The School

Rotorua English Language Academy (RELA) has been an English language tuition provider since 1993.

Quality is of utmost importance to RELA. We are a Category One school and a member of English New Zealand. We offer a strong academic programme with General English classes at multiple levels. We also have a strong examination focus offering preparation for IELTS, Cambridge First and Advanced. We believe that each student is an individual and strive to cater to each student’s unique learning needs and goals.

As well as our Academic programme, we have an extensive activities programme which attracts people from all over the world, in order to learn English in an exciting and stimulating environment.

A special feature of our school is that we take students of many different ages, and it is quite normal for us to have students aged from 16-70+ in the school.

Our Goal

  • RELA’s overarching goal is to make sure that all learners and staff feel supported to achieve to their full potential – academically, physically and emotionally. We aim to provide a supportive, motivating and healthy environment where all our cultural differences are welcomed and valued, and where students and staff feel a part of the institution and think of RELA as their “whanau” away for home

Our philosophy:

  • We are a CLT (Communicative Language Teaching) learning environment. We value communication skills highly and we encourage our students to use the language, not only to analyse the language.
  • We understand that language is fundamental to the bigger picture of social and cultural life. Culture enriches the language and language enriches the culture. We believe that students learn best when they engage in genuine social and cultural exchanges. We strive to make our classrooms international learning environments where our students can exchange ideas and share their interests and opinions.
  • We believe in holistic language learning. We strive to achieve a balance between all aspects of language: grammar and syntax, vocabulary and pronunciation, speaking and listening, reading and writing.  This also involves understanding and coping with different contexts and purposes for language: from day-to-day functional language to social interaction to academic language and business language.
  • We are a learner-centred school. We put our learners first and strive to understand who they are and what they need. We understand that our students are all individuals from different backgrounds with different personalities, learning styles and reasons for studying English.

Our classes:

  • Our morning General English classes aim to improve our students’ all-round language skills (reading, writing, speaking and listening) as well as their pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary in meaningful and interesting contexts.
  • We use only up-to-date, high-quality course texts (Empower, Global, Face-to-Face and English File) and we supplement them with original and authentic texts and audio-visual material.
  • We try to make learning enjoyable and relevant to our students’ lives.
  • Afternoon classes are flexible and cater for different needs and tastes within the student body of the school.
  • Maximum 16 students in a class, the average is 8
  • All students receive either a leaving report or a leaving certificate on completion of their programme.

Our staff:

  • All regular tutors have internationally recognised qualifications and are skilled and experienced teachers.
  • Our teachers have all travelled extensively and have experience and understanding of other countries and cultures.
  • Our teachers are extremely dedicated, responsible and caring professionals. They all contribute a great deal to the pastoral care of our students as well as their classroom learning.
  • Our staff are selected very carefully for their personal qualities. The Directors ensure that the teachers are kind, friendly and helpful people who greatly enjoy working with international students.
  • All tutors are regularly evaluated and a continuous training programme is in place in order to maintain the high standards of teaching for which Rotorua English Language Academy is well known.

Extras:

  • 4 hours of free guided self-study after school
  • Free Wi-Fi throughout the main student area
  • Job support club
  • Free Friday afternoon activity for all full-time students

Courses:

  • General English
  • Exam prep – IELTS, Cambridge Advanced and Cambridge First (exam classes are subject to minimum numbers)
  • English with Activities
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