It's a Small World

For more than two decades, Halifax-based International Language Institute has been one of Canada's leading ESL academies

Find something you love to do, goes the old saying, then find a way to make a living at it. The Musial family did just that, turning their passion for teaching language and a desire to help foreign students settle in a new world into a successful Nova Scotia-built business that is expanding around the globe.

For 23 years, the Halifax-based International Language Institute (www.ili-halifax.com) has been one of Canada's leading independent language-education schools. At its current home in West End Halifax, ILI employs 40 full-time and part-time teachers to help more than 600 foreign students and business executives every year gain the crucial language skills they need for college and careers.

In 1979 Chris Musial started teaching English to a dozen Vietnamese and Lebanese students around his family's kitchen table while he was still a high school student himself. Now he's the marketing director for ILI, a homegrown company founded by his father, Tom. Chris's sister, Raissa, is the school's registrar. ILI now has satellite programs in Syria and Germany, and plans for more locations are in development. The school also is an official language-training centre for the Canadian government and is the first certified Cambridge teacher-training centre in North America offering CELTA (the Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults), turning out between 80 and 120 teachers every year.

The secret to that growth is adaptation and innovation. "We are constantly reinventing ourselves," says Musial. Between 500 million and 1 billion global residents now speak English either as a first or second language, and those numbers are growing exponentially. ILI is creatively tapping into that exploding market for English as a second language (ESL).

"The appetite for learning English hasn't stopped growing," says Musial, who spent 10 years in Egypt and Japan teaching English to high school students and business executives. "The English language has the innate ability to adapt to life in the 21st century; it's transformative, unlike other somewhat older languages. Because it's constantly changing, more and more students are using English as a tool to keep pace with our current cultural lifestyle."

Tom Musial realized almost 30 years ago that there was a big demand for learning English. Back in the late 1970s, Halifax became a magnet for foreign students from Hong Kong. With only two of every 100 students being accepted to a Hong Kong university, the other 98 began looking offshore for alternative university education, and between 900 and 1,200 landed in Halifax each year, many with inadequate English skills. Tom, then dean of arts at Saint Mary's University, was researching the challenges of foreign students, many of whom were gaining a spot in Canadian universities but not getting the most of their education experience. Language problems were the barrier.

Saint Mary's asked Tom to prepare a proposal examining the feasibility of creating a provincially funded language school at the university, but after the province rejected his proposal three years in a row, Tom decided to create an independent language school himself, with his family's help. "We had always wanted to do something as a family," recalls Musial. "We saw that the need for language training wasn't going to go away, so we decided to open a language school." Beginning in 1979, they operated under the name Atlantic ESL Centre, teaching foreign students the rudiments of the English language. "Back in those days," says Musial, "our basement in Chester got converted to a library and research centre for us to develop the concept and learn about teaching models." Their small school began with a dozen students and quickly outgrew the Musials' kitchen table.

"As things got busier, we decided we couldn't continue it at home," says Musial, "so we bought a house on South Street, renovated the lower floor into the school, and lived on the upper floor. It was our version of the corner grocery store." In 1983 the company was incorporated as the International Language Institute, and before long it relocated to the World Trade and Convention Centre in downtown Halifax‚ a move that was in line with the concept of building a global trade environment in the new building.

ILI has been growing ever since, helping satisfy a global appetite for learning English, which has emerged worldwide as the de facto lingo of commerce, spurred by the influence of North American culture and advertising, the global reach of the Internet, and the growing number of cosmopolitan young people in developing countries interested in travelling.

Since its humble beginnings, ILI has helped thousands of visiting foreign students improve their English. Flexibility is the secret to ILI's success; the school offers tailored ESL programs from one week in length to 18 months, depending on the students' needs, from learning alphabet rudiments to refined university-prep courses and medical-language training. To gain a rich cultural experience, most students live with a local host family.

When recruiting, ILI takes a global marketing approach. "You have to go into the market," says Musial. "You have to travel." Armed with colourful brochures in both English and the target language, Musial and other ILI managers spread the word about their school at international trade shows and other education-related forums. The Internet also has been an important marketing tool; more than 14,000 web pages are related to ILI services under 25 domain names in 10 languages.

The biggest challenge for the school remains putting Halifax on the map as an international destination. "It was true 25 years ago," says Musial, "and it's still a factor today." Another big challenge is maintaining access to Canadian visas for ILI students. "We need to provide a quick and efficient visa-processing system for the students, so we are in constant dialogue with citizenship and immigration officials about those issues." Other countries that offer language education have opened the door to allow foreign students easier visa access and are drawing business away from Canada. "Those countries choose to treat the students more like clients," says Musial. "Places like Australia and Britain are more service oriented."

Still, the company has grown and prospered. ILI has outgrown its space every five years, moving to larger facilities to accommodate an ever-growing number of foreign students. It now has a modern campus on the ground-level floor at The Village at Bayers Road shopping centre. Currently, about 40% of the students are pan-Asian, with others coming from various Arabic countries, South America, and Europe. Many are taking a university-preparatory course; ILI is affiliated with both Mount Allison University (www.mta.ca) in Sackville, N.B.; the Nova Scotia Agricultural College in Truro, N.S.; and Mount Saint Vincent University (www.msvu.ca) in Halifax. Growth of the Halifax school has tapered off in recent years, largely due to publicly funded competition, primarily from universities. "That's difficult for us as a private organization to deal with," says Musial. "The only way for us to grow is to go offshore."

For example, ILI has developed a separate enterprise called English Canada World Organization (ECWO) that works with foreign partners to open ESL schools outside Canada; it is designed to function either as a private English-language school or as an English department in an established educational institution. The first ILI-affiliated school has opened in Homs, Syria, about a three-hour drive west of Damascus. The program is set up at Wadi German Syrian University, Syria's first private university. The new institution employs German technology, professors, and curriculum, all taught in English to Arabic-speaking students. "We provide a foundation-year program to prepare the students so they can begin their academic study," says Musial. ECWO also is looking at a second partnership in Damascus.

More than 300 students in Syria and in a smaller program in Germany are learning English though the ECWO program. "We are in negotiation with three other countries right now," says Musial, "and one of those contracts could involve between 8,000 and 10,000 students in a program run by a ministry of education." While ILI continues to spread its language-training schools to new markets, Musial is reluctant to use the term "franchise." "We set up shop for a minimum commitment of five years," he says. "The partners provide the physical space and the students, and we license the name and provide the teachers and the curriculum and manage the personnel. We're really flying the Canadian flag."

Even as the company continues to spread its message further afield, Musial is proud that ILI is still a family-operated business based in Nova Scotia. His father continues to serve as director, arriving at the office every day since taking early retirement from Saint Mary's in 2003. Says Musial: "I think he loves the job and loves the fact that he's working with his children. And we feel the same way."

- by Sandy MacDonald