Our approach to teaching English is based on our belief that the way language is taught should complement the nature of language itself. Language is not static and sterile. Rather, it is alive and organic. Unlike most language schools who emphasize a static program-driven approach, we believe that language instruction should engage the student and that what makes a language learning experience engaging is a great teacher as opposed to a great program. That's why we place a great emphasis on searching for and identifying exceptionally gifted teachers.
When we think of the truly great dining experiences, when do we ever associate them with how nice the menu looked or the recipe? We more often associate those memorable experiences with cooks and chefs. That's because in reality, when it comes to matters of gastronomy, art trumps science. Menus are about marketing while recipes are about science. Great cooking is about art. Art is about people. That's why when we think back on the handful of truly great learning experiences, we likely don't ever recall "programs" or curriculums, we remember teachers.
We believe that the quality of a student's experience with learning a language is most strongly influenced by the quality of the teacher who is teaching him. Learning a language is hard work but that does not mean that the process cannot be engaging. Our teachers are engaging because
of the fact that:
- They are highly experienced and/or trained in specifically teaching language. There is absolutely NO substitute for authentic language teaching experience.
- They have all been expatriates themselves. We look for teachers who have either lived or ideally taught English abroad. Living abroad helps the teachers to better identify with their students. Moreover, we find that teachers who have lived abroad did so because they are fascinated with foreign culture and are more likely to be ESL teachers because of a genuine passion for language and culture.
- They are bonafide teaching professionals who love and are passionate about teaching.
- We compensate our teachers well above the going market rate our competitors offer teachers (sometimes double the average market rate). The great chefs of the world shouldn't be paid like busboys. We can afford to allocate more resources to teacher compensation because of the fact that we are exclusively an on-site based language service. Unlike the majority of our competitors, we don't have to sink a large percentage of our revenue into facilties and support staff. We can just direct those savings into what should be a language provider's most important resource, its teachers.