Answer this; "Eparkeia" for CPE holders
Dear Yannis, I am a school owner, English teacher, holder of BA degree, an ex South-African residing in Limnos for the past sixteen years( an ardent reader of your column too.) Would you be so kind as to shed some light on the’ eparkeia’ issue? Has all talk of banning this blatant unfairness fallen through? […]
The Student Quest vs the Teacher Quest – Secrets and lies of Greek ELT
This year we have had the lowest turnout of junior students of the past 10 years throughout the country. This is definitely something to be further observed and analysed, without rushed assumptions. Low numbers of junior students also appeared in 1998 and 2001, but not to the extent of 2007. However, this earlier phenomenon provided […]
The secret powers of Greek ELT
Though we are getting closer to the second decade of the 21st century, talking or even doing politics in Greece is still shaded by the last half of the 20th century, in terms of ethos, expectations and attitudes. To be more specific, although a government should be a team of “nation’s employees” serving the public […]
Lessons of control and interdependence
Running a business is a profession in itself. Two years ago, I introduced the concept of parallelism to business and the human body. By correlating various human resources to the different parts of the body, the position of the business owner becomes the “brain” of the business “body”. If this brain is to guarantee the […]
Dealing with indirect competition – A new perspective for your marketing plan
There are two kinds of competition in every market. Direct competition is practised by professionals of the same kind in an attempt to lock a larger share of the common target market. In the case of Greek ELT it is schools vs schools, publishers vs publishers, distributors vs distributors and so on. Indirect competition is […]
The loneliness of the business owner!
Running your own business is a lonely business. Once upon a time you opened your wings to fly towards contributing something more to the field you had been working in, anyway, as an employee. Your motivation possibly came out of your frustration for the amateurism that your profession was dealt with by your employer, your […]
Pride and prejudice!
Why numbers alone is not all you need for the development of your educational business and how the CAN DO statements of the business owner reflect on it! Closing 2006 I proceeded with the review of 18 of my co-operations, the first phase of which was completed in the last year. Reviewing results, the first […]
So long training!
During our 2006 research what was specifically noticeable was the crisis training is undergoing. While once upon a time ELT professionals could take pride in being one of the best and most frequently trained professional fields worldwide, 2006 could be characterized as the most critical year for professional ELT trainers in Greece, based on interviews […]
The Can-Do Statements of the ELT business
The CEFR has been a revelation so far, not only by introducing a standard framework of skills and abilities (besides it’s too standardized in this respect), but mainly by introducing autonomy, self-evaluation and the concept of producing what’s now known as Can-Do statements. However, for those who see the real value of the concept and […]
The educational product no.2 – Re-energizing a dormant industry
To date, whenever somebody asked “so what exactly do you do?”, the most natural answer that came out of my mouth is “re-energizing dormant educational businesses”. The influence of seminars I had attended myself was, of course, obvious in this answer. However, the extent of the problem I was coming up against as a consultant […]
