午後英語 - Afternoon English

So I launched an English learning school out of the home, a common practice. It took a long time for me to develop the academic and promotional materials but I'm ultimately satisfied with the end result.

Getting students has been slow. There are hidden market forces and facts that we are oblivious to. After passing out 500 flyers (the most common promotional tool here) we got exactly zero inquiries. The flyers even clearly stated the possibility of a free trial lesson. Yet not a single peep. For a country hungry to learn English for fun or to get ahead in life, we simply don't understand. There is an English school in pretty much every neighborhood, taught by Japanese teachers with varying levels of English ability. They typically pay a licensing fee for the materials they use, so we're able to match them in price. I figured in this scenario that my native speaking status would easily sway the market, but not so.

The one thing I AM aware of is a rival school undercutting the market by about 1/3 under minimum rates. I know I've probably lost countless times to them. The hard part is seeing how completely inept and ineffective there academics are. And having basic grammatical errors in the clip-art laden, home-printed, ink deprived advertisements doesn't comfort me either. And while it may seem an empty pompous opinion, I actually had the opportunity to see their photo-copied print-outs and quiz the students on what was on the worksheets. They didn't seem to know a single thing from them. It was obvious they were bouncing around subjects and being fed the answers.

However, the students we do have, through word of mouth, are great and range in age from single digits to 60+. They are progressing very well and I'm having fun teaching them.

We've made appearances in our community schools from time to time. In one appearance, I taught a class and their mothers how to make wind-up butterflies. Despite a test audience, it didn't go so well. First, I thought I'd have an hour. Turns out it was 45 minutes. Second, sixth graders and their moms have no spacial capabilities. Third, they don't know how to use pliers. Oh well.

I have developed materials that round out a very interactive and challenging academic environment. I use my custom books to illustrate difficult grammar points and software, movie clips, news articles, and song lyrics to practice. It's fun and focuses on students creating sentences as opposed to the much more common method of using sentences. I can't tell you how many English speakers here sound like a pull-string doll with a very limited set of Japanese manufactured phrases. "How are you?" "I am happy." Really? When's the last time someone answered that question with being happy. And if you can think of the last time, did they not contract "I am"?

Beyond that I'm going to branch out with products. I'm currently working on a DVD series and learning games. Progress is slow and steady as with any one-man team.