Job Discussion Forums

[naturegirl321]

They're not recruiters but large chains. Has anyone had any positive experience with them?

[grahamb]

A rather broad question, Naturegirl. It depends on what you mean by "positive."
I've just finished three years with Berlitz in Spain. With a few exceptions, I enjoyed working with the people. They were very friendly and most of them were genuinely interested in their work. My boss was a decent, hard-working, down-to-earth guy.
Not having a TEFL qualification wasn't a problem because Berlitz has its own "Method," so for me it was a convenient way to get my foot in the door.
Now the downside. Well, sides actually.
Before I joined the company, teachers were paid on an hourly basis. That was obviously too much for the guys in the accounts department, so they changed it to a basic salary which now works out at just over 800 Euros a month after tax.
To maximise profit, school directors have their teachers giving as many classes as possible. That means starting at eight in morning and finishing at eight at night, or even later. Class preparation time? What's that? Got exams or homework to mark, or special material to prepare? Do it in your own time. Mealtimes? How about 15 minutes to wolf down a sandwich? Payment for time spent travelling? Stop complaining, at least they pay your public transport season ticket.
Monitoring and assessment of teachers? They're talking about introducing it now. They do a lot of talking.
Staff turnover among native English speakers is quite high. The impression I get is that people use Berlitz as a stepping-stone to better things.
Draw your own conclusions.

[Roger]

About half a year ago, I saw a contribution on www.esltalk,com entitled
"I DID NOT KNOW THIS ABOUT BERLITZ".
Read it for yourselves, and judge anew! A horror story?

[Linda L.]

If you go to a small botique eatery with a high price tag you will probably be served a custom meal in a nice format using real china and fine linen.

McDonalds serves an institutionalized fare at a cheap price and you eat with your fingers on a plastic table using paper napkins.

Prisons and large educational institutions serve cafateria style institutionalized food, yuk!

At this point you may think that I have posted on the wrong thread?

The larger the institution, the greater number of customers to serve, the lesser quality product served? The lesser trained personnel required?

Educational institutions often suffer from this same institutionalized mentality.

[Sherri]

It depends a lot on which country you want to work in and what you want from a school. I know that the working conditions at Berlitz depend on the country. If you are an experienced, qualified EFL teacher then you probably wouldn't be that happy there. As the poster above said, they have a very rigid in-house method that you have to follow.

By IH, do you mean International House? If so I did my CELTA there in London and got a good impression from them overall. They are very professional. But again I do think it depends on location for conditions.

You might get more specific information if you post about a specific country or area.

[Bertrand]

Avoid EF English Farce at all costs. At the moment they are pushing 40 office hours per month plus up to 24 or 29 contact hours (!), depending on whether it is 'the season' or not. All that for a poxy 5,500 RMB a month.

[senor boogie woogie]

Hola!

Anywhere in the world, avoid the "chain schools'. They are more often than not, a hard place to work, and they will fray your nerves.

As Mr. Bertrand stated before the EF in China pays 5500 RMB for 25 hours teaching and 40 hours in office. To add insult to injury, your day (s) off will be Monday or Tuesday, and the men will have to wear ties. No thanks. This is a lot of time for 665 dollars a month plus a place to sleep. I have done the chain school thing in Korea (Wonderland), Taiwan (David's English) and China (Shane's Hangzhou) and I can tell you negative experiences about all three places. I have never been to Japan ( I want to go, but I am married here!) but the 'big three" joints AEON, NOVA, and GABA want to hire people right out of college with school debt, and people who have never, ever been to a foreign country before. Why? Because these outfits can charge you excessive amounts for rent on their apartments, can work you when they like, and keep you busy and insulated from "old timers" who have been in country a long time, that know the rules of immigration well. Chain schools are the pits.

Get a TOURIST VISA first, and look around. Try not to deal with recruiters, and read this website and study all people's perspectives before coming to a new place. You must realize that first and formost that you are not a citizen of the country in which you are going and that you are at the tender mercy of the school or organization that hires you out. Learn the laws, ask questions, and study Dave's ESL for a month.

Teaching in Asia is kick a s s if you have the tools.

Senor

[Snoopy]

Let me add my experience of Berlitz. I am not generalizing (but Berlitz do). The language school where I had been working in a southern English coastal resort was in some business difficulty, so I mailshotted all the local language schools. Berlitz wanted to see me. Why? I was 50, over-qualified and over-experienced, when surely what they wanted was youngsters ready for the lobotomy. So to the "training". We were told to forget anything we had learned on TEFL courses. I had never been called a smart-arse in public before, but that was the remark made by the "trainer". So I was the token old man in the group, there to prove to the others that you can't teach an old dog new tricks. When it came to the demonstration lesson the next afternoon (after I had taught six lessons at the other place my way), my task was to teach three numbers (Why three?) I horrified the "trainer" by using props (money). No, that was wrong, I should just point to the numbers in the book. What are students going to do after class? Go to the shops and use money.
I could carry on. It would be interesting to hear from people who have undergone the Berlitz Brainwash.
There was a happy ending. I got my old job back for the summer and am now back in the Middle East.

[Corey]

In Costa Rica- non-native teachers, one or two week rotations, low pay.

Good luck

[bohinj]

Senor Boogie Woogie,
I just want to correct you on your ideas about the chain schools in Japan. I worked at AEON for several years and for the most part had a great experience. By the way, I was 20 years out of college with no debt when I got hired. The school-provided accommodations are much cheaper than they would be if you had to rent one on your own--they are subsidized by the company and every teacher no matter where they live pays the same price. My apartments were very nice although small, which is typical in Japan. I was taught to teach the AEON way, which was fine with me. I had planning time every day, taught between 4-6 classes a day--six was the max and sometimes I only had two or three. I had ample opportunity to use my own creativity to teach the lesson. Many AEON teachers have taught or lived in other countries. If I went back to Japan, I would work for AEON again, no problem. I heard bad things about NOVA but I also met some teachers who had worked there for several years and were very happy. From what I heard NOVA does tend to overcharge for their accommodations but you are not forced to live there.
Seriously, let the people who have worked for the big chains give advice.

[Cleopatra]

IH generally have a better reputation than most but they are a bit self righteous and smug - in other words, they're not nearly as good as thjey think they are. Also, the quality of schools varies greatly - some IH schools are excellent, some are pretty crap. However, I don't think they number any REAL cowboys among them.

The main advantage of IH is that you should get some sort of legal contract, and, in theory at least, they do provide their teachers with in-service training. Again, the quality and auantity of this training varies greatly but future employers are often impressed to find someone who has a few years IH experience.

All in all, IH is good for inexperienced teachers setting out on an EFL career.

As for Berlitz, well, if you're a robot, you might just find your niche there!