KAPLAN INTERVIEWS: Regional Principal Mark Lloyd

What does it take to run an English school?

Kaplan’s language schools are known across the world for helping international students learn English abroad – all while having the adventure of a lifetime! But have you ever wondered what it takes to successfully run one of these schools? Today, we have the pleasure of interviewing the regional director of Kaplan Bath and Torquay Bath, Mark Lloyd. Some of you might recognize him as one of the many dedicated staff at these schools, always doing his best to help students learn English and navigate living abroad. 

Join us as we explore the unique challenges and rewards of guiding Kaplan learners on their language journey and the inspiring success stories that emerge from this vibrant community. Whether you're a teacher, a student, or simply curious about how a Kaplan school operates, this interview promises valuable insights and inspiration. 

Tell us about the career path that led to being Regional Principal at Kaplan 

I studied Economics at university, but I always liked languages. I took French and German classes at school, so after graduating I took a course to become an English teacher, then spent the next few years living and working as a teacher and academic manager in Portugal and Spain. I eventually moved back to the UK as Director of Studies at Kaplan Bath, where I still work 21 years later! In 2010 I took over as Principal, and during the pandemic in 2020 I was offered the position of Regional Principal, managing the Kaplan schools in both Bath and Torquay.

What do you see as the most important components for a successful language learning experience? 

Over the years I’ve learned that people tend to learn a language best when they’re not actually trying to learn it. This sounds strange, but our brains are naturally very good at automatically learning languages if we give them the right opportunities to do so. This means being surrounded by the language and pushing ourselves to use it to interact with people. 

Can you share the success story of a student who particularly stands out in your memory? 

There have been many of course, but one specific example is a Spanish student who originally came to Bath for a two-month course in early 2018. He was in his early-fifties and a successful professional, but he was a beginner who needed to learn English because he was looking to change his job. Right from the start of his course he decided he was going to make full use of every single opportunity, which included joining every social activity or excursion even if it was something completely new to him. In the end he extended his course until the summer, then he returned after the summer and stayed for nine more months!  

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Since then, he has returned for two more short courses, and to visit his host family at Christmas each year. Many students and staff have been to stay with him and his family in Spain, and he was even a guest at the wedding of one of our staff members. He is without doubt the most motivated and enthusiastic student we have ever had and because he was older than most of the other students, they all saw him as a ‘father figure’. As a result, they trusted him and started to follow his example – the participation rate for our social activities was unbelievable at that time! I recently heard from him and was delighted to hear that he is now a senior executive for a multinational in Madrid, and he uses English 90% of the time in his working life. It would be hard to find a more perfect student!  

Do you have any hidden talents, skills or habits that your colleagues might find surprising? 

Learning new things and developing new skills has always been extremely important to me, and I’m constantly looking for new courses to do and new books to read to help me grow professionally. What I like most about my job is that it covers a very wide range of different areas of business and education; this means that there are always opportunities to apply new knowledge and skills, and to try out new ways to improve myself as a manager.  

There is one habit I have learned over the years which has helped me enormously in my career – whenever I am offered an opportunity of any kind in my job, in my mind I immediately assume I am going to say ‘yes’. This doesn’t mean I do say ‘yes’ to everything, but it means I have to work hard to find reasons not to! So far, it’s been a very successful habit – I’ve ended up pushing myself to accept fantastic challenges or take on exciting and rewarding projects which, if I’d been more cautious, I would probably have decided to avoid.