Berlitz Corporation

The Berlitz language schools (current name: Berlitz Corporation ) Go to one of Maximilian Berlitz Delphinius 1878 in Providence, Rhode Iceland, USA, founded school back. They have evolved into an international group with currently 550 schools in over 70 countries. Teaching method of all Berlitz language schools is the so-called immersion (also language bath ). It is taught by the first hour exclusively in the target language.

History

The Berlitz Germany GmbH relates the origins of their teaching method as follows:

Berlitz emigrated in 1872 from Germany to the USA to teach Greek, Latin and six other European languages ​​according to the traditional grammar - translation approach. After teaching as a private tutor for several years, he became a professor of French and German language instruction at the Warner Polytechnic College.

There Berlitz was the same owner, dean, director, and the only faculty member. He needed an assistant who could teach French, so he hired a Frenchman named Nicholas Joly. As Joly arrived in Providence, but it turned out that he spoke no English. From revision weakened, Berlitz reported ill and asked Joly to take over the teaching to the best of ability. Berlitz asked his assistants to interpret the objects to repeat the French word for these and demonstrate verbs.

The method was a success. As Berlitz returned after six weeks, the students were more advanced than traditional methods. This created the basis for a new teaching method that applied finished Berlitz in his school and was known as the " Berlitz Method ".

Owners and stakeholders

The Berlitz language schools in 1966 a subsidiary of Macmillan Publishers in 1988 and a public company, as Maxwell Communication Corporation took over Macmillan. A year later, the shares were floated on the stock market, took over Fukutake Publishing Co. Ltd.. ( operating since 1995 as Benesse Corporation) and the majority of 2001, the company completely. A collective agreement for employees in Germany was completed in 1990 with the Union for Education and Science. In October 2010 new collective bargaining began with the union, which was completed in February 2011, with a collectively agreed social plan and a change in the collective bargaining agreement. Berlitz is the only language school in Germany, which has agreed with the teachers' union, a collective agreement.