Job Discussion Forums

portochuck · Joined: 05 Apr 2005 Posts: 48 Location: Brazil

Does anyone know anything about Alps Wizard English schools? I know Wizard, but Alps Wizard? Someone said it was part of Wizard at one time, but not anymore. Does anyone know anything?(about this school?)

fragganika · Joined: 12 Dec 2004 Posts: 60 Location: North American

That's weird. I never heard of them. Maybe they're rival Mormons.

Bristolian · Joined: 15 Feb 2005 Posts: 1 Location: UK

Hi

My Brazilian wife did a teaching stint at her local Wizard English school a couple of years ago. She told me that like many English language schools they teach American English rather than British English as the former is perceived as being easier to learn. Apparently, the teachers are required to follow a fairly narrow curriculum which involves a lot of teaching by repetition of phrases.

As long as you don't mind this teaching method Wizard operate throughout Southern Brazil on a franchise basis and mostly use native born teachers. Whether they would welcome native English speakers I guess depends on the Principal of the individual school. Always worth approaching them though.

Hope this helps.

fragganika · Joined: 12 Dec 2004 Posts: 60 Location: North American

That's exactly how my teaching there went. Play CD, repeat, have students repeat, Play CD again. It's all based on The Method, as a sort of philosophy I guess.

Besides the pedagogy of the cookie cutter method, I found the constant religious overtones really uncomfortable. The franchise was set up by Mormon missionaries, and the books written with a constant bent that way. Every lesson has a "proverb" which tells you to pray in a really creepy way.