How to choose a center and a teacher

Skills of a foreign language in a modern life are a guarantee of success. Foreign language is not an attempt to follow the fashion; it is a breath of life, an integral of a good education and a successful future career. Whatever speciality we talk about, a person can’t obtain success in it without language skills. Earlier people got used to start new life from Monday and nowadays they start it from studying a foreign language.

In connection with growing trends in foreign language skills demand the number of centers that offer education has increased, so and our comparatively inconsiderable town has become a “megalopolis” on the quantity of those services per head.

If there is a demand, there is an offer and if there is a choice, it always makes glad. And everything would be good in this choice variety if it were not for “poor” quality of the service provided by the centers that want to make profit out of parents who are inexperienced in the spheres of languages and methods of teaching.

When they choose a center for their kids or themselves, they often defer in price of the educational service - here education is cheaper or vice versa more expensive - expensive means better, or defer in design that is also very important – the center is good renovated, warm, cosy, a teacher or a manager is polite and smiling and sometimes people defer in the location of the center.

These are factors that play a great role when choosing the center or courses but the most important is – the quality of education.

How to choose the center that would be effective, and you wouldn’t be distressfully sorry about wasted time and money.

The aim. First of all, before you go and choose a foreign language center just think why you need the language.

You may have a variety of variants: for a child – to prepare a preschooler for the process of linguistic education, to bridge the gaps of school education, to study the language deeper than it is done at school, to learn spoken language, to prepare for entering the institution; for yourself – you need to fill the lost skills, to learn to understand the signboards and instructions, to read books and periodicals, to be able to communicate in a business trip, etc.; for work – you need to be interviewed when accepted for employment, to communicate with foreign colleagues, to return phone calls, to work with documentation, etc.; to pass an international test – you want to study at English speaking school or university, work abroad or in a foreign company in Kazakhstan or in Russia.

The choice of language centers directly depends on the objectives you pursue. At good centers you will be clearly explained what you should expect from each level, what grammar and vocabulary, and what themes you will study at each level, what knowledge is possible or absolutely unreal to get for the period of time you have got, what skills you will foster and how deep. Remember a kid and an adult can not be taught by one and the same program. And good centers divide their teaching programs not only by a kid-adult principle but also offer the variety of programs for both kids and adults. Therefore, when choosing the centers it is important to make sure that the service you are offered coincides with your aims.

Methodology. One of the important questions you can ask is “What language teaching methods do you use?” This question will, of course, provide you a full insight into methodical preparation of a teacher you will get, in condition it is discussed with the teacher but not with the director or a manager who knows what to say as advertising, in order to make a splash and invite you to attend their courses. Not very good centers to your question «What language teaching methods do you use?» will answer you — «according to some textbooks». The textbook is not a method at all! And the method is not only the textbook. Also they can say “Come to our center, you will be shown all the textbooks”. Or they like to say they use the Oxford (Cambridge) methods. Though the researches of language teaching methods are, of course, conducted in Oxford and Cambridge and not only there but there are no such kinds of methods! There are communicative, intensive, grammar-translating, academic, suggestive methods and others.

A professional teacher of a good center will tell you about these methods, which of them he uses and why, because the good teacher of a foreign language always uses different methods at teaching, combine, mix them together and improvise.

Documentation. Speaking about different methods of teaching we have already touched upon the subject that not only the method you will be taught with is important but WHO will teach you as well. Those who will teach you at the center must be professional teachers.

More or less it can be warranted by a diploma certifying a pedagogical and linguistic education together with western certificates, honorary certificates, residency and many other things. The copies of such documents can be provided you at your request by the director and the originals by the teacher himself.

One of compounds can be missed but not more than one. Otherwise you should better search for another center.

Teaching ability. On the other hand, language teaching supposes not only a good language knowledge that can be certified by the variety of certificates the teacher has but also the ability to teach, transfer his knowledge to another person and teach him to use it in practice. And this can be found out only if you have been taught by this teacher for some time or ask someone who has been taught by him earlier. The best way to find out how much the teaching level corresponds the level advertized or described you graphically is to talk to the center graduators or those who attends this center.

Thus, an alive example of a person who started speaking the language is always better than any advertisement. If you have no such people you can ask if there are any test lessons at the center. The center which is not worried about its reputation and the service it offers will never throw you down. We recommend you to use this opportunity. It is better to attend such kind of lessons at several centers in order to compare. Of course, it is difficult to define objectively the quality and the level of teaching after 1 or 2 lessons. Nevertheless, you will have an idea how you are taught and feel the atmosphere at the lessons. It is possible that the impressions of conditions the lessons are given in can become a determinant in choosing the center.

Length of teaching.The length of education is varied depending on the language level you have at this moment. This level is defined by testing. The test at the good center is free because it is the center which has incentives to define your level for today in order to choose the program according to your level and your aim and answer the question how much time you need for your education.

Levels of language knowledge are not made by courses. There are European standards. The levels of language knowledge are usually divided into 6 stages or levels: Beginner - elementary (from the very beginning), Elementary - Primary, Pre-Intermediate – lower than medium, Intermediate - medium, Upper-Intermediate – above the medium, Advanced - advanced. You should understand what the level is. That is the sum of knowledge - in other words - let us say about 1000-1500 new words, some grammar constructions, phrases, themes — and definite skills such as speech tempo, speech correctness, an active vocabulary, i.e. the words which come to your mind easily — reading speed, text and listening comprehension. It is just like a baby — he can toddle at the age of 1, run at 2 years old, dance a little when he is 3, and at the age of 6 he can be a master of sports at modern rhythmic gymnastics. So you can be given knowledge even in three months - without grammar at all and as for the skills if you toddle today you won’t dance in three months.

Education with all foreign language skills stipulates a definite number of class periods on each level – from 80 up to 120. Before being tested you can just approximately propose how much time you will need to study the language if 80 hours of education – it is minimum 10 months of studying according to the system of 2 lessons a week. So don’t hurry to be joyful when you are told that you will know the language in three months if you have just started to attend their courses. This center is likely interested in getting money from you, at least, for a couple of months before you understand that you won’t get any knowledge here, and such center is not interested in the quality of education at all. If, for some reasons, you really have little time to achieve your aim you should look for courses that offer intensive studies. The very core of an intensive course is namely the fugacity at the cost of intensive educational schedule (not less than 6 lessons a week) and a technology. The aim of the intensive course is to teach you to speak quickly and easily (even if it is not a perfect speech)

By the way, good centers will offer you advanced levels apart from 4 standard ones – from elementary to intermediate. It means that their teachers’ level is high enough to surpass the faculty of foreign languages. And during the education or in addition to it they will prepare you to pass those very Cambridge exams (KET, PET, FCE, CAE) and if you are good at languages they will give you an opportunity to try yourself at international tests such as TOEFL, IELTS, so that you’d understand how London school of management will estimate your Pre-intermediate level of English.

Certificate. The very important question that often arises is if the certificate is granted at the end of the education. Here we should specify that not every center has a right to grant you a certificate of education you’ve got as far as education certificate can be granted only by a licensed educational institution. The license is a document certifying that educational conditions and the level of teaching at courses complies with the definite state standards, this educational institution is regularly certified by the state attestation and on the bases of all this factors has a right to examine and according to its results can grant you a certificate of education that can be treated as a certificate or a diploma. All the other courses and centers that have only the state registration teaching certificate can give you only a so called “reference” that certifies you have really studied in their center and the terms of your education. This “reference” shows but doesn’t prove you have any level of language, even if after education your level is high enough, you will have to prove it either by entering a university or by passing the international examinations IELTS, TOEFL, Cambridge and the others in the British Council. Though the existence of such kind of “reference” and the real language knowledge that you successfully use at your work is also a mark for most employers.

So you can summarize and resume aforesaid and remember that it is better not to address the center if:

• They meet you badly — just as strangers, explain to you indistinctly, test you badly or don’t test you at all, don’t help you to decide what you need and if you really need it, don’t offer you test lessons;
• Tell you about the teachers’ abroad probations, but at best they can confirm it documentarily only at one referring to any reasons;
• They have no distinct criteria of choosing teachers, so the teaching level of them varies enormously, so the choice of the teacher will mostly depend on how lucky you are. Don’t confuse with the teachers’ individual styles that is when a good teacher simply doesn’t suit you personally – that is another story
• They expatiate much of their own advances, but give you almost nothing;
• They offer you only one program — a so called guide line or the course of preparation to the UNT exam without any variety in order to fit your aim;
• They promise to teach you spoken language as if you’re native in a minimum period of time, at the least cost and minimum efforts from your side;
• They promise to give you a document that will open you the doors of any the world’s best university FOR FREE or will help you to find any highly paid situation, without demonstration or confirmation of your language knowledge.

And probably it is worth thinking, may be it’ll better to change the teacher or even the center if:

• They don’t keep an attendance register, don’t call you to find out where you’ve disappeared, don’t ask if you like your lessons or if there is something that bothers you. Such kinds of centers don’t care what you achieve they just care how much you pay.
• They often postpone or abolish the lessons, don’t replace absent teachers, muss up the schedules, disband and reshape the groups again and again, don’t respond to remarks.
• They don’t work at the lessons and the center atmosphere. They give you neither books to read nor films to watch at home or don’t inspire you at the lesson, in other words, they seem to be working the penal obligation, and don’t love their profession.
• And the most important thing is that there is no progress even after two months of your teaching.

Choose good centers. But be careful about all LEGO-parts that make foreign language centers professional and their courses effective.