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Language Link_Moscow

 
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The_Duderino



Joined: 21 Apr 2016
Posts: 3

PostPosted: Tue Apr 26, 2016 5:27 am    Post subject: Language Link_Moscow Reply with quote

Hi,

anyone worked for this school, how is it, general terms and conditions, are they ok and respect the contract?

Tnx
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expatella_girl



Joined: 31 Oct 2004
Posts: 248
Location: somewhere out there

PostPosted: Tue Apr 26, 2016 12:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

LL Moscow does not enjoy a good reputation as a place to work. They do supply visas, which can be an important consideration.

It is not so hard to do a search on this website for other conversations on the same topic.

Many people of wisdom and experience who might have contributed to this conversation, are no longer allowed to post on this site.

Take that as you will.
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sourplumjam



Joined: 14 Jun 2016
Posts: 6

PostPosted: Thu Jun 16, 2016 5:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I worked for this company back in 2014, before the ruble got clubbed and I had to flee the country with the rest of the expat population.

It seems to depend on what part of Language Link you work for. Or, at a subsequent job, I actually had coworkers that worked for "Language Link Moscow," but our bosses were entirely different and we didn't have the same administrative overhead. To my understanding, Language Link is rather like a franchise.

Anyway, in my personal experience it wasn't a bad job to nab fresh off of the CELTA course, which is when I got it. It's a pretty standard language-mill school.

Pros: They never tried to mess with me about hours (i.e., try and get me to work more than the contract said), the support was overall quite good (I liked my DoS, who was also a foreigner and a very experienced language teacher, the boss was very nice, and the receptionists always wanted to go out and do fun things), I never ended up with a painfully split schedule. They pay on time. They have a set up work visa process, and everything's legal. The resources are overall pretty good, but there is a HUGE emphasis on getting people to take the Cambridge tests (LL is a testing center), which can get a bit old. However, I never had to buy markers/paper/dice/paint/tape/whatever while I was employed here. There is ample professional development - had I completed my contract, I could have gotten a "certificate" from LL in YL (probably not worth much, but, hey, a bangle's a bangle). They also have the DoS monitor you, and as my DoS was very good, I found this extremely helpful.

Cons: You live quite far away from the school, and at the two "branches" that my franchise owner had, neither one had a real teacher's office. I was fortunate - at my branch, the closet was big enough to act as a makeshift "teacher's room," but it was literally a closet. At the other franchise, there was nothing. I had to take the Metro and a bus to get to work - they do give you an allowance for travel, but it's not really enough to cover it all. You sometimes have to travel - I had to go to a company to teach English lessons on site, which added to travel time (unpaid) and also sometimes required me to pay out of pocket for a marshrutka if I was delayed and missed the bus (busses, minibuses, and the Metro are covered by a Troika pass, but marshrutkas are cash-only and more expensive).

The schedule could get super-rough. On my longest day, I worked from 2pm until 10pm with zero breaks other than the bus ride from my school to the company I was teaching at. I had to ignore the disdainful stares of fellow bus passengers as I chowed down on carrot sticks as otherwise I wouldn't have eaten. Thankfully that was only once a week and not the norm. You are more or less required to share an apartment - no option to fly solo.

Make-up lessons. These were the bane of my life. Basically, if any student missed class for any reason, they were entitled to a 15 minute "make up lesson" that could be tagged on to your day at any point. Even if the student missed a class and then attended two weeks straight of class, thus having been caught up already, they could randomly cash in their make up lesson and then you're stuck with this random 15-minute sliver of time to fill. I despised the concept - now this is one of the things I ask language schools before I sign contracts. I won't work for another place that does this.

Required trainings. I found this a bit ridiculous. I don't mind professional development if it's optional, but MANDATORY trainings annoyed me. Particularly since one of the things I was required to do is go to a training about the Cambridge exams, basically so I'd be able to better hawk the Cambridge exams to parents.

However, the absolute worst thing ended up being the pay. Before the ruble dropped I was making about the equal to 1000 USD a month which was fine for me. I was actually able to save money on this, because if you know what you're doing Moscow can be very inexpensive. However, when the ruble got sucker-punched in the throat, my salary tumbled to about 350 USD, which is not a fair salary for a full-time work schedule. I ended up leaving because of it.

If the ruble weren't in such bad condition at the moment, I'd recommend it with a 7/10 overall. Again, the people I worked with were nice, and I never got any fast ones pulled on me. But, I mean, it also wasn't particularly well-paying (even prior to the ruble falling on its own sword) and had its fair share of annoyances. Basically, had the ruble stayed constant, I probably would have finished out my 9 month contract and moved on.

Nowadays, though, I can't recommend working at LL just due to the state of Russia's economy. I would only recommend it to you if, for whatever reason, working in Moscow is the most important thing to you, more important than salary or benefits and you're willing to work a full schedule for peanuts.

And those stupid makeup lessons. Ugh.
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maw



Joined: 26 Feb 2006
Posts: 38

PostPosted: Sat Jun 03, 2017 12:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Duderino..did you end up working for Lang Link. I've just had an interview with the St Petersburg branch. Just came across this conversation. Do you have any idea of what pay I should go for..i have celta and teaching exp.
Any tips would be appreciated. I like the fact they provide accommodation.
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maw



Joined: 26 Feb 2006
Posts: 38

PostPosted: Sat Jun 03, 2017 12:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Was great reading your report sourplumjam.
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maruss



Joined: 18 Mar 2003
Posts: 1145
Location: Cyprus

PostPosted: Thu Jun 08, 2017 9:33 am    Post subject: LL. Reply with quote

As one of their former teachers correctly posted, they operate as a franchise so this means you can have a very different experience from one place to another with them!It depends on who is running the place you are at, what the other staff are like and of course your work schedule.Apart from the likelihood of having to commute long distances from where you live,my main gripe is about having to share accom. which for me is a no-no unless I choose to do that with a person I already know and can get along with etc: many people seem to overlook this point,which can be very important as it affects your life outside work and can be very difficult to resolve if you have a problem, as well as expensive.
They never paid well, even when the rouble was worth double what it is now and nobody goes to work there to make serious money, rather just to get their foot in the door in Russia and have the formalities taken care of etc.
Whether it is worth it under conditions prevailing nowadays is a matter of personal choice and can be debated 'ad infinitum !'
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CTravel32



Joined: 01 Mar 2017
Posts: 85

PostPosted: Wed Jun 14, 2017 7:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I had an interview back in March. Pay was a joke, between 350 and 875 USD depending on many things if I recall which would not go far in expensive Moscow even if you are good at finding deals. If I recall, this did include a furnished apartment. But I decided to skip the second interview...pay is too little.
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maruss



Joined: 18 Mar 2003
Posts: 1145
Location: Cyprus

PostPosted: Fri Jun 16, 2017 1:51 pm    Post subject: I don't blame you! Reply with quote

It's is hard enough trying to live and work in Moscow anyway and for that kind of money I would definitely not choose to go there!
Even though prices for some things have dropped in the last few years because of rouble devaluation etc. you would only scrape by on $800 per month, despite having free accom.
Having said that though, many Russians live on what seems to be a ridiculously low amount by our standards: I have a friend who is an English teacher in a small town in Moscow region who earns around 30.000 roubles per month and that's including some private lessons on Saturdays!Out of this she pays 9000 rent for her flat and the rest goes mostly on daily essentials.-with the end of the academic year coming up she has hardly managed to save anything for the holiday period until the end of August and is probably going to go home to her family in Siberia for the summer until she starts work again at the beginning of September.
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