There used to be a lot of awful English language trainers. I know because I saw them and I worked with them.
You see, not too long ago, any native English speaker living in a foreign country, could get work as an English teacher. There were lots of people that wanted to study English, and ‘native teachers’ was attractive marketing for a school. So, just the right passport and accent would often guarantee you work regardless of qualifications, understanding of language, people skills or even talent,
This led to many unfortunate situations. At a summer school I worked at in the UK, the teachers had a game to see who could incorporate the least educational activity into their class. The winner was a colleague who convinced the kids to play sleeping lions (lie on the floor, the first one to move loses) for half an hour. In that same school a teacher came in one morning so drunk that he unwittingly downed the water from a vase of flowers before crashing through the tables and stumbling off to class.
In Spain, the director of the school I worked at would ‘evaluate’ new students by asking them to read a twenty-year-old article about dolphins (why always the same article?) before assigning them to the group most suitable for their level - There was only one group. Another teacher at that school would often relocate his classes to the bar downstairs.
In Chile, a colleague walked into his classroom hungover, set a reading activity then walked onto the balcony and smoked a cigarette. I also heard of one teacher having to be woken up after falling asleep in a one-to-one business English class.
The expression in English is nicking a living.
The lack of professionalism was often astounding: zero preparation; repeating the same old tired, irrelevant, exercises; lazy ‘conversation’ classes; teacher’s teaching subjects they were not qualified to teach and not bothering to prepare themselves either. The expression in English is nicking a living.
Thankfully, times have changed. But it’s still not easy finding the right person to help improve your English skills. So, here’s a quick guide to what you should consider when you hire a language trainer.
Establish Objectives.
Language trainers are selling services. Therefore, like many salespeople, they promise the earth without really committing to anything.
Make sure you establish clear objectives before you start the classes.
Ask yourself: Why are we doing this? What is the issue that needs resolving? Why have we hired a language trainer?
Discuss your objectives with the trainer and make sure that they, who should be doing everything they can to understand what you are trying to do, are on board with the project.
Check there is a Needs Analysis.
Trainers should carry out some sort of needs analysis. This should look at both the student’s language skills and problems, but also the work context. E.g., What language skills are necessary? What difficulties do employees have? What vocabulary areas do they need?
This is the information that should be used to design a product specifically for that student / class.
A needs analysis is usually done before a course starts, but it is also something that should evolve over time as the trainer learns more about the students.
Make sure classes are focused and relevant.
Watch out for generic material. If you are a business hiring a language trainer, you should expect that the classes are relevant to the context of the students (hence the Needs Analysis). Trainers should be able to justify the significance and relevance of every activity that they do.
Ask questions and expect answers.
The trainer is your English language consultant. They should be an expert with answers to your questions. Like all consultants, sometimes they’ll have to ‘get back to you on that one’, but if you are paying well, make sure you are getting someone who knows what they are talking about.
Look for flexibility
Make sure there is a clear policy for cancellations or postponements and a certain amount of flexibility. If the face to face class can’t happen, can we organise another via video conferencing? (On more than one occasion I’ve had the class over lunch.)
Also, don’t be afraid to give input into the class content. If you have an important presentation coming up, ask if the trainer can focus on that instead. The trainer should be happy with this input because it keeps the class useful and relevant, and that’s our goal.
Expect professionalism
If you’ll excuse the turn of phrase: Trainers should have their sh*t together. No running in last minute with papers flying or trying to make Zoom cameras work. Expect preparation, professionalism, and expect clean shoes.
If you're interested in improving your English, get in touch. I'm happy to chat, free of charge, and discuss how I can help.
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