International House World Organisation

International House World Organisation (IHWO) is a network of language schools worldwide, such as inlingua. There are currently over 140 schools and teacher training centres in more than 50 countries.

International House was founded in 1953 by John Haycraft and his wife Brita Haycraft in Cordoba (Spain), with the aim of providing an innovative approach to language teaching. At that time there were no formal programmes of training for teachers of English as a Foreign Language.

John Haycraft was the first to introduce formalised teacher training in 1962, and the course he developed in the 1960s & 1970s became first the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) Certificate in teaching English, and then the current CELTA training course organised by CambridgeESOL.

Teaching at the schools follows the "communicative method", which focuses on student to student interaction and use of new structures and vocabulary, as opposed to the teacher-centred approach of traditional language teaching.

IH is not a chain of schools. It is an affiliate network. All IH schools are independently-owned affiliates which share the same philosophy, branding and some course materials. The organisation currently has 145 schools in 50 countries worldwide.

External links

* [http://www.ihworld.com/ IH World website]
* [http://www.ihcoimbra.com// International House Coimbra celebrates its 40th birthday]
* [http://www.ihworld.com/about_us/haycraft.asp John Haycraft's publications]
* [http://www.ihvancouver.com// IH Vancouver to host the 2009 Directors Conference and Agent Workshop]
* [http://www.ihparis.com// IH Paris: new language testing centre for Cambridge Exams ]