How do you begin to choose a language school? There are hundreds of schools all around the world. How do you get from “hundreds” down to the one which is right for you? We suggest you consider the following points in the order shown. If some factors are more important to you than others then spend more time on them. If some are of little importance to you then spend less time on them.
Location - Geographical
Choose the area of the country where you want to go. This may be affected by several influences:
a) Is the purpose of the course to combine a holiday with learning language? If so then consider the region where you would like to spend your leisure time.
b) Is the purpose of your course to purely study language to make maximum progress and the location is of little importance? If so then we still recommend that you consider location. Choosing a school in a large city or region popular with other language students may mean you are more likely to meet a lot of foreign people. Choosing a small city or the countryside may mean there will be less distraction and your immersion in local culture and language will be greater.
c) Experience. Maybe you have been to a particular area of the world before and want to go back to the same place – or not! Maybe you have a friend who has recommended a region, town or even a particular school.
d) Travel. Maybe easy access to/from your home to the school is of major importance, so looking within a certain radius (say 50km) of a particular airport may determine where you study.
Physical
City, town or countryside? Are you a “night owl” looking for bars, nightclubs and a lively social life, or are you a keen student who is “early to bed”? Or are you something between the two? Whichever, consider where the school is located and ask yourself the question “will I be happy spending 3 or 4 weeks there?”.
Also ask “is this the only language school in the area / town?” A large number of schools together means they may be competing for homestay families or the town may be overrun by students (not welcomed by the local people perhaps).
By now, with a general idea about the part of the world in which you want to study and the kind of school 'setting' (city, town, village, countryside) you will have already narrowed your choice down to maybe 10 or 20 schools.
Accreditation
All language schools that BestLanguageNetwork.com is representing have important accreditations.
Course details:
At this point it is a good idea to look at the overall weekly prices of your chosen schools. Are the prices generally around your budget? Are they “about what you were planning to spend”? Remember that “you get what you pay for”, which means that if the prices are less than your expectations it is very likely that the service you receive will be less than your expectations. Limit your selection of schools to those whose prices (in very general terms) you are comfortable with. (You can examine ‘value-for-money’ later).
BestLanguage.com is giving you the options to sort courses in the area that you have chosen by very important criteria: price, price+accommodation and Value for money (link ka objasnjenju ovoga)
Accreditation
All language schools that BestLanguageNetwork.com is representing have important accreditations.
Course details:
- Course Type – is it what you want and is it appropriate to your needs?
- Class Size – is it 6 or 16? Make sure you know what you are getting
- Student Profile – teenagers or mature professional adults?
- Lesson Hours – how many hours of 60 minutes are you getting for your money?
- Accommodation – is your chosen school the only one in its town or city? If not it may be fighting over host families with other schools. How far away from the school are the homestays? Small towns and cities are likely to have accommodation closer to the school. Commute times in big cities can be long. How good is the bus service between school and homestay? What meals are included?
- Social Program – does the school have a social program?
- Facilities – Is there a coffee shop or a lounge for relaxing between classes, is there WIFI, library etc.
- Arrival and Departure –Does the school offer any help with transfers (e.g. school taxi) or do they leave you to arrive at your accommodation by yourself?
At this point it is a good idea to look at the overall weekly prices of your chosen schools. Are the prices generally around your budget? Are they “about what you were planning to spend”? Remember that “you get what you pay for”, which means that if the prices are less than your expectations it is very likely that the service you receive will be less than your expectations. Limit your selection of schools to those whose prices (in very general terms) you are comfortable with. (You can examine ‘value-for-money’ later).
BestLanguage.com is giving you the options to sort courses in the area that you have chosen by very important criteria: price, price+accommodation and Value for money (link ka objasnjenju ovoga)