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Language LearningJoys ofThe

Interview with Nicholas Rose, Founder and Director of Smile Abroad

Nicholas Rose was born in Australia and moved to Israel six years ago. After many years of teaching he began his own company, ‘Smile Abroad’. His aim, offering success-

ful English and Hebrew courses which are tailored to the learning needs of students, enjoyable, and offer great value for money.What was the inspiration to start Smile Abroad?

I love teaching kids and adults. I worked with young kids for many years, and taught adults at the same time. I wanted to give myself the opportunity to do both in a framework where the number one priority was the needs of the students. I believe that those who smile and are comfortable during language lessons are more moti-vated, confident, and therefore more likely to succeed.Who are your clients? Where do you teach them?

We teach at homes, community centers, online, offices and even factories. We teach school children from Hebrew and English speaking families, adults, and individuals from a variety of profes-sions.You offer Hebrew lessons to English speakers, as well as English lessons to Hebrew speakers. Is there anything else you offer?

What surprises many people is that many of the kids for whom we run English programs have English speaking parents. We also teach courses to Russian, French, Italian and Portuguese speakers.Why would English speaking kids need English lessons?

Often parents are looking for a standard of English lessons high-er than what is provided in the school system, or one that is similar to the American, British curriculum etc. Or more simply, their chil-dren need assistance with reading and writing.What methods do you use when teaching kids?

I can’t sit still for more than about 10 minutes, so we don’t ex-pect the kids we teach to be able to either. So we move, sit, read, play, dance, write, act, play ball games, listen to music, write stories and a whole lot more.

We also use many online resources. All kids receive online learning activities for homework - if they have access to an internet connection.What different types of programs do you offer?

We offer private lessons face to face and online. We offer group lessons. Clients can create their own groups or we can build a group for you. We offer Business English and Hebrew lessons privately or with groups in the workplace. We are continually evolving; we listen to our clients and create new programs based on their needs.How are Business English and Hebrew different from regular lessons?

There are similarities, but the purpose and goals are different. Most commonly people enroll in this course because they know

their poor language skills affect profit margins. We assist the cli-ent to convey his messages through speaking and writing more effectively. This involves a new set of vocabulary skills, depend-ing on the occupation.What about students with learning difficulties?

Some of our favorite success stories are the great achievements made with students with learning difficulties. We have on staff an expert in the field of special education with whom we consult on a regular basis.Can you give me an example of such a success story?

A mother came to me with a son in the 7th grade, diagnosed with ADHD, failing in English due to poor grades, poor behav-ior, and the inability to concentrate while doing written work. His teacher from our company subsequently worked on his confidence and self-belief, gave him strategies to control his behavior taking into account his learning difficulty, created enjoyable lessons for him with a lot of movement and outside play, and his results radi-cally improved, even his writing skills.How are Smile Abroad’s Hebrew lessons different from doing a Hebrew Ulpan?

The lessons are personalized to the needs of the student. While an Ulpan adopts one approach which is very successful for some and less for others, our teachers are flexible to the learning style of each student. For example, some students are visual learners and others need more auditory stimulus. Some students need ges-tures and movement in order to assist their learning. Some stu-dents need to spend one week on a topic, while others need two. Furthermore, an Ulpan only gets you to a certain level in the best of cases.What can an adult accomplish after completion of a course - will he be able to understand the news or read the newspaper?

This is a common question. A student will make improvement. How much? This depends on the commitment of the student to the process. However, the formulation and reformulation of goals is a critical part of the learning process.What do you hope to accomplish with Smile Abroad?

To continue to provide high quality English and Hebrew les-sons with fantastic teachers, while looking for new ways to assist language development beyond the classroom. Smile Abroad is an innovative company, and we want it to become be a leader in the language learning field.