Ideas from Elsewhere

On March 26, Larisa Brener and I visited the Intrax Institute in San Francisco. Intrax is a multi-national company that has English language schools in San Francisco, San Diego, Chicago, and Vancouver. We were there with 15 or so other schools to participate in their College/University Recruitment fair. Many of their 300 students plan to continue studying so our SAS, MBAP, or even SJSU degrees would be of interest to them.

The fair also gave me the opportunity to spend a day at another IEP; here are some of the things I noticed....

A framed poster on the wall of the Five Golden Rules, Help us help you improve your English. A picture would be nice, but I'll try to remember:

• Speak English at the Institute - you've come a long way to practice, so do it!

• Attend Class regularly (then something about that)

• Do you homework (extend your learning)

• etc etc

At the bottom, it says something about help your friends improve their English by following these rules. I'm sure we could come up with inspirational rules and encouragement like this.

Also, on every classroom door there's a sign that says "English only...it's why you're here" and another that says "15 minutes late? Wait for the break."

The classrooms are tiny (half the size of 101) equipped with small (3'x5') whiteboards and floor fans to try to get some ventilation. There are two small student lounges. One at the front has an old couch and a bench, but there's a well-worn guitar on the couch. What fun! In the back, there's an equally funky couch and a big pool table and an old piano. I love the spontaneous music options.

One other thing ~ their Student Services Director is unofficially called Director of Happiness. To be honest, he sort of cringed when introduced thusly, but it does describe the task!

Whether you are visiting IEPs or walking by middle schools or dropping kids off at camp, you're probably seeing lots of little things that relate to our work at SAL. Add a post, so we'll know!

Karen