INL UPDATE 1 - Origins

The story of INL

The Institute of Native Linguistics was founded in early 2016, but how we got to where we are today is vastly due to careful preparation and careful planning. The founder Christian Henriquez was teaching around Poland for a good 5 years before coming to Gdańsk, Poland. Why Gdańsk? Well, that all comes down to where the market was the hungriest for the type of school that Christian wanted to open. He wanted to concentrate on only providing native speakers to his clients. This raised some issues due to the lack of native speakers of English in other parts of the country and also market demand, he asked himself, “does the market need my business?” The brunt of his teaching experience was in Warsaw, the capital of Poland. Warsaw is teaming with all kinds of foreigners and is well known for its influx of English, American, Irish, Australian, and Canadian citizens wanting to live in Poland, knowing that possible to find a good job that provides an environment to teach people their native tongue. Christian decided to find a market that did not have a school with only native speakers. Warsaw wouldn’t have been a good option solely because there is too much competition. Schools of this type can be found in almost all areas of Warsaw. After some months of research he decided to go to Gdańsk and test his luck there. Here is what he said in an interview about his vision and mission,

“People in Poland are great on paper, but their speaking skills vary widely across the board because they don’t generally have the opportunity to speak with a native or really be challenged academically to the point that they progress and grow with their command of English. I wanted to provide an America or England per say, so my clientele will know that within the walls of my business they can speak freely and really be forced to learn more about how I or my colleagues would speak and say things in our natural language. This is what people really want to learn and not just do grammar excercises back to back with some empty conversation questions. I want my students to have an opportunity to think outside the box for a change through debates, arguments, presentation skills, tactful negotiation techniques through speech, how to listen to a native English and American, What to expect culturally, and of course how to build confidence in speaking their mind. Customer service is also an extremely important part of American business culture and without it you won’t succeed. If a customer is never truly taken care of as soon as they walk through my door, a client will always feel disconnected with the services that they are buying and feel unsatisfied in some form or fashion. A client needs to be taken care of from the beginning and always treated as priority. With this culture instilled within INL’s walls I know that the customer will always feel refreshed when coming into a place where they are well treated and where the people really care about their progress to tackle professional or personal goals. Other things also were an issue for me because sometimes people lose grasp of their own progress and get way off track to effectively improve their language and as a teacher how to effectively teach a language. This was something that I wanted to avoid. So I implemented a 360 degree transparent work environment where teachers and students can collaborate and share ideas to build a community rather than a student body. Through years of teaching I might have learned certain techniques that another might have not experienced. I want my people to feel that they can cultivate themselves and learn as well and vice versa, I surely hope to learn from others because that what I live for. I go by a motto that my father used to say, “Live as if you are to die tomorrow and learn as if you were to live forever.”

Only time will tell whether or not there was a need to be met in Gdańsk. Our team will be here to please our clients and really give them what they deserve. Please stay on the lookout for new articles and INL updates which are audio shows that will be covering different topics and discussions that are designed to enrich the INL customer experience. New information will always be posted each week on our web page so stay tuned and seize the day.