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Thebes American College

 
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sarah56



Joined: 22 Feb 2006
Posts: 3
Location: UK

PostPosted: Sat Jun 03, 2006 6:56 pm    Post subject: Thebes American College Reply with quote

Has anyone worked at Thebes American College in 6th October City?

Thanks
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7734



Joined: 22 Oct 2005
Posts: 17

PostPosted: Tue Oct 10, 2006 10:48 pm    Post subject: Dina Hadidy will lie to your face while smiling Reply with quote

If (MOD EDIT) is still working there, then run for the hills.

After she hired me, she openly boasted in the staff room about intentionally defrauding banks in Canada through multiple credit card fraud schemes, and then leaving the country before they caught her.

Let me rephrase that, SHE BRAGGED ABOUT RIPPING OFF FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS IN MY HOME COUNTRY AS A WAY OF ATTEMPTING TO BOND WITH ME.

She increased my student load by 100% and then cut my pay by 20%.

I had up to 45 students in my room -- and she accepted students who could not understand or speak ANY English, and with whom she promptly filled my classes.

Unfortunately my level of Arabic is not good enough to teach people who only speak Arabic; and she refused to separate the kids by language competency by simply denying any studies, data or research that suggested doing so.

When I politely suggested I may seek employment elsewhere if the school was not willing to honour the contract we'd agreed upon, she said, [direct quote, here] "Do you love me? Or don't you love me?"

Apparently I don't 'love' her, as I politely finished out the month and left.
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stoth1972



Joined: 16 May 2003
Posts: 674
Location: Seattle, Washington

PostPosted: Tue Oct 10, 2006 11:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A friend of mine came out of Thebes-are there multiple locations? I seem to recall a riot at the end of the school year (on the teachers' parts) in an attempt to get the wages they were owed.
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stoth1972



Joined: 16 May 2003
Posts: 674
Location: Seattle, Washington

PostPosted: Tue Oct 10, 2006 11:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

7734, you seem to have worked at many of Cairo's Dodgiest. Didn't you do a stint at New Horizon?
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7734



Joined: 22 Oct 2005
Posts: 17

PostPosted: Wed Oct 11, 2006 2:00 am    Post subject: lol Reply with quote

lol -- yeah, I seem to have had wound up in some of the lesser quality schools.

As a local hire, your choices are limited -- most people I worked with had supplemental income, and didn't need to worry about silly things like 'cash flow'.

In all fairness, I met many teachers (foreign hires) who had no problems -- so a good time can be had teaching in Cairo, once you get used to the disciplinary issues.

Yes, the Thebes people have/had multiple schools -- they even had an affiliation in the Nile Delta, Mansoura.

I didn't hear anything about a riot, but I wouldn't be surprised, and likely neither would the school owners.
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USteacherinCairo



Joined: 10 Jan 2007
Posts: 3

PostPosted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 8:47 am    Post subject: More information on Thebes American College Reply with quote

I too would like any information anyone has on Thebes American College. If there is anyone on the site who has up to date information or word of mouth on the school that would be great
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stoth1972



Joined: 16 May 2003
Posts: 674
Location: Seattle, Washington

PostPosted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 8:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

A friend of mine worked there (I want to say that there are 2 campuses, but my memory fails me). It was a pretty brutal end-of-contract problem with many teachers failing to get the money that they were owed. Conditions during the year were unusually dismal, by Cairo standards.
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USteacherinCairo



Joined: 10 Jan 2007
Posts: 3

PostPosted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 8:58 am    Post subject: Re: Thebes Reply with quote

Like 7734 (see above posts) I seem to have ended up serving in some of the dodgier schools in Cairo. For all of those considering employment at Thebes (Integrated Thebes Academy in Cairo) I would advise you to strongly consider the reality of the school vs. the pitch.

I have been at the school for one week, two other new faculty members started at the same time as myself, and after one week all three of us are exploring other opportunities for employment, as we have found the school to be far less than what it was advertised to be.

Be aware of the following examples.

1) Textbooks for high school classes are anywhere from 4-6 years below grade level and are quite difficult for a majority of the students. Not that they do any work to begin with (see No. 3).

2) Students are rarely issued textbooks in the first place.
I spent the winter holiday preparing two months of lesson plans to have ready when I walked in the door. I had planned to assign 4 pages of reading (ridiculously low at the 11th grade level) for homework the first night. In discussing this assignment with existing teachers in the department, they seemed to believe that 4 pages would be an overly difficult assignment for the students to manage, and that they would as such not even bother to do it. She suggested that if I wanted to go ahead with the assignment that I should first verify if they had books. Four months into the school year this seemed like a given, but upon asking the students I discovered that none of my five classes had ever been issued textbooks. The reason most teachers gave for this was that they were afraid to issue textbooks to the students, becuase even if they kept records of which student had which book (something that seemed a novel idea to many of the less-than-qualified staff members) the school would hold the teachers financially acountable for the condition and return of the books. Apparently this is the basis for the "riot" mentioned in previous posts.

3. The students have the run of the school.
Like many of the less than exemplary private schools in Egypt, Thebes is less of a school and more than a business. The students and their parenets are their customers. And with an overly abundant number of second rate schools available, parent and student satisfaction (inflated grades) are the way that schools make sure that they do not lose business to other schools in the area. As such, students have little incentive to come to class, stay in class, or pay attention when they are present. I have met seasoned, qualied, veteran teachers who have proclaimed a great deal of difficulty in successfully implementing basic classroom management with these students.

4. Adminstrative deficiencies.
If any of you have memberships to the International Schools Review, in addition to ESL Cafe, I would suggest reading the reviews of this school posted on that site. While the lack of supervision is often nice from the perspective of the teacher, when it comes to classroom management and implementing disciplinary policies, it is yet another detriment to the school. The adminsitration is all but absent from the daily life of students, and teachers lack the authority to dole out detentions greater than 15 minutes during lunch. The students are often violent or demonstrate egregiously poor behavior and face no consequences of merit whatsoever. Grade changing also appears to be a serious problem (see also No. 3).
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veiledsentiments



Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA

PostPosted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 3:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sorry that you have stepped into another one of this type of school. I don't read the other sections of this website, but it really does seem like this description is almost the standard for private language schools in the Middle East. (and the public schools as well) The good schools to work at seem to be 1 or 2 per major city - with the rest being the pits. Shocked

VS
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stoth1972



Joined: 16 May 2003
Posts: 674
Location: Seattle, Washington

PostPosted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 4:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My sentiments exactly, VS. Sadly, what you're describing is par for course. The best schools hire well-qualified seasoned primary and secondary teachers (typically w/ international experience already) and then there's the rest. I know the school isn't the end of the road for you USteacherinCairo, but I think business operations in Egypt are generally a shock for many foreigners who go there to work. If you want to remain in the primary/secondary teaching for now, it will require a lot of flexibility and tolerance for conditions that we, as N. Americans, are not generally prepared for. Good luck! If nothing else, I hope the package at Thebes is sweeter.
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