Job Discussion Forums

[Kirkpatrick]

Hello All, I had an e-mail response from English Time saying that they wanted a telephone interview a week ago. Then poof, I have sent 2 e-mails asking when they wanted to do the inteview, and have had no response. What should I make of this? They asked for a copy of my teachers certification. I do not have any certification, only a B.S. degree from a good University. Is it required to have some sort of certification to work for them?

[FGT]

It is required in order to fulfil the legal requirements to work in Turkey. If they don't ask for TEFL qualifications you (and they) would be breaking the law working there without them. Do you want to do that?
If they haven't followed up on the telephone interview perhaps that's a blessing.
Personally, if I'd applied for a job and had had no reply to my e-mails I'd cross them off my list.

[Grendal]

check ET posts from the past or do a search. you'll be surprised.

Grendal

[teacherdude]

ET is currently one of the biggest jokes in the ESL industry these days.

A book that is not user friendly and incredibly boring. Teachers who have no idea how to teach with the book or improvise without it. There are people who actually try to teach two months of grammar in five days and then just do reading and writing exercises thereafter.
The exams are such a joke that you can actually pass them no matter how bad you are. If not, the staff is happy to change your marks for you Gotta love the service )

Some of the teachers have actually given up, just f*&* around in class and then openly let the students cheat. In addition apparently many of them have copies of the exams in advance so studying is not a priority.

As one teacher put it, if they start at Level One, they're doomed. There are people walking out of that school with Advanced Diplomas, yet can't come to grips with Pre Intermediate English.

At ET Taksim, they have become so bold, that they actually started passing the students before they wrote the exam. Imagine trying to teach people like this.

In August they managed to take away teaching decisions from the General Manager and give it solely to the Head Teachers. Will this make a difference - only a small one.

There are people who've been at ET for three years and still don't know what they're doing.
If you're looking to grow as a teacher, try somewhere else.

TD

[fishmb]

Which book do they use?

[teacherdude]

[jamessmart50]

Haha, we used to actually have some snippets of the ET books on our staffroom walls for our own amusement, plus as a reminder to ourselves - this is where you COULD be working! My favourite one was

Reformulate the sentence into the passive 'it was said' : Ayrans are the master race.

Oh and 'Harlem is a Mecca for drugs and prostitution' (I think that was on a test). I think the worst stuff has since been taken out, but you get the idea.

And maybe 'these books were mostly written by unpaid overworked headteachers'.

To be fair to ET, they let you get on with teaching, they won't stick their noses into your classes all the time, you'll make loads of friends and have a great social life, I mean that, and that's obviously important. I left about 2 and a half years ago and I'm glad I worked there, I had fun. But the books.... <shivers>

[jamessmart50]

and obviously I mean Aryans, not the milky drink.

[coffeespoonman]

Oh, the memories... Those books came out while I was working there (we used to use New Interchange). It was actually my head teacher who wrote the line about the Mecca of drugs and prostitution. He did it for revenge for their making him work so many extra hours and not paying him extra.

ET was a fun job, that's for sure, but being my first teaching job, it did nothing to prepare me for actually teaching. I remember a guy moving here from Prague and spending hours in the staff room preparing for his lessons. We were all like, "Man, what are you doing?"

And he was like, "preparing for my lessons."

And we were like, "What's that?"

[tararu]

Teacher dude, l know that some ET branches have had problems. However, l don't think that you should throw us all in the same pot. I know that there really is no point to my posting as you will disagree with me not matter what l say. However, l take good care of the people at my branches no matter what anybody says. What you have said about students' passing when they have failed and everything else just doesn't happen where l work. The books are much improved from the 1st and 2nd edition....yes there will always be some issues wherever you work, but l just can't agree with what you are saying.

[fishmb]

Well how did some of the bits of the book even make it into the first cut??!!

Harlem is a Mecca for drugs and prostitution?!!!??

[Winston Bear]

I don't work at the same branch as Teacher Dude, but at our branch, 100% of what he said is true - and I could probably add a few horror stories. I can barely look at myself in the mirror and am counting the days until the end of my contract.

[coffeespoonman]

First of all, at English Time, a lot of your experience really does depend on your head teacher, since (in my experience), the management really has no concern with the teaching side of things. I had a cool head teacher; thus, I had a good experience (if not a professionally enriching one).

Second, those books went to print in such a sorry shape (which is a VAST understatement) only because the powers that be required everyone to put it all together (6 levels x 4 skills each) in just a couple of months.

The real problem at ET always was (in my tenure there) the fact that the management has no clue at all how to run a school, and far too good an idea about how to run a profitable business.

It's the poor head teachers (such as tararu) who get caught in the middle, trying to satisfy the people who pay everyone's salary while trying to maintain a good working/learning environment with what little the management gives them. If a branch is at least marginally sucessful to everyone concerned, that head teacher has managed a feat close to impossible.

[jamessmart50]

That's pretty spot on IMHO. Most of the headteachers seem pretty sound, although they do go mad eventually. The management there - hmm.. apparently the one in Taksim makes all the teachers arrive half an hour before each class, to 'prepare' - even though there aren't any resources to prepare with - and docks an hour pay if the rule is broken - and has recently stopped all teachers from smoking with their students during tea breaks as it sets a bad example!

[teacherdude]

Tararu,

I realize that one or two branches is not indicative of all branches.

So, I can give you the benefit re. your branch.

However, the books are pure crap. What I would do is teach with my own material and if my students knew it well, then allow them to do some exercises in the book. There was some decent stuff in the Writing and Listening sections. However, in general the ET book is an effort in frustration for both students and teachers.

I worked at the Taks. branch and still have friends there.

One head teacher years ago, was so frustrated with his inability to handle a particular problem, he asked my colleague to let the students copy and cheat in the exam. I kid you not. My friend refused.

A lot of the Head Teachers were good folks but their hands were tied by management. Some frankly admitted it. However, others tried to perform as if there were actually HTs, they simply embarrassed themselves