Inspirational Stuff!

I've always admired truly creative thinking, especially in difficult situations... like English language schools. It's not easy to think truly out of the box when the product is pretty much the same no matter how much you dress it up.

English courses are not like washing machines or refrigerators. You can't mess with the design too much or play with the format too dramatically. Essentially, you've got a teacher, a board and a lot of expectant faces awaiting magic. It's as simple as that. True, some teachers are better than others, but that's pretty subjective and difficult to quantify.

So, how do schools stand out from the crowd? How do they make themselves unique when the product is essentially the same?

Well, in my time working in schools over the years, I've seen some pretty amazing attempts to get an edge on the competition. One of the first schools I worked for, tried the usual English and golf and tennis (not at the same time), but got little result. So, they dabbled in English and surfing and had a few takers. Finally, they went all out for the big bucks with... 'English and Crazy Golf.' It worked too. Two classes packed with teenagers eagerly swallowing vocabulary like windmill, tunnel, putter, cheat and a few appropriate swear words, of course.

Another school put their efforts into 'English for Banking, finance and even 'English for making money on stocks and shares.' That attracted a notable number of potential losers.

As time went on, the more extreme schools have headed down the road of what I can only describe as 'niche' markets. One offered 'English and Dog Grooming,' which went down a storm in Japan. Classes packed with small women and men wanting to give their poodles a short-back-and-sides or a bubble-cut, while learning appropriate English phrases revolving around dogs and hairdressers. "Where did you go for your holidays, Rufus?"

Another school in Brighton went for the Holy Grail of English courses - 'English for Shopping.' You don't go offering that one without a lot of forethought. Sure, the potential market is like an educational tsunami. But putting it into practice can be a nightmare. Qualified teachers do not, as a rule, want to spend their afternoons traipsing round shopping malls with clusters of students in tow after the best Primark and TK-Maxx deals.

OK... that all brings me to last week and the reason why I thought this might be a good topic to talk about. I visited Malvern House school in north London and, during my tour of the school, happened across their English Doctor, hard at work in his online 'surgery.' I loved it... as did the students. Basically, he talked for a few minutes on a live Facebook stream about some grammar point and then answered online queries and problems.(https://www.facebook.com/Malvern.House.International)

A simple idea, but cleverly presented. A doctor offering simple solutions to grammatical pain and suffering. And instead of writing a chit out or sending them to A&E, he suggested a course at Malvern House. Clever. The school also offered English for the discerning barista. A whole lesson clustered round a coffee machine. Very clever.

That almost took the biscuit for extreme courses, until I came across one course, which is as 'out there' as you can imagine. It's called: 'English and Cool Hunting.' This has to be the ultimate English course. Basically, you take your class to a coffee shop and students take notes on the people walking by - the fashions, the haircuts and the general appearance for a future lesson in class. OK, they also visit museums and galleries too, so it's not quite the perfect lesson for a tired teacher. Actually, it's quite a good lesson, since students can practice their skills describing people and can have some fun out of the classroom as well. As for the materials needed for such a class: check the list below. I particularly like fourth piece of advice.