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Schools with their own materials, methods and parrots.

 
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sharter



Joined: 25 Jun 2008
Posts: 878
Location: All over the place

PostPosted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 7:31 am    Post subject: Schools with their own materials, methods and parrots. Reply with quote

When I first went to Poland Berlitz was the only place that didn't give a damn about people having a C/TEFLA, as it was called then, because they had their own way of doing things, with pre-planned and scripted materials. In recent years Speed Callan, Avalon and Speak Up have also appeared. Linguarama had its own materials and was really successful in Poznan until the parent company pulled the plug. Both scripted lessons and ALM have long been defunct outside the military, so how is that these schools have taken root in Poland, where the students love the Communicative Approach and Task Based Learning? Do you have any of the above mentioned schools in your city and are they doing well? If you've taught this way, what did you think about it? Did you feel like a parrot?

See I didn't even mention how expensive Poland is or IH's crap wages.
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Master Shake



Joined: 03 Nov 2006
Posts: 1202
Location: Colorado, USA

PostPosted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 7:36 pm    Post subject: Re: Schools with their own materials, methods and parrots. Reply with quote

sharter wrote:
See I didn't even mention how expensive Poland is or IH's crap wages.


Laughing
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spiral78



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

PostPosted: Wed Jan 11, 2012 8:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think a large part of the appeal of Berlitz and its ilk is simply that they are well-known and clearly established worldwide. A set of invoices from Berlitz looks quite solid and safe as a business expense on the books of a corporation. It may be about not dealing with some smaller, local school with no big-name recognition, which could possibly be dodgy.

If there has been any recent focus on the expenses claimed by corporations, that gives the reps of Berlitz and their ilk a major 'in' - it's kind of amazing that such a truly discredited approach to language learning can nevertheless be marketed so effectively as the well-established, tried-and-true option.

On the controversial issue of pay scales Cool these schools have traditionally paid at the very bottom of every local scale, because ostensibly little/no prep is needed. In Prague, they have a rep for hiring failed CELTA/equivalent cert candidates. Employers of last resort!!
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ecocks



Joined: 06 Nov 2007
Posts: 899
Location: Gdansk, Poland

PostPosted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 4:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My experience comes from across the border but the appeal of Polish-owned Speak-Up lies in their scheduling and focusing on the cost per lesson.

You (students) can vary your routine each week, even giving yourself a few days flexibility to switch a lesson if need be. One week you do Tuesday morning and Friday afternoon, then the next week you do two lessons on Monday night and two on Saturday. Computer lessons are sprinkled between sessions. That works with a lot of students.

Cost per lesson is greatly lowered because they average in the computer lesson modules. Smart students get in good with their teachers and get informal lessons and tutoring over coffee, pizza and the like.
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