(13) Viewing English conversation schools from the perspective of business administration

■Choose a beginner-friendly school!

As mentioned in the column "Recommended for Beginners: How to Use an English Conversation School," for beginners to continue learning English conversation, we recommend one-on-one lessons from the same Japanese instructor (or a fully bilingual foreign instructor) every time. When choosing an English conversation school, you first need to look for a school that offers this type of learning method.

However, there are many schools that fall under the above criteria, and you may be confused as to which one to choose.

In such cases, the final deciding criterion for selection becomes ``Is the school beginner-friendly?''

However, the "beginner-friendliness" of an English conversation school is difficult to discern from the outside. So, let's unravel English conversation schools from a business perspective.

■Major school

Major schools are famous nationwide for their advertisements at stations and on trains. Many of these companies are affiliated with large educational industries, so their business foundations can be said to be stable.

The quality of the instructors is generally high, and the curriculum is well-researched to accommodate students of all needs (including beginners).

This provides a sense of security even for beginners of English conversation.

The drawback is that it is expensive. The personnel costs of instructors are also high, and there are large advertising costs, equipment costs, teaching material development costs, etc., which naturally makes lessons expensive.

The most important thing to note about major schools is that ``many schools have their eyes set on companies.'' Major schools put their greatest efforts into contracting out English education for their employees from companies, which are large and stable customers. , individual customers (students) may not necessarily be important. Even at major schools, do they value individual students or is it their constitution? It is not easy to discern this, but there are many things behind the scenes. The reputation of a certain parent company, acquaintances who worked there, and the ``voices of students'' published on the company's website may be helpful.

■Semi-major school

What started as a small school gradually increased the number of students, gradually opened multiple classrooms, and became a semi-major school. There are few cases where a large educational industry is behind the company, and many cases are run by the owner/president.

If you can find a school that targets a specific group of students or has specialties such as "TOEIC preparation" or "study abroad preparation," it may be a bargain if you can find one that perfectly matches your needs. In terms of cost, it is not as expensive as the major schools, and can be said to be at an average level.

The most important thing to be aware of when it comes to semi-major schools is that there are some schools that sell themselves extremely cheaply. This is a school that keeps the price per lesson low and charges a high admission fee. For example, let's say one lesson costs 2,000 yen, but the enrollment fee is 30,000 yen. We know that 70% of English conversation beginners give up after 10 lessons, so the entrance fee is 30,000 ÷ 10 lessons = 3,000 yen. In other words, one lesson = 2,000 + 3,000 = 5,000 yen, so the school can make a profit.

From a business perspective, this is a ``method of making money through customer turnover,'' and from the school's point of view, it means that ``it is more profitable to attract new students one after another, rather than having students stay for a long time.'' This is a difficult situation for students. It is important to carefully check schools that are extremely cheap and have been going on for many years from this perspective.

■Small school

Small schools have the largest number of schools, and because they do not have flashy advertising, their costs are relatively low, and many students consider small schools.

Major and semi-major schools are prepared to accommodate "any kind of student," but small schools cannot accommodate all students.

In business terms, this is called ``niche business law,'' and each school is trying to survive and outperform its competitors in its field of expertise (in business terms, it is called ``core competency''). Another feature of the school is that the ideas of the management and principal are often reflected in the colors of the instructors and the school as a whole.

The schools in this layer are truly a mixed bag. Even people with no experience in English education can quit their job and start a business. Under such circumstances, what is the decisive factor in finding a reliable school? First of all, you should avoid schools that don't show you what you're good at. As a small school, it is impossible to accept just anyone. A school where you can't see what areas the school is good at (student population, gender, age group, purpose of learning, etc.) may be a school where no one can improve.

I think that searching for the school that suits you from this group of schools will mainly involve searching the internet using Google. Search using various keywords to find a school that best suits your needs.

Above all, the key is to find a school that seems to take good care of beginners. I think many schools offer free trial lessons, so it's a good idea to participate. During the trial lesson, you can find out whether not only the lesson but also the overall atmosphere of the school suits you. Is the atmosphere likely to continue for a long time? You need to sharpen your five senses and take a closer look.

■Personal lessons

This is a style where you receive lessons from a private tutor or by visiting the teacher's home. Costs vary from pins to pins. Above all, it depends on the teacher's individual abilities and personality, and if you can find a teacher with whom you are compatible, it will be the best choice. However, the opposite is also possible.

The problem is that it is difficult to find a teacher. Some teachers create homepages, but they rarely rank high in search results, and the focus is on personal introductions. Therefore, when you actually start a lesson and things don't go well, there may be no substitute instructor, or it may be difficult to stop the lesson, or it may be difficult to deal with the situation.