Ai’s presentation focused on the idea that it is far more important for classes to be organized based on English level rather than on age. She argued that at many English schools, particularly at the eikawa level, classes are divided by age and this results in widely varying abilities within each classroom. At her school, she has set expectations among the parents of the students that classes will always be based on level, rather than age. This has resulted in a atmosphere that is much more academic than is typically found at private English institutions. She has found that this has resulted in a much higher popularity for her school, and her school has grown in size considerably in the few short years that she has been using this system.
It was also noted that Ms. Murphy had recently given this presentation in a conference in the Philippines to nearly 600 attendees.