Teacher Discussion Forums

Was Wall Street Institute the first English school to get a reputation for utilizing computers effectively? Were they also the first to use the "Blended Learning" approach? If not, then what has made them so popular?

I'd try posting this on the Job Discussion/International forums (i.e. China forum) instead, but even there I get the feeling you'll probably know more about the topic than most potential respondents!

Thank you Mr. Fluff. Indeed, I've already posted a much simpler query on the China forum (Which are the most popular schools in China?), but even this isn't getting a response.

ESL is a huge and diverse global industry, and most ESL people don't have very good general knowledge about it - the sources aren't very good to get that, for my money. Reputations are localized, and mostly negative. Computers are not necessarily used "effectively" anywhere in the classroom, though since if you use one for such and such you seem to be advanced, and they add variety and options, they are certainly here to stay (and propagate), even though they usually subtract as well.

Blended learning is apparently:

"Through the Blended Learning Method, students listen, read, write, speak, and practice English. Students and staff at WSI centers around the world only speak English while in the center"

Like most of these methods with impressive seeming titles, same old thing, not worthy of entitlement.

Thank you for your answer, Mr. Wood. So then, why is Wall Street so popular? What do they do to cause people to want to spend so much money there? It sounds like woodcutter is describing a school that does the same thing as everyone else.

"why is Wall Street so popular"

Marketing. I'd be very surprised if they have good student retention rates

Actually, it seems that the number one thing that Wall Street (and EF Smart School) do is:

• * Treat students as customers, rather than as students.

Obviously they do a lot more than just that, including:

• * Lots of marketing (not just advertising, but everything that marketing entails).
  * Customer retention schemes
  * Higher paid teachers (relative to other schools in the same cities) = large teacher teams = less negative effect when someone leaves.
  * Highly organised management structures, etc.

But the number one thing is the customer focus, particularly:

• * Professional looking facilities/premises
  * The attraction of technology (computers everywhere, projectors & Powerpoint, etc)
  * Social clubs & events
  * FLEXIBLE LEARNING SCHEDULES (Ss decide what days and what times they learn, how often, how long, etc, and can change this from week to week).

And that last one is the real biggy. A busy business person doesn't have time to find out how s/he could learn best, so treat them as a student and you won't get them as a customer.




Note: This post is not to suggest that either school doesn't care about quality teaching. I'm sure they do, and I know that both have dedicated teacher development programmes and are constantly updating their materials. Just a comment on why they're successful as businesses.

Heath:

This is a very informative and helpful answer. I wish this were Yahoo Answers so I could give you 10 points