Our English Lesson Consultation Process

When I first heard the phrase, “You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression”, I liked how it emphasised presenting yourself well. My second thought though, was that it sounded a little scary, as if you might be judged forever for a small mistake or oversight.

A more succinct phrase is, “First impressions last”. It still acknowledges the importance of that initial meeting, but it feels less intimidating. After all, most relationships develop over several interactions, not just one. 

 The ironic thing is that when people are nervous, they often don’t represent themselves naturally. The idea that everything depends on one moment can create unnecessary anxiety. Personally, I think it’s better to assume everyone is a little nervous at first, even if they don’t say so.

At our English school, the consultation is the first real chance we get to meet a student face to face and understand their English level, experience, and goals for learning English.

In that situation, most people would want to help the other person feel at ease and give a small gesture that says, “Don’t worry, you can relax”. That is what Masami and I do in our first in-person interaction during our consultation process.

We don’t really count first impressions that happen through phone calls or emails. Those are naturally more formal. The feedback we get from students after our consultations is often similar: “You’re very different in person”. However, we are a business, and formality has its place.

During our English lesson consultation, we try to keep things less formal so we can understand who the potential student really is, their history with English, their learning experience, and what they want to achieve from their English lessons.

Most of this comes from a conversation and a short English level check. It’s not a difficult test, just a simple way for us to understand where the student is now and how we can help them improve their English communication.

Through this process, the ice starts to break, and it helps us become the English facilitators we aim to be.

In the end, the consultation works as a meeting, a short interview, and an English level assessment all at the same time, but without putting too much pressure on first impressions.

 It’s still okay to be a little nervous though. We are too.