Job Discussion Forums

[ecocks]

this has brought out a couple of good points, a few more negative ones and a couple of conclusions, at least one false. My recap, freely offered, make of it what you will:

It seems that 3 or 4 people verify that the school prefers hiring younger men under some sort of theory that younger men pose a somewhat lesser risk to the students or the school's reputation. They also only hire North Americans which seems pretty fair to me since there are operations in the industry which only hire British people and at least one that only hired Canadians (other than their native UA teachers of course). The owner also appears a bit eccentric and certainly back in the states he would be accused of discriminatory hiring but according to the local laws he's in bounds.

Opinion was split from the 2 posters who say they worked there. Hard to make much of a conclusion on that issue.

A couple of comments were made that the students are not fully satisfied. Most teachers know you cannot please everybody so that doesn't surprise me. There are students everywhere who don't like BC, IH, EF, independents, "method" schools, etc. It is the nature of our industry.

One false statement that went unchallenged was that they are the highest paying operation in town. That is simply not true. They are probably above average for this marketplace but at least three other schools that I know of pay more for full-time teachers than they do. I also know independents that are making quite a bit more by specializing.

They don't dominate this market but they are certainly a player. No one really has this market sewn up, its pretty chaotic. They spend some money on advertising (easy to find their flyers at a couple of different metros) and maintain multiple locations in Kyiv and around Ukraine.

That seems to be the "meat" of the discussion when you blow away all the smoke and guesses. At least it seems that way to me.

So, what do you think? Thumbs UP? DOWN? That's why its a discussion board. Take everyone�s' judgments toss them around and see what you think.

MODERATORS: Could this be moved onto the new Ukraine thread? Please?

[digitaux]

El: your arguments are a fog of non sequiturs, sophistry, doublespeak, incomprehensibility, gross misunderstanding, plain errors, bizarre reasoning, garbled English, prolixity, ambiguity, undefined pronouns, and many, many missed points. That response is impossible to pick apart, and would take ages to, so I guess I'll concede a form of surrender. (In plain English, "Where to begin?")

ecocks: Thanks.

[El]

.......

[digitaux]

El, there's one person here who's doing more bashing than either me or Old Lion, El. Who is that person, El?

[Gerhard E. Jene]

I had applied to an ad by this American English School for conversational English. the contact name was Jon Pernick. The ad said nothing about other requirements.
So i had answered the ad and sent my c.v. and a copy of my certificate. I was told that was not good enough. that they were looking for someone that had a degree to go with the certificate. i forget if the response mentioned needing experience also. That was 2-3 months ago and unfortunately i deleted the response after i read the the reference to the degree.

Gary

[Old Lion]

[Tiger Beer]

[ecocks]

seems cheaper than Washington DC. Utilities are far less, cell phone bill is lower, food is less and the extensive public transportation system makes owning (and maintaining) a behicle unnecessary. Then there is the whole "living in a foreign country thing" which adds to the value received. So, no it's more expensive and BORING to live in DC.

[everformal]

Did anyone ever manage to suss out whether or not this school in Ukraine is legit? Just curious.

[canucktechie]

You mean is it a real school? Of course it is.

Only you can decide if you'd want to work there. You have the information, make your choice.

[yellowstar]

I taught at AEC for 6 months after Peace Corps, and came back to the US in March.
All in all, it isn't a bad place to work for someone without any certifications. My students were absolutely fantastic and by far the best part of my experience there. There isn't much planning and the lessons are straightforward well organized.
When the crisis hit, they kept our pay at the old exchange rate (even though our contracts were in dollars) and that meant we made next to nothing. They delay your pay to keep you from leaving early. (They call it a "processing delay", but it is just a way to keep teachers from walking out on them). Living there isn't too expensive, but trying to pay back plane tickets and the American dollars spent during the first 6 weeks (2 weeks of training, 4 weeks of teaching before you receive your first paycheck) was almost impossible at the rate they paid us. Furthermore, they kept hiring more teachers, less students enrolled, and we all lost hours.
The Russian lessons I recieved were informal and unprofessional. They do give you a cell phone, and they do find you a good furnished apartment. One of the trainers is absolutely phenomenal.
The worst part of the school, is that they hire ANYONE. I have seen some absolutely horrendous people/teachers come through. They teach for a little while, and are eventually fired or quit, or slide through the cracks and stay.
The school is run by seventh day adventists, (which is why they run Sunday-Thursday) but it didn't seem to come into play much.
I don't regret the time I spent in Ukraine due to the wonderful people I met while teaching. However, I would not recommend coming to this school to anyone, due to the pay situation and the quality of your native speaker colleagues. My advice is to find an exciting job elsewhere. There are plenty of better jobs out there that will pay better as well. Good luck : )

[Recycler]

I have a CELTA and Master's degree, and I've applied to AEC on about three occasions. Despite their advertised promise that they'll acknowledge receipt of resumes, I never heard from them. If the school considers someone with qualifications to be a poor match for AEC, to the point that they'll not even acknowledge such candidates, this indicates a lot about the school's standards and expectations of itself.

The stories from former teachers, even from those who seem to have exhibited a great deal of patience, seem to confirm a lack of professionalism at AEC. Perhaps the reason the school advertises for teachers with little or no experience is that an experienced teacher would not accept the working conditions offered at AEC. Usually, I would say that we should respect the management's right to run the school any way they seem fit; but, the discriminatory hiring practices at AEC, as outlined earlier in this topic, are odious, pernicious, and unadmirable.

[eslcowboy]

knowing nothing about it, it sounds like only a job for newbies and old wrecks. if you're not one of those two, you probably shouldn't consider it.

[MichiganFan]

[prlester]

is training paid for? What rate? Is there a way to get cheap housing beforehand? When does the metro stop in the city at night? Thanks.