Have you ever been to the gym with a trainer? Noticed they don't do the workouts themselves? They have YOU do them, and keep you entertained and tired in the process.
A language teacher in this sense is very much the same as a trainer. They only help you achieve your goals, but it is you who has to make the jump. A language teacher spends maybe two hours with you a week, and it is plain inefficient if you are not doing any workouts yourself. You tell me the goals you want to achieve, and I will give you a set of workouts to do in your down time. My job is to make sure that you are doing the workouts in a proper way, and if you have any questions or uncertainties, I can jump in and help.
What makes my service different?
Have you ever been to a restaurant recommended by your friends, and before you had even had your first bite, you went 'ewwwww...'? It is the same with language tutors. That your friends say a language school is good does not mean you will find it to be so. Thus goes the saying:
It's true, I can't really tell you how you feel I am different from my competitors. I have had dissatisfied clients too. Anyone who has done politics knows this: it is a logical impossibility to please everyone no matter who you side with. But most of my clients are happy and most importantly of all, they are coming back to me.
If there is one observable difference between what I do and what some of my competitors do, it is that I try hard to connect to my clients. Here is an example. Some of my clients are running the management in big corporates. Do I talk about workplace English? Hell no. They are not office assistants (anymore, anyway) and they don't need that kind of thing. What they usually need is things like discussions about leadership, how they can stage an advertising campaign for their company, and so on. Obviously those are not the kinds of things you will see in language schools, because very often they are too busy and simply can not afford the time to make personalised stuffs for each student. Although I work in a language school, I have been doing things to the contrary for almost a year now, and my clients simply marvel at what they can do with English.
This last bit is what makes me different. I do not just tell you, 'hey, do this and that'. How on earth are they related to learning English, you might ask. You will find it an extremely helpful tool, even in Hong Kong where you don't get to use English a lot. Have you ever been to the cinema watching an English film? Does it sound cool to you that while nobody catches the subtle English sense of humour, you are the only one chortling in the whole cinema?
Still not convinced?
I can only give you solid figures:
As far as those I still keep in touch go, around 80% of them have seen a significant jump in their English level – in terms of their ability to communicate their ideas clearly and in terms of their exam results (school exams, HKCEE, HKALE, and TOEIC)
In one particular example, a trainee from a Japanese company saw a gulping 200-point jump in his TOEIC scores (from 615 to 830) after spending 30 hours with me. The company was very happy with the results and it is now sending 12 people with 40 contract hours each to our school.
My clients range from bankers to young learners, and over 70% of them are returning clients.
Sounds not so impressive right? What if I tell you that all this is done in less than a year, and you don't need to fear the initial language barrier with mostly monolingual English tutors? I have teaching experience with speakers of Cantonese, Mandarin Chinese, French, and Japanese. I have also worked with local schools on several projects.
So at this point, you might be wondering, if I am as good as this ad is telling you, why am I still posting this ad? Truth be told, I do not have a lot of time slots, especially on Saturday and in the evening at weekdays, to the extent that I had to terminate service with some clients (sorry chaps...). So I've decided to open up Sunday as well. This promise I make: once you've secured a time slot, I am not going to move you like cattle just to squeeze things in.
So, in short, if you are interested and have time on Sunday – or in the day at weekdays, then chuck me a note or just give me a ring, and we will see if something can be worked out.
Afterword
The more perceptive of you might have noticed that I have refrained from referring to my clients as 'students' but instead chose the term 'client'. It might seem too business-like. It is. On the other hand, my clients, who are very often way older than me, might have taught me more than I can ever have taught them. Teaching and learning is a two-way process. A teacher does not just teach. She learns from her students too.
It is with this humble thought in mind that I invite you to join me in this wonderful process of teaching and learning.
