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Summer schools in the UK
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Will.



Joined: 02 May 2003
Posts: 783
Location: London Uk

PostPosted: Fri May 05, 2006 3:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Generally speaking you would need QTS that is qualified teacher status or an acceptable equivalent from ypour home country if teaching in the state sector.
I don't know about US citizens working in the UK this is something to find out from agencies, horrible word, who seek to place you in a school. Summer schools in the EFL sector could be a possibility.
Check the threads for links. I have put a few out there.
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Frontline



Joined: 17 Jul 2006
Posts: 25

PostPosted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 10:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Izzy, don't be put off. Sadly the industry is in crisis but has been for years. Sandy is right to warn you off the majority of schools, but there are good ones out there. If I'd known of your existence in 2004, for example, I'd have at least interviewed you and pribably hired you, for sensible conditions and hours. Which is, I agree, better than most.

The demise of SGV Bromley destroyed my knowledge of the London scene so I can't help you any more but I'm sure there are still good schools out there. Good luck
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lolwhites



Joined: 29 Jun 2005
Posts: 158
Location: France

PostPosted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 7:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Unless you have a friend who can put you up on the couch for free, my advice would be stay out of London. Extortionate rents and expensive transport will eat too far into your meagre wages to allow you to do anything more than avoid starving. There are cheaper towns which are also rather more pleasant in the summer months; riding the tube during a heatwave is no fun at all.
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cheeseandegg



Joined: 26 Aug 2004
Posts: 58

PostPosted: Wed Aug 02, 2006 6:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Summer schools may be hard work but they can be good fun and provide much needed income for the long summer vacation.

I recommend ILH which has schools in Framlingham, Colchester and other places in East Anglia. They're endorsed by the British Council. Their weekly pay for EFL teachers is 315GBP per week before tax (including holiday pay) with free room (single room separate from students houses) and food. With ILH you teach 2 90 minute lessons Monday to Friday, 2 90 minute activity sessions (afternoon or evening) Monday to Friday and an excursion on Saturdays. Activities are flexible and can be sports supervising (joining in or sitting and sunbathing if you prefer) or other activities like Scrabble, arts & crafts and walks to castles/country side/town, etc.. Also don't forget that if you are only in the UK for summer you will be able to claim back all tax paid by completeing a P50 tax form (cheque is posted to you quite quickly). Also at ILH you have professional DOSes, workshops and a full syllabus. Having worked for ILH this summer it was nice to see a summer school which will pay staff in full if they have to lay off staff due to low numbers of students.

I would NOT recommend Ardmore Group summer schools. They pay only 240GBP before tax. You have to teach 4 90 minute classes Monday to Friday and extra activities a few evenings a week plus the weekly excursion. Ardmore don't have many teaching resources or useful things like computers and Internet. Ardmore also were supposed to employ me for 5 weeks yet laid me off due to low numbers after 3 weeks - with no pay! Avoid Ardmore at all costs.

It's probably too late for summer 2006 but if you're going to be looking for work next year try ILH. Don't try Ardmore.
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Frontline



Joined: 17 Jul 2006
Posts: 25

PostPosted: Sun Aug 06, 2006 10:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Losing my touch - I obviously wrote my last post without reading through the whole thread! Let's make a second attempt.

Maybe I've been lucky, but the summer schools I've worked for haven't been too bad. Maybe I have a different perspective, or a different work ethic, from a lot of teachers, but here's my point of view:

If you are serious about working year-round in the UK, summertime is when you buckle down, work 25 hour days, do whatever you're asked, earn more in overtime than you ever will for the other ten months of the year and - here's the important bit - impress your superiors enough that they keep you on in September when the excitement's died down and the second-rate teachers have buggered off back to Spain.

I was in charge of the third summer school I worked on, and because of the experience I was ready and (I reckon) I did a damn good job. Yes. that experience was hard-gained; I learned early on that during July and August TEFLers in the UK survive exclusively on beer, burgers and adrenaline. But let's be frank; it's a cushy number the rest of the year.

In those days I was pulling 60-70 hour weeks in the summer, and never breaking 20 the rest of the year, teaching abroad. It's not such a bad life.

Avoid the big, soulless places like EF, get yourself a good teaching/activity leader role in a smaller place where the management remember your name and impress the DOS and Principal until they can't afford to let you go.
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Will.



Joined: 02 May 2003
Posts: 783
Location: London Uk

PostPosted: Thu Sep 07, 2006 1:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well it is nearly over, summer school that is.

Who went and did?

Who went and left?
Who chickened out or took an offer that was better paid and then regretted it?

Who has first timer info to feedback to us old fogeys who will nod sagely in reminiscence and laugh into our Horlicks.
Sign up here.........
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SueH



Joined: 01 Feb 2003
Posts: 1022
Location: Northern Italy

PostPosted: Thu Sep 07, 2006 4:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Admit it Will, you're just a prurient voyeur. Smile Had one of the latter at my last school, with a camera, no less. I like a drink and maybe I'm getting old, but it's only on summer school that I've seen somebody so incoherently drunk/stoned and due to work/teach the following morning.

Any similar tales from your summer conferences???Wink
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Will.



Joined: 02 May 2003
Posts: 783
Location: London Uk

PostPosted: Thu Sep 14, 2006 9:16 am    Post subject: Prurient voyeur Reply with quote

Oh most definitely one of those,
One the major skills I have acquired observing teachers teaching on training courses and in class, especially in summer schoos and if that isn't voyeuristic I don't know what is.
No summer school this year for me hence the update request.
I guess nobody has recovered enough from it to post the torrid revelations for us. We 'lost' a student one year. She completely disappeared.
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SueH



Joined: 01 Feb 2003
Posts: 1022
Location: Northern Italy

PostPosted: Thu Sep 14, 2006 11:34 am    Post subject: Lost student Reply with quote

And it's never the one you'd really like to lose, is it?

Was she from one of those countries which don't have an automatic right of entry? Not hidden in the DOS's bedroom? Did you get any complaints from the parents, from the overseas agents??
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Will.



Joined: 02 May 2003
Posts: 783
Location: London Uk

PostPosted: Sat Sep 16, 2006 1:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well of the subject of the OP but cruising along still.
Yes one who had parents to pay a bond for her and she disappeared one evenng... Parents didn't seem too bothered. school did sod all really left it the police and they couldn't find an image of her on the CCTV group leadres semed not to be too worried. Out of my hands.
Never did get any feedback.
Back to work we all went and The company kept quiet. We did wonder if this was a regular occurence....
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Looter



Joined: 30 Jan 2005
Posts: 9
Location: Bialystok, Poland

PostPosted: Sun Feb 11, 2007 5:33 pm    Post subject: English Country School??? Reply with quote

Any of u guys ever worked here? Or at least heard anything about them? The pay seems better than Churchill house where we were last year... but the fact that activity leaders have a starting wage 20 quid more than teachers worries me a bit... last yr I practically WAS an activity leader in terms of additional activities...

It also seems like there will be bugger-all in the surrounding locale... (somewhere near Manchester) I'm not sure if this is good cos we can save or bad cos of mind-numbing boredom and nowhere to escape to on the 'day off'...

Anyhow... if you've heard of this place or, even better, worked there, let me know before I find myself trapped for a month there...
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Will.



Joined: 02 May 2003
Posts: 783
Location: London Uk

PostPosted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 5:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Czescz Looter,

I have never heard of them

I had a Google on them and they look legit and I would have pproblaty worked for them, in another life, they have all the cred and the high fees so there is money for resources and i hope they offer you a good package.

Anyone else care to comment?
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Robski



Joined: 18 Feb 2007
Posts: 50
Location: Middle Europe

PostPosted: Sun Feb 25, 2007 4:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

See my bit about TWIN. The trouble with the summer schools is that nobody wants to pay people properly. It's not just pay itself but hours. If you are on a residential centre and you have kids running around at night what do you do? You will find that you are responsible but you are probably working for free. If something happens you could find yourself in court. At TWIN they would pay for a 'session' but not for the between times. If you have kids that behave - great. But many kids are sent by their parents because they want to get rid of them. (I wonder why.) TWIN was by far the worst. I also did many years with EF, which was okay. But every year they would pack 'em in, and as a centre manager your biggest headache was finding enough beds never mind trying to make sure the teaching was up to scratch.

There is also a serious, serious issue about CRB checks with the whole industry is skating over. One day something will happen and someone will end up in court if not in jail.

Get a job in cafe, mate.
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SueH



Joined: 01 Feb 2003
Posts: 1022
Location: Northern Italy

PostPosted: Sun Feb 25, 2007 5:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've got (or had) CRB clearance for my previous work in FE colleges, but I was never asked for it by my two summer schools. Mind you - the pervy photographer I think I mentioned earlier - who walked around with baggy shorts displaying his tackle - was, I believe, a state school teacher (or so he said). Either way he shouldn't have been allowed anywhere near the students.

The schools are so desperate at times for teachers that requiring CRB clearance would make it impossible for them. They'd have to plan ahead, commit to paying staff well, pay for CRB checks (which can take ages). It's not going to happen. My first summer school experience was after I'd taken a 20 hour taster course. Finished it on a Wednesday evening, saw a job ad in the local paper on Thursday and started on Monday...
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Candid Kandura



Joined: 03 Dec 2006
Posts: 10
Location: EUROPE

PostPosted: Sun Feb 25, 2007 5:47 pm    Post subject: CRB checks Reply with quote

When the whole idea of CRB checks first came out, I was working in summer school recruitment. The principle was fine, still is in fact, but it used to take so long to get the results.

The thing was, you had to be organised - and that is something most EFL ourfits are not! We had to photocopy all the necessary documents at the interview, and if the work references were cool, send them off to the CRB place in Liverpool. Even then, some people would turn a job down - sodding ingrates! - and it would be money down the drain.

But the real problem came as the course start dates got nearer. There wasn't the luxury of a large 'time window', and in some cases we had to take people on without getting back the CRB check first. Quite how the law stands on this I don't know, but I have heard that several companies are not even considering CRB checks until the staff are on site, just to save dosh! Even worse, others are holding all the documents for the CRB until the end of the course, and then dumping them - there's no need for them, as the course is finished, and nothing 'untoward' happened!!

Typical EFL, eh? But somebody will come a cropper one day. Just make sure it isn't you - if you are working as a Centre Manager or Course Director, you can demand to see the CRB status of your staff. Then at least you are covered, even if the company isn't.

Plus, you'll also have a nice story for Sandy's Tefl Blog!!
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