10 suggestions on how to find
good language training in Shanghai

By Brian

There are a number of English training organizations in Shanghai. Let me give you some suggestions on how to find one to suit your needs.

One: Look for a training organization that specializes in the area that you want to study.
At Kai En, for example, we specialize in the training of spoken English. (We offer only a very small number of programs because we want to concentrate on one area and be good at it.) Avoid schools that offer too many programs - they probably do none of them well. Look on their website for signs of specialization or expertise. The Kai En website, for example, has a Free Learning Centerwith hundreds of articles and tipson how to learn spoken English.

Two: Look for a school that can properly assess your English training needs.
You probably don't need to be completely fluent in all aspects of English. Instead, you may simply need to function in certain situations - to participate in meetings, or answer the telephones, etc. A good training organization, will take the time to learn about your English objectives, assess your present level, and tell you how to reach your training goals. It is much better to be specific about your goals than to be vague about them.

Three: Do the research.
Go online and compare the schools. Which ones have a clear selling point? What benefits do they promise? How do they demonstrate that they can deliver what they promise? In the case of Kai En, for example, our selling point is our expertise in spoken English. Everything about our service is designed to help you learn spoken English - the books and workbooks were written especially for speaking practice; the classroom sessions all focus on speaking; online support，English club,etc, offer more chance to practice and chat, and so on.

Four: Compare prices.
This is sometimes difficult because different schools have different systems. However, one thing can help you to be clear: divide the cost of tuition by the hours of classroom time spent with a teacher. This will show you the hourly rate of payment for the service. (However, do not count hours where you are using software or studying alone, even if you do this at the school. You should not have to pay for this!) If you compare schools, you will see that prices vary quite a lot. Also, be clear on whether the classroom hours are with a local teacher or with a western teacher. Avoid schools that will not tell you the cost of tuition over the phone or on their website. This is bad customer service, and there is no reason why a good school should do this.

Five: Be sure the school uses proper level testing.
When you enter the classroom it is essential that the other students are at the samelevelas you. Otherwise the lower ones will try to slow things down and the higher ones will try to speed it up. This is not a good way to organize a class.

Six: Does class size suit your needs?
If you are studying TOEFL, large size classes are OK. If you are studying spoken English or IELTS, however, you need classes of 16 students or less. You cannot possibly learn to speak English in a class with 100 students.

Seven: Look for classroom time with a competent teacher.
A good teacheris much more effective than a software program. A good teacher creates interesting lessons and ensures that everyone gets plenty of chance to speak. (There are lots of free online English study websites and lots of cheap software in the bookstores. You do not need to pay high prices in order to sit in a school and use their software.)

Eight: Look for a training organization with a good syllabus that suits your needs.
The Kai En Real Talk program, for example, is focused on providing English as it is really spoken and creating opportunities for you to practice using it. This helps to ensure that you are studying relevant things that you maximize your study time by avoiding irrelevant things.

Nine: A good training organization will have a good reputation.
Talk to people at work. Many have studied in language schools. Find out about their experiences.

Ten: A good training organization teaches you more than just the words of English.
They also train you how to develop good study habits , how to become anindependent learner , how tomaximize your study time,etc. You will also learn about culture and cultural differences, western thinking and communication styles, etc, etc.