Job Discussion Forums

[hemispheredancer]

Just a heads up... From experience, avoid Ivycation or Ivy League Academics... and possibly IvyPrep Academy... I do know a 3rd location is opening in Hanoi. The owner is using several locations in Hanoi and possibly Ho Chi Minh City. All of the websites use the same students photos. You can tell by the mobile number attached to the websites and printed materials that they are all owned by the same person. The organization uses an American front man and hires you for a good rate of pay, swaps pages in your contract while making you a copy with the signatures, does not reimburse the visa fee and if at all possible will not pay for your return ticket home. All of this, plus they have a scam to cut your number of hours and your pay rate by pretending the students complain and they change your job. I have evidence to the contrary for my students as they were told they could not book with me. It is a shame as the students were wonderful to work with.

[FreshlyBrewedCoffee]

[hemispheredancer]

You are right... I managed to be there longer than a day though and I quit! They are complete rip off artists, have no concept of curriculum development, college/university counseling or teaching. I did manage to warn the new SAT teacher that the American frontman had complained about her after one class. It is ridiculous. And I have had nice e-mails back from some of the students who actually filled me in afterwards to the fact that it was not that students did not request me, but they were told by the owner and frontman that they could not book with me.

Yes, everyone should beware when going into Vietnam for jobs...

[RustyShackleford]

Dunno about Ivy Prep in HCMC. I knew some people working with that group in and didn´t hear anything exceptionally bad. Seemed to be a good payrate considering.

[hemispheredancer]

They claim a good rate of pay until you are there and they want to change your job, swap the last page of your contract with your signature on it to another contract and start playing games. I have now heard from no less than 5 people who have been done this way.

Just beware... It is too good to be true. You will waste a lot of time, effort, and money if you dare to go with them. They were trying to get rid of 3 more teachers who had been there for a short time when I left. All games... Even games with the parents and students. There is no reason students should be working on their essays for months on end or even teachers ghost writing essays for students. Parents are paying a tremendous amount for this and getting ripped off.

[hemispheredancer]

Ivycation in HCMC owned and run by the same 2 people. Beware...

[ExpatLuke]

What's this higher-than-usual pay rate anyways?

I just saw their advertisement on here on Dave's and one their requirements is as follows:

"- Bachelor degree from a top 100 American university or college (must-have) and/or higher (A degree in the fields of pedagogy, education or linguistics would be advantageous) "

Yet they're only offering $22-$28 per hour... and asking for only 50 hours a month. Who would be crazy enough to go for that? My pay falls within that range and I get more hours, and I live in the central region which has substantially less pay and hours.

[hemispheredancer]

They must have changed their advertisement. The pay rate was double or more depending upon the job and over twice as many hours i the previous advertisement. Maybe they are changing tactics. I know they do not have enough students as you see the same ones over and over and they use the photos of the same students on all the websites under different company names and locations.

[gypsyhanga]

I saw a recent ad from Ivycation on the jobs page and wanted to bump this thread and add my experience. I also highly recommend avoiding this place! They do not care about staff or students.

I was hired just before this forum chain started, so I missed out on the warnings on here, although I did hear from an outgoing teacher during my second week. Anyway... a short overview of my experience. If you want more info, feel free to ask.

Scheduling: I was initially offered a contract for a base of 30+ hours, but that was changed to 20 hours before I even arrived (but actually preferable). However, by week 2 they were scheduling me 50-60 hours a week without asking. They give you an email with your schedule around 8 pm each night and pay no attention to your requests or the contract. I would frequently believe I had the next morning off, only to get a night-time email with a schedule of 8:00-8:00 (with an hour or two for lunch). My contract stipulated 2 days off per week, but they'd still schedule me for 7 days a week. After 5 weeks of this madness, SAT day arrived. I told the director that I did not want 60 hour work weeks. She replied that's fine, we could renegotiate my contract to 15 hour work weeks. She then "insisted" I take a 3 week (unpaid) vacation.

Teaching: The owner of the school has no background in education and no interest in learning how to run a good business. Her only concern is getting students to pay for as many hours as possible, and she is willing to do anything to get this. Ideally, she would like students to sign up for 120 hours of individual prep (that is not a typo and those are her words). Students are shuffled around to various tutors and you are given no info about them (e.g. prior scores, previous prep). In most cases, my tutor students had already used every test that had been released over the past 12 years (around 50 full-length tests). I had no materials and it was too late to break them of any bad habits. In some cases, we were scheduled for 4-hour individual sessions without new materials. It was absolutely heartbreaking because the students were really sweet and I knew they were being swindled. The director implies and sometimes directly states everyone will get a super high score (2300 range). My understanding is that, despite the fact the program is the most inefficient I've ever seen, the teachers are blamed if the students don't get the outrageously high scores promised to them. I didn't stick around long enough to find out my students' results.

I stayed until I was paid and got outta there. I could continue on with other issues (e.g. the previously mentioned front-man is real), but I'll end for now. Again, feel free to ask if you have other questions.

[hemispheredancer]

As the person who replied to my email was a there before me... I believe I was there when you arrived. Maybe others will find this and realize what is going on.