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Phil_K
Joined: 25 Jan 2007
Posts: 2041
Location: A World of my Own
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 Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 11:26 pm Post subject: |
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| It is a paradox isn't it? If I suceed in teaching you English, you will no longer be my client. If I really sell what I'm selling, I will lose rather than retain customers... |
But if you do it really well, you will get a steady stream of new clients by word of mouth ... and the next generation
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| I don't think it's very good business model to get involved in if you're looking to make money. The service is really undervalued. But I would love to see you succeed and see more professionalism in the industry around here! But I doubt that professionalism will be met with equal enthusiasm, commitment, and long-term seriousness from future clients. |
I wonder how many times that's been said in the history of entreprenuership.  |
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mejms
Joined: 04 Jan 2010
Posts: 390
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| Posted: Thu Feb 03, 2011 7:36 pm Post subject: |
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| MotherF wrote: |
| It is a paradox isn't it? If I suceed in teaching you English, you will no longer be my client. If I really sell what I'm selling, I will lose rather than retain customers... |
In theory, sure it's ironic. But the reality is that losing clients because of success is the least likely reason for instability in this field. There's a whole lot more practical reasons for losing customers.
If students make great strides in progress, that's great! They should be thrilled. But they can continue taking classes for 10 years and they'll never be all the way there. Their English will never be completely fluent. They just have to keep going and going and going. So why would you lose clients? Scheduling conflicts, money issues, change in priorities, loss of interest, etc. |
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PlayadelSoul
Joined: 29 Jun 2005
Posts: 346
Location: Playa del Carmen
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| Posted: Thu Feb 03, 2011 9:14 pm Post subject: |
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| mejms wrote: |
| MotherF wrote: |
| It is a paradox isn't it? If I suceed in teaching you English, you will no longer be my client. If I really sell what I'm selling, I will lose rather than retain customers... |
In theory, sure it's ironic. But the reality is that losing clients because of success is the least likely reason for instability in this field. There's a whole lot more practical reasons for losing customers.
If students make great strides in progress, that's great! They should be thrilled. But they can continue taking classes for 10 years and they'll never be all the way there. Their English will never be completely fluent. They just have to keep going and going and going. So why would you lose clients? Scheduling conflicts, money issues, change in priorities, loss of interest, etc. |
You want to get students to the point of being able to perform a job in the language. Does this mean absolute proficiency? Of course not. As an example, what does the ECF ask for when employing a Spaniard in England? A B1 or B2?
A student that is given a good base is a student who will continue to learn on his/her own, well after they have left the classroom. Teaching that autonomy should be a part of any curriculum. |
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Phil_K
Joined: 25 Jan 2007
Posts: 2041
Location: A World of my Own
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| Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2011 1:55 am Post subject: |
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| PlayadelSoul wrote: |
| mejms wrote: |
| MotherF wrote: |
| It is a paradox isn't it? If I suceed in teaching you English, you will no longer be my client. If I really sell what I'm selling, I will lose rather than retain customers... |
In theory, sure it's ironic. But the reality is that losing clients because of success is the least likely reason for instability in this field. There's a whole lot more practical reasons for losing customers.
If students make great strides in progress, that's great! They should be thrilled. But they can continue taking classes for 10 years and they'll never be all the way there. Their English will never be completely fluent. They just have to keep going and going and going. So why would you lose clients? Scheduling conflicts, money issues, change in priorities, loss of interest, etc. |
You want to get students to the point of being able to perform a job in the language. Does this mean absolute proficiency? Of course not. As an example, what does the ECF ask for when employing a Spaniard in England? A B1 or B2?
A student that is given a good base is a student who will continue to learn on his/her own, well after they have left the classroom. Teaching that autonomy should be a part of any curriculum. |
Thank you Playa. A good example is my wife. She probably started learning SERIOUSLY in her 20s and only went to the famous "terrible" chain schools (with their "terrible" business model). The grounding she received and her own determination took her to a very good level. Now, at nearly 50 y-o, she does just fine and holds a good position partly due to her English. Of course she has 10 years too with her own personal English teacher, who she even takes to bed , but nevertheless still makes the occasional error.
Your second point is definitely something we should think about, and in my case, I already have.
It seems to me that some people are looking for reasons not to do something, rather than reasons to do something. |
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