John France is the owner and founder of Langports English Language College in Australia and a veteran in running English language schools. He talks to The PIE about how and why he does what he does.
The PIE: Tell me how you got involved in the industry to start with?
JF: My background is as a sports teacher and in 1981 I stopped teaching and went to travel in Australia, with my girlfriend, who is now my wife and mother of my three children. Susie and I fell in love with each other and with Australia. But we had a working holiday visa which meant that we had to go back to the UK. I knew that I didn’t want to go back into teaching as I’ve always tried to look forward in everything I do in life!
“Some of the conditions the students were expected to live with were bad and I was shocked”
So with Susie, we started an aerobics business. We grew the business, to employ 14 instructors and were putting about 600 people a week through our classes. It was very physical and enjoyable but there wasn’t enough mental stimulation for me. So I approached a language school called Anglo-World to run a sports and activities programme for their students. The Principal at first wasn’t interested but I persisted and eventually got him to agree to take me on as a freelance. I asked him to provide me with an office and access to the students and I’d do the rest! After three months Gerry, the Principal, could see the benefits my work was bringing to the school and he asked to put me on the payroll as an Activities Officer.
The PIE: So how did you move into managing a school?
JF: As an Activities Officer I got to know the students really well and when the Accommodation Officer left, I was asked to add this role too. From my time with the students, I knew that there were many problems with the way things had been run previously, and I accepted the task with the condition that I could visit all (around 400) families and make my own assessment of their suitability to host our students.
After completing my visits, I wrote to approximately 250 to advise them that we wouldn’t be able to send them any more students. Some of the conditions the students were expected to live with were bad and I was shocked.
The PIE: Give me an example of a really bad family.
JF: Oh .. I visited one family that had 10 students in one room, mattresses on the floor, students from about 10 different language schools. One family had their dogs and cats licking food off the plates. Another had students in a bedroom with plastic bags covering broken window panes!
The Principal thought I had blown it as we were approaching peak season. I told Gerry that it was better not to have students than to send them to these families and with a bit of bravado, I guaranteed that he would never have to refuse a student because there was no family for them. That’s how it worked out, but I have to admit, it got a bit close at times. On a couple of occasions we had to supply fictitious addresses to agents in order to buy more time finding a suitable family.
The PIE: How were you finding them?
JF: I forget now, to be honest. We would have advertised and we would have had leads, it was just a case of going round and meeting these people. A lot of leads came from the families we had recommending us to their friends.
The PIE: So you learnt the ropes from the ground up.
JF: I did. Activities and a good accommodation programme were just as important as having good teachers. The students taught me that a good language school is not just about teaching English. A language school is a community, I’ve always believed that I’m running a community and education extends way beyond the classroom. The language of course is vital, as it is the way in which we can communicate but once we can communicate there is so much to learn about ourselves and about other people. A good language school provides for the learning of life.
“It’s the learning that takes place outside the classroom that I’m passionate about”
In fact it’s the learning that takes place outside the classroom that I’m passionate about and I believe we can have a positive influence on the lives of our students.
The PIE: So do you think that is the secret of your success?
JF: I’m not sure what success is Amy.
The PIE: You’ve been nominated for an award..
JF: Ah well we’ve been voted best language school by EducationStars for the last two years now. That is actually voted for by students, which is to me is more meaningful than other awards. I’m passionate about what I do and that has to be the secret of success. Because if you love what you do, you will do it well and other people feel that passion. The secret of the success is also about building relationships.
The PIE: How did you get from Anglo World to Langports?
JF: Although we enjoyed a good life in Bournemouth, we always though that Australia could provide a future for our family, so in 1987 we emigrated. We had no jobs but we had each other. Always we’ve had the self-confidence in ourselves that comes from the love and support of a close family unit. Perhaps that the secret to my success – the love and support of my wife and children!
The PIE: So how did you get back into international education?
JF: I had been approached by a guy called Peter Harris in the UK to start a school for him in Sydney but hadn’t made any commitments. In the end this is what I decided to do and in 1987 we established SPEC as the 10th English language school in Australia. Then after 12 months we moved to Brisbane to open another SPEC – the 12th in Australia! Now there are close to 300.
“I drove taxis for 6 months to keep my bank manager happy”
Peter and I didn’t share enough similar values, so I decided to leave at the end of ’88. Again my wife supported me, which at that time was very brave as we were experiencing very challenging financial conditions. We had just bought our first house in Australia and mortgage rates were at 18.5%, so to give up my job wasn’t easy.
I drove taxis for 6 months to keep my bank manager happy. Whilst I was doing this, I was putting plans together to open my own school and East Coast College of English was born in July 1989. We started with three students and our first activities were organised around my own family activities.
The PIE: How were you getting your first students, through agents?
JF: Good question. Two of them were just people who were already in Brisbane at that time. One girl, her father was working for a Japanese company that owned 2 hotels in Brisbane and they had come over for a couple of years. The other was an eel chef , Hidetake. He was travelling through and the other was a Korean insurance salesman. Slowly we grew from 3 to 6 to 12, and so on.
The PIE? Why did East Coast College get sold?
JF: It had grown it to around 450 students with the reputation as one of the top schools in Australia. When I was approached I had no real intention of selling. But for some time I’d been experiencing some difficulties with my Venture Capital partner and it seemed the only way to resolve these issues for good, was to sell the business
A condition of sale was a 3 year restraint of trade on me, which meant that I could have no contact or take no position in the English language schools for three years. This was difficult as I had many friends in the industry!
The PIE: What did you do in the interim?
JF: I became a house husband. I studied psychology, built a house, learnt to appreciate my wife a little bit more. All of a sudden I was being introduced as Susie’s husband which was a great affront to me! I didn’t like that.
Anyway it was September 24 2004 that I got this phone call to say East Coast College had been sold on, and the restraint was lifted. By Dec 19, 3 months later, my first group of students arrived at Langports in Brisbane.
The PIE: How did you start up again?
JF: I can honestly tell you when I sold East Coast I had no intention to start another school, but the longer I was away from it the more I missed it. So when I learnt that I was free to start again, I relished the opportunity.
I had accumulated so much knowledge and experience over the years, having the chance to start again was amazing. I wanted my new school to be different and focused on new innovative ways of improving the service to our student clients.
My first trip to announce the new school – Langports (Lang from language and Ports – as a meeting place) was to Switzerland where I had many good contacts with agents. The negotiations on the premises were still ongoing as I was travelling.
“Everyone gladly accepted my new school and agreed to represent it with immediate effect”
Although my contacts were strong I was anticipating a warm, friendly ‘welcome back’ but three years was a long time away and their businesses had moved on to work with other schools. But this wasn’t the case, with the exception of one agency, who now does work with Langports, everyone gladly accepted my new school and agreed to represent it with immediate effect. It made me feel very humble and proved to me yet again that this business is about relationships.
The PIE: And how old is Langports now?
JF: We are 10 years old next year so having the IALC Workshop come to Brisbane is very exciting for me. It gives us the opportunity not only to showcase Langports, but I really want to show the rest of the world the quality of Australian and New Zealand schools. It’s the first time ever that IALC has come Down Under, so I’m going to work hard to make the workshop the best ever.
The PIE: What next for Langports?
JF: The Langports Foundation, is funded by the Langports schools and its charter is “To help disadvantaged children to a better life through education.” It’s my plan to continue to grow Langports in order to increase the funding to the Foundation, so that we can reach more children.
Over 150,000 students have passed through my hands in my career, but they are all from privileged backgrounds. As much as I am pleased to help assist and mentor these people I felt we weren’t really helping those that needed it the most.
We run our own small projects with Indigenous Children in Australia, as well as support other larger projects for indigenous youth through Yalari www.yalari.org and for street kids in Hanoi through Blue Dragon. The next plan is to open a school in Sydney that will be owned 100% by the foundation.
The PIE: Australia had a tough time, how do you see the Aussie industry at large evolving?
JF: The PESTs – things you can’t control, Political, Economic, Social and Tech – all countries suffer from these. To be honest with you I feel that we are still a long way from enjoying the boom times again. The world economy and the strong Australian dollar makes it tough for Australian schools and there may be a few schools that don’t make it through to the better times ahead.
In Australia there is a natural phenomenon called bushfires. They are a natural occurrence and actually good for the environment. Fire is part of the regeneration process and in the end the healthy trees are stronger. Maybe the English language industry is having a bushfire of its own and in the end the healthy schools will come out the better for it!
