How to find a good ESL agent: Tips from the trenches

April 12, 2010

One question that comes up time and time again is, “How do you find a good agent?” I think that part of the answer is to avoid wasting your time with unproductive potential agents. Sound harsh? It’s not, really. If you’ve ever been in the classroom, chances are that you’ve had a student who wants to monopolize your time in ways that don’t contribute to the overall lesson or are just plain distracting or even bothersome.

As teachers, we learn how to handle students with all kinds of personalities and motives of their own. We learn to set boundaries with them while keeping the lesson focused and hopefully avoid too much disruption in the classroom. We call that good class management. We try to achieve this without embarrassing the student, if possible, while making it clear that as the teacher, we’re the one in control of the class and that’s the way it should be. In fact, if we don’t do that as teachers, we may lose others respect and not be taken as seriously.

The same idea applies to business relationships, particularly when it comes to others outside your school who want to work with you or represent you. The larger your program grows, the more people you will have knocking on your door wanting to work with you. Annoying though it may be, this is a good sign. It means you are being noticed and your image is one of success.

One of the ways that businesses get more business is to let the world know who their partners are. If an educational agent or tour operator can say they are working with ABC Language School and that school is well known in the community, either locally or internationally, then it lends them credibility and prestige.

That’s precisely why you want to take your time establishing new business relationships. It just may be that you don’t want your name associated with that business.

One tactic that I learned while managing a university ESL program was to ask prospective new “business partners” or agents for a package in writing. Sometimes if the person was in the same city as me, either living here or just passing through, they would insist on a personal meeting first. I would gently but firmly state, in every case, that it was our policy to consider written proposal first, before a meeting. The reality was that the first few times I said that, I was fibbing. We didn’t actually have such a policy. Having said that, we quickly created an internal policy that stated we had to receive all proposals in writing before a telephone or an in-person meeting.

Once everyone in the office knew the policy, we all stuck by it, asking frontline staff to help prevent such calls coming through to us. One polite way for a frontline staff member to do this is to say, “If you send the written proposal to my attention, I promise that will hand-deliver it to our manager to ensure she receives it.” Anyone who took the time to send a proposal – even a one-page, detailed letter – would gain our attention, at least long enough for us to review the proposal.

If they couldn’t deliver, we would gently but firmly apologize and move on. I was able to stop wasting time on agents and others who may or may not have had good intentions.

That was the first step. From there, we would ask for references and examples of previous work done. If this caused our prospective business partner distress or caused them to become uncomfortable, we eliminated them from our list of possibilities.

Sometimes, the prospect would say, “Oh, well… our partners are located in a foreign country and no one here speaks the language.” We would always reply that we were prepared to hire professional, accredited translators to check references. Very rarely did we ever hire a translator to check anyone’s references.

The steps we followed were:

  • Insist on a written proposal first.
  • If you receive a form letter or pre-made package, request more details on how exactly they would propose that you work together. Get this information in writing.
  • Insist on references. If they can’t or won’t give these to you, the process ends there.
  • Arrange a phone or in-person interview during which they do most of the talking. Ask about the history of the business, the person’s credentials, and examples of experiences they have had working with other language schools.
    • Close the meeting saying that you will consider their proposal and you will get back to them within a fixed amount of time (usually not more than one week, unless you’re about to leave on a trip). Never agree to anything on the spot.

Part of the process involved abiding by our policies and the next step was to gauge the reaction of our prospective partners at certain points along the way. It became like a behavioral interview.  If the other party wanted to bend our rules from the very beginning, insisted on doing things their way instead of ours or if they became frustrated, aggressive or unwilling to cooperate with us at any time, we knew we didn’t want to work with them.

In the end, there can be any number of reasons why you would choose not to pursue a business relationship, including (but not limited to):

  • The relationship may not be mutually beneficial.
  • What the prospective agent wants to provide for you is not something you need at the moment (i.e. not a “good fit” from a business point of view.)
  • The timing of the proposal is off. This can happen if you are undergoing changes in your organization. You can always ask the other party to check back with you again in six months.
  • Your gut tells you that working with the other party would be a bad decision.

Although we sent some policies and procedures in place for dealing with prospective new business partners, the bottom line was for us to feel comfortable with the new person. You want your business partners to respect how you run your organization, be willing to provide you with what you need and be as interested in your success as you are.

Remember the 80/20 rule. 80% of your business will come from 20% of your clients. You want to ensure you have the time and energy to cultivate strong relationships with your top 20%. Part of being able to do this is to avoid those who have big ideas and good intentions, with no way of ever realizing their goals or yours. Be polite, be considerate and be firm.

© Sarah Elaine Eaton

Related posts:

Tips for finding ESL educational agents

Tips for success at educational trade fairs

Finding an ESL agent – A open discussion (with link to webinar recording and slides)

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Update – January 2018 – This blog has had over 1.8 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada.

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What Gandhi knew about marketing language programs

April 8, 2010

Language program administrators often struggle with how to promote their programs. They want to increase student enrollment and retention in the programs and yet, resources of time and money are often scarce. Moreover, many administrators lack training or interest in marketing and so, it gets pushed aside. Or half-hearted attempts are made through endeavours such as producing a brochure using a template from MS Word.

One question that must be asked is, do language programs have an inherent or intrinsic worth of their own or are they merely a means to an end, such as a way to get a job or to improve one’s chances of getting into a university program (extrinsic worth)?  Language learning and international education enriches a student’s knowledge and understanding of the world around them (and themselves) in ways that are difficult to evaluate and almost impossible to quantify. This personal and academic enrichment in the form of knowledge of language and culture is worthwhile in and of itself. In addition, the skills these programs provide in terms of foreign language communication and cross-cultural competence may lead to better opportunities in terms of education or employment, which are extrinsic to the program itself.

For Mohandas K. Gandhi learning languages was a way to better understand the world around him and ultimately, to change it for the better. Gandhi’s first language was Gujarati. His began to learn other languages in school, where English and Sanskrit were compulsory (Gandhi, 1948, p. 9).

It was during his time in law school that he became committed to learning other languages as a way to advance his work, noting that limited language skills for him meant that he would not work in his desired profession. He stated:

“My weak English was a perpetual worry to me. . . . A friend suggested that, if I really wanted to have the satisfaction of taking a difficult examination, I should pass the London Matriculation. It meant a good deal of labour and much addition to my stock of general knowledge, without any extra expense worth the name. I welcomed the suggestion. But the syllabus frightened me. Latin and a modern language were compulsory! How was I to manage Latin? But the friend entered a strong plea for it: ‘Latin is very valuable to lawyers. Knowledge of Latin is very useful in understanding law-books. And one paper in Roman Law is entirely in Latin. Besides a knowledge of Latin means greater command over the English language.’ It went home and I decided to learn Latin, no matter how difficult it might be. ” (Gandhi, 28)

In addition to learning, to varying degrees, Sanskrit, English, French and Latin, he also learned Hindi and Urdu, in order to communicate with others in his country, understand their situation better and work towards bettering their lives. In addition, while he was in jail he endeavoured to learn Tamil and Telugu (p. 176) and used his skills in these languages to communicate and work with illiterate soldiers in South Africa to help them fight for human rights (p. 88). Finally, he added Arabic and Persian to the list of languages he endeavoured to learn (p. 176-177) and did so through informal lessons with friends. That is a total of eleven languages, including his native tongue.

He saw learning languages as a way of communicating better with others and understanding the world more profoundly. Not surprisingly, he believed that everyone should learn more than one language, stating that, “It is now my opinion that in all Indian curricula of higher education there should be a place for Hindi, Samskrit, Persian, Arabic and English, besides of course the vernacular.” (Gandhi, 1948, p. 9). Gandhi not only understood the value of learning languages, he passed it on to his students. As with many who work with second and foreign languages, he was both a student and teacher of language.

The work of promoting a language program can be tricky. It is easier to focus on the skills that students will acquire that may increase their chances of meaningful employment when they graduate. Guidance counsellors and teachers can cite careers in the foreign service or international business as good reasons for taking courses in a foreign language. That’s because it is easier to talk about concrete outcomes and examples, than it is to talk about intangible concepts such as personal enrichment and knowledge.

While not everyone who learns another language may go on to have a profound effect on the world to the degree that Gandhi did, any person who learns a new language grows as a human being because they can communicate with others in new ways. This helps to develop a more profound curiosity about the world around us, which leads us to learn more about that world. Learning more about the world and those who live in it leads to deeper understandings of other cultures, other values and other ways of understanding life, love, politics, spirituality and all that is important to humans. Learning other languages opens up new possibilities for personal and professional growth, new opportunities to do meaningful work and ultimately, to value others more deeply because we can communicate with them better and understand them.

The best way to promote languages is to value them deeply, rather than simply focus on the skills that may be gained as a result of taking classes in them. When we learn a new language we change who we are, and we become better for it. That is the real reason we want our students to learn other languages. Focussing on that is in itself one of the best ways to promote our programs.

Reference

Gandhi, M. K. (1948). An autobiography or the story of my experiments with truth (M. Desai, Trans.). Bombay: Navajivan Publishing Centre.

(Originally published in the June 2009 issue of Zephyr, Newsletter of the Second Languages and Intercultural Council, Alberta Teachers Association. It is reprinted here with permission of the editor.)

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Related post: Leadership through Language Learning and Teaching: The Case of Gandhi

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Update – January 2018 – This blog has had over 1.8 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada.

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The Plight of the ESL Program Director

March 29, 2010

Are you a frustrated ESL program manager?

I presented a paper a few years ago at the University of Prince Edward Island called The Plight of the ESL Program Director.  It reveals findings of a research study I did about English as a Second Language program directors and managers at the university level.

Here are the two main highlights:

  • Many English as a Second Language (ESL) program managers, are charged with the responsibility of marketing their programs and recruiting students internationally, often with little or no training (Eaton, 2005).
  • Not only are they set forth ill-prepared, the repercussions for insufficient revenue generation may be harsh, including having to fire instructors or having their programs may be closed by the very institutions they serve (Mickelson, 1997; Soppelsa, 1997; Staczek, 1997), many of which regard such programs as lucrative (Rubin, 1997).

Building on the work that has been done in this field to date, this research adds in the voices of three language program directors that I interviewed for this study. All of them directed different ESL programs, housed in different academic units at the same university. They offer commentary and insight into matters of importance for ESL administrators.

At the end of the paper, I offer some recommendations on how things may be improved for the future.

The full-text paper in .pdf format is available free of charge through the ERIC database.

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Update – January 2018 – This blog has had over 1.8 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada.

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Language schools and Facebook: Just do it

March 26, 2010

Recently a colleague (someone whom I respect very much) told me that as far as social media goes, she has a “Just say no” policy. She claims it would take up too much of her time if she “did Facebook”. I felt like jumping across the table at the restaurant where we were enjoying lunch and strangling her.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a big fan of social media. But me being a fan of it means nothing and that’s not why anyone should explore it. There is a one good simple reason why language programs should have an online presence, including a Facebook page. It is this: If you’re marketing something, you need to “be” where your prospective students are.

I have a client who runs an adventure language learning school in Europe. I’ve suggested to him that he focus his marketing efforts on finding students who are already into the adventure lifestyle. He’ll probably get more traction at outdoor expos than he will at a traditional language fair. He wants to “be” where his students are. He’s also looking at online marketing, and rightly so.

Why? Because his learners are young people, aged 18-25. And where are those folks? They’re on line. This age group rules the Internet. In particular, they’re on Facebook.

My adventure language learning school owner has it right, folks. If you’re marketing to 18-25 year olds, you don’t just want a website. You want an entire online presence that includes a Facebook page.

This means a Facebook page, at the very least. Don’t know how to get one? It’s easy and it’s free. I’ll give you an example. Here’s my company page: http://www.facebook.com/EatonInternationalConsulting

I’m not offering that up as shameless self-promotion, but rather to make it easy for you. On the bottom left hand side of the page there’s a link that says, “Create a page for my business”. Click on it. Make a page for your school.

See? Wasn’t that simple? 10 minutes of your time increases your online presence.

When you’re done that, send a note out to all your current and past students, asking them to become fans of your page. Yes, ask. It’s not cheesy. It’s how it’s done. Being a “fan” of someone’s FB page is code for “I think these folks are all right and I’m happy to be part of their community and support them”. (By the way, since I believe in practicing what I preach, why don’t you become a fan of my FB page while you’re there?)

Hopefully you already have a Facebook account for yourself and your students are your friends. If not, get yourself an account. Keep it professional. Search for a few student names and start adding friends. The term “friend” on Facebook can be your actual real, live friends and they can also be customers, business contacts and others. I keep my Facebook page fairly neutral and don’t mind if colleagues and former students are friends. It’s a good way to stay in touch.

If you go onto Facebook and do a search for groups using the term “language schools”, the results may surprise you. There are businesses listed who have hundreds of fans. Who are all these fans? Their current and former students, of course! The students use the school’s page as a place to post photos and exchange messages. It creates a hive of online activity, led in a large part by the students themselves. This is pretty much the perfect low-cost, high-impact marketing and promotion I am a big fan of.

When you’ve got your FB page, send me a note or drop me a comment on the blog and I’ll become a fan of your page. Why? Because I am way more of a “Just do it” kind of girl than my colleague in the restaurant. That is to say, when “just do it” is good for you, of course. When it comes to marketing it is definitely good to “do Facebook”.

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Update – January 2018 – This blog has had over 1.8 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada.

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Language and Literacy Teachers as Leaders

March 18, 2010

Language and literacy teachers and tutors are instructional leaders. Every day they act as role models for the students that they teach. They are a source of inspiration, motivation and encouragement. For the most part, they also lead by example. When a literacy tutor teaches a learner to read, write and learn the alphabet, it is because they have also learned it themselves and they are sharing what they themselves have learned. Many foreign language teachers have lived and taught abroad. They understand the difficulties in grasping a foreign grammar and new vocabulary, as well as culture shock and learning how to “be” in a new place.

Here are 5 tips for celebrating your role as a Language Leader:

1. Share stories with your learners.

Humans connect through stories and shared experiences. Tell your students about your own experience as a learner, or a story about someone you know. Think of a student you have who is struggling. Then go back into your memory banks and find an anecdotal story about you or someone else that may help your learner in some way – to provide relief, inspiration or hope. I advise changing the names of characters in your stories, to protect the innocent, of course. But it OK to share stories about former students who have overcome similar difficulties and succeeded. Connecting through stories is a powerful way to lead.

2. Share your own tips for success.

Students sometimes struggle to find strategies that will help them succeed. One way they figure out what will work for them is to get tips from those who have already done the same. As a teacher, you act as a leader when you share your tips that will help others succeed. For example, I had trouble learning to roll my “rr” when I was learning Spanish. I had previously studied French and my “r”s were too far back in my throat for Spanish. I struggled with the new sound of the trilled Spanish “rr”. My teacher gave me the tip of practicing it in the shower. (Seriously!) I practiced every day in the shower until I could do it.

As a teacher I passed that same tip on to my own students, telling that that practicing every day for just a few minutes is important. The method of doing it while doing something else that is pretty routine and does not require much “deep thinking”, also helps to decrease anxiety. It worked for me and my students tell me that it works for them too. They appreciated the tip! Every teacher has good learning tips. What are some of your personal success tips that you can share with your learners?

3. Show your humanity.

Adults have this thing about failure. Children are less self-conscious about it until they learn that it’s bad to make mistakes. Adult learners may have feelings of shame or stigma about what they don’t know. As a Language Leader you want to show your learners that it is not only OK to make mistakes and not know things, it is inevitable! What we don’t know creates a space for us to learn in. No one knows everything and we all have the capacity to learn. When you’re working with your learners find ways to take yourself down off whatever pedestal your learners may want to put you on and show them that you are just as human as you are.

4. Laugh with your learners.

Along with showing your humanity comes laughter. I tell my students about the time when I was giving a presentation as a young college-age student who was studying Spanish. I concluded my presentation, which was an anecdote about my experience studying abroad in Madrid with the line, “Y al final me quedé bien embarazada.” A few people in the class broke out into laugher and my teacher stifled her laughter. What I said was “I finished up good and pregnant”. What I meant to say was, “At the end of it all, I was really embarrassed.” Oops! Needless to say, there was no pregnancy involved, but there was embarrassment – both during the initial incident and during my class presentation. And I learned to say it properly in Spanish – “Me dio mucha vergüenza.”

I share that story with my students so they can see my humanity. We have a good laugh over it and hopefully, they learn from my mistake!

5. Encourage learners with a “can do” attitude.

Every now and again we all become discouraged. When this happens, it’s easy to say, “I can’t do it”. As a Language Leader, your job is to say, “Oh yes you can!” I tell my students that I am actually a very slow learner, which is true. I tell them about times I wanted to give up and didn’t. I tell them that by tapping into their own personal determination and perseverance, they will learn to read and write the way they want to. They will learn their verb conjugations. More importantly, they will empower themselves to gain new skills and experience the world in new ways – that their effort will be worth it.

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Update – January 2018 – This blog has had over 1.8 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada.

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