10 Tips When Opening Your First Language School

Alexandra Uifalean

October 19th, 2019

Ever wonder why so many language schools open and close in no time?

Starting a language school is a hard nut to crack. There are so many details to focus on: real estate, financing, logistics, and marketing'to name a few.

Here's something to put you in the right mindset:

Schools that start shaky, usually stay shaky.

If your purpose is to build a strong teaching business, there's no place for cutting corners. There's a science to running a successful language school and many do it without a clear strategy.

But not you.

After reading this article, you'll know what's most important when launching a new school and how to tackle it.We've put up a list of ten inspiring tips to help you make the best out of it.

Without any further mentions, let's dive in.

#1. Start With Good Design

If you want to maximize your chances for success when opening a new language school, rule number one is to create an inviting space that reflects your culture.

Here are nine design principles from GettingSmart that you can apply to create a resilient brand and improve the student experience:

Lots of presentation spaces
Quiet individual working spaces
Places for teams to work
Inviting, natural light, connection to the landscape
Community connections/services
Lots of broadband, lots of electrical outlets
Energy-efficient, sustainable
Managed access and the ability to go from big facility to small facility
Make everything flexible/convertible

#2. Know Your People

Before opening your first language school, is crucial to know as many details as possible about your future clients, so do your research.

Who are your target students?
What do you know about their demographics? (race, ethnicity, gender, age, education, family income level, etc).

Knowing the answers to these questions will help you reach the right audience and identify their needs. You'll then be able to design programs that better serve them and help boost enrollment.

#3. Hire Great Talent

Whatever you do, without the right people, you won't go far. 'There is no such thing as spending too much time on hiring,' thinks Nicole Assisi, the CEO and founder of Thrive Public Schools.

Here are some things you should consider when it comes to attracting and recruiting dedicated employees:

If you want to attract and retain first-class educators, make sure you have a recruitment strategy in place.
Integrate role play into the interview process and ask the right questions.
Another thing you could do is to tell candidates to do a sample lesson so you can see them in action.

#4. Grow That Talent

Not everything is about hiring. What happens after pretty much sets your school up for success or failure. But we hear you'beginnings are a delicate time. 'During the opening phase, staff tend to be smaller and inexperienced teachers are more likely to be hired,' is what Joan Massey, the CEO Chavez Schools told GettingSmart.com. She recommends 'working toward a balance of staff who have at least three years of experience to support the onboarding of new teachers and the success of the academic program and instruction.'

Studies show that 87% of millennials consider career growth and development opportunities very important. After all, by investing in your employees, you're also increasing retention rates. Here is Breezy's advice on how to nail it:

Offer teachers paid opportunities to improve their teaching techniques and methods
Provide greater access to professional learning communities and teaching associations
Encourage participation in lesson study or study groups with other teachers

#5. Market For Enrollment

Matthew Wunder, CEO of Da Vinci Schools, highlights the need to promote enrollment. 'Enrollment matters. Keep your enrolled students connected and engaged with the school. Recruitment and retention is the financial lifeblood of your start-up.' Consider the following questions if you want to have the right number of students in your program:

Why does your school exist?
What is your value proposition'how will students benefit from enrolling with you?
What kind of teaching will you focus on?
What do you consider success?

#6. Build and Test Agreements

As you outline the framework that will support your language school and students, keep in mind it's important to prototype and test their practicability before you start the ball rolling.

Ron Berger, Chief Academic Officer at EL Education, recommends promoting staff agreements 'on as many consistencies as possible before students arrive so that things feel clear, respectful and safe for all students.' Think about aspects like code of character, cell phone use or the communication between teachers and students.

#7. Get the Culture Right

With all the hassle of opening a language school, 'it can be easy to overlook the importance of your staff and student culture during those early days,' points out Jim May, Chief Schools Officer.

However, it's vital to pay attention to culture from early beginnings. 'listen to students and take the time to nurture the human element. People want to identify and purpose. Build that into the culture of your school and you will go far. The processes are important only as long as they bring people along,' recommends Pat DeKlotz, Superintendent at Kettle Moraine School District.

When you encourage students and parents to participate in co-creating the school's vision, you're setting your school up for long-term success.

#8. Get the Board On Board

Here's a great piece of advice coming from Carrie Irvin, the founder of Charter Board Partners. 'One of the most foundational, and often overlooked, aspects of starting a new school is a good board - they can be the difference between a goodschool and an extraordinary school

Think about the board as a crucial part of your language school'just like the building and the educators. Carrie has a bunch of tips for school owners who want to hit the nail on the head:

Focus from the very beginning on building a governing board, not a 'friends and family' board (a.k.a people who can give you experienced advice).
Seek out useful resources and training for your board.
Invest in building formal good governance processes and structures, and follow them.
Don't limit the board's role to fundraising and facilities. You need your board by your side and to have your back - especially during those tough early years.
Boards must be aware of particularly sensitive issues involved with running a school and be informed and prepared to handle these.

#9. Go With Innovation

'Identify the processes your school will use to manage innovation,' says Alex

Hernandez, the Dean at Charter School Growth Fund. 'The most innovative schools succeed because they consistently improve their 1.0 school models.'

Technology is a big deal. Thanks to it, we're able to redesign schools and create personalized learning solutions that better serve students. Since the early bird catches the worm, stay on top of new trends and technologies that can help your staff and students leap forward and blaze new trails.

#10. Take Care of Administration

If there's one thing you need in place before opening your first language school, it's a reliable administration system.

When we designed Teach' n Go, we focused on what schools and training businesses need and left out all the clutter and complexity. Its user-friendly platform keeps you in the loop with what's happening in your training business: from lesson scheduling, attendance history, teacher assigning, course pricing, payments and billing to custom reports'and much more.

We also created a dedicated portal and automated email and sms notifications to keep parents updated and help you strengthen your relationship with students.

Ready to Rock And Roll?

It takes a lot of guts and effort to get a new language school up and running.

Hopefully, with these tips, you'll feel more confident that you've got what it takes to open and run it, as well as keep enrollment flowing.

And if you ever need help streamlining your workflow, you can always try Teach 'n Go for free.

Share this post