, students study in classes of mixed nationalities, which is very confusing, as each nationality has its own peculiar problems. Callan students studying in London also need more hours (usually 25% more) than Callan students studying abroad - making the 80 hours, abroad into 100 in London. If, therefore, the average Callan student in London takes 100 hours to reach the level of the Cambridge Preliminary and 200 hours to reach that of the Cambridge First Certificate, the Callan School will give him a guarantee for 150 lessons for the Preliminary, and 300 for the First Certificate.

How the guarantee is calculated The guarantee is calculated in the following manner:- A Callan lesson, like nearly all lessons in London, lasts SO minutes, not one hour. This is

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to give students and teachers a ten-minute break between lessons in order not to tire them. 100 hours, therefore, equals 120 fifty-minute lessons. To this figure the Callan School usually adds about 25% to cover such things as lateness, absenteeism, the suspension of studies, and perhaps a natural slowing down on the part of the student in his speed of learning later in his studies. If the student is never late or absent, or never suspends his studies, he can save himself the 30 extra lessons for the Preliminary (and the 60 for the First Certificate). Just by being consistently 5 minutes late each lesson, the student misses 10% of his lesson, lengthening a 10-week course into 11 weeks. And if he keeps being absent, he will get behind the other students in his class, making the lesson difficult for him to understand and thereby slowing himself down. -In reality, the average Callan student often takes as little as 66 hours to reach the level of the Cambridge Preliminary - as witnessed by the sample exam results shown in this brochure. The School, however, prefers to play safe and base its average on 100 hours.

The ideal system The ideal system of payment to prove the Method's claims would be to let the student take the 150 lessons, pass the Preliminary, and then pay for the lessons. Naturally, the School cannot wait 150 lessons for payment, and neither can the student wait 150 lessons to find out whether or not the Callan School is telling the truth about being able to teach English in a quarter of the time taken by any other school. Also, not all the students wish to actually take the Preliminary exam, and many that do, might not still be in London when the exam is given. To overcome this problem the Callan School divides up its Method into Stages, with the student paying only on the successful and satisfactory completion of each Stage. In other words, he pays as he gets the results.

Payment in Stages The average Callan student in London studies 2 lessons a day (5 days a week, 40 lessons a month), and the Callan Method books consist of 947 paragraphs (a paragraph in the student's books being equal to a page in the teacher's books). If, therefore, the student is given a guarantee for 150 lessons (15 weeks) for the Preliminary and 300 for the First Certificate, it means he will learn at an average speed of 3.25 paragraphs per lesson. This figure is arrived at by dividing the total number of paragraphs to be studied, i.e. 974, by the total number of lessons guaranteed, i.e. 300. I follows from this that the student will pay the School in 30 Stages, i.e. at the end of each 10 lessons.

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By looking at the following Guarantees Charts, it will be seen that in the first 10 lessons the School guarantees to get the student to Paragraph 33 of the Method. When the student comes to pay at the end of the 10 lessons, he checks to see that he is, in fact, on Paragraph 33. If he is not, he does not pay until he is. If, for example, he needs another 3 lessons, he still only pays for the 10 lessons. The extra 3 lessons are given free of charge. He then goes on to his next Stage. If in his next Stage the student takes only 7 lessons to reach the guaranteed page number, i.e. Paragraph 65, he still pays for 10 lessons. This is because the 3 free lessons of his last Stage are credited to this Stage.

The important point is that at no time does the student pay for more lessons than he has been guaranteed. The School has guaranteed to get him to Paragraph 65 in 20 lessons and has kept its promise. The Stages of the Callan Method are not completed at a uniform speed. This is because some parts of the Method books are more difficult than others.

How the student can be sure he is getting the guaranteed result The student might argue that although he has completed a particular Stage in IO lessons, what guarantee is there that he knows the work in that Stage? The answer is that, the Callan student, unlike students with other methods, cannot progress from Page One of the Callan Method to Page Two until he has mastered Page One, or from Stage 1 to Stage 2 until he has mastered Stage 1. This is because, unlike other methods, the Callan Method is based almost entirely on verbal communication between the teacher and the student, and if the student moves on loo quickly, he eventually cannot understand what is being said in the lesson, and consequently comes to a halt, and has to go back to the point at which he stopped understanding. It automatically follows from this that when the student has reached the end of Stage 6, for example, he will understand at least 60% of everything in that Stage, and 90% of everything in the previous five Stages. This is because each Stage is built on the knowledge contained in all the preceding Stages. It also automatically follows that when the student has completed half the Stages of the Method he will automatically pass the exam for the Cambridge Preliminary; and when he has completed all the Stages, he will pass the exam for the Cambridge First Certificate. Although the end result of the Callan Method is the Cambridge First Certificate, the student should look upon each Stage as an end in itself; the number of Stages he studies depending on the level he wishes to reach.

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The difference in speed between students It will be noticed in the Charts that some students require far fewer lessons than others. This is because they may have studied English before they began with the Callan Method, or they might have a natural ability for language learning. Such students might only require 75 lessons to reach the level of the Cambridge Preliminary and 150 to reach the First Certificate, studying at the rate of 6.5 paragraphs a lesson instead of the average 3.25. At such a speed, they reach the First Certificate in I 5 Stages instead of 30. On the other hand, of course, some students need far more lessons than others, perhaps because they have no natural ability and possibly have very poor memories. Non-Europeans require more lessons Generally speaking a student whose mother tongue is not of Germanic or Latin origin will require more lessons than one whose mother tongue is usually about 25% more. For him English is a completely foreign language. Instead of requiring 300 lessons for the First Certificate, he might need 375 lessons. It is well to remember, however, that at any other school he would need at least four times this, i.e. 1500 lessons. Taking advantage of the system It will be apparent from the system of "Payment on Results" that the student is able to leave the School without paying for the lessons he has received in his last Stage. He might, for example, have studied 6 Stages and paid for 5, and then leaves just before his 6th Stage is complete. He is under no legal or moral obligation to pay, hut the School usually finds that the student is so pleased with his results, and recognises that the School really has saved him three-quarters of his studying time and threequarters of his money - which in some cases could be as much as two or three thousand pounds - that he is only too pleased to pay. Something for nothing Every student at the Callan School who intends studying more than a month is allowed a week of Trial Lessons (which usually amounts to about IO lessons), before he has to decide whether or not he wishes to sign on. If he signs on, he pays for the 10 lessons. If he docs not sign on, he is given them free. Naturally, human nature being what it is, there is a grcat temptation for some students to take the Trial Lessons and then go to sign on at another school, particulary a cheaper one, thinking they have saved themselves £40 (at £4 a lesson). This, of course, is very short-sighted. For the sake of saving £40 they actually waste this amount several times over - a case of false economy.

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If the student feels that he really must take advantage of the Callan system or payment and get something for nothing, he can do this al the end of his studies at the Callan School by not paying for the 10 lessons of his last Stage, that is, if he is paying in arrears. Cheap is more expensive Without using exact figures (in order lo keep the calculations simple), it w i 11 he seen from the Guarantees Charts that if an average completebeginner studies at the Callan School for 160 lessons, he is guaranteed to reach paragraph 520 of the Callan Method and lo pass the exam for the Cambridge Preliminary al that point. If he pays, shall we say, £4 a lesson, he will pay a total of £640 for the complete preparation. Ir, on the other hand, the same student goes lo a cheap school, thinking lo save money, and takes 160 lessons at £2.50 a lesson (i.e. about 40% less than a Cal lan lesson), he will pay a total of £400; but al the end of 160 lessons, he will have reached only the equivalent of paragraph 130 of the Callan Method, i.e. a quarter of the way to the level of the Cambridge Preliminary. He has, therefore, saved about 40% of his money, but has achieved only a quarter of the result. If the student has only £400 to spend (or only wants to spend that amount on learning English), it would be more profitable for him lo take 100 Callan lessons for that amount of money and reach paragraph 325, i.e. more than half-way to the level of the Cambridge Preliminary. In this way he saves nearly half his time and reaches more than twice the level he would have reached at the cheap school. In reality, the "Survey or London Schools" shows that the student learns as much in one hour at the Callan School as he does in 7.3. hours at a cheap school. He would therefore only need lo study 2 hours a week at the Callan School lo learn as much as he would in 14.6 hours a week at a cheap school.

The figures were given by the schools themselves It is, of course, very difficult to believe the figures in the "Survey of London Schools" so it is well to stress here that they were not invented by the Callan School. They arc the figures that were given to a student who went round the schools asking them how long they took to gei their average complete beginner to the level of the Cambridge exams.

Three lessons together is tiring and wasteful At virtually all the schools in London the student is obliged to study 3 hours a day (one immediately after the other), whether he wishes to or not. This is because students coming from outside the European Community are often obliged to study 3 hours a day if they wish to obtain a visa from the

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Home Office. In order, therefore, to avoid the complications of having different courses for different students, the schools oblige everyone to study 3 hours a day. Statistical evidence has shown the Callan School that students studying 2 hours a day cover nearly as much ground as those studying 3 hours a day. This is because students are usually too tired in the third hour lo absorb any more new material - 3 consecutive hours of any subject is exhausting. This is why the Callan School recommends any student, not needing a visa, to study only one or two hours a day. Defin ition of "average"

It must be stressed that 100 hours for the Cambridge Preliminary is the time taken by the average complete-beginner whose mother tongue is of Germanic or Latin origin. The word "average" meaning the great majority, i.e. 60% of students. Of the remaining 40%, 20% can go faster (sometimes much faster) whilst 20% go slower (sometimes much slower). The half-way mark is paragraph 487

With the Cambridge Preliminary being about half-way to the level of the First Certificate, it means that the student reaches this level at about paragraph 487 of the Method. Some students might need to go a little beyond this point in order to be sure of passing the exam, whilst others can sometimes be ready for the exam before this point. The slowest compared with the fastest

It will be noticed that the Guarantees Charts go up to only 460 lessons (about 400 hours). With few exceptions, this is the figure for the slowest Callan student. As pointed out elsewhere, the Principal of one of the largest schools in London has stated that in his 39 years' experience he has never known a student to pass the Cambridge First Certificate in less than 400 hours. This means that the slowest Callan student is as fast as the fastest non-Callan student. Paying in advance, but still on results

If the student is not at all sceptical of the Callan School's claims (perhaps he has friends who have already studied at the School), he can pay for his lessons in advance if he wishes - and for as many weeks in advance as he wishes. By so doing, he receives a considerable discount, but, unlike the system of payment in arrears, i.e. "Payment on Results", he pays for those lessons for which he is absent. The other type of student who pays in advance is one who needs a Home Office letter in order to obtain a visa. With the system of payment in advance the student still, however, pays on

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results. If, for example, he pays 4 weeks in advance for 40 lessons, when he comes to make his next four-weekly payment, he would look at the Guarantees Chart to see which paragraph of the Method he should be on after completing 40 lessons. If he has not reached the guaranteed paragraph, he docs not pay until he has. For example, if he is an average European complete beginner, the Charts show that he should have reached paragraph 130 after his first 40 lessons. If it is found that he needs another 3 lessons lo reach the required paragraph, he is given these 3 lessons free of charge. They are then credited to his next Stage. If he completes his second Stage in only 37 lessons, he still pays for 40. This is because the School has guaranteed lo get him to Paragraph 260 in 80 lessons, and has done so. Each Stage is not expected lo be completed in a uniform number of lessons. If the student has been absent, shall we say, for 6 of the 40 lessons, he can still check to sec that he is not paying for more lessons than he has been guaranteed. In the above example he would deduct 20 paragraphs (i.e. 6 lessons at 3.25 paragraphs a lesson) from the 130 paragraphs in the Charts, or, better still, just multiply the 34 lessons he has received lo dale by 3.25 paragraphs per lesson. At_any time in _his _studies al] the student has to do in_order to check that he is on target is to multiply the number of lessons he has received to dale by the number of paragraphs the School has guaranteed he will cover per lesson.

A 20% difference in the two systems of payment Al all schools in London students have to pay in advance. If they miss lessons, they forfeit their fee. Statistically, the average student is absent for about 20% of his lessons, i.e. for about one day a week. This means that, if lessons are calculated, for example, at £4 each and the student is absent 20% of the time, he is actually paying £5 a lesson. The two Callan systems, i.e. of paying in advance or paying in arrears, takes this 20% difference into consideration. Paying in advance the student would pay 20% less per lesson than if he paid in arrears. If, for example, he paid £5 a lesson by paying in arrears, he would pay £4 per lesson if he paid in advance. If he was then absent 20% of the lime, the end result would be that he would pay the same per lesson with either system. The kind of student who gains by paying in advance is one who is never absent. He does actually receive his lessons 20% cheaper. Paying in arrears is also convenient for students who are regularly absent because of their work.

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The problem with not paying for lessons missed One of the problems with not paying for lessons missed is that the student is in danger of missing lessons that he would not miss if he had to pay for them. If he feels lazy, for example, he might be tempted not to attend lessons that day. There would be no problem with this if it were not for the fact that by missing lessons the student gets bchind the rest of his class and eventually has to be moved to a less advanced class. This can lengthen his course of study quite considerably. Changing from one system to the other

Many students who are initially sceptical of the Callan School's claims begin their studies by paying in arrears. After completing the first few Stages and realising that the School's claims really are genuine, they change to the system of payment in advance. Free lessons after failing an exam If the student fails a Cambridge exam and returns to his own country and so cannot avail himself of the free lessons he is entitled to, there is not anything that can be done about it. If, however, at any time he returns to England, he can always claim the lessons. As only about 5% of Callan students fail the Cambridge exams, it is rare that free lessons need to be claimed, and rarer still that they cannot be claimed. The Callan guarantee promises two things:- I) to get the student to the level of the Cambridge exams, and 2) to get him through the exams. Sometimes the student is not able to take the exams because he has to return home, but nonetheless it is found he has reached the guaranteed level. Refunds on payments in advance If a student pays for his lessons in advance in order to receive a discount, the system of "Payment on Results" still applies. For example, if the student pays 12 weeks in advance and is guaranteed to reach paragraph 380 and cannot avail himself of the two or three free lessons he is entitled to because he has to return home, the School will refund him money equivalent to the free lessons. Such a situation, however, almost never occurs. Exam papers replacing Book Four Depending on how near the examination for the Cambridge First Certificate, Book Four of the Callan Method might be replaced by working through the Certificate's past examination papers in order to practise examination technique, in which case it will not be possible for the student to monitor his progress directly according to the number of Callan Method

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pages studied. When this happens the student can still check his progress by multiplying the number of lessons he is doing on the past examination papers by the number of pages he is guaranteed to cover per lesson. This will tell him at what point he would have finished Book Four had he not been working on the past examination papers. This situation does not usually represent too much of a problem, as the student docs not generally go onto the past examination papers until 20 or 30 lessons before the exams. The Callan School's system of "Payment on Results" may at first appear rather complicated. It is important, however, that the student understands how it works, as it will prove to him beyond doubt that the Callan School really can teach him English in a quarter of the time taken by any other school in London. It is like buying a new £12,000 Ford car for £3,000 with a manufacturer's guarantee, and payment on satisfaction. If there is anything, therefore, that the student does not understand, he should ask in Reception. How to read the Charts To find the column that relates to himself the student looks along the top line of the Charts for the column which is headed by the number of lessons in which he has been guaranteed to reach the level of the Cambridge First Certificate. If, for example, he has been guaranteed for 300 lessons, he will see that he should average 3.25 paragraphs a lesson, which means that after his first 10 lessons, he should have covered at least 33 pages. He will also see that he will pay for his whole course in 30 Stages. At the end of his Stage 15 he should be ready for the Cambridge Preliminary exam. This will not necessarily be exactly so, as Cambridge University calculate that the Preliminary is anywhere between half-way and two-thirds of the way to the level of the First Certificate. It will be noticed that the number of lessons on the Charts goes up in units of 10. This is for the sake of convenience. As already explained, if the student wishes to find out which paragraph he should be on al any given moment in his studies, he just multiplies the number of lessons he has received to date by the average number of paragraphs he is guaranteed to cover each lesson. For example, if he is guaranteed to cover 3.25 paragraphs a lesson and has completed 73 lessons, he should be on Paragraph 237. The Callan Method books finish on the following paragraphs:Book One Paragraph 283: Book Two (Part One) 484: Book Two (Part Two) 698; Book Three 863; Book Four 974.

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Guarantees Chart 1 No of

Lessons

60

70

80

90

100

110

120

16.23

13.91

12.17

l0.82

9.74

8.85

8.12

130

140

150

160

170

180

190

7.49

6.96

6.49

6.09

5.73

5.41

5. 13

10

162

139

122

l08

97

88

81

75

70

65

61

57

54

51

20

325

278

243

216

195

177

162

150

139

122

115

IO8

103

30

487

417

365

325

292

265

244

225

209

130 195

183

172

162

154

40

649

556

487

433

390

354

325

300

278

260

244

229

216

205

50

811

695

608

541

487

442

406

375

348

324

304

286

270

256

60

974

835

730

649

584

531

487

449

418

389

36$

344

308

852

757

682

619

568

524

487

454

426

401

325 379

359

974

866 974

779

708

650

557

519

487

458

433

410

877

796

731

599 674

548

812

749

649

609

516 573

487 541

462

885

626 696

584

974

974

893

824

766

714

670

630

595

564

70 80 90

t

974

100 110

974

120 130

899

835

779

731

688

649

616

974

905

844

844

745

703

667

974

140 150

909

909

802

757

718

974

913

859

811

769

974

160 170

200 110 220 230

240 250 260 170

280 290 300 310 320 330

Callan Method Book I finishes on paragraph 284 "

#

360 370 380 390

400

866

821

920

872 923 974

190

350

917 974

974

180

340

513

"

"

"

"

"

"

"

,, "

,,

2a 2b 3 4

410 420 430

440 450

460

30

" ,, " "

"

"

487

"

"

698

"

862

" "

,,

974

Guarantees Chart 2 No of

220

250

200

210

4.87

4.64

443

4.23

4.06

Lessons

240

230

3.90

260

170

180

290

300

310

320

330

3.75

3.61

3.48

3.36

3.25

3.14

3.04

2.95

10

49

46

44

42

40

39

38

36

35

34

32

31

30

29

20

97

93

H9

85

81

78

75

72

70

67

65

63

61

59

' ta' 40

195

I86

177

169

161

156

150

144

139

134

130

126

122

118

50

243

60

292

232 278

221 266

211 254

203 244

195 234

187 225

180 217

174 209

168 202

162 195

157 189

152 182

147 197

70

34l

325

310

296

284

273

262

253

244

235

227

220

212

206

80

390

371

354

338

325

312

300

289

278

267

260

251

243

236

418 464 510

399 443

381 423

365 406

351 390

337 275

325 361

313 348

302 336

292 325

283 314

273 304

269 295

487

465

447

429

412

397

383

370

357

346

334

324

557

531

508

487

468

450

433

418

403

390

377

364

354

665 709

634 677

609 650

585 624

562 600

541 578

522 557

504 538

487 520

471 503

456 487

442 472

90

438

100

487

110 120

536 584

130 140 150 160

633 682 730 779

170

828

696 742 789

753

719

690

663

637

614

592

571

552

534

516

501

180

879

835

797

761

731

702

675

650

626

605

585

565

547

531

190

925

882

842

804

771

741

712

686

661

638

6f7

597

577

5-- 1--

22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 JO 31

I I

-1---

SEPTEMBER

17

I I I I

2 2 2 2

.1 3 .1 3

4

22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 JO

17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 JO JI I8 19 20 21

~-

22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 JO

5

6

7

8

9

10 II

12 13

14 15 16

17 18 19 20 21

22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 JO

4

5

6

7

8

9

10 II

12

14 15

16

17 18 I9 20 21

22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 JO 31

4

5

6

7

8

9

10 II

12 13

14 15 16

17 18 19 20 21

22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 JO

4

5

6

7

8

9

JO

12 13

14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

II

13

33

22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 JO 3l

Payments Chart Each time the student pays for his lessons he (or the School) can fill in the following Payments Chart so that the student not only has a record of how many lessons he has had, but also of how many he has paid for. DATE PAYMENT IS MADE

NUMBER OF LESSONS PAID FOR

AMOUNT PAID

NUMBER or LESSONS PAID FOR TO DATE

NUMBER or LESSONS ACTUALLY RECEIVED TO DATE

PAGE NUMBER REACHED

--

---- ------

·-

__

..__

___ I,_ _

34

·--·-

CALLAN SCHOOL PROVISIONAL GUARANTEE The following is a Provisional Guarantee the School will fill in for the student after his lesson of Prova lo give him an idea of how many lessons he might require in order to reach the level of the Cambridge exams. It is only an estimate. After the student's first 15 lessons, the School will be able to calculate more accurately the number of lessons he will need and will then give him a legally-valid guarantee. Sometimes the School is able to give the student the legally-valid guarantee immediately after his Prova.

The Callan School estimates that:

-----will require about

fifty-minute lessons to pass the Cambridge Preliminary exam, and

fifty-minute lessons to pass

The Cambridge First Certificate.

35

Notes: 1) The guarantee also covers success in the Arels, Oxford, and RSA exams that are at the same level as the Cambridge exams. 2) If the student studies three lessons a day, the third lesson is not taken into consideration in the calculation of this guarantee, as it has little value. 3) The student receives his free lessons at the rate of one a day from the time the results of the exams come through to the time of the next exam a total of about 70 lessons. 4) The words "he" and "his" used throughout the guarantee also, of course, imply "she" and "her". Not_a_publicity gimmick This guarantee is not a publicity gimmick. Its purpose is to prove beyond doubt that the Callan Method teaches English in a quarter of the time taken by any other method on the market. The validity of the guarantee is proved by the fact that it is strictly against the law in England to give a guarantee if it's terms cannot be fulfilled Consequently, if the Callan School does not keep to its terms, the student can contact the National Consumer Protection Council (a Government Organisation) Tel: 071-202 5787, and ask them to take legal action against the School.

The Three-Hour Guarantee This is the guarantee the Callan School gives the student studying 3 hours a day. It will be seen when filled in that such a student has lo study 50% more hours to achieve exactly the same result as he would if he studied only 2 hours a day. For example, a student studying 2 hours a day might be given a guarantee for 100 hours for the Cambridge Preliminary, whilst if he studied 3 hours a day, he would have to be given a guarantee for 150 hours. This shows that the third hour is a waste of time, and should only be taken by students who have to study 3 hours a day for a visa.

The non-visa student is given the two guarantees (one for 2 hours and one for 3 hours a day) and is allowed to choose. If he chooses 3 hours a day (because he cannot resist something for nothing}, it means that he is determined to waste his time, which could be more usefully employed outside the classroom, or it means that he does not believe the School when it tells him that the third hour is a waste of lime, and that other schools make all their students study 3 hours a day solely to avoid having to organise two types of course - one for 2-hours students and one for 3hour students.

If the non-visa student starts his studies by taking 3 hours a day (against all advice) and then, after a time, changes to 2 hours a day, his Three-Hour Guarantee is nullified and his Two-Hour Guarantee is effective from the date he originally started his studies. He can then not revert at a later date to studying 3 hours a day again unless he pays for the third hour.

Some students think that because they are in London for a short time, the third hour can be of use to them. This, however, is not true. Whether they study one week, one month or one year, the learning curve always drops dramatically in the third hour and renders it virtually useless.

38

This is the actual, legally-valid guarantee:

CALLAN SCHOOL

THREE-HOUR GUARANTEE FOR NON-VISA STUDENTS

This document guarantees

success in the examination for the Cambridge Preliminary at the end of a preparation of

fifty-minute lessons by the Callan Method, and for the Cambridge First Certificate at the end of a preparation of

fifty-minute lessons from the date given below If, after these numbers of lessons, the examinations are not passed, the Callan School will give the student free lessons, in a course, until he is successful in the exams. The student for his part agrees to do 8 compositions at home in the month before the Cambridge Preliminary exam, and 14 compositions in the three-month period before the Cambridge First Certificate. He also agrees to do a complete revision of all past work whenever the School thinks it necessary, and to accept any teacher, and go into any course, even though he may not find the teacher or the course to his personal liking or satisfaction. The result is guaranteed in any course and with any teacher; even if the student has a constant change of course or teacher.

39

At £

a lesson, the complete preparation will cost the student

no more than £

for the Preliminary and £

for the First

Certificate, subject, of course, to the normal increases in fees.

At

any other school the cost could be two to five times as much, and the student would require at least four times as many lesson, i.e. about

lessons

Preliminary, and

to

reach

the level

of the Cambridge

lessons for the First Certificate.

If the

student is never late or absent, he could reduce his studying time quite considerably - often by as much as 25%.

With the Callan Method consisting of

paragraphs, it will

mean the above student is guaranteed to cover an average of paragraphs per lesson.

.

This figure is arrived at by dividing the

number of paragraphs the Method consists of by the number of lessons the School has guaranteed the student for the Cambridge First Certificate. With this figure the student can monitor his own progress, bearing in mind that his progress will not be uniform on some parts of the Method he will move faster than on others. At no time, however, will he pay for more lessons than he has been guaranteed.

Date:

Signature of School:

.

Notes: I) The guarantee also covers success in the Arels,Oxford, and RSA exams that are at the same level as the Cambridge exams. 2) The student receives his free lessons at the rate of one a day from the time the results of the exams come through to the time of the next exam - a total of about 70 lessons. 3) The words "he" and "his" used throughout the guarantee also, of course. imply "she" and "her", Not_a_publicity gimmick: This guarantee is not a publicity gimmick. Its purpose is to prove beyond doubt that the Callan Method teaches English in a quarter of the time taken by any other method on the market. The validity of the guarantee is proved by the fact that it is strictly against the law ill England to give a guarantee if it's terms cannot be fulfilled Consequently, if the Callan School does not keep to its terms, the student can contact the National Consumer Protection Council (a Government Organisation) Tel: 071-202 5787, and ask them to take legal action against the School. 40

100 hours equal 120 lessons As Callan School lessons last 50 minutes, 100 hours, for example, will be equivalent to 120 lessons. To this the School adds 25% to cover such things as lateness and absenteeism and gives a guarantee for 150 lessons.

The Guarantee gives the student confidence in himself Not only does the guarantee show the student that the School is not lying or exaggerating about its claims, it also shows him that he can succeed in learning the language in the stated number of lessons, even though he may have no confidence in himself.

How the School can be sure the student will succeed With the Callan Method the student cannot pass from Page One to Page Two before mastering all the material on Page One. Consequently, when he has studied all the necessary pages for the Cambridge exams, he will automatically pass those exams.

Paying in advance for goods we cannot see and which are not guaranteed Not only do we expect a guarantee when we buy a car or a television set, but we also expect to be able to examine the goods before purchase and to pay for them on receipt, and would be amazed if we were blamed for any defect in the goods. A language school, therefore, is one of the very few husinesses in which the customer cannot see the goods he is going to buy, has to pay for them in advance, and is blamed (even blaming himself), if they turn out to be defective. It is only the Callan School that allows the customer to examine the goods before purchase, allows him, if he wishes, to pay for them in arrears and on results, and puts the blame for any defectiveness (or rather failure to learn) on itself, and pays for that failure by giving free lessons.

200 Hours becoming 375 Lessons On reading Part One of this brochure, the student sees that the Callan School guarantees to get the average student through the Cambridge First Certificate in 200 hours. A non-European student might then find himself being given a guarantee for 375 lessons, which makes him feel that the School has deceived him. What has happened, however, is that the 200 hours becomes 250 hours when the 25% has been added for lateness and absenteeism, and 300 hours when a further 25% has been added because the student's mother tongue is not of Latin or Germanic origin. When converted into fifty-minute lessons the 300 hours then become 375 lessons (see Chart of Predicted Results later).

41

The student should not conclude from this that he will in reality take 375 lessons to reach the level of the First Certificate. If he is never late or absent for lessons and reads his book and listens to his tapes at home, and speeds up after he has completed Book One of the Method, as many nonEuropean students do, it is very possible that he could reach his goal in 250 lessons or so. The 375 lessons is what the School calculates the student might need in his present condition. The School also likes to err on the side of safety. Many students in fact finish their course in a third less time than that calculated by the School. It will be seen in the exam results shown later in this brochure that the average European student actually passes the Cambridge Preliminary in 66 hours not in 100 hours as stated by the School.

Meaningless guarantees Sometimes the student might come across a school giving a guarantee for success in the exam for the Cambridge First Certificate and free lessons if the student fails. On close examination, however, it will be found that such a guarantee is virtually meaningless, as the student already has lo be at, or near, the level of the First Certificate and has to pass an examination given him by the school to show that he will be capable of passing the Cambridge exam before he is given the guarantee. Any school in London can give such a guarantee, as almost every school enters only those students for the Cambridge exams it is virtually certain will pass. It does this in order to maintain the school's reputation for a high success rate in the exams. A few students might fail each year (through nerves or mis-reading questions etc), but it costs the school almost nothing to give such students free lessons, especially as the students have to wait around in London for over three months for the next course to begin in order to take advantage of the free lessons. At the Callan School they wait only about half this amount of time. The guarantee, therefore, does not prove that the school has anything special to offer or that its teaching is anything special. The Callan School guarantee, on the other hand, is quite different. Its purpose is to prove to the student that it can teach him English in a quarter of the time taken by any other school in London. It uses the Cambridge exams only as a yardstick to prove its claims, and, because it gives a guarantee to all its students (complete-beginners included) when they begin their studies, it would have to give free lessons to hundreds of students if it could not, in fact, teach them English in a quarter of the normal time, and would consequently go very quickly bankrupt - its claims therefore have to be true.'

42

THE REASONS FOR GIVING THREE LESSONS FOR THE PRICE OF TWO

The student might wonder why the Callan School offers to give him three lessons for the price of two and then finds the School doing everything it can to dissuade him from taking the third lesson. The reason for this is that, as elsewhere pointed out, every school in London obliges its students to study three hours a day whether the students wish to or not. This is not for the benefit of the students, but simply for the convenience of the schools, who know very well that the students absorb extremely little in their third hour, because they are too tired and bored. The reason the schools oblige everyone to do three hours is that students from outside the European Community are forced to study three hours a day if they wish to obtain a visa from the Home Office and prove they are bona fide students and not illegal immigrants, so in order not to have to organise two types of courses, i.e. those of two hours a day and those of three hours a day, the schools make everyone study three hours a day - it is much simpler and less costly for the schools. Because of the extreme flexibility of its Method, the Callan School is the only school in London that can offer the student the choice of any number of hours a day he wishes to study, and whatever time he wishes to study. His choice of course and timetable is not limited to the usual times of 9 to 12, 12 to3, and 3 to 6. The Method also allows the student to move from one course to another with ease and without damage to his studies.

The same number of pages covered in two hours as in three Although the School allows the student to study whatever number of hours a day he wishes, it strongly advises him not to do more than two hours a day because statistics have shown that students studying three hours a day cover no more pages per day than those studying two hours a day. This is not too surprising, as the study of any subject (even one's favourite subject) for three hours every day is very tiring. By the third hour the student is absorbing very little, and over a period of time he becomes very stale and stops enjoying his lessons - this is so even with the Callan Method, which is far less tiring and less boring than other methods. The effect of tiredness is illustrated by the case of the car factory in the 1960s which had to put its workers on a four-day week because of recession. To everyone's amazement the workers produced more cars in four days than they had in five. Such cases helped lead to a reduction in the working week throughout the industrialised countries from 48 hours to 40.

43

The same kind of thing applies to football. If the players have to go into extra tim e, their game deteriorates considerably, and would do so disastrous ly if they had to play extra time every game, especially if they had to play a game every day.

The guarantee As evidence that the third hour is a waste of time, it should be noted that it is not taken into consideration when the student's guarantee is calculated. If, for example, the student is guaranteed to reach the level of the Cambridge First Certificate in 200 hours, and studies 3 hours a day, he will have to complete 300 hours in order to fulfil the terms of the guarantee. The extra 100 hours he has spent in the classroom will have no value, because he could just as easily have reached the same level in 200 hours. It is also clear that if the average student (according to the Cambridge University figures), studying in his own country takes about 350 hours to reach the level of the Cambridge Preliminary whilst in London he takes 593 hours i.e. 69% longer (according to the Survey of London schools), the third hour is totally unfruitful. In his own country the average student studies only about three hours a week. All this being the case, it might be wondered why the Callan School allows students to study a third hour free of charge if they wish. The reason is that some students think the School is advising them against taking the third hour in order to save the School money. Also the student secs that he can get three hours a day at some other school for the same price he would pay the Callan School for two hours a day. The Callan School therefore allows him, if he wishes, to find out for himself that the third hour really is a waste of time. Learning outside the School Nearly all students see the sense of the Callan School's arguments and from the very beginning study only two hours a day, but, occasionally, a student likes to waste his time and energy for a few days finding out for himself that the third hour is non-productive.

It is much better to spend the third hour watching television, going to the cinema, reading English newspapers and magazines, talking to people in English, or just relaxing and enjoying oneself, so that one comes to the next day's lessons refreshed instead of tired and bored. In any case, as shown by the "Survey of London Schools," the average Callan student learns as much in 2 hours as students at other schools in London learn in 12. It is, of course, unfortunate that Callan students requmng a visa have to study 3 hours a day - but there is no alternative to this.

44

40 or 60 hours If the student is in London for only a month, he might be tempted against all advice to do 3 hours a day and receive 60 hours for the price of 40 thinking he is getting something for nothing - not realising he is confusing quantity with quality. Because of his short stay he cannot see the relevance of the guarantee he is given for the Cambridge exams, as he will not be in London to take them. What he must realise therefore is that the Callan School guarantees to get him to the same level of English in 40 hours as in 60 hours, so he is wasting 20 hours of his time, which he could be spending outside the School absorbing English through other means. If he does not partake of the life around him, there is little point in coming to England.

The third hour has to be taken at random

Because the Callan School has no three-hour courses, any student wishing to take three hours cannot be guaranteed to have his third hour immediately following his first two hours. He might have to wait an hour (or occasionally more) for a suitable course.

July and August are exceptions

Because July and August are months when the School is very crowded, the "three-for-the price-of-two" system has to be suspended, because it is too difficult to administer.

Exam courses are separate If the student joins a special course for preparation for the Cambridge exams, he pays for the course separately. In other words, "Three for the price of two" does not apply to such courses. If, therefore, the student wants "Three for the price of two" and wants lo prepare for an exam, he will have to do four lessons a day - two in a normal class, one as his third free lesson and one in a special exam-preparation class.

45

No. Name

Nationality

Pass or

Fail

I. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34.

Leo DiMichele Walter Papa Bruno Martinelli Philippe Spagnol Laurence Bechu Marc Daniel Laurence Gereys Claudia di Nasso Gualtiereo Fenu Daniele Gareddu Erminio Bonetti Paolo A Bollato Raffaela Queirolo Jean-Paul Augier Enrico Pierotti Hulya Evsen Ferruccio Violi Rafiu Adegboyega Aileru Elisa Pretotto Cecilia Pantaleo Peter Hafner Maria Francello Laurence Levy Michael Stephen Cinzia Mariani Emanuela Morini Elvio de Marchi Luigi Faralli Luca Ferretti Monica Moro Erminia Tamponi Carmen Helana Castellanos Fabienne Degousee Gloria Nwiue

Italian Italian Italian French French French French Italian Italian Italian Italian Italian Italian French Italian Turkish Italian Italian Italian Italian Italian Italian French French Italian Italian Italian Italian Italian Italian Italian Venezuelan French Nigerian

Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass

Years Studied at State School

Hours with Callan Method

3 3 5 4 7 8 7 5 2.25 7 7 7 7 Never 6 1 3 3 8 Never 2 5 5 6 5 3 3 Never 5 5 1 3 9 6

4 6 20 24 26 26 32 33 35 35 40 41 41 46 50 57 57 64 64 65 68 68 72 72 78 82 82 87 89

3 Never 3 5

41 57 66 108

92

117 117 131 198

--------------------------------------------------------------------------- . ·----------------35. 36. 37. 38.

Renee Cugnet Kambiz Bahrini Nejad Marino Coratto Pierre Olivier Stinzy

French Iranian Italian French

46

Fail Fail Fail Fail

It will be noted that the March 1991 results show a 92% pass rate. The 323 students who sat the exam over the three-year period were of 25 nationalities :Algerian Belgian Colombian Greek Korean Peruvian Sudanese Turkish Yugoslavian

Argentinean Brazilian French Italian Lebanese Polish Swiss Venezuelan

Bangledeshi Chinese German Japanese Moroccan Spanish Thai Yemeni

As the Callan School is a centre for the Cambridge exams, two or three students on the results lists are from other schools, and are marked with a cross. Note: In December 1991, of First Certificate exam, only number of lessons, and had Callan students sat the exam

the 90 Callan students who sat the Cambridge 3 failed who had completed their guaranteed lo be given free lessons. In June 1992 190 - a record number for any school.

The following are some typical results of a Cambridge Preliminary exam taken by students of the Callan School. The four students to note are those who had never studied English before beginning with the Callan Method. The three who passed did so in an average of 66 hours, whilst the one who failed had studied only 57 hours: a few more hours would have brought him success. The 31 other students who passed had studied an average of 62 hours with the Method, whilst the 3 who failed had averaged 71 hours: a few more hours (to complete their guaranteed number of lessons) would have seen them successful. It should also be noted that the very slowest Callan student, who took 198 hours to pass the exam, did so in far less time than the 350 hours calculated by Cambridge university as being necessary for the average student studying throughout the world, or the 593 hours taken by the average student studying at the schools in London shown on the Survey. It will be noticed that the majority of the students on the list are Italian. This is because the first Callan School was opened in Italy, and at the time of the exam the students at the Callan School in London were still mainly Italian. Today they consist of all nationalities.

47

No. Name

Nationality

Pass

or Fail

Italian Italian Italian French French French French Italian Italian Italian Italian Italian Italian 14. Jean-Paul Augier French Italian 15. Enrico Pierotti 16. Hulya Evsen Turkish 17. Ferruccio Violi Italian Italian 18. Rafiu Adegboyega Aileru Italian 19. Elisa Pretotto Italian 20. Cecilia Pantaleo Italian 21. Peter Hafner Italian 22. Maria Francello French 23. Laurence Levy French 24. Michael Stephen Italian 25. Cinzia Mariani Italian 26. Emanuela Morini Italian 27. Elvia de Marchi Italian 28. Luigi Faralli Italian 29. Luca Ferretti Italian 30. Monica Moro Italian 31. Erminia Tamponi 32. Carmen Helana Castellanos Venezuelan French 33. Fabienne Degousee Nigerian 34. Gloria Nwiue Leo DiMichele Walter Papa Bruno Martinelli Philippe Spagnol Laurence Bechu Marc Daniel Laurence Gereys Claudia di Nasso Gualtiereo Fenu Daniele Gareddu Erminio Bonetti Paolo A Ballato 13. Raffaela Queirolo

I. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. IO. 11. 12.

Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass

Years Studied at State School

Hours with Callan Method

3 3 5 4 7 8 7 5 2.25 7 7 7 7

4 6 20 24 26 26 32 33 35 35 40 41 41

Never

46

6 1 3 3 8

50 57 57 64 64 65 68 68 72 72 78 82 82 87 89 92 117 117 131 198

Never 2 5 5 6 5 3 3

Never 5 5 1 3 9 6

-------------------------------------------·-----------------------------------------------35. 36. 37. 38.

Renee Cugnet Kambiz Bahrini Nejad Marino Coratto Pierre Olivier Stinzy

French Iranian Italian French

48

Fail Fail Fail Fail

3

Never 3 5

41 57 66 108

HOW THE CALLA N METHOD OBTAI NS A RE SULT IN A QUARTER OF THE TIM E

It would take many pages to explain how the Callan Method teaches English in a quarter of the time taken by any other method on the market, but, basically, the Callan student listens and speaks four times more during the lesson than he would with any other method. Consequently, he learns in a quarter of the time taken by any other method. Language learning is not an academic subject, it is a skill subject; therefore the more one practises the faster one learns, exactly as with typing. If the student practises an hour a day, he is going to learn in a quarter of the time he would take if he only practised 15 minutes a day. With other methods the student is only listening for about 15 seconds of every minute, i.e. for about 25% of the lesson. The rest of the time his mind is wandering - he is looking at his watch, looking out of the window, or thinking about what he is going to do that evening. With the Callan Method he has to listen for 60 seconds of every minute (i.e. four times as much), because the class is constantly being bombarded with questions from the teacher, and the student does not know when he is going to be asked a question. With other methods the student hardly opens his mouth during the lesson. The teacher does most of the talking, and a great deal of the lesson is spent with the teacher writing on the blackboard, or with the students writing in their note-books. With the Callan Method the students are speaking the whole lesson; at least four times as much as they would with any other method, and often ten times as much. This is because they are obliged to answer questions the whole time. If the individual wishes to have proof of all this, he can ask to sit in on a Callan lesson and see how much speaking and listening the Callan students do, and then sit in on lessons at other schools, and make a comparison. With other methods the students are not learning to speak and understand the language. They are only learning about the language. This is like trying to learn to play the piano by studying the history of music, or by learning about how the piano is made, or just by listening to the teacher play. The only way to learn to play the piano is to play it. The only way to learn to speak a language is to speak it. It could be said that the Callan Method is not four times faster than other methods, but that other methods are four times slower than the Callan Method. This is because other methods waste three-quarters of the time available in the lesson.

49

Too good to be true As elsewhere pointed out, one of the problems with the Callan Method is that it sounds humanly impossible; it sounds like a miracle. But miracles do exist - there are such things as radio, television, computers and rockets to the moon to prove it. All these would have been considered humanly impossible a hundred years ago. The Callan Method is nothing in comparison with such miracles. As can be seen from the preceding explanation of how the Callan Method

works, it is not only humanly possible to teach English in a quarter of the normal time, it is actually very easy; it is just a question of not wasting time.

The student is at the mercy of the schools When the individual takes his car to be repaired, he is at the mercy of the garage, unless he knows something about mechanics. This sort of thing is even more the case at a language school, where everything is in a foreign tongue. The student should therefore make a thorough investigation of the schools before beginning his studies. The only security he can have, however, is a written guarantee of success - and the only school that gives him this is the Callan School.

Teach-Yourself Courses Because of its extraordinary claims, there is the danger that the student will think the Callan Method is like teach-yourself courses which claim to teach a language in three weeks. On investigation, however, such courses are usually found to take the student only to a level equivalent to the first quarter, or first half, of the Callan Method Book One, which is not even half-way to the level of the Cambridge Preliminary - and there is no written guarantee of success that goes with them.

Callan Method Teach-Yourself Course The Callan Method can itself also be used by the student to teach himself English, or by an English-speaking friend to teach the student English, but only where there is no Callan Method school in the student's area. He will learn much faster by attending a school.

Open Your Own Callan Method school If the student lives in a town where there is no Callan Method school, he (or perhaps a business friend) can open his own school. It is quite easy to do, and no qualifications or experience are required. The Callan Method Organisation publishes a book showing how this is done. For further information on this the student should ask in the School's Reception.

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CHART OF PRE DICTE D RE SULTS

The following Chant will give the student an idea of what he can expect to achieve with the Callan Method before he begins his studies. It shows how long each type of student can expect to take to reach the level of the Cambridge Preliminary and Cambridge First Certificate exams depending on whether or not he has studied English before. Nearly all students fall into one of the 12 categories - the average student falling into one of the categories 8, 9 or 10. The calculations in the Chart are based on two lessons a day for five days a week.

It will be noticed in the Chart that the fastest learners are those who study (or have studied) a scientific or technological subject. This is because such subjects require concentration, good memory and attention to detail, all of which are of great help in the learning of a language.

As can be seen, 25% is added to the figures in the Chart to cover such things as lateness, absenteeism or the suspension of studies. If the student is seldom late or absent for his lessons, and reads his book and listens to his tapes at home, he can complete his course without this 25%.

It will also be seen that 25% is added to the studying times of those students who do not speak a western-European language, i.e. one of Latin or Germanic origin. In some cases such students might need more than the normal addition of 25%

As an example of how to read the Chart, the student in Category 9 will take 100 hours to reach the level of the Cambridge Preliminary. This is equivalent to 120 fifty-minute lessons, which at 10 lessons a week means a studying time of 3 months. With the 25% added for lateness etc. the 100 hours becomes 125 hours (i.e. 150 fifty-minute lessons) representing a period of 3.7 months. If the student does not speak a western-European language, he will take 156 hours (187 fifty-minute lessons) over a period of 4.7 months.

There are two lines of figures for each type of student. The top line shows the figures for the Cambridge Preliminary whilst the bottom line shows those for the First Certificate.

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BEFORE ANY PERCENTAGE IS ADDED

TYPE OF STUDENT

HOURS

S) FIRST- YEAR UNI VERSITY STU DENT OF ENGLISH WHO HAS ALREAD Y STU DIED ENGLISH 2-5 YEARS AT ASTATE SCHOOL, OR A STU DENT WHO HAS STUDIED A SCIENTIFIC SUBJE CT AT UNIVERSITY, THOUGH NEVER HAVING STU DIED ENGLISH BEFORE

6) FIRST -YEAR UNIVERSITY STU DENT OF ENGLISH WHO HAS NEVER STU DIED ENGLISH BEFORE.

7) UNIVERSITY STU DENT NOT STU DYING ENGLISH AT UNIVE RSITY BUT WHO STU DIED IT 25 YEAR S AT STATE SCHOOL

8) UNIVERSITY STU DENT NOT STU DYING ENGLISH AT UNIVERSITY AND WHO HAS NEVER STUDIED IT BEFORE.

9) NON-UNIVERSITY STU DENT BETWE EN 4 AND 0 YEARS OF AGE WHO HAS STU DIED ENGLISH 2- YEA RS AT STATE SCHOOL

IO) NON-UNIVERSITY STUDENT BETW EEN AND 4O YEA RS OF AGE WHO HAS NEVER STU DIED ENGLISH BEFORE.

I) STU DENT BETWE EN AND O WHO HAS ONLY RECEIVED A BASIC ELEMENTARY TYP E OF EDUCATION.

I2) FOR A STUDENT UNDER THE AGE OF AN D OVER THE AGE OF 40 A LOT DEPENDS ON INDIVIDUAL ABILITY. THE FIGURE HERE IS ONLY TO BE USED AS A ROUGH GUIDE.

I

LESSONS MONTHS

HOURS

LESSONS MONTHS

48

1.2

50

60

1.5

62

75

1.8

80

96

2.4

100

120

3.0

125

150

3.7

47

57

1.4

60

72

1.8

75

90

2.2

95

114

2.8

119

142

3.5

149

178

4.5

55

66

1.6

68

82

2.0

85

102

2.5

IIO

132

3.3

137

165

4.1

171

205

5.1

62

75

1.8

78

93

2.3

97

117

2.9

125

150

3.7

156

187

4.7

195

234

5.8

70

84

2.1

87

105

2.6

109

131

3.3

140

168

4.2

175

210

5.2

219

262

6.6

77

93

2.3

97

116

2.9

121

145

3.6

155

186

4.6

194

232

5.8

242

291

7.3

85

102

2.5

!06

127

3.2

132

159

3.9

170

204

5.1

212

255

6.4

265

318

7.9

92

Ill

2.7

115

138

3.4

144

173

4.3

185

222

5.5

231

277

6.9

289

346

8.7

100

120

3.0

125

150

3.7

156

187

4.7

200

240

6.0

250

300

7.5

312

375

9.4

107

129

3.2

135

162

4.0

168

202

5.0

215

258

6.4

270

324

8.1

337

405

JO.I

115

138

3.4

143

172

4.3

179

215

5.4

230

276

6.9

287

345

8.6

359

430

10.8

122

147

3.6

153

183

4.6

191

229

5.7

245

294

7.3

306

367

9.2

382

459

11.5

2) FOUR TH-YEAR UNIVERSITY STUDENT OF ENGLISH.

4) SECOND-YEAR UNI VERSITY STU DENT OF ENGLISH.

HOURS

PLUS A FURTHER 25% ADDED FOR NON-EUROPEANS

40

I) UNIVE RSITY GRAD UATE IN ENGLISH WHO HAS NOT HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO PRACTISE HIS ENGLISH.

3) THIRD-YEAR UNIVERSITY STU DENT OF ENGLISH.

LESSONS MONTHS

PLUS THE 25% ADDED FOR LATENESS ETC

52

Examples of Levels Reached To give the reader some idea of the levels of English the student reaches, the "average" Callan student, who has never studied a word of English before, would, after 60 hours (72 fifty-minute lessons at 2 lessons a day for 7 weeks) he able to understand, and answer,the following question spoken at top speed. It is one of the questions to be found on the last page of Book One of the Callan Method:Question:

"If you found anything in the street worth a lot of money, would you keep it or would you take it to the police station?

The following dictation shows the level the "average" student reaches after studying with the Callan Method for 100 hours (120 fifty-minute lessons at 2 lessons a day for 12 weeks). He would also be able to translate the dictation and use its vocabulary in any normal conversation. The dictation is al the level of the Cambridge Preliminary and shows the student has a mastery of 1,500 words. A dictation is the best yardstick for judging a student's level of English, as it shows how much he can understand of what he hears and how correctly he can reproduce it. Any student who has studied 100 hours with any other method could be given the same dictation to see how well he does. It is extremely unlikely that he would he able to do the dictation. The sentences in the dictation are unconnected. This is to allow them to be packed with the maximum of difficult vocabulary. Dictation:

The arrow flew through the air and hit the tree in the middle. He looked very strange. He had fair hair, but a dark beard. I do not know how much they gave him, but it was a large amount. I cannot go any further. I am too tired. Poor John was not invited to Mary's birthday party. I am sorry, but I have already thrown your old tie away.

This next dictation is at the level of the Cambridge First Certificate, which the "average" Callan student reaches after 200 hours (240 fifty-minute lessons at 2 lessons a day for 24 weeks). It shows a mastery of 4,300 words.

Dictation:

Some initial research was done, and a survey was carried out, but then the project was dropped. At the frontier there were several military lorries full of soldiers. We decided to send the towels to the laundry. Among the items on the table were a jar of honey, a kettle, and a needle and thread. He has been deaf in one ear since childhood.

53

LESSONS OF PRONUNCIATION There are many people who have a good knowledge of English and have little difficulty in speaking or understanding the language, hut have a poor pronunciation. They are making the same mistakes they made when they first began to study the language, and these mistakes have become ingrained over the years. For years they might have been saying things like "Thees ees ay pain" for "This is a pen", even though they have never heard any English person pronounce these words in such a way. The problem the student has when he first begins to study English is that he tries to pronounce the words as he sees them written. If, for example, the "i" in his own language is pronounced "ee", he will say "Thees ccs" instead of "This is". If his teacher has not corrected him sufficiently, or the student has not had the patience to practise the correct pronunciation, he will continue to say "Thees ees" for years. When the student finds himself in such a situation, the only cure is to be phonetically re-born, to go back to basics, and begin again. He has to eradicate the errors he made in the early stages of his studies. In order to do this for him, the Callan School bases its pronunciation lessons on the first half of Book One of the Callan Method, which contains the 500 most commonly-used words of the English language, words like "go, high, a, the, fast, take" etc. - words which are used hundreds of times a day. They constitute 85% of any page of any book in any language. If the student can master their pronunciation, he has the key to the pronunciation of the rest of the language. If, for example, the student can pronounce the word "this" correctly, he has the key to all the other English words containing the same sound, such as "it, sit, fit, city, pity" etc., and if he can say "no" correctly, he has the key to words, such as "bow, tow, mow, boast" etc. He can also pronounce more complex words, such as "pitiless" or "boastful". How the lessons are given The Callan pronunciation lessons are given with the teacher asking the student questions slowly, clearly and precisely. The student responds in the same manner. If he makes a mistake, the teacher imitates the mistake and gets him to pronounce the words correctly. For example, "No, no, not 'thees ees', but 'this is'. Repeat 'this is' ". As time goes on the student might be able to speak quicker, i.e. at normal conversational speed, hut he must never sacrifice correct pronunciation for speed. It is, of course, essential for the teacher to imitate the student's mistaken pronunciation. By doing so, he might sound as though he is making fun of the student, but this is not his intention. If the teacher docs not imitate the student's pronunciation, the student will not be able to see his mistake.

54

onl when he hears himself being imitated and then immediately hears ,,et pronunciation that he sees the difference. The teacher is a sort of tape-recorder. i

Tape-recording the lesson Th, t dent is in fact, advised to bring a tape-recorder to school with him ae sole lesson, so that he can listen to it at home. The recorder st of course be battery-operated, and the student must set it correctly at , inning of the lesson in order not to disturb the teacher or the other students during the lesson whilst he plays about with it. Language Laboratories The student can, of course, improve his pronunciation by using a language laboratory, but many students find these boring - it is rather like talking to oneself. It is much more lively and more immediate to have a live teacher correct one's pronunciation. Each student has his own problems Naturally, each student has his own particular problems of pronunciation, and each nationality has problems that others might not have. The students might therefore need to exercise a little patience whilst the teacher helps a student with a particular problem that they might not share. A difference in pronunciation among the teachers The student might notice that some of the teachers vary slightly among themselves in their pronunciation of certain words. Such variation is quite acceptable. All Callan teachers speak standard BBC English, and there are legitimate variations in the pronunciation of certain words. There are only a few such words in Book One of the Callan Method - they are "against, direct, interesting, prefer, suit, year, Asia, either, neither, room, translate, ate, handkerchief, often, salt "and" were". Repetition Each lesson of pronunciation is repeated in its entirety several times. It is only through repetition that the student will improve his pronunciation. It is like learning to play the piano - one must practise the same chords over and over again until perfect, or near-perfect. The student should not find this boring. Within a few lessons he should see a marked improvement.

55

My Fair Lady The student is not taking pronunciation lessons so much as elocution lessons, and these involve a lot of repetition. In the 1950s there was a famous Hollywood musical called "My Fair Lady". It was based on Bernard Shaw's play "Pygmalion" in which Professor Higgins, a professor of phonetics, wins a bet with a friend that he can take a Cockney flower-girl and, after six months of elocution lessons, pass her off as a princess. In the process he gets the girl to practise saying "Hertford, Hereford and Hampshire" in order to make her pronounce the "h", which Cockneys leave silent. Also, he gets her to practise over and over again the sentence "The rain in Spain is mainly on the plain" to correct her pronunciation of the "ai" sound, which the Cockney's pronounce like the "i" in the word "Rhine". Eventually she got it right, and, the film being a musical, the sentence is made into a song. It • is this kind of thing, therefore, that the student must practise over and over again until he gets it right.

Fees Most students usually need about 20 lessons to improve their pronunciation. The lessons cost the same as those of normal courses, i.e. £4 an hour at 1991 rates (for current prices see the latest price list), and can be paid for ten at a time. The student can join the course whenever he wishes, and he pays only for those lessons he actually receives.

Timetable Courses are held every day - usually at 8.30, 9.30, 1.30, 2.30, 6.30 and 7.30. The student can choose any hour, and can vary his hours from one day to the next, and he can take any number of lessons a week. The courses are continuous and, unlike courses involving the learning of the language, can be picked up at any point. They are just lessons of practice - rather as one would go to the gymnasium at any time in order to exercise.

56

IF YOU DECIDE NOT TO ENROL, LET US KNOW WHY If, after doing his lesson of prova and taking his trial lessons, the student

decides not to sign on at the Callan School, he should explain to the School's Receptionist the reason for his decision. He should not feel embarrassed to argue the matter out with the Receptionist. The School has always found from experience that such decisions are based on a misunderstanding of the Callan Method or on insufficient information about the School. This can easily be put right by having a chat with the Receptionist. If the student looks at the "30 good reasons for choosing the Callan School", he will see that no other school in London offers anything like the conditions offered by the Callan School. If, therefore, he decides to enrol at some other school, it can only mean that he does not believe that the Callan School can really teach him English in a quarter of the time taken by any other school in London and what this means to him in time and money. He should, therefore, re-read all the literature the School has given him and ask the Receptionist questions about anything he does not understand. Exams The student might argue with himself that, as he has no intention of taking the Cambridge exams, or will not be in London long enough to take them, the Callan guarantee is of no use to him. This shows that he has not understood that the guarantee not only guarantees to get him to the level of the Cambridge exams in a certain number of lessons, but also through each Stage of the Method, to whatever level he desires, in a certain number of lessons, and he only pays for the guaranteed number - any extra lessons are given free. And furthermore he does not pay in advance.

Cost Some students think that they can save themselves money by going to a cheap school, without realising that the Callan School is, in fact, the cheapest in London. If the Callan School teaches as much English in one hour as a cheap school teaches in six, it is clear that the student needs only to study an hour a day at the Callan School to learn twice as much as he would studying three hours a day at a cheap school. And a lesson a day at the Callan School always costs less than three lessons a day at a cheap school. Even if the student is obliged to study 3 hours a day for visa purposes, his lessons can be almost as cheap as those at a cheap school, if he pays 3 months in advance.

57

Also it must be remembered that some cheap schools have been exposed in magazines as student traps.

67p an hour If a lesson at the Callan School costs £4, and the student learns as much in one hour at the Callan School as he would in six hours at other schools in London, it means that, in effect, a Callan lesson costs only a sixth of £4, i.e. 67p (£40 a month) in comparison with lessons at other schools. Free lessons The greatest reason for leaving the Callan School, however, is usually that the student wishes to avoid paying for the ten Trial Lessons he has received - he is unable to resist something for nothing. This, of course, is very short-sighted. If the student wants ten lessons for nothing, he can pay in arrears for his lessons and leave the Callan School at the end of his studies and not pay for the lessons he receives in his last Stage. If the student objects that by paying for his lessons in arrears, he has to pay 20% more than by paying in advance, he must remember that, as most students are absent one day a week, i.e. 20% of the time, the cost per lesson works out the same.

Misunderstanding the Method Some students, of course, leave the Callan School because they jump to false conclusions about the Method. They cannot, for example, understand why there is so little writing, or they feel that they must do homework. All this can be explained to them by the Receptionist, as can everything else. It is very important that the student understands everything, as the School can save him an enormous amount of time and money.

Grammar When other schools attack the Callan Method, they often tell the students that the Method does not teach grammar. This is totally untrue. The Method teaches all the grammar. This is obviously so, otherwise the Callan School could not guarantee its students success in the Cambridge exams. The Method does not teach grammar in the conventional manner, but through oral question-answer work.

58

Classes Growing Larger When starting at the Callan School, the student might find himself in a class of 6 or 7 students. Suddenly, or after a week or two, the student might find the class has grown to 12 or 14. The student naturally does not like this, as it cuts his speaking time by half. However, after another week or two he might find himself back in a class of 6 or 7 students again. No school in the centre of London can function with only 6 or 7 students in a class. In order to do so, it would have to charge the students double. If the student looks at the number of students that other schools put into their classes, he will see that 13 of the 20 schools put more into a class than the Callan School, and only 4 put in less than 12, and of these, 2 are extremely expensive whilst the other 2 take much longer to get their average student to the level of the Cambridge exams than the average school. The average number of students in a class at the Callan School is, in fact, only 8. At most other schools the maximum number is also their average, as they seldom open up a new course unless it is fully booked. Even with the occasional maximum of 14 in a class at the Callan School, the student still gets infinitely more speaking time than he does at any other school. At other schools he hardly ever opens his mouth - the teacher is almost the only one that does any talking, as witness the photos in the brochures of other schools. The Callan student must alway remember that whether he is in a class of 6 or a class of 14 students, he is guaranteed to reach the Cambridge Exams in a specified number of hours, which means he will be able to read, write, understand and speak to a high level.

The Present Books The Callan School would like to apologise for its present edition of the Callan Method books. The books contain exercises, translations and reading-texts that are used only at state schools; and the translation of the vocabulary is only in Italian; also there are one or two printing errors. In the new edition of the books all unnecessary material will be removed and the vocabulary will be translated according to the student's own language.

Intensive Courses Some schools offer the student intensive courses of six hours a day. There is very little to be gained from such courses. The student learns very little more in six hours than he does in two, because of tiredness. But if the student does three hours in the late afternoon, he could learn a little more

59

than he does in two hours. The only way the student could improve his English on an intensive course would be to study two hours a day and spend the other four hours in a one-to-one conversation with the teacher. This, of course, is extremely expensive and the teacher find it extremely

boring. Commercial or technical English The Callan School does not teach commercial, technical, legal, medical or computer English, as there is no such thing. All that commercial, technical English etc. consists of is normal everyday English interspersed with special vocabulary, for which the student does not need an English teacher, as he usually knows this vocabulary better than the teacher. Once the student has reached the level of the Cambridge First Certificate, he has no difficulty in reading his technical books. There are only about five to ten words on any page of such books that cannot be found in the Callan Method books, and they are nearly all words the student already knows if he is studying, or has a knowledge of, the relevant subject. Most technical words, in any case, are usually in international use, coming originally from Latin, Greek or English.

Other schools using the Callan Method With the Callan Method being used by other schools in London the student might wonder if there is any difference between them and the original Callan School. Although the Method is the same, the difference will be found in the efficiency of the schools and in how closely they follow the Method. A large school, like the Callan School with its 40 classrooms, can, of course, grade students much more accurately than a small school, which means that the student will find himself in a class moving nearer his level and speed of learing, and will consequently learn faster, than at a small school, even though the small school might put fewer students in a class. The real test of efficiency, however, is the number of hours the school guarantees to get the student to the level of the Cambridge Exams. If a school can guarantee a student in the same number of hours as the Callan School, and is nearer to where the student lives, then the student would be advised to go that school. The guarantee, however, must always be in writing.

60

THE PRICE WAR After Italy, England has the largest black economy in the world. London in particular is full of foreign people working illegally. One of the ways in which such people obtain visas lo slay in England is by enrolling at an English-language school for three hours a day. Once they have their visa they stop attending the school and take a job. Although all schools give students a Home Office letter to help them obtain a visa, there are several schools that cater specifically for the above type of person; they are called Visa Factories (see the Time Out magazine article on the wall of the Callan School's reception). If the student only wants a visa and is not interested in _learning English, he is not in danger of being "ripped-off" by one of these schools, but if he also wants to learn English, he will be very disappointed and will lose his money. The way the student can tell if a school is a Visa Factory or not is by multiplying the maximum number of students the school puts into a class by the amount it charges each student per lesson when paying 12 weeks in advance. If the result is less than £30 an hour, the school is almost certainly a Visa Factory, because a school cannot function properly with an income of less than £30 an hour, when considering that the average price of a private lesson in London is £25. If, for example, a school puts a maximum of 12 students in a class paying £2 each, i.e. a total of £24, it cannot cover its running costs of rent, rates, wages, electricity, telephone etc. This means it must have an enormous turnover of students who pay 3 to 6 months in advance and study for only a week or two until they have their visa, or until they realise they are learning little or no English because of the constant turnover of students. When each student goes he leaves an empty chair in the classroom to be filled and paid for by another student, and, of course, he leaves all his non-refundable money behind. Some schools charge as little as £1 a lesson, in an attempt to undercut one another. Such schools could never survive in a town, as they would soon acquire a had reputation locally, but in a large city like London they can continue for years, and the authorities seem to be unable to do anything about it. Even when a school is recognized by a respectable organisation like ARELS or the British Council, it is no protection to the student. Some top schools, in fact, have left ARELS because of the disrepute certain schools being the organisation. If a student pays a cheap Visa Factory £200 in advance and only studies 20 lessons before he realises his mistake and goes to a respectable school, each lesson has cost him £10, which makes the Visa Factory the most expensive school in London.

61

PART THREE

63

HOW THE STUDENT CAN ENSURE TH AT THE METH OD IS BEING CORRE CTLY USED One of the problems with a new invention is that people tend initially to misunderstand it, and consequently misuse it. Human nature being what it is, people cannot resist the temptation to tamper with the works and change things to suit their own ideas and theories. Like a camera, a car, or a photocopying machine, the Callan Method will not work to its full potential unless its instructions are carried out very carefully. Nine teachers out of ten, of course, follow their instructions carefully all the time, but the tenth teacher might occasionally forget one or two points. If he does, the student should personally remind him of them, or he should speak to someone in the Reception about it, or write an anonymous letter to the School. Naturally, like everyone else, teachers do not like being criticized, but if it is done pleasantly, they accept it in order to know what it is that is upsetting their students. The following is a summary of the main points that some teachers tend to overlook:

Sticking rigidly to the Method The teacher should adhere rigidly to the Method and teach in exactly the same way as all the other teachers.

Punctuality The teacher should begin the lesson no later than two minutes after the bell has sounded. If he begins the lesson five minutes late, he should end it five minutes late.

Dress The teacher should dress smartly. He should not wear jeans or track shoes, and, except in hot weather, male teachers should wear a tie.

Ask him a question The teacher should get the students to ask each other questions at the beginning and end of each lesson.

Standing up When asking questions, the teacher should be walking around about three feet behind his desk. He can sit down when giving a reading or a dictation.

Asking each question twice The teacher should always ask each question twice at top speed, and

72

immediately start off the answer for the student by giving him the first two or three words of the answer. Dragging the answer out of the student

The teacher should not wait a second for the student to answer, but should drag the answer out of the student by a pushing and pulling process. Not a moment's silence There should not be a moment's silence in the lesson. The teacher and students should he speaking every second. The teacher should never stop talking The teacher should talk the whole time. He should answer with the student, even when the student does not need his help. Quick-fire questions The moment a student finishes answering a question, the teacher should jump on another student with the next question. A fair share of the questions The teacher should ensure that each student receives a fair share of the questions. Correcting pronunciation The teacher should quickly pronunciation by imitation.

and constantly correct the student's

Readings and Dictations When the bell rings after 25 minutes of the lesson, the teacher should give a Reading and a Dictation. Revision The teacher should revise each lesson about four to seven times, so that the students can understand him when he speaks at top speed. Chatting The teacher is asked not to chat to the students during the lesson or hold free conversations.

73

What exactly is meant by chatting An example of chatting is when the teacher asks the question "If you were a millionaire, where would you live?" and the student answers "In the South of France" and a conversation breaks out about the South of France.

Breaking-in a new student slowly When a new student joins a course, the teacher should not ask him any questions the first lesson, and only one or two simple questions the second lesson.

Pointing at the student The teacher should not use the student's name when asking a question; he . should point at him with a pen.

Changing the questions The teacher should not change the questions in his Method Book (which is the same as the student's book).

No extraneous material The teacher should not use any other material than the Callan Method books.

Exam books Only when preparing directly for the Cambridge exams can the teacher use other than the Callan Method books. These take the form of Cambridge past examination papers.

All Callan Method books should be taught in the same way The basic principles of the Method remain the same throughout all the Callan Method books. The questions should therefore always be asked at speed and the answers dragged out of the students without a pause.

Opening windows The teacher (or students) should open the windows at the end of each lesson to let in fresh air.

Note: Throughout this brochure the student has been referred to as "he". Naturally "he" also implies "she".

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COLLECTED ARGUMENTS

The following are the collected arguments contained in this brochure proving the Callan Method teaches English in a quarter of the normal time. Any one of them is sufficient proof in itself, but when taken together the evidence becomes overwhelming:

I)

The Cambridge figure The Cambridge figure of 350 hours is more than four times that of the Callan figure of 80 hours.

2)

The Survey of the London schools The Survey of the London schools shows studying times in London to be 593 hours for the Cambridge Preliminary compared with the Callan School's 100 hours.

3)

The guarantee of success The Callan School gives each student a written guarantee of success, and free lessons for any failure.

4)

Payment on results The Callan student can pay on results if he wishes.

5)

95% pass rate The Callan School has a 95% pass rate for Cambridge exams compared with the national average of 70%.

6)

How the Method obtains its results The Callan Method obtains a result in a quarter of the normal time by getting its students to speak and listen the whole lesson rather than for only 25% of the time.

7)

The legal argument It is against the law to make false statements in publicity or to give worthless guarantees.

8)

The logical argument The Callan School would soon acquire a bad reputation if its claims were untrue, and would go bankrupt if it had to give too many free lessons.

9)

Ask the other schools The student can ask the other schools in London how many hours they take to get their average student to the level of the Cambridge exams, and what guarantee they will give him.

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FEES The following fees are those of January 1992 and serve only as an example of how the system of payment works. For current fees the student should refer himself lo the latest price list.

Paying in arrears If the student does not believe the claims of the Callan Method, he can pay at the end of each Stage of his studies, that is, at the end of each 10 lessons. In this way he pays £5 a lesson, which is 25% more per lesson than if he paid 4 weeks in advance, but he only pays for those lessons he actually receives. This manner of payment is also suitable for students who are frequently absent (i.e. for more than 25% of the time), because of their work.

Paying in advance If, on the other hand, the student is convinced of the Callan Method's claims, he can pay in advance, according to the following table. The more weeks he pays in advance, the cheaper the lessons. For example, by paying 8 weeks in advance instead of 4, he receives a 6% discount; whilst, by paying 12 weeks in advance, he receives a 12% discount - making his fee per lesson £3.52 instead of £4

Paying on results Whether the student pays in arrears or in advance, he always pays on results. Each time he pays he looks to see that he has completed his guaranteed number of pages. If he has not, he does not pay until he has; and then he only pays for the number of lessons guaranteed. The extra lessons he receives free.

Three lessons for the price of two As the School does not recommend students to study more than three hours a day (because of tiredness), any student paying for 2 hours a day can, if he really wishes, study a third hour free of charge - thus turning a fee of £4 an hour into £2.67, and a monthly fee of £240 (for 15 hours a week) into £160. In this way, by studying 15 hours a week and paying 12 weeks in advance, the student pays only £2.34 a lesson.

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Number of

5 hours

6 hours

10 hours

15 hours

20 hours

Rate per

Rate per

a week

a week

a week

a week

a week

hour

hour

weeks

£

£

£

£

£

£

£ (at 3 lessons for the price of 2)

1

23

28

46

46

69

4.60

3.06

2

44

53

88

88

132

4.40

2.93

3

63

76

126

126

189

4.20

2.86

4

30

96

160

160

240

4.00

2.67

5

98

118

197

197

295

3.94

2.63

6

116

140

233

233

349

3.88

2.59

7

134

160

267

267

401

3.82

2.56

8

150

180

301

301

451

3.76

2.51

9

166

200

333

333

499

3.70

2.47

10

182

218

364

364

546

3.64

2.43

11

197

236

394

394

591

3.58

2.39

12

211

253

422

422

633

3.52

2.34

Books:

Book 1- £6:

Book 2 (a)- £6:

Tapes: Book 1 - £20:

Book 2-£20:

Book 2 (b)- £6:

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Book 3-£6:

Book 4 - £6:

Cheaper Lessons

If the student chooses to study at any of the following hours, he will be given a 20% discount:- 8.30 am: 1.30 pm: 2.30 pm and 7.30 pm. Private Lessons: £20 Registration Fee: £10 (where applicable) All prices include the Government VAT tax of 17.5% (where applicable).

The School reserves the right to increase or decrease its fees at any time. This of course does not affect advance payments.

The number of Trial Lessons If the student intends studying at the School for more than 3 weeks, he is allowed one week of Trial Lessons. If he intends studying for only 3 weeks, he is allowed 3 days of Trial Lessons; for 2 weeks he is allowed 2 days; whilst for one week he is allowed one day.

Suspension of studies If the student is absent for more than a week and informs the School beforehand, he does not pay for the lessons he misses, even though he pays for his lessons in advance.

Refunds Fees for visa-students are not refundable, except where a student's Visa is refused and written evidence from the British Authorities is produced. In this case the balance of the fees from the date the student has to leave the country will be refundable. On the other hand, fees are instantly refundable without question if the student has paid in advance and does not need a Visa and finds himself unable to complete his course.

Payments from abroad The student is responsible for all bank charges incurred.

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