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[voyagerksa]

[veiledsentiments]

LOL... at least this likely member of management (let's hope not an English teacher) used one full stop... presumably an Arabic speaker who hasn't learned that English isn't one run-on sentence.



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[nowled]

*Warning LEARN4LIFE ABHA

Be advised this is not a company you want to do business with or work with. I Knew something was wrong during my first 2 months when 3 people resigned and the other teachers talked about how they wish they could leave, but had to stay because of their Iqamas. I decided to ignore their advise and complaints and stick it out ----big mistake. Firstly, your teaching roughly 8 hours a day. I don't mean teaching 3 hours and 5 hours of office time, I mean 8 full hours of non-stop teaching with 15 minute breaks between each hour. You will teach 4 classes each 2 hours long.

In your first 3 months of teaching during your probation period they can fire you at any moment without paying you for the accrued time you worked. The manager of the school and owner have never been teachers and don't understand how to teach, teaching methods, what teaching entails--- as a matter of fact --- the manager of the school used to be a handyman for the owner, he would fix pipes, move around furniture ---you get the picture. If he does not like you he will fire you (He fired 6 teachers in the past year) I found it odd that the Manager seemed to question my credentials on the first day of working there, even before I started teaching. I ignored his overt biasness because I have been teaching for over 10 years with teaching awards so I figured there should be no problem here. Needless to say I was harassed by this guy constantly coming in my classes, questioning everything I did; even the other teachers found it odd that he was harassing me (I would later learn that this manager always picked someone he didn't like for whatever reason to harass them to cover up for his incompetence and to make it look as if he was doing something to impress the owner)

Why didn't I listen to the other teachers and staff?!! I don't know and that was my biggest mistake. After 3 months of being harassed by the manager and, ignoring his smart ass remarks to any question I asked him, it was decided that I was not a fit for the company and they decided not to pay me at all for the full month that I worked, and part of my previous month's salary went to expenses such as to a recruiting agency who hired me and my flight back home. Now if you paid close attention you would have noticed I mentioned 2 months salary, ---How did they get a hold of 2 months salary?!!! They don't pay you every month at times. During holidays you may go 3 months without pay, and they will wait until they end of the month following a holiday to pay you, as to make sure you don't try and leave the company while on vacation (because soo many people do). If I would have known that I would have put the manager in his place a long time ago except I bit my tongue, ---for nothing. The lady responsible for new teachers hire (I won't name) she resigned because how they were treating her and the teachers.


Be forewarned I didn't listen and I am paying the price I lost 1 month and half salary because of learn4life's B.S. don't say you weren't warned.

[bigshowgeer]

Whatever you do, DON'T WORK AT LEARN4LIFE!

You can see that every teacher who has left this place has been unhappy -including myself. I was Learn4Life's longest tenured teacher, I helped create a new system for the school, and I was the most popular teacher with the students. The greedy CEO ended up not paying of end of service benefit (as required by Saudi law), which means he stole over 15,000 SAR from me. Not only didn't he pay me, but he didn't pay any of the other teachers this benefit as well. He usually hires teachers for his busy season (summer/fall) and then fires them at the end of their six-month probation and doesn't pay them a flight home or a last month's salary. Of the 19 teachers that I met at this school in my years there, only 4 completed a contract and left -and none of them left happily.

The school is located directly across from the local prison, where they do public beheadings. Sometimes, Learn4Life will force you to come to work during a beheading and there is a good chance that you'll see one just walking in to work or sitting in your class (the walls are windows so you can see outside). I found out in my last six months that the CEO wasn't actually offering any health insurance to us, which is illegal.

You will be paid late if you are going on a vacation. Sometimes, the CEO will give unpaid vacation at random (also illegal). You will work 35 teaching hours a week. Most ESL jobs have between 15-30 teaching hours a week, so be prepared to work yourself hard. There is no private housing, only shared.

Often, there is no transportation offered to get you from home to work and vice versa. Your students will make your work miserable due to their lack of care. And Abha isn't the mountain paradise that it's praised to be. It's a dry, boring town with no activities or interesting things to do. And it's also full of the most conservative people in the kingdom, further restricting the things you can do for fun.

Beware of the CEO. He will constantly lie to you. He will do anything to cut your salary and only benefit himself.

[voyagerksa]

[Thomasmc89]

I thought Abha and that area were meant to be quite interesting, no? Can't be worse than the desert nothingness of the Eastern Region.

I've always wanted to visit Najran and Jazan. Are they not good for weekend trips? The culture is different there I hear. There used to be a Jewish population and everything.

[voyagerksa]

Yemen had a Jewish population. I'm not so sure about the areas in Saudi Arabia. My guess is they've long cleared out to Israel. Nobody in there right mind would be Jewish and live in that area, seriously.

[veiledsentiments]

Every MENA country had a significant Jewish population, but once the Palestinians were pushed out of Israel, there was pressure for various Jewish populations to leave too (from both sides). Only Iran still has quite a few left...

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