Job Discussion Forums

Mr Wind-up Bird · Joined: 22 Sep 2004 Posts: 196

Does anyone have anything good or bad to share with me about VATC? Been offered some interesting-sounding work there, & would like to know your experiences if you have any!

jojoni · Joined: 08 Jul 2004 Posts: 87

I heard from a teacher it is a very good school. THat is all I know. Good luck

pfroehlich · Joined: 17 Feb 2004 Posts: 24 Location: New York City

Interesting? In what sense? I worked at VATC for about a year and found it fairly middle-of-the-road. It's salient traits are:

1) Low pay ($11-$13/hr.) but possibility of many (40+) hours if you want them.

2) Fairly decent coursebooks (Gateways, Transitions, Explorations) but virtually no additional resources available to teachers (other than a few sets of flashcards for childrens classes).

3) Extremely infrequent (as in once a year) in-class evaluations, so you can relax and teach (or not teach) however you like with little fear of repercussions.

Mr Wind-up Bird · Joined: 22 Sep 2004 Posts: 196

Interesting in the sense that they wanted me to teach Travel & Tourism. However I turned it down as even though it was 9 hours a week in the afternoons & I'd argued my way up to $20ph, the amount of prep would've been hideous - all they had was a few textbooks & they expected me to put the whole lot on Powerpoint in my own time & using my own equipment. Plus the building was horrible, tiny classroom, no aircon etc.

Anyway I've got some more English classes, same rate, same time so I've not lost out, & they've found some mug to replace me so everyone's happy!