Studying a language abroad is a life-changing experience for most people who undertake this path. To make sure that you increase your odds of having a positive experience and not being ripped off it is crucial that you do some research before making a decision سایت ایران آموزشگاه.
Once you have decided where you want to go to study you need to find a reliable language school that can cater to your needs. If you are going to be spending a fair amount of time at the school then your decision could mean the difference between a positive, memorable experience and a disaster.
Most schools are honest in the way that they present information about their campus and language courses. However, some can be a little deceptive and exaggerate some of their features. The worst thing that can happen to you is that the school you attend shuts down before you have completed your studies.
This has happened in the past to both language school chains and independent schools. In some countries, other schools or even the government has stepped in to help students in this situation. In other cases students have simply lost their tuition fees.
So what can you do to increase your chances of choosing a great school that is going to provide you with the best experience both academically and socially? One way to know that you have chosen a great school is to get some independent reviews and opinions from other students who have already studied at the school you have in mind. But how can you go about doing this?
Most language schools have testimonials on their websites from satisfied students but I am always doubtful as to how useful these are. Under the best case scenario students may not want to ‘rock the boat’ when asked to give a testimonial before they leave the school.
\In this case they may politely write down something nice which is not necessarily their true feeling but avoids any confrontation. The school then picks out the best testimonials for their site, discarding any negative ones. Under the worst case scenario schools may simply fabricate testimonials themselves although I believe that this would be very rare.
You can ask a school if you can email or speak to a few of their current students. This method can be open to bias too though. Opinions that you read on forums, blogs or social networking websites can help you to piece together an impression of a schools reputation.
However some of these reviews are also doubtful as school staff can pose as students to promote their own school or degrade a competitor’s school. Use your common sense and judge the review and the website hosting it carefully to decide how authentic the opinion seems.
The best reference that you can get is from a trusted friend or relative who has already studied at a school and was satisfied with their course provider. Language school associations are groups of independent language schools that agree to adhere to certain high standards and a code of ethics.
Most of them also have procedures for ensuring that complaints get handled properly. International language school associations include Ialc.org and Quality-English.com. There are also associations for certain countries or regions, each with their own accreditation systems. Some of the national accreditation schemes for language schools are set up by governments such as France’s ‘Quality Award’.
There are so many different associations and schemes for language course providers that it is hard to know where to start. You should see membership and accreditation as being a good thing overall. However there are many good schools that don’t bother with membership. It can also be hard for language school associations to maintain high standards among their members.
Every year there is a series of awards given out for the best language schools. The winners are voted not by students but by education agents around the world. These education agents each enroll hundreds or even thousands of students into language school programs every year and they are constantly in touch with the schools and are often hearing feedback from students.
The Language Travel Magazine ‘Star Awards’ are held every year. The awards are divided into countries and regions such as ‘Star French Language School’ and ‘Start Spanish Language School’. Before the event, education agents vote for their favorite schools in a number of categories. The votes are then tallied and announced at an awards dinner in London every year in September.
Agents use the results to help them find new schools to represent but there is no reason why students shouldn’t also be interested in the nominated and winning schools. Enrolling with a ‘Star Award’ winning school would be one of the best ways to ensure that you have found a school with the highest level of service and student satisfaction. Those qualities are among the criteria that agents take into account when they vote.