Job Discussion Forums

[SandyM]

From my Tefl Blacklist blog...

Hi Sandy,

I stumbled across your blog and how I wish I'd seen it, or something similar, this time last year.

I'd like to nominate for your blacklist, Kramar's School of English, in Zlate Moravce, Slovakia. Boris Kramar owner/director and all round nasty piece of work.

Hindsight being 20/20, I can see almost everything the man said to me, prior to arriving in Slovakia was a lie. I learned that lying is his primary idiom about everything.

The "flat" that he advertises as part of the teacher's benefits, could only generously be called a bed-sit. It is located in the basement of his mother-in-law's house one block from the school. Because of the proximity, there is no way to escape the man at the end of the work day or on the weekends.

He "provides" a cell phone, which he then uses to phone all hours of the day and night giving orders about all manner of things. He then expects the teacher to pay the cell bill that he runs up. He has telephones in every classroom and interupts classes to give instructions about minutia to all the teachers.

He had not done the paperwork for my work visa and instructed me to tell anyone who asked that I was "observing" his school as a part of a study I was making back home. (as I said, lying is his approach to everything) He is known to withhold salary from his female employees, to the point that they have to chase him down to get even a portion of their pay. I received 10,000 SKK on the day that I arrived to buy groceries and then never received another cent in the two months before I left. When I left, he had some notion that I owed him money.

I've heard horror stories from others who have had the misfortune to stumble into this place. There is a thread (started by someone else) on [url]teflwatch.com[/url] that gives other people's experiences as well. I'm glad to give more details as well.

The town of Zlate Moravce is lovely. Most of the people were absolutely fantastic. But Kramar makes it impossible to deal with the place. If your blog can help one poor unsuspecting English teacher miss the experience I had, you will have done a great thing.

[Lord GaGa]

I just applied to the Prima Skola in Levice, and although they could not employ me at present, the director of the school Zuzana Labudov�, kindly recommended that I contact the language school at Zlate Moravce. Which language school at Zlate Moravce? - The Jazykova Skola Kramar! www.jazykovaskolaKRAMAR.sk
She had forwarded my CV and a couple of hours later I received an email from Boris himself, seemingly using the same email address.
Ha ha ha. It was a thrill. Thanks Sandy.

[Hmm . . . Makes me wish Kramar's School of English was in Romania, then I could pretend his communication began-
"My friend, welcome to the Carpathians. I am anxiously expecting you. Sleep well tonight. At three tomorrow the diligence will start for Bukovina: a place on it is kept for you... "]