Our Beginnings & Thanks
Experiencing the Problems of the Old Style
At different times and in different places, many great teachers and eager students at many popular language schools and educational institutions found themselves extremely dissatisfied. Teachers were restricted from using their talents to explore new and better ways to teach; students were not allowed to benefit from the full talents of their teachers. Again and again, these talented teachers and eager students asked one very important question:
“Why?”
However, from the old-style language schools and educational institutions, the answer was not forthcoming.
The Eikaiwa (English Conversation) School Syndrome
The sad and simple truth is that the resources of most language schools are used primarily for advertising and sales training. Many of them do not even offer Japanese conversation classes and do not allow their own teachers to attend their language classes. Education, lesson quality, and teacher training become secondary or even tertiary concerns. Students often pay huge amounts of money for inferior education and see little progress in their language abilities beyond very basic and often impractical speech. Teachers introduce better, more effective teaching ideas only to be reprimanded by management. Over time, some of these students and teachers began to see the darker side of the Eikaiwa industry in which they attended classes and worked.
Starting the Revolution
Separately, each imagined a greater, more effective, more fun and more modern learning environment. Through luck, a few of those teachers and students found each other and discussed their ideas. Then it struck them—no one else was doing it, so THEY had to be the ones to push language learning into the modern age and beyond! Together, they developed a powerful vision for progressive and highly adaptable global education; and those few teachers and students became the founders of CILS—The Chicago International Language School. Eventually, with their unique ways of thinking, intelligence, talent, and sound educational and psychological research, they created a revolutionary and dynamic approach for everyone to learn culture and language. Now at CILS, we all share that extraordinary vision.
We invite you to come and be a part of our language learning family as either a student or a member of the CILS Educational Services Team. There is much more to language than the old-school! Contact us to find out more! This is the beginning of the revolution; join us as we usher in the Golden Age of Language Education!
