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got job offer from berliz-istanbul...

 
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esl4everever



Joined: 20 Nov 2011
Posts: 38
Location: US

PostPosted: Sun Dec 16, 2012 9:08 pm    Post subject: got job offer from berliz-istanbul... Reply with quote

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I just got job offer from Berliz Istanbul.

But, Im reading many bad things about the school.

Did anyone have a good experience with this school?
or -
Is it all bad?

I was excited about the offer.
But -
now not so much.

Also - are there any questions I should be asking them that I may not know to ask being a newbie to Istanbul.

If this job does not turn out I plan to take a China job offer.

Any and all information will be helpful to me.

Thank you ahead of time.
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oipivo



Joined: 02 Jan 2012
Posts: 163
Location: Poland

PostPosted: Tue Dec 18, 2012 8:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've heard overwhelmingly negative things about this school from ex workers online. I've only known one person to actually work there and she didn't think it was that bad. The owner is absolutely out of his mind and they don't care AT ALL about the students or actual education (then again, what language school does?).

It never hurts to talk to them and I know one person that didn't hate it there. There are certainly better schools to work at though.
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dudeteacher



Joined: 27 Feb 2010
Posts: 173

PostPosted: Wed Dec 19, 2012 4:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

oipivo wrote:
I've heard overwhelmingly negative things about this school from ex workers online. I've only known one person to actually work there and she didn't think it was that bad. The owner is absolutely out of his mind and they don't care AT ALL about the students or actual education (then again, what language school does?).

It never hurts to talk to them and I know one person that didn't hate it there. There are certainly better schools to work at though.


I am no aware of its present status. However, the Dude worked there about 7 years ago.
As course schools go, it was one of the lesser evils. They don't force you to stick to their book. I was always paid on time. The owner wasn't a Prince but he showed an interest in knowing his teachers and the quality of education. No false passes were given to my students.

Failures were given a make up exam by ME and if they failed again, they repeated.

The Office Manager was an incredibly rude woman and very arrogant, however, I heard she got fired.

Sorry, I can't give any sort of recent feedback.

Dude
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Qaaolchoura



Joined: 10 Oct 2008
Posts: 539
Location: 21 miles from the Syrian border

PostPosted: Wed Dec 19, 2012 6:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Personally, I wasn't at all inclined to answer this question, given that it had just been answered quite clearly about a week ago, as a minimum of effort would have shown, and as I find the disclaimer at the top to be in both bad taste and bad attitude.

That said, since someone who puts in a bit of effort might find this thread and be influenced by dudeteacher's comments, I feel the need to point out that ESL has changed dramatically in Turkey in seven years. Seven years ago, a least based on hearsay, English Time was a great place to work (in terms of pay anyways), Wall Street a bad one, and Berlitz a tolerable one. Seven years ago from what I hear, pay was about the same, the cost of living was far less, and there was little work available outside the big three and tourist areas (places most newbies still try to go).

I do know someone who worked there recently (less than two years ago), and he had nothing good to say about it. He'd worked at Berlitz in Syria and found them tolerable (this was before the civil war, of course), but found that Berlitz in Turkey didn't pay on time, didn't give him the hours he was guaranteed (and didn't pay him for the hours they didn't give him), and the management was both incompetent and meddlesome. And of course despite being an international chain based in the US, and thus bound by US law to follow all local laws when doing business, they don't bother to get work permits for their teachers.

The thread I linked also shows comments from a recent teacher, just run from Berlitz, which tells me that nothing's changed in the year and a half or so since my acquaintance worked there.

I've never met anybody who has anything good to say about Berlitz Turkey, and until dudeteacher's comment, I never even encountered anybody who had anything not bad to say about it.

~Q
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parnett



Joined: 29 Jun 2012
Posts: 179
Location: China

PostPosted: Thu Dec 20, 2012 5:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Miss Qaaachoura,
I have read and appreciated the vast majority of your comments here at Dave's. However, when you make comments by quoting other people's opinions, I find them to be useless.
I think the only threads for a topic such as this (working at Berlitz) should be made only by ex or current workers of that school.
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Sashadroogie



Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Posts: 11061
Location: Moskva, The Workers' Paradise

PostPosted: Thu Dec 20, 2012 6:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oh, I don't know about that. No smoke without fire, etc. Other people's opinions, even second-hand, can at least alert you to the need to be more discriminating and vigilant when deal with schools like Berlitz.
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spiral78



Joined: 05 Apr 2004
Posts: 11534
Location: On a Short Leash

PostPosted: Thu Dec 20, 2012 8:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
Miss Qaaachoura,
I have read and appreciated the vast majority of your comments here at Dave's. However, when you make comments by quoting other people's opinions, I find them to be useless.
I think the only threads for a topic such as this (working at Berlitz) should be made only by ex or current workers of that school



For me, the rule of thumb is that information from-a-distance, whether secondhand or otherwise, is clearly defined as such - Qaachoura's contribution meets this criteria.

I sometimes contribute 'information' based on what I have learned from colleagues who teach at other universities in other countries; so long as I note that this is where the info came from so that a reader can therefore judge it, why not?

First-hand information may not necessarily be more accurate than second-hand in this context, given (as Qaachoura points out) that things change regularly. 'My' second hand info from this year may well be far more accurate than someone else's first-hand info from two or three (or more) years ago.
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Luxe



Joined: 08 Jul 2010
Posts: 43

PostPosted: Thu Dec 20, 2012 5:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Berlitz Istanbul is no longer Berlitz, as it has lost its franchise. How soon (or even if) they will change their name to reflect this is yet to be seen.
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Qaaolchoura



Joined: 10 Oct 2008
Posts: 539
Location: 21 miles from the Syrian border

PostPosted: Thu Dec 20, 2012 9:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

parnett wrote:
Miss Qaaachoura,
I have read and appreciated the vast majority of your comments here at Dave's. However, when you make comments by quoting other people's opinions, I find them to be useless.
I think the only threads for a topic such as this (working at Berlitz) should be made only by ex or current workers of that school.

Mr. parnett,
I'm a dude.

~Q
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vashdown2



Joined: 14 Feb 2007
Posts: 124
Location: Paris, France

PostPosted: Fri Dec 21, 2012 10:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I gave a through review of my very recent experience with Berlitz Istanbul. Why you felt the need to re-create a new thread is not clear to me...
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