Getting it right
"In the 1990s all one needed to run a language school was chalk, a blackboard and a good teacher," says general director of EMPIK Language Schools (EMPIK LS), Dorota Żuchowicz. But she readily admits the language market is a different ball game now.
"Times have changed and today one has to constantly update the teaching methods and offer new products. We have been looking for partners, who have something to offer what we do not have and who could enhance our offer," said Żuchowicz, explaining the reasons behind the merger of EMPIK LS with the Orange School.
Busy students
Orange provided individualized courses for people who had no time to attend regular classes, mainly busy students and people over 35 years-old who prefer a different pace of studying to young students. "Thanks to the cooperation with Orange we will now be able to respond to the growing demand of these clients," Żuchowicz said. The two schools will continue operating under the established brand names, but according to the EMPIK LS's director in the future they will most likely work in combined teaching centers.
The deal was a response to the growing demand of the clients and a sign of the constantly growing competition on the language schools market. The market has been constantly growing since the 1990s.
Total turnover
According to the Warsaw Business Journal's Book of Lists 2004, in 2003 the top ten schools had a total turnover of just under zł.88 million. Although 2004 figures are not available for all of these schools, out of the seven that did supply their results only one failed to increase its turnover.
However, the competition is fierce. The director of the market leader EMPIK LS, which recorded a zł40 million in turnover and taught 26,700 students throughout the country, recognizes this well. "A lot of teachers are leaving the big, network schools to establish their own schools. If they get good teachers they will take a small piece of the pie, but when many of these schools are formed, then they take quiet a big number of students from us," Żuchowicz explained.
Looking at Lublin
She cited research conducted by EMPIK LS in Lublin market: "Last year 12 new language schools were established in the city. If we assume that each school takes a 100 students away from us and the two other big players, then we will see that its quiet a loss." Żuchowicz highlighted some of the benefits of large schools over some of their smaller counterparts - she says you can guarantee that lessons will always take place and the schools will always provide certificates.
But growing competition, increasing demand for convenience lessons and customer looking to save precious time has driven many schools to offer individual lessons or classes outside of the school classroom.
Out-of-school
"This has always been popular among the business clients, however, there is an increasing demand from private customers for these services," said Piotr Kubaj, the president of Spółdzielnia Pracy Lingwista, which has been providing foreign language teaching since 1958.
Some schools are now almost entirely concentrating on out-of-school lessons. "All our teachers are mobile. Last year around 60 percent of our lessons were outside of our teaching centers, today only about five percent take place in our offices," the managing director of Direct Profesjonalne Centrum Językowe said. However, because of high prices, individual lessons will still remain the domain of the business client.
English first
English continues to be the most popular language among Poles. Lingwista's Kubaj notices a positive trend among the students. " More than 50 percent of our students are also learning a second language," he said, adding that German is by far the most popular second language.
Żuchowicz also sees German as the second most popular tongue and what's interesting she sees a similarly high interest in it regardless of the region in Poland. Traditionally, French has also popular, however, Żuchowicz also notices that Spanish is rapidly gaining popularity in the last years. And in the last years there has been a real renaissance of the Russian language, which has been totally neglected in the 1990s. "Russian is becoming increasingly popular among businesspeople," the head of the marketing department at Lang LTC Maria Malinowska-Sikora said.
Expat assistance
Teaching businesspeople foreign languages, and that not only means English or German classes for Poles, but also Polish for expatriates living in Poland, has become such a good earner that almost every school these days provides business-language courses. In fact, there are schools on the market that focus exclusively on the business client.
It is not an easy task, according to Malinowska-Sikora. "Teaching a business client is different from providing traditional open courses. Every client has different needs. First we have to consider the field that the client is working in and after that prepare a program for his individual needs," she said.
Corporate customers
Most lessons for corporate clients take place in the company's offices, regular employees having classes in groups, while the management studies in individual lessons. "Apart from regular classes in the offices we also offer intensive retreat courses, which may last for even a week," the head of Advanced Corporate Training, Marzanna Mazurkiewicz, said.
This search by schools for increased teaching innovation and responding to the customers needs can only benefit the clients. Many claim that the market growth and emergence of new schools is detrimental to the quality of the teaching as the larger players tend not to hire native speakers, who are much more expensive than Poles. While some schools only employ native speakers and claim that only through contact with them can a person learn the language as it really is, it turns out that in some cases customers prefer Polish teachers, especially when the goal of the course is to prepare the students for an examination for a language certificate.
Some think that studying with a native speaker is beneficial only from a certain level of proficiency in a foreign language. Increased competition has already caused schools to offer cheaper courses. As long as it doesn't affect the quality of teaching and continues to inspire larger schools to look for new and better methods, the customers can only be happy.
"Times have changed and today one has to constantly update the teaching methods and offer new products. We have been looking for partners, who have something to offer what we do not have and who could enhance our offer," said Żuchowicz, explaining the reasons behind the merger of EMPIK LS with the Orange School.
Busy students
Orange provided individualized courses for people who had no time to attend regular classes, mainly busy students and people over 35 years-old who prefer a different pace of studying to young students. "Thanks to the cooperation with Orange we will now be able to respond to the growing demand of these clients," Żuchowicz said. The two schools will continue operating under the established brand names, but according to the EMPIK LS's director in the future they will most likely work in combined teaching centers.
The deal was a response to the growing demand of the clients and a sign of the constantly growing competition on the language schools market. The market has been constantly growing since the 1990s.
Total turnover
According to the Warsaw Business Journal's Book of Lists 2004, in 2003 the top ten schools had a total turnover of just under zł.88 million. Although 2004 figures are not available for all of these schools, out of the seven that did supply their results only one failed to increase its turnover.
However, the competition is fierce. The director of the market leader EMPIK LS, which recorded a zł40 million in turnover and taught 26,700 students throughout the country, recognizes this well. "A lot of teachers are leaving the big, network schools to establish their own schools. If they get good teachers they will take a small piece of the pie, but when many of these schools are formed, then they take quiet a big number of students from us," Żuchowicz explained.
Looking at Lublin
She cited research conducted by EMPIK LS in Lublin market: "Last year 12 new language schools were established in the city. If we assume that each school takes a 100 students away from us and the two other big players, then we will see that its quiet a loss." Żuchowicz highlighted some of the benefits of large schools over some of their smaller counterparts - she says you can guarantee that lessons will always take place and the schools will always provide certificates.
But growing competition, increasing demand for convenience lessons and customer looking to save precious time has driven many schools to offer individual lessons or classes outside of the school classroom.
Out-of-school
"This has always been popular among the business clients, however, there is an increasing demand from private customers for these services," said Piotr Kubaj, the president of Spółdzielnia Pracy Lingwista, which has been providing foreign language teaching since 1958.
Some schools are now almost entirely concentrating on out-of-school lessons. "All our teachers are mobile. Last year around 60 percent of our lessons were outside of our teaching centers, today only about five percent take place in our offices," the managing director of Direct Profesjonalne Centrum Językowe said. However, because of high prices, individual lessons will still remain the domain of the business client.
English first
English continues to be the most popular language among Poles. Lingwista's Kubaj notices a positive trend among the students. " More than 50 percent of our students are also learning a second language," he said, adding that German is by far the most popular second language.
Żuchowicz also sees German as the second most popular tongue and what's interesting she sees a similarly high interest in it regardless of the region in Poland. Traditionally, French has also popular, however, Żuchowicz also notices that Spanish is rapidly gaining popularity in the last years. And in the last years there has been a real renaissance of the Russian language, which has been totally neglected in the 1990s. "Russian is becoming increasingly popular among businesspeople," the head of the marketing department at Lang LTC Maria Malinowska-Sikora said.
Expat assistance
Teaching businesspeople foreign languages, and that not only means English or German classes for Poles, but also Polish for expatriates living in Poland, has become such a good earner that almost every school these days provides business-language courses. In fact, there are schools on the market that focus exclusively on the business client.
It is not an easy task, according to Malinowska-Sikora. "Teaching a business client is different from providing traditional open courses. Every client has different needs. First we have to consider the field that the client is working in and after that prepare a program for his individual needs," she said.
Corporate customers
Most lessons for corporate clients take place in the company's offices, regular employees having classes in groups, while the management studies in individual lessons. "Apart from regular classes in the offices we also offer intensive retreat courses, which may last for even a week," the head of Advanced Corporate Training, Marzanna Mazurkiewicz, said.
This search by schools for increased teaching innovation and responding to the customers needs can only benefit the clients. Many claim that the market growth and emergence of new schools is detrimental to the quality of the teaching as the larger players tend not to hire native speakers, who are much more expensive than Poles. While some schools only employ native speakers and claim that only through contact with them can a person learn the language as it really is, it turns out that in some cases customers prefer Polish teachers, especially when the goal of the course is to prepare the students for an examination for a language certificate.
Some think that studying with a native speaker is beneficial only from a certain level of proficiency in a foreign language. Increased competition has already caused schools to offer cheaper courses. As long as it doesn't affect the quality of teaching and continues to inspire larger schools to look for new and better methods, the customers can only be happy.
