Blog
Running a School: What business are you in? Part 5
While English may be the world’s lingua franca, it’s a lingua franca more often spoken by non-native speaker to non-native speaker. There are more English language learners in China than there are native speakers of English in the whole world (400 million to 360...
Running a School: What business are you in? Part 4
I meet hundreds of school owners each year here in Japan. There seems to be an overwhelming concern with the teaching of English to children. I’ve been collecting data on my schools for over 20 years. As I showed at a recent conference, the highest performing students...
Running a School: What business are you in? Part 3
The reasons you think students come to your school may not be the same as why they actually do. It is likely, as previously stated, that the drive is not economic, but rather social, cultural or artistic. Very little data is available on the private language school...
Running a School: What business are you in? Part 2
Four weeks ago I wrote about three well-known businesses that suffered by not adapting to a changing market and disruptive approaches and technologies. Since then I travelled to England, and as usual, people were very surprised to hear stories about Japan, a country...
Lounging Around
At the recent family reunion I stayed with my aunt and uncle in Caversham. We sat round the kitchen table for several meals. I first sat at that table in the mid-1970s. They were different, simpler times. My uncle had been to Hong Kong on business and brought back...
Letter from the UK
I left Japan on March 7th, spent the night in London and the weekend at my sister’s converted church in Cambridgeshire. I visited the local library. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday I was at the London Book Fair. Of course, a new outfit is necessary every year. I...
Podcast: Eikaiwa Teacher to Eikaiwa CEO
In my budget presentation and recent articles I talked about being able to take time off. I’m currently away in England for two weeks attending the London Book Fair and visiting family. It’s great to be able do that at the busiest time of the year and know my business...
Running a School: What business are you in?
The answer to this question may seem obvious. I teach English. But what exactly does that mean? Allow me to illustrate with some famous examples. In 1900 the CEO of Cunard probably would have answered the same question by saying he was in the trans-Atlantic shipping...
Video: Budgets and Profitability for English Schools
To introduce the new media section of the blog, we are including a video of a presentation I gave to the JALT SO SIG in January 2018. It is about budgets, using your time well and profitability. Will be uploading more videos and podcasts soon. If there is anything you...
Running an English School: Budgets
The first budget article really seems to have struck a chord. Either because people like the Beatles, or they realise they are working too many hours and not spending enough time with the people they love. It’s easily done. I can’t stress this enough – get an...