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What to Look for in a Language School

1. Do you have to pay a lot of money up front?
Some schools try to get prospective students buy a year’s worth of classes right when they sign up. The student gets one trial lesson (usually given by the best teacher in the school), but doesn’t get to know anything about the other teachers until it’s too late. The school says that the student can save money by buying all their lessons at once, but how much money are you going to save if you’ve bought a year’s worth of tickets and you stop going after three months?

2. They won’t tell you the price until they’ve gone through their entire sales pitch.
Do I really have to elaborate on this one? I didn’t think so.

3. How much experience do the teachers have?
Although any native speaker has a perfect accent and can speak the language fluently, being able to explain it objectively to someone from another country is another matter. (Can you really explain the difference between “a” and “the”?) Ask the teacher to explain the nuances of “～に決める” and “～を決める”. If you don’t get an answer you can understand, well…

4. Do the teachers speak another language besides Japanese?
If the teachers haven’t gone through the process of learning another language themselves, how can they understand the problems that their students are having? Ideally, Japanese teachers should speak your native language, because that will give them the best insight into the difficulties that you, as a student, are going to face. (They’re the same problems, only in reverse.) But if not that language, at least some other language would be good.

5. What field are the teachers’ degrees in?
It’s great to have a degree from a university. But let’s face it: a major in engineering or physical education isn’t going to help you explain adjectives or particles. Look for teachers who have degrees in linguistics, teaching Japanese as a second language and so on. Advanced degrees in these areas are even better.

6. How about the other staff members?
What about the secretaries and other Japanese personnel? Do they speak good English? Do they have good accents? Can they communicate freely with the foreign staff (assuming there are any) in English? And the foreign staff…can they speak Japanese?

7. What percentage of the students are new, and what percentage have been at the school for at least a year?
If the majority of the students quit within a year, chances are you will, too. If the school doesn’t have a pretty high percentage of continuing students, walk away. (If they won’t tell you the percentage, run.)

8. What do the other students think about the school?
Talk to another student or two who’s tried the school out. And don’t just talk to the ones who the management recommends. See if you can find someone on your own who goes there, and ask for an honest opinion. If you have to, wait outside the school until a class ends and ask one of the students as they’re coming out. Are they happy? Or are they thinking about quitting?

9. Do you have to make a decision right then?
If so, you’d better be careful. If it’s really a good deal, you’ll still want it after you think it over. If the school tries to rush you into joining, though, you should ask yourself why.

10. Does the school encourage you to shop around?
If not, maybe there’s a reason…