DIMSCALE training program - Interview with LanguageUk's director

As we published last week, one of the members of DIMSCALE's Marketing team joined recently an English training program in the school LanguageUk, located in Broadstairs, UK. David talked with the school director (Mrs. Joanna Sessions) about their experience with students coming from companies.

David with LanguageUk's director Joanna Sessions

For how long does LanguageUk exists?

We have established since April 2008.  Just five years!

Why this location? 
Simple,  I live here!  No....... I do really like it here. We are not far from London which is a real plus.  The town is essentially English and in general the people are pretty friendly around here.  I particularly like the area in that it is unpretentious and many people are unaware of what the area has to offer.  There is a good mixture of people living here from all different backgrounds and I think this gives the students a good "all round" image and experience here in the UK.

What are the most common nationalities among students?

I would say that during the winter months we do have quite a few Arabic speakers but they are all from different countries.  Throughout the year - Spanish, Russian and Swiss are probably the most popular.

What’s your experience with students that come from companies? What are their objectives when they come here?

Unfortunately we don't have enough students coming from companies.  We have recently established a very good relationship with a large Dutch legal corporate and in May we will have our second student from this company. We have also received just a few students who have come here with very specific needs.
 
In my experience and certainly nowadays, there is no such thing as "Business English"  -  "English for work",  "Life skills in English"  are probably far better phrases to use when teaching students from companies.  

We do find that many "business students"  already have quite a good level of English (intermediate plus) and it is mainly confidence the students  lack and they need a refresher course.  Sometimes we discover from the need analysis that the students' needs are very specific and we will spend 25 hours attending to this.  The most popular requests are:

• Giving presentations/seminars
• Emailing and report writing
• Entertaining