Job Discussion Forums

[madrileno]

[lizziebennet]

I would just like to point out that teachers can blame ELS as much as they want but the summer school timetable is set by the university directly, the books are ordered by the university directly, the curriculum is now set by the university directly.

As a service provider we have had to fall in line with what the university says and it has caused all these issues.

And yes La Reve is right in a way. If you are leaving the company after one year you could have left early but you would not have gotten your summer pay or gratuity because you would have worked for the company for less than a year. This is in the labor law. Those people have to stay for summer if they want their money... That is the contract they signed.

Madrileno is also right when he says the advanced book is too difficult... The students studied Cutting Edge intermediate in the previous level so they should naturally have moved on to Cutting Edge Upper Intermediate. They have skipped a book in the process. Again that was not an ELS choice as the curriculum is set by Dr. A on the direct hire side.

[lizziebennet]

P.S Madrileno, you make it sound like every teacher has to slave away at the copy machine making copies when that is not the case at all.

In response to this terrible book situation ELS has brought in a new member of staff who is specifically there to make copies for all the teachers. Copies are available for all teachers to pick up for their classes. It is a bad situation but ELS has tried to make it easier for us and I would like to give them credit for that.

[La Reve]

You might want to give ME credit.

Early on in my employment in September 2011, I suggested having ONE person operate the copying machine would be more effective, rather than have 20 teachers use it.

Additionally, when I asked for a written confirmation of my dis-employment from ELS three times, rather than receive the spoken-agreed upon conditions, I was given, after my third request, a third written warning stating I had broken the copier, and was thus terminated.

I had previously been told, rather than have an assistant copy the weekly Study Skills lesson, I was to make the 800 copies as I was the writer for that.... and the machine broke. When I talked with the person fixing it - an outside source - he said it was impossible to discover who/how it broke. Almost seems like I was set up, eh? Etc.

So, please, be so kind as to thank the right person.

[pret a porter]

Golly! This thread just keeps getting more and more interesting.

Regardless, sounds like everyone is having a hard time over at Buraimi and with ELS (aside from a small minority who seem happy with the company).

Still, with the negative comments about ELS/Buraimi far outranking the positive in this forum, it really seems like a place to avoid.

I wish any teacher brave enough to risk accepting an offer from this place much luck. It appears they'll need it!

[lizziebennet]

Pret a porter in March on the first page of this thread you updated everyone on the situation at UOB (incorrectly I might add because ELS had five not six levels previously and were forced by the university to change to three) and warned people to beware of ESL and UOB.

Now you pretending you are an observer saying 'from what you have read it seems like a place to avoid'

If you don't work at UOB your contacts don't seem to know what they are talking about. If your contacts do actually work for ELS you have to wonder what kind of teachers they are if they don't even know how many levels there are...

[madrileno]

Another ELS thread that's going to be locked in 3....2....1....

[pret a porter]

[lizziebennet]

If you know as much as you say you do you will know that it hasn't been plain sailing for me either. I have certainly had my problems with them and by no means think they are a perfect company. But i am wise enough to know that this ELS is a business and all companies seek their own good first so it wouldn't really be different elsewhere. I challenge someone to give me an example of a company in Oman that thinks of the teacher first...

I worked at the ELS Sharqiyah project before and it was literally terrible. Perhaps I had an experience that was way worse than usual because compared to Sharqiyah University I find UOB to be way better.

There is so much negativity on Dave's that I thought I would just give my viewpoint which is a bit more positive. Unfortunately I am the only one of the majority of teachers that are re-signing that is on Dave's. In fact they have stated that they don't go on here because of all the negativity on every thread for every place...

Think about it... Are there any positive threads. Even people from SQU complain because they aren't getting this allowance or that...

Some of these posts upset me because this is the place that I work at and I actually like my job and love my students. Negativity breeds negativity and it is terrible to work in an environment like that.

Anyway the haters will be glad to hear that I have decided not to debate this issue any longer. If anyone is interested in working at UOB you are welcome to ask me questions. I will try to answer them as truthfully as possible.

Lizzie

[La Reve]

I go to the doctor for some medicine - the clinic that the insurance pays for - and a doctor there says MANY teachers he's seen from there complain about how bad it is.

So I go to the court for my labor case, and I meet an Omani woman who was given an offer to be an administrator there. She said the salary was very low, but they PROMISED so much. She said she had heard a lot of bad things about the college. I told her they were true. I also told her it's far, far better to stay where she was than to take a job at U of Buraimi.

I get right chest pains, looked up info on the net, and yep, it's from stress, but it could be much worse, so I better get to that clinic again. Hope I don't need an 'approved' procedure the company won't approve, a common insurance complaint against one of the worst insurance providers in Oman-trained by American fraudsters, IMHO.

I just like to give the facts, since they are eloquent enough.

[Nolan Chance]

I don't have a dog in this fight, but it seems to me that we have disgruntled present or former employees badmouthing their employers because they haven't been able to deal with a teaching situation. This has made them want to take 'revenge' on their employers by preventing other people from taking up employment. Sour grapes? Maybe.

[La Reve]

I'm sorry, Nolan Chance, not being able to deal with a teaching situation that is unprofessional, exploitive, deceptive, abusive with bullying people in charge, yeah, that's me for sure. Telling the truth. Oh - and the U of Buraimi being a private 'university', it caters to each and every minor student complaint - but not teachers' concerns.

I still don't have my June pay because of my illegal dismissal labor dispute. This is called 'starving the enemy' - a common legal tactic done around the world. I was there in June, I signed in, yes, there was a two-week holiday everyone else got paid for me. Me? No?

One night, I was greeted by a U of Buraimi employee who knocked on my flat at night and told me I had 24 hours to leave.

Being older and wiser and having been in Oman for many years, I knew that was illegal. It was also bullying and intimidation.

I didn't find the truth on Dave's when I joined up last year, but only later on another internet place. If I had read that, I would have avoided this year of hell. And great financial loss.

To blame the teachers for all the problems, sounds like you're an administrator with limited vision.

[Nolan Chance]

[La Reve]

Nolan Chance, you are such a silly boy! What is your job and where?

I have been in Oman for 11 years now. I do not consider my honest complaints about my employer as 'whining', but you do, why?

The excuse, 'It's a developing world' has often been used here at the U of Burami as an excuse for its inexperienced, bullying and unprofessional management. Many teachers at the U of Buraimi only have BAs and many are new to the Gulf. They have fallen for this lie. Just as the students lie that they don't cheat on exams, they 'help each other'.

So Nolan Chance, are you a teacher? An administrator? Man up and tell the truth.

Oman, with greedy recruiters hiring, with exploitive insurance companies, with Omanis hiding their greed behind Indians, Pakistanians, South Africans, Egyptians, Iraqis, Westerners, and others - and ready to blame them rather than themselves for the problems - is becoming as corrupt and bad as most employers are in South Korea.

I know. I've been here long enough to see the corruption change the workplace.

[Nolan Chance]