On what we believe a teacher is for.

The Institute exists to train teachers of English whose work is considered, whose lessons are planned, and whose presence in the classroom is noticed because it is calm. We believe this can be taught. We believe it must be taught slowly.

The four commitments

I. To the learner, first and always

Every method, every technique, every scheme of work we teach must be answerable to a single question: does this help the person in front of you learn English? If the answer is no — however fashionable the approach, however impressive its bibliography — we do not teach it.

II. To the craft

Teaching English is a craft. Like any craft, it has tools, traditions, received wisdom, and heresies. We teach the tradition because ignorance of it produces poor teachers. We teach the heresies because orthodoxy, left alone, produces worse ones.

III. To honest assessment

A Hanseo qualification means what it says. We have failed trainees. We have asked trainees to repeat modules. We have, on occasion, declined to issue a Diploma to a trainee whose fees were fully paid. This is unpleasant for everyone involved. It is also the only way our certification retains its meaning.

IV. To small numbers

We will not grow beyond the size at which Faculty can know each trainee by name. When we reach capacity, we close admissions. We do not open satellite campuses. We do not license our curriculum. The work happens here, or it does not happen.

The method, in brief

Every taught hour at Hanseo is built on three pillars: input — the knowledge a teacher must hold; observation — the watching of good practice, live or recorded; and practice — the trainee's own teaching, observed and debriefed by a senior tutor. No level of our curriculum omits any one of the three.

We teach grammar because teachers who do not understand grammar cannot diagnose learner error. We teach phonology because pronunciation teaching is not miming. We teach materials design because the photocopier is not a lesson plan. We teach classroom management because a quiet, ordered classroom is a kindness to the learner, not a discipline imposed upon them.

A final note

We are asked, occasionally, to summarise our philosophy in a sentence. We decline. The sentence does not exist. The philosophy is the curriculum, and the curriculum is what happens in our rooms. You are welcome to attend a free open session.