Get to Know Bridge Corporate Language Learning and Discover New Online Teaching Opportunities

Based in South America, Bridge Corporate Language Learning has not only helped ESL students reach their English language learning goals but also given global English teachers opportunities to grow in the field. Bridge Director Carlos Pizarro and Academic Director Karina Zew share how the company has evolved in the last four decades, what they’ve gained from the changes, and what their recruitment process for English teachers is like.

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Hi, Carlos and Karina! Can you share a bit about Bridge Corporate Language Learning?

We have been in the business for over 40 years. Founded in 1981 in Chile, Bridge acquired our corporate language training company 10 years later. Under the Bridge brand, Bridge Corporate Language Learning has been around for 30 years. But the company already had ten years of life by then.

We always have been a language training provider, and providing training services to corporations in the region is our sweet spot.

We still have the branch in Chile and one in Argentina as well. At one point, we even had one in Brazil. Today, we work as a merged entity, providing corporate language training and testing services for corporations in Latin America.

Many of our clients are based in Chile and Argentina, but we also have clients in Peru, Mexico, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, the U.S., and even Europe and Australia.

What types of students do you teach?

Most of our students are corporate clients taking Business English courses, although we also offer courses in test prep like IELTS preparation and general English. Companies hire us to provide English language training to their employees, which we provide in one-to-one and group class settings.

Our students may be at any English language proficiency level and we have systems in place to assess student needs and those of the corporate sponsor to develop personalized learning pathways that improve the effectiveness of the training and fast-track learning.

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What is the format of Bridge Corporate Language Learning classes?

We taught onsite classes for about 20 years. Around 15 years ago, we started teaching online classes as well as offering a new line of service. The online classes were slowly growing in popularity, somewhat organically. Early on, Argentina was much more advanced than Chile in terms of taking online classes, so we saw growth in that region more quickly.

Because we already had the systems and training in place for teaching and learning online as well as the platform and teaching materials, we were well prepared when the pandemic began. We were able to make the transition to fully remote learning swiftly and smoothly.

It quickly became clear that there was great value in the flexibility of remote learning, and so we maintained the fully online course delivery structure. Today, our courses are 100 percent online. We are an EdTech company that provides online English classes to corporate clients.

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What opportunities have arisen since you shifted to exclusively delivering online English classes?

What this transition gave us was the ability to be resourceful and adaptable. We have a global community of teachers who hail from all over the world. In the past, we were location-bound. Teachers needed to travel to Chile to teach classes. Now, any qualified teacher with an internet connection can teach courses from anywhere in the world.

This opened up amazing possibilities to find talented instructors and increased our corporate clients’ access to quality English instruction. We now have teachers living in 40 countries across the globe who deliver online English language classes.

The remote format of courses and our EdTech focus, which embraces continued technical innovations, have also allowed us to effectively teach English as a global language, an important distinction from traditional English language training. Our clients are multinational corporations with employees who interact with others who are non-native English speakers. By teaching English as a global language, embracing the different accents, dialects, and cultural contexts, we prepare students for the authentic communication they need.

So, the transition to online language learning gave us access to a global pool of English teachers, expanded our potential to partner with corporate clients, and increased our access to digital tools that support teaching English as a global language. All in all, this added a lot of value to what we can do at Bridge.

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What makes Bridge Corporate Language Learning different?

• First of all, we have been in the business for over 40 years, under the U.S.-based Bridge Education Group, which is a leading provider of TEFL/TESOL teacher training. In South America, most of our competitors are local businesses without this international backup.
• We have an experienced and knowledgeable team of managers. When you have a team that is a mix of good people with strong professional habits, academic and professional skills, and backgrounds, things can’t go wrong.
• We prioritize staying abreast of international trends and technical innovations. We are early adopters of new technologies, always looking for new ways to grow and improve. We are continually evaluating our systems and processes and seeking ways to improve efficiency and add value for our clients.
• This commitment to efficiency and innovation is clear in our cohesive teamwork, teacher training, and leadership and can be seen in the quality of the Business English training we provide.
• Bridge is ISO 9001 certified, which is a globally recognized standard for quality management systems that demonstrates its commitment to high-quality service.
• Although Bridge is a large company, people matter to us. We are not only here for profit but also for the people we work with. We believe in social impact, that of our clients and our teachers. Our corporate clients get a great return on their investment, our students get improved professional opportunities and income, and our teachers get access to high-quality professional development and teaching experience that results in career growth.

How have your English teachers found you?

As part of our permanent recruitment process, we use some international global platforms, and those platforms also offer us the ability to post on websites and social media. We regularly post to LinkedIn and interact in Bridge’s Facebook TEFL/TESOL Jobs group and Teaching English Online group.

Bridge Education Group also has a global audience of new and veteran English teachers who not only take Professional Certification, Specialized Certification, and Micro-credential courses, but also interact with the BridgeUniverse blog, download TEFL/TESOL resources, join Expert Series webinars, follow the TEFL/TESOL Events Calendar, and access other resources devoted to continuous professional development.

Bridge Corporate Language Learning is also a Bridge Education Group Preferred Employment Partner, which includes partner TEFL/TESOL employers who have been thoroughly vetted.

What benefits does Bridge Corporate Language Learning offer teachers?

• We have a huge professional development system in place that provides teachers with access to Bridge’s Online TEFL Certification courses. We offer those courses, as well as all of the BridgeUniverse seminars and Expert Series webinars, to our teachers for free. Many teachers are really happy taking those courses.
• We have excellent processes in place to keep the standards high, not only by recruiting teachers through this process but also by giving them opportunities to continue growing professionally through the free TEFL courses.
• We build and maintain connections between our global community of online teachers through training workshops for curricula updates and new technologies, a monthly newsletter, a Facebook group, and WhatsApp messaging.
• We give them support, guidance, and supervision with an academic director and teaching mentors. We regularly attend live classes for observation and provide constructive feedback.

What are the requirements to become a Bridge Language Corporate Language Learning teacher?

First, we look at an applicant’s resume. We see if they have teaching experience and the following qualifications:

• Teachers should have taken some sort of TEFL, CELTA, or TESOL course, and many teachers also have university degrees in some areas.
• Teachers should either be native speakers or with a C1 or C2 level of English, with an international accredited exam.

After checking their qualifications, we conduct an interview and go over all the requirements and guidelines for the teaching demonstration we want them to submit.

One of the key factors in hiring a teacher is to watch them teach. We ask for a sample class and see if they can deliver it based on the guidelines we have set. Applicants record the demo class, send it to us, and then we decide if they are a good fit for our team. We also give them feedback, so it’s a learning process no matter what.

What are Bridge Corporate Language Learning online teachers’ schedules like?

We have peak hours, which are usually before 10 a.m. (Chile time), at noon, or after 6 p.m.

Teachers can pretty much choose their own schedules as long as they can provide availability during these peak hours. However, we have classes all day long, so most teachers set their own schedules around other activities or jobs. Some teachers work with different schools, for instance, and they teach online to supplement their income.

What’s next for Bridge Corporate Language Learning?

We will continue to evolve and innovate! We are always watching the market, industry changes, emerging technologies, etc. We will keep expanding our territories and online services to meet the increasing need for English language training in today’s global business market.

With English as a lingua franca, we expect to see continued growth in corporate English language training throughout the world. Additionally, the education industry’s shift toward digitalization is here to stay, making online language learning a market ripe with opportunities.

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