13. Starting a language school in Spain with Joann Barnes
Joann Barnes is a certified English language instructor who teaches English as a second language to Spanish speaking children in Spain, helping them to get their official bi-lingual certificates.
After traveling in Europe and falling in love with Spain, and meeting her future husband there, Joann opened a language school, The English Club, in Bormujos, Spain near Sevilla, starting with 75 students and growing steadily over the last 15 years. She has written 8 language books to support her curriculum.
Even though there are a lot of English academies there, she incorporated a relatively new method to work with kids, further differentiating her’s as the only academy with a maximum of 6 students per class. She loves the slower pace in Spain, resisting the temptation to scale up the business in favor of quality over quantity.
On this episode, Joann shares how she:
- Taught an ESL program in the States before moving to Spain
- Went beyond the typical language curriculum and incorporated life skills in her teaching
- Addressed her biggest challenge that came with the organization of the business, taking her 3-4 years to get comfortable in the business
- Fostered ongoing referrals to maintain growth of the business
- Parlayed her business knowledge into starting a new business in the insurance industry in the States
Contact
Email: [email protected]
Also mentioned during the show:
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