Job Discussion Forums

[BELS]

[rusmeister]

[maruss]

My best friend in Moscow told me that he went shopping in Metro store last weekend and his full trolley came to around 10.000 roubles,which is around $400!He bought mainly fish and some cleaning materials-no meat or luxury goods- and said he was shocked at how expensive life there has become,but also added that the queues at all 40 tills in use were massive and people needed an hour to get through!Unless you have your own appartment there he reckons its impossible to do much more than just scrape by,even if your salary is better than average so anyone thinking of working for BKC or LL who has been lured by their blurb about paying'middle-class' salaries would do well to think again!!
He reckons that people working in private firms are making at least $3.500 per month or more and says that's the minimum you need to live properly, not extravagantly, in Moscow nowadays...

[jpvanderwerf2001]

For the student it probably LL, as the restricted course books that EF has are Garbage, I have heard they even use this garbage in the UK, with the American language, now isn't that ridiculous. Their leaflets and general promotion throughout flys The British flag, yet they teach American English from their books.

For the teacher, it's LL. However none of them are great in what they pay for teachers. As they say, if you give peanuts, you get monkeys.

While I agree that EF books leave much to be desired (I know first hand), teachers at EF are free to supplement accordingly and how they see fit (at least at my school).
I believe EF books are standardized, so it doesn't surprise me that the books used in the UK would have some US English in it as they try to incorporate different "Englishes". (What's the big deal if there's some American English in the books anyway? Or does your comment smack of some sort of elitism?)

[123go]

I saw some EF books when I worked in Spain last year - terrible.

I don't see any reason to use what everyone seems to agree are poor quality materials when there are so many well-produced, well-written books available nowadays. People in my last school used to complain about New Cutting Edge which I imagine EFers would be queueing up to supplement from to get a coherent lesson together.

If the pay wasn't bad enough, the books would be enough to put most people off working there.

Why do EF Moscow teachers continue working there? Anyone?

[BELS]

Ok, if this was a poll, it has to be Language link. although language link offers lower than what is desired for most, it's income package is still much better than what EF offers. In fact they laugh about it in the UK. Last joke was 30 pence an hour extra if you have a DELTA.

To me a DELTA is highly respectable, and as well as this teacher is highly qualified, he/she has also had a lot of experience to get there.

[BELS]

[maruss]

I thought it was in Yekaterinburg and St.Petes. where they had trouble and that Moscow was still operating normally,or has that been closed down as well,just like the newspaper that wrote the maybe true or maybe false article about Putins love life??

[BELS]

No it's true, your out of date. For Moscow I believe it was the Briish Coucils decision, due to impossible red-tape, and their worry for the future of their employees, Russian and British.

even their library is closed, they say the library will be taken over by someone else, but even then it will never be the same.

Now there was a place where they did respect and look after their teachers, and also proved that you can charge fees at a more sensible and workable level. They are the real professionals, and now they have left Russia.

Haven't you heard that even BP (British Petrolium) was raided.

[ecocks]

given the poster I am a little surprised. No one denies BC access to the American market except BC's management.

Get your facts straight....

from http://www.britishcouncil.org/eumd-information-background-usa.htm

Our infrastructure and strategic education priorities
British Council USA is based in Washington, DC at the British Embassy with a two-person team based in the LA Consulate for marketing in West Coast markets. The Education Marketing team consists of 5 staff members and neither office offers public access or a �shopfront�.

British Council USA will continue to emphasise education promotion, but will also seek to build long-term, mutually beneficial relationships between the US and UK. As in the past, the web and our other electronic communications will remain a primary promotion tool given the population and geographic size of the US as well as high internet use in the US among the target markets. The team will undertake a major causality research project in 2007 in order to gauge which of our outreach efforts have the most impact. The results will help us better serve our target audiences as well as key stakeholders such as UK institutions. In addition, we will be looking at ways in which we can help facilitate new partnerships between US and UK colleges and universities.

Education marketing work is centered on the most popular sectors of study abroad, graduate and undergraduate. British Council USA has a very strong and increasingly utilised study abroad database. An electronic customer relations management system allows us to create targeted lists and conduct electronic outreach campaigns, as well as more personalised online offerings. We attend key college, graduate and study abroad fairs as well as presenting and exhibiting at key advisor conferences including the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) and NAFSA: Association of International Educators. BCUSA conducts study tours for US high school advisors to the UK as well as for UK university representatives to the Southern California market.

================================

Why would you say it's "strange" to teach American English in Britain then comment regarding a belief that British Council is somehow denied from teaching British English in America?

IELTS is accepted at several institutions although TOEFL is more widely known.

Pearson's Publishing divisions produce hundred's of thousand of the textbooks used in American school systems (edited by Americans for spelling and language useage of course).

CELTA and DELTA are considered vocational certifications and holders can get TEFL jobs with commercial operations around the country. There are 50 different state educational systems which set standards but all require a 4 year degree to teach in public schools. Unless EFL/ESL is reclassified as a vocational subject, teachers of English will have to meet this requirement plus the individual state's educational regulations to be full-time teachers. It is possible to have long-term work as an assistant or para-professional in some states.