Job Discussion Forums

[droptheworld]

A friend an I are about to begin work opening up a new English school in a small suburb of Barcelona. Does anyone know of any good resources that we should check out in order to get this school off the ground? My friend has an EU passport so we can register this business legally. We also have a huge house that we can convert most of the bottom floor into a classroom. There's an elementary school directly across the street, so we were thinking about teaching children in the evenings, and possible adult private classes in the afternoon. Any ideas or links will be appreciated. Thanks!

Scott

[Stephen Jones]

Check out the competition. And then do a business plan; you are in a very competitive business, and may well find you run out of money quick.

Basically unless you can have two or three separate classrooms, and two full time teachers or better two fulltime teachers and one parttime teacher you can give the idea a miss.

Next thing to bear in mind is that you must be able to offer all levels up to First Certificate at least. That means five adult levels, not counting the separate elementary school levels.

Next thing to bear in mind is that you will have a considerable drop-out rate even if everything goes well. Expect a 20% drop out rate in the first two months, which will then slow down, but will peak in April, May June when you will be lucky to get the income to meet teachers salaries.

For adult classes, consider one daily class for elementary going on to pre-intermediate, and for the other five levels, three hours a week, split either one hour Monday, Wednesday, Friday or one and a half hours Tuesday and Thursday.

For July and August you need summer school. July should do quite well. August will probably be a desert.

For publicity, door-to-door leafletting of your catchment area. Posters in shop windows are an excellent way to get started also. Think around 20,000 leaflets.

[droptheworld]