Collaboration is at the core of the Westchester Education Services model. By working together, we help customers achieve the goals of their ELT programs, whether they need a new product or an adaptation of an existing one.
Sandra Colmenares leads our ELT team, a group of diverse and seasoned veterans who have developed programs for learners around the world. We employ an assemblage of highly skilled talent and rely on solid infrastructure to fine-tune content that satisfies aptitude, motivation, learner differences, and program goals.
For new programs, we leverage shared skills and knowledge to plan and create content that can be used within individual English language-learning and teaching programs. Our team, together with our customers, navigate through guided explorations of current issues and approaches in ELT to provide the best foundation for content-building choices.
We also recognize the importance of national and regional interests and cultural values, and we fully embrace measures to incorporate notions of self-identity into our clients’ content. For adaptations, we supplement extra-linguistic items and activities to compensate for the perceived inadequacy or insufficiency of currently used materials. With both new programs and adaptations, our clients’ needs are at the forefront of the process, with opportunities to review and provide feedback embedded from program launch to final file delivery.
Westchester’s applies several essential building blocks in ELT development:
- Branding—perception of and/or moniker for your educational product
- Key concepts and considerations—targeted program goals and expectations
- Authentication—content reflecting real-life contexts
- Skills—desired areas of English language learning development
- Methodology—best practices and procedures that benefit language learners
- Assessment—evaluation devices and techniques
- Ancillaries—teacher guides, workbooks, activity books, readers, and video and audio components
Truly tailored, Westchester’s program development strategies also take into consideration these variables:
- Individual course structure: duration, class length, number of sessions, and student number
- Learner identity: nationality, regions of origin, age, socio-economic background
- Proficiency level: English language level measured on a global scale
- 21st-century relevancy: relevance and reliability of materials and approaches in today’s world
