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Fernando
Miño Garcés, Ph. D. in Applied Linguistics from the University of
Georgetown, Washington D. C. Around 30 years of experience as a language
and linguistics professor at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador
among other institutions. He has also worked as the executive director
of several university exchange programs. He is the author of many books
on bilingualism, methodology, and has experience as an educational consultant.
He is the current Executive Director of ACLAS.
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Patricia
López, M.A. in Education from the University of Alabama. She has worked
as a professor of English and Spanish as second languages. She has collaborated
on several books on language teaching. She is the Academic Director of
ACLAS.
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Gustavo
Fierro, Ph. D. in Applied Linguistics from the University of Georgetown,
Washington D. C., M. A. from the University of California. He is currently
a professor at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito and has over 35
years of experience in the teaching field, especially in linguistics and
languages.
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Fanny
Carrión, M. A. from Berkeley University, California. She has many
years of experience teaching literature and Spanish as a second language.
She is the author of several books and articles on literary criticism
and poetry.
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OUR PHYLOSOPHY
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Learning and teaching at ACLAS take place following the Life Learning
philosophy developed by this institution. This Life Learning Philosophy
originated from the philosophy known as "Whole Language Philosophy".
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The
cultural inheritance of the "Whole Language" philosophy stems from philosophers
and educators such as: John Amos Comenius, John Dewey, Friedrich Froebel,
Lev Vigotsky, Dorris Lee, Lillian Lamoreaux, and Donald Graves, among
others.
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The
Life Learning Philosophy of ACLAS is, therefore, a learning-teaching philosophy
that integrates all knowledge areas and human values into a single coherent
unit.
The
student, considered as a total, holistic being, is the class' center of
activity and is capable of incorporating into his/her real life, in a
conscious or unconscious manner, everything that was learned and / or
acquired.
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DIAGNOSIS AND PLACEMENT OF STUDENTS
In
order to analyze a student's language knowledge, several steps are taken:
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An oral interview is recorded. It allows us to register the level of the
oral production of a student before his/her language training begins.
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- An objective multiple-choice exam, in which information on the student's
knowledge regarding the following areas is measured: listening comprehension,
grammatical structure, vocabulary and reading comprehension.
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- An essay in which we try to measure the student's abilities to express
him/herself in a written form in functional situations similar to those
that he/she would encounter in daily life, according to his/her particular
needs.
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Once
we have all this information, the Academic Division of ACLAS will place
the student in the corresponding level and module within the Teaching
- Learning Program of the language (English and / or Spanish) and the
process can start. A program is created specifically for the student or
group of students, who have to discuss it with their professor during
the first day of classes. The
program is made up of the following parts: specific course description,
objectives, content, resources, evaluation system, and reference material.
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LOCATION AND SERVICES |
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ACLAS
is located in the heart of the commercial and banking area in the north
of Quito, but the noise does not reach our facilities. For this reason,
the area is considered one of the best residential areas of the city.
To be precise, ACLAS' address is: El Día 207 (N37-111) between El Mercurio
and El Comercio streets. It is located behind the "Quicentro" Shopping
Mall and two blocks from the "Atahualpa" Olympic Stadium.
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GENERAL
SERVICES
ACLAS
offers the following general services:
1.
Telephone service with the "Porta" calling card
2. Fax service
3. E-mail
4. Mail delivery and reception
5. Internet service
SPECIAL
SERVICES
- A
book and video library that is constantly being expanded with general
interest material and specialized subject materials in such areas as
language teaching, literature, Latin American, Ecuadorian and North
American culture and civilization and similar topics.
- Classrooms,
used for teaching individuals and small groups. One of the large classrooms
can be used to teach 40 students.
- An
attractive garden, where students can rest, read, or engage in conversation.
Some students have decided that it is the best place to get a tan!
- A
small cafeteria, where students can buy snacks and refreshing soft drinks.
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