Job Discussion Forums

[hannnnaa]

I got an email and a phone message from someone named Jim Jackson from this organization saying he wanted to talk to me, but I can't find a website or any information about "Global International" from searching for it on google. I know there's Global ERS which some people on here say is credible, so I was thinking maybe Global International was using a similar name to confuse people and make it sound legit. Has anyone ever heard of them or have any information on this company?

[Samantha]

Did you apply to them for a job? If so, you may want to engage in discussion with them.

[geaaronson]

That's the outfit that i believe I got an emailing from and it was a fee based referral service. I conjectured that they were trading on ERS reputation and just deleted their post.

[luzdeluna]

Global International is a small, private language school in San Juan del Rio, Mexico. It's a lovely town close to Queretaro and Mexico City. Unfortunately, I worked for Global International and have absolutely nothing positive to say about the current owner or director of academic studies.

There were frequently problems in getting paid, teachers were lied to, and it was an extremely unprofessional work environment. I am still in contact with many of their former teachers who shared the same negative experience and cannot recommend them.

[lale]

I must concur with the previous post, as I too was a previous teacher there. Ethics are questionable - which is the reason I quit working there.

[Kymmy]

Hi there, I also worked for Global International in San Juan del Rio. DO NOT WORK THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They will not help you find accomodations, you will not get paid on time, you will not receive any benefits, you will be working illegally as they will not help you get an FM3, and if you do want an FM3 you will have to pay for it yourself! They do not pay for holidays/sick days. When the school is closed for semana santa YOU WILL NOT GET PAID. You will be expected to work from 7am to 9pm, split shifts. They go through teachers like most people go through toilet paper. Both the owner, Mario Lagos, and the Director, Jim Jackson who doesn't even have TESL certification or any other type of teacher training, will say absolutely anything to get you down there and have no shame in not honouring their word. OMG...I could go on and on....but basically IT IS NOT A SCHOOL.....it is a poorly run business which the owner steals from in order to pay his own expenses at the expense of your salary, not to mention sanity. I currently am aware of one former employee who is sueing the company for lack of payment. I am also aware that the school had to change names in January 2009 due to the fact that it went bankrupt.
San Juan del Rio is a beautiful colonial town but the impression of this town will not be so great if you go there with the intention of working for those corrupt imbeciles!
I also know a few former employees who would be more than happy to back this statement.
Best of luck with your search....I hope this message was enough to change your mind.
ps. They don't have a website because it is NOT a LEGIT school!

[Samantha]

Kymmy wrote:

[Prof.Gringo]

[Kymmy]

Although you may have a valid point regarding some, if not most ESL private schools in Mexcio, that was NOT the point I was getting at. Anyone who has worked at a professional private school in Mexico is aware that the hourly wages are anything but desireable, which is why I now work for a respectable university.
However, the point I wanted to address regarding Global International is that they LIE. They make promises they are not kept, and they have no intention of keeping them. They promise to help you find housing, and claim that there are many suitable apartments available, which is far from reality...and never happened for any of their employees. The didn't lie about the rate of pay, but try getting it! They would continuously LIE about when you were going to get paid. One employee almost got evicted because she hadn't received her salary for over a month. So, as I am aware that private schools are not the place to make money in Mexico, you would hope that you are not travelling to a foreign country just to be completly taken advantage of. Unfortunately the foreigners are not the only ones they screw over, they treat the Mexican employees with the same lack of respect. Just stay far away from that place!

[Samantha]

Kymmy, how many private schools have you worked in? It seems you are judging them all by that one school. They aren't all like that. I've worked in both private language schools and universities. The universities don't all pay a better hourly wage, nor are the conditions better in all. I was always paid on time in the private school I worked at, but not always so in two universities. So you see, it all depends.

[Kymmy]

I did not say all private schools are the same....I said SOME. Most are respectable and honest....global international is NOT ONE OF THEM!

[Theodoric]

I too made the mistake of believing that Global International was as good as its word. I have to say that Kymmy's observations are 100 percent accurate regarding the overall operation and my experience there.

However, one should, in fairness, clarify one of her remarks - the Director of Studies, Jim Jackson, does not have an ESL certificate because he has in its stead an English Education degree from a university in Canada where he taught high school English prior to spending four years teaching in Central China and now another year in Mexico. Jackson is the best English teacher I know. The ESL world is a small one and I think that's an important clarification.

Notwithstanding that fact, the school, its owner and its reputation throughout the area are deplorable. It's a tragedy, actually. San Juan del Rio is one of Mexico's well-kept secrets - a beautiful, slow-paced, peaceful town where one can feel quickly and effortlessly at-home.

Would that it were Jackson's school. Alas, it's not. It belongs to Mario Lagos and he is the most nefarious man I have ever met in this business.

[robotparty]

I am a current teacher at Global Comp as it is now called. That is very interesting to me, and not at all surprising, that they had to change names because they went bankrupt earlier this year. I have both good things and bad things to say about Global Comp. Mostly bad, though.

First off, Mario Lagos is a sleazy businessman and a pretty horrible person in general. I do not know this person Jim Jackson that is mentioned in earlier posts as the director, so he must have left recently before I arrived. But believe me, Mario is a deplorable human being with little, if any, redeeming qualities.

OK, some positives to the school...the pay is actually decent for Mexico. We get 100 pesos/hour. I do worry that they will be able to pay us regularly, however. (I've only been here for a month now.) They drive us to all of our off site classes, which many schools won't. Everyone here, save Mario, of course, is very nice and friendly.

Now back to the real stuff. This school is a disaster. It is poorly run. Apparently, Mario used to be married to a Canadian woman who ran the school. Since she left a year or two ago, nobody know how to do anything here. Good luck if you can find a printer that works or even any paper. We didn't get books for the students until three or four weeks into the semester (depending on the class). We still don't have teacher's editions for several textbooks or even copies of the student books for the teachers. Several classes that we teach at the local Tech. Institute don't have classrooms. Every day we have to hunt around until we find an open one. And it's a different one each day. This past Monday I had class under a tree.

We were promised in our interview that they would pay half the FM-3, but now we apparently have to pay the whole tab. We never signed a contract, which is good and bad. It makes them look even more disorganized and unprofessional (which they are). On the other hand, we're certainly not sticking around past this semester. The same can be said for all the teachers here, except possibly one. Even the head teacher, Alan, told me the other day that he's taking some time off after the semester. Maybe forever. After teaching at Global Comp, I don't blame him.

[geaaronson]

Sounds a little like Alarid Academy in San Pedro de los Pinos in DF.
It took me more than a month to get my last paycheck.

School began last year third week in August, the 17th if I recall correctly. We did not get textbooks until the first week in October!

The department head told us we had to make xerox copies of the teachers edition and give them out to students but then administration would restrict our copying priveleges so we had to sneak copies when no one was looking.

The department head had it in for some students. I was instructed to fail four students in two classes, regardless of their grades as she considered their behaviour deplorable. They were not so much more deplorable than any of the students. Interestingly all 4 were the tallest males in their respective classes and the department head was shorter than 5 feet! Two of the four had the highest grades in their classes so it was doubly taxing on me.

I of course refused to even consider lowering grades, but took note that she did when she entered them into the system.

I never could understand why there were as many as 6 textbooks to each class, but I learned recently from a colleague that she and the school director got a slice of the sales. Whew, what a racket.

[Pogo 2000]