Job Discussion Forums

carol_engels · Joined: 08 Jul 2005 Posts: 11

I[size=12] noticed the website of The London school in Sochi on this Idex. This website is all lies and comtains a picture of another school. The London school is considered the worst in Russia with terrible accomadation and is run by crooks.

Please see International jobs forum/ Russia and CICS for numerous compliants about this school.[size=18][/size][/size]

Kent F. Kruhoeffer · Joined: 22 Jan 2003 Posts: 2129 Location: 中国

Hi Carol

I'm faced with a major sort of dilemma here.

If I were to start deleting links based

on teacher complaints -

we'd have very few school links on the Index.

Over the years I've read complaints from people

about so many schools, including the Big 3 ...

Hell, I even complained about the school

I worked for, but never deleted the link.

i.e., I'd feel uncomfortable picking

out and deleting just one school.

So - before I hit the delete key,

I'd like to hear what other people

have to say about the issue.

coledavis · Joined: 21 Jun 2003 Posts: 1838

Er, excuse me if I'm wrong, but with spelling like that, perhaps Carol's not an English teacher. Maybe she's a rival of the Sochi people. (This isn't to defend the school, merely wondering about the nature of this call for a deletion.)

bobs12 · Joined: 27 Apr 2004 Posts: 310 Location: Saint Petersburg

I've mentioned before that a lot of people who slate schools on these forums do it very anonymously and usually with really suspiciously poor spelling, no grammar, etc.

Which makes me wonder, are they:

frothing and foaming so much they can't see for red haze and are just pounding away at keys

sane

people who got into trouble with the school because they have poor English and got found out

so traumatised by the experience that they've lost all command of English

just rivals out to spread bile

I can understand someone in the heat of the moment going nuts and bashing their keyboard without stopping to hit backspace now and again, but all it does is make the person seem less credible than they might be.

Especially when someone has only made a few posts (haven't bothered to read the rest, admittedly).

If it is a bad school, nobody will take the warning seriously. The school wins in this case, because a few more people know about it and hell, knowing EFL teachers one might just go to see whether the poster was telling the truth or not.

I'm not making any judgement about you personally, Carol. I don't know you and I wouldn't want to jump to any conclusions. If you're reading this, the above is a general observation about similar posts that often appear here, and not a slight at your character.

If you've really had a bad time at the school, I can imagine myself being similarly determined to pound out my frustrations without being too careful.

I would invite you to write again, this time more carefully, more clearly and give a full description of what went on that you didn't like.

Maybe what you found appalling, some of us would find appealing Question

chechevitsa · Joined: 17 Oct 2005 Posts: 22

hmm.
I was going to post that although I'm a newbie, I've already read a few times about SOCHI being an inappropriate school. however, on review of the post I remembered reading, and its OP's other posts, I'm inclined to doubt the truth of them. he posted more or less the same stuff about SOCHI in several threads in different subforums, and didn't have much else to say...as someone mentioned, it makes you wonder if this isn't some bizarre revenge attempt by a rival or someone(s) who are angry over something most people would consider reasonable.

carol_engels · Joined: 08 Jul 2005 Posts: 11

Deleted ?

bobs12 · Joined: 27 Apr 2004 Posts: 310 Location: Saint Petersburg

carol_engels · Joined: 08 Jul 2005 Posts: 11

It was a "furnished" flat. Since no teacher stayed for more than 3 months no one bothered to buy a bed or mattress.
I am not out to fight with anyone. I wish only to warn newcomers ( this school only employs newcomers as experienced people would not put up with the conditions for a week ) about this school.
Once again I refer readers to other messages written by other teachers about this school.
If readers think my views are subjective then they can compare them with the views of others who actually taught at this school and reach their own conclusions.

bobs12 · Joined: 27 Apr 2004 Posts: 310 Location: Saint Petersburg

Okay, sorry - I didn't mean to be quite so sarcastic. I'm still saying that nobody wins except the school unless someone takes the time to write a single, coherent, objective account of the school and the conditions there.

Otherwise nobody's likely to believe that it's so bad you'd want to run away.

coledavis · Joined: 21 Jun 2003 Posts: 1838

Sorry about giving offence, but the spelling mistakes did make me a touch suspicious.

carol_engels · Joined: 08 Jul 2005 Posts: 11

Please see "As Objective as I can be" - two thread above - for my reply.

leslie_ · Joined: 07 Sep 2005 Posts: 5 Location: Midwestern USA

Just to butt in...
Why is the focus on Carol's bad spelling and not the message she is putting out?

I admire her attempts to re-post her point. I think it is a turn off and stifles a person's desire to post to a forum if they feel they might be subject to personal criticism.
I am not an educator so maybe that is why I do not get the point...I would never doubt someone's credibility because of misspelled words. Especially minor spelling errors.
She communicated. Take her message for what it is worth...An opinion.

jpvanderwerf2001 · Joined: 02 Oct 2003 Posts: 1117 Location: New York

Whoa, WHOA, Leslie. You obviously haven't been around the wolves on this forum for very long... Wink

(BTW, I totally agree with what you wrote.)

carol_engels · Joined: 08 Jul 2005 Posts: 11

( I am copying this from the "previous" thread because it should have been on this one in the bloody first place. Silly me, I can't type or even work a simple website. )

An atempt at being objective.

I am not annoyed or offended by the remarks made in this thread about me. The whole point that I am making is that it pays to be suspicious in this business. It was my trusting nature that led me to believe the lies that this school in Sochi told me and so I paid the price.
They are quite right to doubt me and also to ask for an objective account of the school. No account can be entirely objective but I will do my best.

The first thing that I noticed when I read the contract was "teachers cannot refuse to take classes." I thought it was odd but later I was to discover that the teenage students were so rude (I am known as a thick skinned person) that teachers had just refused to teach them. There was also a clause stating that a $50 fine was payable if the teacher missed the pick up time at the airport. Of course I was late and had to pay � it was just another way of decreasing your pay.
The job was offered to me over the internet � I did not apply for it. The person who wrote the e-mail said that his name was Alexandra Kaminski and that he was the owner of the school. This was a lie � the owner of the school does not speak any English.
After seeing the state of the school and then the flat I wanted to go home. Both were falling to pieces and the toilets did not work. The smell alone was disgusting. There were no blankets in the flat and when I asked to borrow a blanket or two from the school they said they would see but never came up with any blankets. It took me three days to buy a blanket as I speak no Russia and they would not help. This was in December.
No matter, I was determined to proceed. In a short time I started to hear rumours about how other teachers had been mistreated and had left. The students all hated the owner of the school and were constantly complaining that they had been ripped off in one way or another. For example, the course books were sold in the local bookshop but students had to buy their books from the school at twice the price � if they did not then they were not allowed to attend classes and would lose whatever money they had paid for the course.
In order to make more money all students were moved on to the next level. This made teaching very difficult as I gave one student 15% in her test and she did not have any idea what was going on in the next class. The turn over among students was very high and most left after rowing with the owner about money. This probably accounts for the rudeness of so many students.
I stuck it for 3 months - by then I believed the rumours that no one got the airfare paid, or was paid for the last month. After all, if they cheated 10 year olds why should they worry about me? When I read the complaints on this website about the school ,by other teachers who had worked there, I did not want to wait around.
Like the others I had big problems getting my visa � all visa costs had to be paid for by the teacher. There is more to say but this message is too long already please see messages from other teachers. Most of teachers that worked for the school have also complained on this website � it is a small school and most of the time they have no native English speaking teacher � although it says on their website that all their teacher are native English speakers.
I feel sorrier for the students than I do the teachers.
(It's the best I could do at such short notice. E-mail me if you want more information.)

bobs12 · Joined: 27 Apr 2004 Posts: 310 Location: Saint Petersburg

Carol - I wouldn't worry about removing the other post - you can't delete a post if it has replies.

Leslie - A lot of people on forums like this see seplling etc. as a giveaway to the fact that someone might be trying to spam the forum, especially when the member is a newcomer and hasn't been in any conversations previously.

There aren't many other ways to make decisions as to whether a post is genuine or not, the same as you can tell when an email didn't come from your bank.