Emerald Cultural Institute  – Meet the Director Interview

Can you tell us about the inspiration behind starting your language centre?

Well, the inspiration was very much my personal experience, my personal story, because I’m originally from Italy and I was given a scholarship to come and study in Ireland to research and write a thesis about the problem in Northern Ireland and the conflict in the years of the Troubles. So, I spent two years in Ireland and that was my first introduction to the world of international education.  I had to go and study English in a language school first, as at high school and university I had studied French.

Studying at a language school opened a world that I didn’t know about, and that was my first introduction to the world of international education and to Ireland, to a country where I had never been before.  I didn’t know anything about it.  So, there was a huge desire to come back to Ireland when I finished my studies in Italy in those years. in 1985-1986, I saw the opportunity to start the language school which gave me the possibility to stay in this country and to embark on a career, learn to go along a path to which was very unknown to me, but very, very exciting.

When you started the language school, what were the biggest challenges for you?

At the very beginning, there were two challenges, being Italian and promoting a language school in Ireland.  The first challenge was promoting Ireland as a destination and in those years it was really a pioneering experience.  There were some language schools, not that many, but certainly Ireland was not high on the map as a destination.

That was the first challenge, identifying the right programs and carrying out the right market research.  I suppose from the very beginning, I had a strong sense that a language school was not simply about teaching a language, but it is an introduction to a whole culture and new opportunities.

I realized that the potential of a language school is much more than just that. And that’s why almost in a naive way, and bold at the same time, we chose the name Emerald Cultural Institute, because from the very beginning we wanted to emphasize the true nature of a language school with everything else around it. It’s an introduction to the culture, the people, the tradition, the music, food, the history, the whole thing.  It’s meeting other people. It’s a place of encounter and creating opportunities for students.

How has your centre evolved since its inception?

At the beginning we needed to develop a wider selection of programs, including professional development and tailor-made programs. From the outset.  English language and professional development have been part of Emerald Cultural Institute.  Therefore, we have had a lot of experience in program design and delivery across a wide range of sectors.

Pre-Erasmus there were a lot of different projects that we got involved with, with institutions in different countries of Europe, universities, colleges, schools, and so on, or professional bodies as well.  We were also developing specialised programs for juniors, including our STEM program that we are very proud of because we developed this eight years ago in cooperation with Trinity College Dublin which obviously is one of the top colleges in the world.

It was a very interesting experience for us to have a full cooperation with the college, which was established in the 1500s, on how to create a program for young people and we put together a programme incorporating STEM Science Technology Engineering Maths and language training.

Equally, a few years ago, we identified a big issue among our students. I get very passionate about this, because in a language school, you see so many talents.  People coming from all over the world and people with wonderful qualifications, but they struggled to progress in their careers. So, we did a lot of research of British universities, of research done by the World Economic Forum, and other authorities and agencies and we identified that a big challenge is a gap between formal education and employability. We put together a group of teachers and they worked for many months, and we created modules towards developing 21^st-century skills.  It’s not a course in parallel to a language course, it’s a whole different methodology.  We teach English and we teach soft skills, and we teach soft skills in English. We call it Integrated Language Learning.  The students in theory, don’t always notice that they are doing something special, but they really see the benefits.  And that’s something that from a methodology point of view, we are incredibly happy to share with teachers and educators from all over the world.

What values or principles guide your company’s operations?

We came up with a mission statement that somehow summarizes our principles and values. Our mission statement is that we want to educate, and to create an environment, committed to the development and enhancement of people’s lives.  And the language is a means to an end, not an end in itself. 

How do you maintain a strong company culture and why is it important to you?

People are at the heart of what we do. And that starts from the staff who work with our students in all departments, from bookings to student welfare and accommodation and those who create and deliver the programs we offer.  This culture informs all the steps of a student’s journey from the initial inquiry to end of course.  We have customer care officers in different countries including Turkey, Brazil, Colombia, Japan, Taiwan and Spain,  And these people are not there just to present programmes or courses to the students but are there to accompany the students on this journey from the very beginning.  Because you can imagine whether you are a young person or an adult or professional, going to study for a period – it could be a week, could be six months, it doesn’t matter involves a human investment, financial investment and emotional investment.

We want to accompany the person from the first moment of an enquiry to the last minute of when they are here.  Also, for the last 15 years, we have a mentoring system. So, every student has access to a mentor who looks out for the student, apart from the student welfare officer, director of studies and the teachers.

Of course, the teachers also change because students spend six months here – you change the level of teacher, but our mentors are always here.   That has been a great help for our students.  The mentoring system is something that we are very proud of.

I also like the fact that when visitors come, sometimes even inspectors from EAQUALS or the Department of Education, I see students going to the inspector saying “welcome to our school” and the students are proud to show the school and it’s like their home, their family.

How do you foster collaboration and teamwork within your company?

Well, obviously we hold regular formal and informal meetings, so that departments work together.   It was in this spirit that we chose to embark on a management program, which is called the Lean Project.  It’s an amazing project, a management system that companies adopt, and it’s not only to make things more efficient, but to involve everybody more. We set up this Lean Project, and I’ve encouraged staff to come up with ideas that will improve the services we offer.  We also work on projects with external advice and assistance, consultants, but to the point that we identified a consultant who then became our permanent consultant who accompanied us in this on this journey of involving staff more and in training and continuous development.  Being members of EAQUALS also makes continuous training and development of staff a priority.

How do you incorporate sustainability and corporate social responsibility within your school?

For many years we have been involved in several projects and we’ve done fund-raising.  We are linked with an international NGO, called AVSI.  This NGO, which is quite important, has projects in many countries and we are delighted to be associated with them.  Our support happens in many ways, from specific fundraising, presentations, campaigns and so on, whether it’s around Christmas or another period of the year.

We also support local charities, particularly one, which is the Capuchin Centre for the Homeless in Dublin.  We offer scholarships to students. We have also been involved in welcoming Ukrainian refugees, offering some courses and employment opportunities.

We have committed to reducing paper waste by transferring as much as possible online. The aim is to be a paper-free school as much as possible, and we are rather advanced in that.  We have created a virtual library, with material and resources that students and teachers can access.  We also have an energy saving campaign within the school itself to help reduce our carbon footprint.

What do you personally consider to be the benefits and opportunities from Erasmus for participants and for institutions.

Based on our experience and many years of involvement in Erasmus and similar projects for teachers, the benefits for participants include the opportunity to meet colleagues from other places to share ideas and foster best practice in the classroom.

For participants across other funded sectors, the benefits have also been fantastic. Participants have improved their employment prospects and acquired new skills and broadened their horizons. Over the years, we have established strong relationships with schools at primary, secondary and vocational level as well as with universities.  For example, at the moment we are hosting groups of students from universities in France.  We have a program with them for their students of engineering.

For us as a school, the opportunity to research and develop new programmes is vital.  We want to keep innovating. We want to provide courses that answer the ever-changing needs of international education.

Just today we got a request from one of those companies a spin-off company. They’re bringing their personnel as part of their project because it’s a start up and they want to develop in a certain sector.  A part of this plan is the language development and the professional development through language, so we are designing a course for them.

And later in the spring we have a vocational college interested in totally different areas, again within the Erasmus program, and we are facilitating training related to the food industry – dairy farming specifically.

Who is going to benefit?  The participants, for sure. Our staff, for sure, because we must adapt our methodology, we have to adapt the social program, we have to create the seminars, workshops, so it’s an enrichment for everybody.

What can participants hope to achieve by attending an Erasmus+ professional development course at your language training centre?

We hope that they will benefit in all the ways that I outlined in my previous answer.  I believe that professional development and personal, human, spiritual and emotional development are linked. And the Erasmus programs offer a real opportunity for encounter and exchange.  I’m always moved by teachers or professional people when they write to me and say, I went to this school 20 years ago, and I’m still in touch with so and so and still I’m doing this and doing that.   It’s part of their experiences, becomes part of their DNA, part of their journey their human journey.

What are your goals and aspirations for the future of the school?

I would say, first of all, we want to continue to be part of the world of International Education.   I use International Education with capital letters, and I strongly believe that an organization such as ours has a role to play in promoting cultural understanding.  We want to play our part in this, we want to ensure that the school continues to grow and develop.

And if I can maybe finish with a little note, I’ve seen this in these 39 years of existence of the school, I’ve seen it and I am absolutely convinced, with each little step we play a role in building bridges, establishing connections and relationships, particularly in this historical moment, which is characterized by conflict and fragmentation.  If an international language school doesn’t do this, who does?