“I took some classes at a language school and now I speak fluent English”…
is a sentence I have never, ever, never, ever heard one person say.
Not once.
What I do hear is, “I paid for a class at a language school. It was a waste of time. I quit going. And that’s why I contacted you.”
So why do people keep going to these places? How do they stay in business?
Here are some ideas.
1. You think it’s 1998
Remember the days before smart phones and wi-fi?
If you wanted to listen to English or read English or speak English you had to put on your shoes and leave your apartment.
That was one advantage that language schools offered. Inside the school your ears and eyes and mouth got some English.
Some English that was maybe difficult to find anywhere else.
But that was the past.
Today it’s a different story.
However, if you were in a coma for the past 19 years, you just woke up, you still think it’s 1998, and you’d like to improve your English…
2. You have difficulty sleeping
Night after night you lie in bed staring at the ceiling, wishing you could sleep like a normal person.
You’ve tried all the techniques, but nothing works.
If only there was some activity that was so boring…just so incredibly dull… that the second you began it your brain would turn off and your eyes would feel heavy and sleep would finally take over your body.
And then a friend tells you about a magical place with text books, grammar exercises, and group conversations about shopping for vegetables in London…
3. You’re an optimist
You know how a fly will crash into the same window again and again and again?
Some people think this is the definition of insanity – expecting different results from the same action.
Others just think the fly has a fly brain.
But I think flies are optimists.
I also think this is the same type of optimism that gets people to return to language schools.
“Maybe this time I will fly through the glass / become a fluent English speaker…