The Helen Doron method, developed by linguist and educator Helen Doron, was one of the first early English educational systems in the world. In operation since 1986, children as young as three months learn English with this method, just like they learn their mother tongue. As of 2009, over one million children have learned English through this method.".
Learning programs using the method are based on a comprehensive 12-year curriculum for children from 3 months up to 14 years. Courses are geared to both small after-school groups and also kindergarten and school courses for early elementary grades. The Helen Doron method utilizes play, games, stories, workbooks, flash cards, story cards, original songs and music CDs to reinforce spoken English, pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and reading and writing for older children.
History
Doron began developing the method when she was researching violin lessons for her children. She became intrigued by the famed Suzuki Method of violin learning, which closely associates learning music with language study.
Dr. Suzuki called his method "the mother-tongue approach". As a linguist and educator, Helen understood the importance of this principle in teaching English, along with ideals of encouragement and reinforcement. These became the first building blocks of the Helen Doron Early English method. In addition, the teachings of Glenn Doman- known as the Doman method- and his Institute for the Achievement of Human Potential was another influence in the founding of the Helen Doron method as pertaining to accelerating child development and multiplying babies’ intelligence.
In 1985, Helen further augmented her English teaching method using her own homemade song cassettes, rhymes and stories to children from non-English speaking countries. The Helen Doron method provided an English-speaking environment that successfully mimicked the natural process of mother tongue learning.