Job Discussion Forums

[gelliott]

I'm interested in hearing what people have to say about how to "properly" run a language training center in China. Reading through the forums, talking to teachers, and having plenty of experiences myself, I know what most of the [i]problems[/i] are. I'm interested in knowing what you think are the [i]solutions[/i]. In other words, if you were to build an adult language training center in China, what changes would you make to the Chinese model (with which we are all so familiar), in order to keep your teachers and students happy, and ideally make some money?

[Lei Feng]

PLAN!!!

[cj750]

First I would dress all the female teachers like school marms in that van Harlen video "Hot for Teacher" and the student bodies would of course have to wear Catholic school uniforms...the office staff would be on roller skates like one of those hamburger joints out of the 50's and Elvis would always be in the house. It would be on the same plan as fast food with a menu as to what you would like to study for the day and it would be served with a side of fries...and of course Diet Coke to complete the western habit of eating fried foods and making up on the weight gain by drinking diet soda. Oh and at the door..much like KFC there would be a ole white guy beckoning you in towards your dreams of being English proficient with his hand stretched out to show you the way to the adjacent visa agency to help in your migration toward the greatest countries in the world. Of course you would have to hire an actor to play the boss, with a glassed in office allowing you to see him sitting at his desk with his pant leg exposed and talking loudly on his cell phone while his actor brother bowers money for his gambling habit from the girls who sing karaoke in Aztec in the English Lounge. And lets we forget ..we need some FTs....the kind I met when I first came here..drink all night and teach all day ..and oh, you have to have a staff room with ample space for them to take the pass out cat nap between classes. Cap that with a few desperate hosewives in china types to keep the young instructors inspired and you would have CJ's English School where I would advertise North American English taught by the best Irish Capricorns or is that lepercons that the industry has to offer.

[Outsida]

1. Don't be desperate for foreign teachers. This will broaden your options. Hire some proficient Chinese English teachers... they are out there, and would gladly work for training school, rather than university, wages. As for FTs, be selective... very selective. The fact that you aren't 100% reliant on FTs will allow you to do this. FTs can be a mixed bag. You can tell the idiots, backpackers, drunks, drifters and deviants pretty quick... don't hire them - and if you're not desperate, you won't need to hire them.

2. Yes, PLAN! Have a curriculum based in reality, rather than in dreamlike ideas of where Chinese students are at and what they can achieve. Give teachers course descriptions, have prepared exams (or at least frameworks) for them so that they know what to teach to, and have a standardised marking system.

Have a week-by-week curriculum with actual lesson plans (including suggested activities, warm-ups, conversation ideas), rather than expecting them to make it up themselves. Allow latitude for creativity, as long as the weekly objectives are met.

3. Emphasise to death to prospective students the expectations - that they will be responsible for talking as much as possible, that they will be expected to contribute in class, and that no guarantees will be given for their progress simply for turning up.

4. Have all of the equipment and supplementary materials teachers need. Have a ring-binder of removable celebrity photos, have playing cards, flashcards, game boards, maps (real and made-up), DVD players, lists of Chinese titles for English films, paper, glue, scissors, markers... everything teachers need to expand upon their lessons.

5. Allow reasonable holidays. Just because a few diehards with no life want to study English during spring festival is no reason to keep the school open. Allow a couple of weeks off in summer, too.

6. No English Corner. They are generally a joke, anyway.

7. Allow - hell, insist upon, peer observation and review. If nothing else, teachers can vibe off each other.

8. Have aims for the courses taught. I had a business course with no real focus. I tried to teach them everything I could fit into the ambiguous time frame given. Make courses a definite length of time. Tell the teachers that something-something is what's expected.

For example:

Intermediate English. By the end of this course, students should be able to:

negotiate 3 different bank transactions (opening an account, changing money, cancelling a stolen credit card);

describe a process - e.g. a recipe for their favourite dish, how to repair something, how to don a complex item of clothing etc.; (list provided)

recite a detailed monologue e.g. their most frightening experience, a crime they've experienced/witnessed; how they met their best friend/significant other;

play a part in a debate;

play a part in a group conversation that aims to reach a decision. Use functions such as disagreement, suggestion, reasoning and compromise;

improvise a short speech about a topic chosen for them at a moment's notice.

With these goals informing the course, the teachers can work on meeting them, using the lesson plans and their own ideas.

9. Allow paid prep time. It shouldn't be much since most of the work will have been done for them. It should be a matter of working out what lesson you're up to, selecting the lesson plan from the folder, adding in anything else you need and then marching in to do it.

10. Have files for each class, after which you can note problems, mark the progression of the course, and provide recommendations.

11. It might be novel, but pay the Chinese teachers the same salary as the FTs.

Hmm, that's it for now.

[Malsol]

Simple -= I wouldn't.

Why participate in a farse?

[Henry_Cowell]

Or even in a farce?

[cj750]

Or even in Farsi

[englishgibson]

FIRST OF ALL ..........
I wouldn't say that the school was "run" by a foreigner
I would ask my "Chinese partner" to give many promises out .... promises such as my school's courses would help passing public schools' exams, and help joining or graduating Chinese universities
I'd have my marketing manager dining and wining all the city "sharks" on regular bases (then I'd pray my business account would not dip to a big zero)


Peace to sharks
and
cheers and beers to us

[Outsida]

as for me, I could never participate in a fast. Not religious enough.

[KES]

Don't forget supermodel concubines for the FTs,

At least 50,000 RMB per month (plus bonuses) for FTs

Oh, and charge only 2 RMB per hour for rates so everybody can afford your school

I think the secret success formula has nearly been revealed here.

Englishgibson started his own school, he can share how well his school matched our quality school version.

[cj750]

KES, as compaired to my realistic model of Van Halens English Primer School ..yours is totaly unrealistic....

Atomic Punks English School...has a nice ring to it..

[TEAM_PAPUA]

I'd rip off all my staff. I'd not pay my franchise fee (or 'cook the books' a little). I'd cut costs at every opportunity. Then I'd spend all my time & money in the local KTV bar, spitting on the floor, shouting at the staff and molesting the under age bar girls.

Sound familiar?

[Super Mario]

TEAM_PAPUA, pure genius.
Why are you wasting your time in Jakarta? Cheaper women?

[TEAM_PAPUA]

Nope - they're more expensive