Most vocational training organisations develop courses from research and prototyping backed by past experience. Humanistic Language teaching is in action in Pilgrims every summer when the programmes for children and teenagers in Harrow school and Bradfield college. 

My experience of managing summer schools for young learners spans 50 years during which time, I have been involved with many courses with different objectives: Pilgrims Summer Schools for Children and Teenagers stand out as living proof of the power of  humanistic language teaching approach. The decisive test of the benefits of the humanistic approach is in seeing the pupils’ engagement with the learning process:  I have yet to see a Pilgrims Young Learner not participate fully both in class and outside class. 

Extra-curricular activities are also defined by Pilgrims as part of their language development programme: ”from breakfast to bedtime” represents the strapline of the learning day: pupils are made to enjoy the language and appreciate how their use of the language is defined by their relationship with English; they become agents of their own learning, which allows them to be sensitive to their form of intelligence as defined by Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences.  This seems to be achieved through a total buy-in from all the staff (teaching, activity leaders and administrative) to the concept of encouraging the child to build on his or her strengths. Good examples of this approach include inspiring the auditory learner to listen to audiobooks, while the visual learner (and, indeed, the kinaesthetic learner) might be tasked to identify the environment around him or her. The clearest sign of this approach to education is the total collaboration between pupils, and between staff and pupils.

Assemblies in the morning can take a multitude of forms to convey a clear message that there is not a right way to live the language but a preferred way of interacting in English with others! 

Another fundamental characteristic of the Pilgrims way is the importance attached to making every child feel valued from the very start of the programme: this is essentially achieved by the speed at which staff get to know each and every pupil on its summer language courses: all members of staff make sure they know everyone by name within the first few hours of their arrival on the courses.

Fundamentally, Pilgrims practises focusing on the subject, not the object, i.e. putting the child at the centre of the learning process, not content to be acquired. This is the essence of humanistic education which forms the core spirit of the Pilgrims Teacher Training pedagogical style.

Please check the Pilgrims in Segovia Teacher Training courses 2025 at Pilgrims website.

Please check the Pilgrims f2f courses at Pilgrims website.