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Boston Language Institute
Categories: Education Adult Education Education Specialty Schools Language Schools Adult Education, Language Schools [Edit]
648 Beacon St(between Brookline Ave & Raleigh St)
Boston, MA 02215
(617) 262-3500
- Nearest Transit:
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Kenmore Station Busway (19, 193, 57, 57A, 60, 65, 8, 9)
Kenmore Station - Outbound (Green Line)
Kenmore Station - Inbound (Green Line)
- Hours:
Mon-Fri 9 am - 9 pm
Sat 9 am - 4 pm
7 reviews for Boston Language Institute
7 reviews in English
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Review from Julia K.
Cambridge, MA
2/23/2011
I just wrapped up a 10 week Chinese (Mandarin) I course here, and I was very pleased with the quality of instruction and my level of Chinese after 20 class hours.
Big plus: BLI offers 2x/week classes. The other Chinese classes I looked into around the city were typically only 1x/week. Having class twice a week, and being 1 out of 3 students in my class really allowed my speaking skills to improve.
We ran through the basics as expected in a level I class. Grammar, pronunciation, writing characters - all of it! The teacher was very supportive and quick to correct our pronunciation before it had time to incorrectly seep into our memories.
I can only really speak to the quality of the Chinese course I took, although I'm docking a star for:
a) the price. Although cheaper than courses at the local universities, BLI charges nearly twice as much as other options, like at the CCAE or Chinese Language Institute, for only a ~5 more hours of instruction.
b) I started taking a portuguese I class here once, and found it non-beneficial, a bit disorganized, and left unimpressed. -
Review from Ryan W.
12/4/2010
A year ago, I was taking the Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) certification at Boston Language Institute. Now, I'm living in South Korea, teaching English, and planning to visit one of my fellow friends in the program in Taiwan over the holidays.
Teaching English abroad is a life dream for many people, but the TEFL program at BLI made me feel like it was really possible, and through its rigorous certificate program, adequately prepped me for the huge challenges that lay ahead. Not only did they teach me how to be a teacher, but they put me in touch with people who helped me make the transition abroad. I wouldn't be here without BLI.
I believe there are some subtle differences between the fulltime program and the part-time program; having sat in on both, I am glad I was in the part-time program, as my peers were all young professionals balancing their weekly obligations with the pursuit of their big future dreams. I made some good friends there, and enjoyed the teachers, who were intelligent and commanded respect, and the classes were small enough to allow for the kinds of anxious questions we all had. ("What if the students refuse to talk? How do I teach English to someone if I don't know their language? How is being a private tutor different from teaching a large class? Should I teach kids or adults?").
One thing I will say about the TEFL program is that BLI does not warn you in any way about how hard it will be. This is probably a good thing, as we might have all chickened out had we known how much it would take over our lives for those several weeks. However, every day that I wake up in my Korean bed and go off to eat some Korean food before teaching Korean kids all day, I know it was worth it! -
Review from Chere P.
Boston, MA
9/5/2007
Zai Lai Yi Bai......One more time, one more cup! OK not the most important thing to learn in Chinese, but hey if I'm at a bar and I'd like another cold refeshing Bacardi and Coke I need to be able to ask right? My fine drink ordering capabilites are a great party trick. Heh heh!
If you've had some interest in learning another language, may I recommend Boston Language Institute. Their programs are very thorough and guarentee (ofcourse with discipline from you) to read, write and speak the language that you choose. In addition they make sure to teach you about cultural differences so if you do choose to visit you can know what to expect and how to properly respect the culture. I've been studying Mandarin here and I think the program is great. Other than drink ordering, I've managed the ever so important skill of negotiating when I'm shopping. The curriculum includes over 140 languages. Prices are reasonable and if your company offers tuition reimburesement you are golden.
What I like about this school is that they offer both group and private classes, cross cultural seminars, and if your schedule allows immersion programs. All instructors are from the country of which you choose to learn and all speak fantastic English. In addition the schedules are very reasonable with day/early eve/late eve and weekend classes.
My only gripe and no fault of the school is that parking can be a bitch if you don't live in the city. There is one lot that is a 5 minute walk, or anything else around Fenway. Otherwise I'd suggest taking the Green Line to Kenmore Square. If time allows hit to Uburger before your class and woof down a yummy greasy burger - it's never fun learning on an empty tummy and their burgers rock!Listed in: Get'cha swurve on
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Review from Erica K.
1/31/2011
The Boston Language Institute is a good school and their approach to foreign languages is commendable. Haven studied a foreign language in school prior to enrolling at BLI, I'm familiar with the unnatural methodologies of universities; hence my applaud in BLI's practicality. Instead of drilling structure and grammar before you can even speak, BLI teaches the language and allows you to learn the underpinning as you go...which is exactly how you learn your native language. While is this is enough in and of itself, unfortunately it's devoid of many positives encompassed in an academic language setting.
For starters, the classes move incredibly fast for a session of 6 weeks with 3 hours of lesson each week. The rate of speed however, does not make it difficult to consume the information, instead it makes the information more of a synopsis of the lesson as opposed to a teaching of the lesson.
Secondly, because there's so much information to cover in such a short period of time, you get the feeling of "assembly." Also, there is no homework, quizzes, or test so feedback is limited to whatever you get from the instructor while in class. Oral and written examinations are a major factor in language proficiency so not having them throughout the process of learning speaks serious volumes to the quality of education.
All in all, BLI can be range from 0 to 10 depending upon your end goal. My goal is fluency and because of this, the most I could get from a course here is familiarity because I would likely need to take about four sessions to parallel that of a university semester. If however, the goal were something like introductory to intermediate conversational proficiency, BLI would be a better fit -
Review from Jennifer N.
Washington, DC
8/23/2009
I signed up for a level 3 Portuguese class here. A few days before the class was supposed to start, I got a call from someone at BLI telling me that I was the only person enrolled in the class, so it would automatically become a weekly private lesson. My tutor and I met weekly for eight weeks, and she was really sweet. We steadily marched through the Travessia textbook, and she pushed me to converse in Portuguese, refusing to accept anything in English. I definitely felt my Portuguese skills improving (though my verbal skills improved a lot more than my writing skills).
I do wish that she had taken more of an interest in my homework (she would assign it, but never really look at it), and that we could have had more formal learning experiences (like quizzes or even dictations, which would have really pushed me to memorize the vocabulary and to improve my writing). Overall, I would recommend BLI - the staff and faculty are really nice, the office is conveniently located in Kenmore, and the courses are reasonably priced. -
Review from Jenna L.
Manhattan, NY
12/21/2010
I have mixed feelings about this place. I took their 30 day TEFL program about a year and a half ago. Overall, I found the teachers helpful, but their multiple step program which they use for everything unnecessary and impractical in a classroom where all of the ESL students speak the same language. (i.e., foreign countries.) It works great in their environment where the students are forced to communicate in English as that's their only common language. (America, England etc.) However, when I moved abroad and spent 16 months teaching in China, their curriculum simply doesn't work well. The activities range from boring to impossible, and there should be MUCH more emphasis on speaking lessons. I found their FP activities/questions the only really useful part of their program.
Overall, for people intending to teach TEFL in America, this program is great. For those intending to teach abroad, much of their curriculum is a waste of time. Oral English teachers are pretty much the only kind of teachers hired abroad, and the BLI program doesn't prepare enough for these kinds of positions. -
Review from Tessa C.
9/28/2008
i tried to sign up for group lessons in german here, but they didn't have enough interest - so i signed up for weekly private lessons. my tutor was great - she had obviously tutored many people before and was great in giving me assignments that were doable with a full time job and responded well to any random questions that I might have.
they have nice small rooms where the lessons are held with whiteboards so you can learn to write and talk.
i got pretty far with my 8 lessons. i wish that i made more time to continue the lessons, but it made it so much easier to understand people speaking german.
the only drawback to this place is parking. the kenmore square location made it challenging to drive and park for someone who works in the suburbs. i was usually able to find parking on beacon street around the meters as long as a red sox game wasn't going on. if there is a red sox game, then be prepared to spend $20 on parking at a local BU lot. ouch.
