Job Discussion Forums

papillon · Joined: 02 Feb 2006 Posts: 91

I'll add my tuppence's worth...

Bali, Taman Raya (formerly Mahatma Gandhi)..

In fairness they pay on time and are a reasonable bunch of people to work for but...

What a shambles.

No resources to speak of, terrible discipline issues in the school and a lousy working atmosphere.

Yes, you may be in Bali and lucky to have a job but the level of ego pandering that goes on at this school amongst the Indian sector is enough to fuel several distasteful MTV reality shows.

Freud would've had a field day with this bunch of madmen... Especially owner and self styled Guru 'Ram'. A barely functioning octogenerian in the last throes of senility who called a department meeting some weeks ago and instructed the staff to teach Macbeth by song and not text...

To students sitting literature A-Levels..

gugelhupf · Joined: 24 Jan 2004 Posts: 575 Location: Jabotabek

Any school that asks for a 'church reference' in addition to the usual variety is usually worth avoiding.

Nat plus schools with their own 'unique curriculum' that sounds too good to be true are generally charlatans - play safe and stick to IB, Cambridge IGCSE etc.

Chester · Joined: 15 May 2004 Posts: 383 Location: Australia

EEP. run by bunch of sleezy drunk foreigners. would steal their grandmothers pension money. one coordinator reputedly is wanted in new zealand for absconding cash from a bank.
generally allround great guys.

evegoodmon · Joined: 23 Jan 2007 Posts: 9 Location: Jakarta

This forum is totally negative and is not constructive. People hide behind anonymous nicknames and are not prepred to meet personally with their managers to resolve issues constructively.

beefer · Joined: 10 Feb 2006 Posts: 238 Location: java

wildgoose78 · Joined: 16 Jan 2007 Posts: 6

Just FYI, RICS is totally different from the RICS you or we knew before. You will be suprised with the modern administration the school has. If any one of you have friends currently working with RICS, go ask them. RICS is the only school with the TRANSPARENT pay structure for teachers in Jakarta.

If u had a bad experience with RICS before, sorry for you. But the RICS now... hmmmmmm...... better!!!!

And RICS will pay if you can REALLY teach, not just TALK!

Ciao!

drgonzo · Joined: 03 Feb 2004 Posts: 82

I don't agree that this thread is pointless.
There are a lot of schools out there that try to take advantage of teachers, especially fresh ones that don't know what to watch out for.
I was lucky when I got started in ESL as I had a lot of friends from which to get advice. Not everyone considering coming to Indonesia to teach is so lucky, so it is very useful to see both the positive and negative opinions that exist for each school.
If you read through my postings you will see that I give a positive review of Inlingua, but a negative view of ILP, EF, and Shines Education. These are the ones I have experience with, and I think it's valuable to share this experience with others.
I think most reasonable people that read these forums will know that one person's negative experience does not mean they are destined to have the same negative experience with that school... but it at least gives them something to watch for.

beefer · Joined: 10 Feb 2006 Posts: 238 Location: java

beefer · Joined: 10 Feb 2006 Posts: 238 Location: java

i meant "lia" not "ila"........sorry

Mr. Sauce · Joined: 13 Feb 2007 Posts: 8 Location: Seattle, WA

I have to agree with Beefer. I have been lurking in these forums for several months now, doing research in advance of my new TEFL career, trying to pick a country & school. After initially being very interested in Indonesia, I read so many horror stories and complaints about schools that I almost wrote it off completely. And I grew up in a 3rd-world country, and was still almost scared off by these teacher's accounts!

Finally I realized (thanks to the level head of Beefer and others) that there are some "teachers" who are going to have a problem with every school that they work at. They are fundamentally unhappy with something else, and are projecting onto schools and the country in general. These people are in every forum, not just the Indonesian one, and they usually make more noise than the teachers who are happy/content.

There are always going to be bad experiences wherever you go, and whatever you do. And there will always be good experiences, if you don't miss them. A favorite magazine slogan of mine: "Attitude is the difference between ordeal and adventure".

These poisonous posts with broad sweeping statements are not helpful unless they are rooted in actual experience and level-headed objectiveness. Pulling together a collection of hideous experiences and bad schools is useful to a degree, but after a while it becomes an exercise in negativity that drains your energy and clouds your judgment. Keep an eye out for the negative, but scan the horizon for the positive.

voltaire · Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2007 12:01 am Post subject:

Well, Mr. Sauce I hear what you're saying and yes, these observations of mine are rooted in ojectivity and experience -if not my own then of friends and acquaintances who have given me more than just the outline of their tales of woe. Often their bad experiences, and mine, span a one-year conract period.

And yes, again, I would avoid Indonesia at all cost. You say you grew up in a third world country? Indonesia is rapidly on it's way to beoming fourth world. I started this thread and a handful of others (please search under my author's name) to warn off innocent ESL teachers lest they waste a year of their lives. Your "Attitude is the difference between ordeal and adventure' is all very well for walking a mile when you miss the bus or some such advenure, but do you really want to get up at 4.a.m. five or six days a week and do 30+ hours of teaching in overcrowded, undersupplied classrooms with nothing to go on but attitude?

This 'Beefer' keeeps acusing me of being an angry man who has it in for the schools I worked for because I'm such a witch., to him/her I would say "Don't ever assume nothin!". Just like I won't assume you are in a chronic jealous rage because I will always have more money than you do. Grow up boy!

I have not worked for an of these schools, but one and just for four days when I realized the managment didn't know their arses from holes in the ground.

As I've explained - I only wanted to pass on useful information, I thought that was the whole point of Dave's ESL Cafe along with sharing classroom teaching techniques and ideas and finding good jobs.

Anyway Beefy you get your wish. I am now in Chile as their has been an upgrading of the trust fund and some of my bonds have matured. I basically plan to live in a beach house and read Spanish language (Latin American) and Russian novels and cook up a storm, maybe take on a willing male or female supplicant to fulfill other unspeakable desires.

Please Beefer, do not bother to reply. I am signing off from this forum - over and out - you will ot be hearing from me again. Good luck to you all and may your gods bless you always.

Below is a good-bye photo of me - a parting shot' if you will. I am a Commonwealth citizen of Japanese ancestry, if you want to know.

Sayonara!

beefer · Joined: 10 Feb 2006 Posts: 238 Location: java

[quote="voltaire"] I am a Commonwealth citizen of Japanese ancestry, if you want to know.

i don't want to know....why would i????

....infact, i doubt anyone cares abourt your citizenship or ancestry

..and good try with the photo

....and you'll be back soon enough...new login name, same pointless gripes

laughing_magpie06 · Joined: 14 Sep 2006 Posts: 282

Anyone who believes that this post is negative should note..I have been in Indonesia for a number of years now and sadly have very few positive or honest dealings with most people here. In regards to 2 schools I have worked for, the usual trick is to let you work as long as you are good for them but then suddenly report to you of a number of parents complaining. No facts or evidence, only hearsay from the managers and / or front desk who are usually spies for the management. A close friend of mine who has been in this country for nearly 20 years said this has happened to him about ten times in his time here. If anyone is scared off coming to this country, bear in mind, you have no rights here...you can be fired in an instant but if you dare to leave they will try and take as much money as they can from you and then make it difficult to get your exit permit later. And if people wonder why we use anonymous names...well people and their families have been known to receive death threats from exposing bad business practices in this country. It may sometimes seem like cowardice but it is always good common sense.

beefer · Joined: 10 Feb 2006 Posts: 238 Location: java