Page 23 - ELG2003 Mar Issue 469

El•Gazette 469.qxp_El•Gazette 469 25/02/2020 21:51 Page 23

UK LANGUAGE CENTRES

Wise words from

a summer school MILLFIELD ENTERPRISES

super-head

Millfield’s Mark Greenow reveals to
Melanie Butler his secrets for success

e doesn’t just run Millfield English Language Holiday
Courses, our top-ranking boarding school courses.
Millfield’s Mark Greenow also hosts a major EFL
Hconference and is an inspiration to many. Here are his top
tips for dealing with key stakeholders:

1) To parents worried about the safety of their child chance to set the boundaries and spell out the ‘rules’ whilst
If they want to let their precious little things fly the nest for a couple establishing our values.
of weeks, I tell them that I am a ‘professional babysitter’. But I do it in a fun way. For example, because I am not brave
I appreciate their trust and I know it is a huge responsibility. I enough to take a telephone from a teenager, I show them a video of
assure them we will do everything we can to protect the children from phones going into a crusher to the sound of the song Goodbye My
the environment with risk assessments, from Lover. I tell them this is what will happen if
the staff with DBS checks and from each other they use their phones in the Dining Hall
– that’s why we have Houseparents. Students will forgive instead of talking to the people around them!
Our Medical Centre protects them from a bad lesson or two, if I tell them they are here to improve their
illness and injury, the Prevent programme from English but that they can learn more important
radicalisation and we have Designated they see you care. things like learning to learn and learning to
Safeguarding Leads to protect students from love learning. This will ultimately be more
themselves. important than learning twenty phrasal verbs. They can also learn to
Most importantly, we train and induct every member of staff to be curious, learn more about themselves and learn to respect others. I
understand this multi-layered approach and strive to create a caring also tell students that I am going to make them cry, but only because
culture that all staff are responsible for. they will have such a wonderful time they won’t want to leave!
Having said all that, I don’t believe in wrapping everybody in Most importantly, a summer school is a chance for students to reinvent
cotton wool. It is important that the students have new experiences themselves and learn to live in the moment. In words beginning with ‘e’:
and let themselves go a little – in a controlled way! Things inevitably educate, engage, enthuse, entertain, energise, entrust and enthral.
will happen. It is how you deal with them that counts.
4) To agents
2) To summer school teachers Agents need to take the time to really understand the schools they
Engage with and listen to your students. Preparation is important, but are working with and avoid working with too many schools. They
don’t obsess about it. However much you plan, you never really know need to be led by quality, not commission. Some agents pigeon-hole
where a lesson is going to go. Students will forgive a bad lesson or two schools, sending all hockey players to one and tennis players to
if they see you care. another, just because they have always done it that way.
The best teachers are perpetual learners, good sharers and great Some of my best agents were previously students or staff! I love
listeners. It is important that they know that they can’t control what working with them because they completely get it. They know how
students learn. They can only control what they do. So, concentrate important this intense shared experience can be and they know the
above all else on the PROCESS of learning and give the students time passion and dedication that goes into making it happen. Some of
to REFLECT on what they are doing and why. them come back as Group Leaders. That means a lot to me.
As time goes by, the students may not remember what you taught
them, but they will remember how you made them feel. 5) To inspectors
I believe in inspections and, evidently, we do quite well at them, but I
3) To students on the first day of the course do wish there was a way they could get more to the heart of the
I enjoy giving welcome talks and I work hard preparing them. It is a matter. In my opinion, inspectors spend a disproportionate amount of
time in summer schools observing the teachers.
MILLFIELD ENTERPRISES inspectors seem to be obsessed with the teaching of pronunciation.
Schools have to meet the standard set of tick boxes. For example,
OK, but there are many pedagogical reasons to argue that English can
be taught very well without using IPA. Many teachers aren’t trained
to use it: phonetics is not a major focus on the Celta syllabus. Even
with great academic support and in-house training, it can be difficult
for a summer school to fill the training gap.
As an inspector, I would really want to get deep into the school and
test that learning is taking place holistically: in the activities, in the
houses, on the playing ground. I would want to feel the mood and
culture of the school. I must confess, though, I don’t know how to
Tug-of-war at the Millfield summer fete write a tick box for that!

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