About us and our products

Find out about our approach to language learning and what makes our courses special.

Our approach

LearnOasis courses are amongst the most comprehensive language learning courses on the web. They provide an effective and efficient way to learn a new language.

The idea of learning as knowledge construction has been expressed for many years by academics and language learning experts. However, it has rarely been implemented in the instructional design of the materials.

LearnOasis implements the ideas of a cognitive-constructivist approach to langauge learning. The strength of LearnOasis is that the courses are easily accessible and are built on strong pedagogical and technological foundations. The courses have been created by professional programmers, linguists, teachers, authors, designers, artists and translators – all experts in their field.

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Years of experience

For over ten years, we have been developing eLearning products. Our experience brings together vast experience from publishing and technology development.

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Forward Thinking

LearnOasis language courses are amongst the most comprehensive on the web. They provide everything necessary to meet the needs of both learners and teachers

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Brain-friendly

..We create courses that are suitable for as many people as possible, regardless of their previous learning biography. We provide an effective way to learn a new language.

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Sound pedagogy

The LearnOasis approach is based on sound pedagogical standards. Our courses follow a recognised syllabus. We cater for academic and non-academic learners.

Carl Taylor

Publisher

Carl has worked as a teacher, lecturer, advisor and is the author of numerous language learning textbooks and resources. He has considerable experience of developing and producing textbooks in formal education. He was the ‘Herausgeber’ (publisher) and co-author of English G Neu (Cornselsen, Berlin). He also worked on the development of Let’s Go, a six volume textbook for English for the German Hauptschulen (Klett Verlag, Stuttgart).

Carl Taylor was employed by the Ministry of Education in the Sultanate of Oman to design a national curriculum for English at elementary and secondary school levels and to oversee the development and publication of Our World Through English, a textbook for schools in the Sultanate.

Carl Taylor has also co-ordinated three major EU projects: Stella (Stepping up the E-Learning of Languages),Grammar Explorer Danish and ArabicOnline.eu

Udo Hennig

Pedagogical approach

Udo Hennig has been working as a teacher for over 30 years, as a teacher trainer/educator for 26 years and as an author of language teaching/learning materials for over 20 years.

For the last seven years particular focus of his work has been the challenges arising from the new media, especially digital eLearning, the insights of constructivism as a paradigm for teaching and learning as well as the insights of the neurosciences as complementary and guiding principles for materials development based on the methodological ideas of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

He has applied his expertise as a specialist in foreign language teaching and learning methodology to the teaching of other foreign languages, including LWUTLs.

Locusta Liquirizia

Programming

Locusta Liquirizia was using electronic devices (as Commodore and Amstrad consoles) before PCs arrived and was using telematic services as BBS, Compuserve, NewsGroups and Mail on Internet before WWW later arrived in 1991.

He obtained his doctorate in Computing Science from the University of Turin in 1990, oriented towards “Systemistic Cybernetic” (Artificial Intelligence). He started immediately working on telematic (Videotel and Teletel) services and then he contributed to creating the start-up of the first Piedmont Internet Providers (on behalf of Telecom Italia), Piedmont Video On Line Internet network (Web Services) and the first websites in the Piedmont area.

He normally works on many operating systems, such as Microsoft XP/Windows 7, Microsoft 2003 Server, Linux, Unix, Mac OS. He works on many databases, such as: Microsoft Access, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL, FileMaker Pro. He also programs in many languages, such as: C, C++, C#, Visual Basic, ASP, Java, JavaScript, VBScript, Perl, PHP, ActionScript 2, ActionScript 3.

Neal Taylor

Digital development

Neal Taylor currently manages LearnOasis and the eCommerce. He also guides the I.T. development of the web interface, the desktop apps and iPad and Android versions. He is responsible for certification and eCommerce of the LearnOasis site and software.

He recently completely re-developed LearnOasis Danish and LearnOasis Hungarian – available for desktop and tabs. He oversaw the digital and print producation of “A guide to writing Arabic”. He brings together technical knowledge, attention to detail in design and an understanding of current trends and approaches in language learning methodology. He, therefore, functions as a vital bridge and conduit between academics, authors, programmers and designers.

Sara Hoffmeier

Arabic Champion

Sara Hoffmeier is a teacher of Arabic and has published books and eLearning materials. She was one of the main authors of the ArabicOnline project.

Yasemin Keskin

Media Marketing Officer

Yasemin has a background in media and is currently focused on promoting the Turkish HandsOnTurkish course.

Jeroen Lichtenauer

Programming

Jeroen is working on the Android and iOS development of the HandsOnTurkish apps. With an academic background from Imperial College London and a passion for Non-violent Communication, Jeroen bring considerable expertise to eLearning and language learning.

Tom Young

Contributor

Tom has a background in linguistics and CELTA. He contributes articles to the site and regularly gets involved with testing.