Lingua-Met General Partnership was founded in 1996 by two Hungarian teachers of English and Russian as Foreign Languages – Zoltán Poór and Zsuzsánna Poór – with the aim of creating a base for their innovative approaches to modern language education.
The company used to run a private language school for families who wanted their children to acquire English, German and Russian in an informal way. The school took learners between the ages of 5 – 14 for afternoon classes, weekend and summer courses. The number of groups and staff varied from term to term but during their 5 years of existence, over 500 students were educated by a small staff of approximately 15 teachers. Task-based learning was highlighted and communicative approach was put into focus. Learner and teacher autonomy played a key role. They were involved in piloting audio-visual and printed course materials as well as internet-based activities for young learners. A group of learners took part in an international project aimed at developing language communication competences and ICT skills. The school also provided a field for teaching practice for young graduated language teachers. The founders of the company organised in-service training courses for primary school teachers and private school staff members in the fields of teaching young learners, using audio-visual materials in the language classroom, applying techniques of the communicative approach with the focus on competence development.
The private language school provided an efficient background for trying out different task-based activities planned for young learners in order to develop their language and other competences. The experience gained there was used in course material development, in course book writing and planning series of pre-service and in-service training events and methodology workshops. Zsuzsánna Poór was awarded the title Outstanding Course Book Writer by the National Association of Textbook Publishers and Distributors in Hungary in 2011.
Currently, the founders of the company work for primary and higher education. They are involved in further innovations such as participating in projects for learners with special needs, developing teaching aids for using authentic materials in and outside the classroom, finding efficient ways for communicative competence development and organising in-service training events.
Participating staff
Zsuzsánna Poór