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scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343
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 Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2010 7:25 am Post subject: |
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| But remember this is the place that invented the idea of having 11 paydays in the year with 11 months pay when others give 12. |
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redsnapper
Joined: 01 Jul 2010
Posts: 60
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| Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2010 7:09 am Post subject: |
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| Cleopatra wrote: |
| Bell/KSU isn't the best place to work in the Kingdom, but it's not the worst either. If you're looking to save some money and only want to stay for a year or so, KSU should be quite tolerable, espcecially if you're comparing it with some TEFL sweatshop in Asia. |
I wouldn't say that. For entertainment mostly I did the interview with them when considering places. I remember they were going to use a scripted textbook. At that point I thanked her for her time. They are one step from Al-Kaleej recruiters and that speaks for itself.
Say "No" to being a Robot and teach elsewhere, you can do much better! |
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lazycomputerkids
Joined: 22 Sep 2009
Posts: 360
Location: Tabuk
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| Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2010 10:40 pm Post subject: |
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| redsnapper wrote: |
| Cleopatra wrote: |
| Bell/KSU isn't the best place to work in the Kingdom, but it's not the worst either. If you're looking to save some money and only want to stay for a year or so, KSU should be quite tolerable, espcecially if you're comparing it with some TEFL sweatshop in Asia. |
I wouldn't say that. For entertainment mostly I did the interview with them when considering places. I remember they were going to use a scripted textbook. At that point I thanked her for her time. They are one step from Al-Kaleej recruiters and that speaks for itself.
Say "No" to being a Robot and teach elsewhere, you can do much better! |
If you want to work in a preparatory program the choices are limited. Cleopatra's post is based on experience, I'm assuming.
Your post? An interview, for entertainment mostly.
"Say 'no' to X?" Why evoke Nancy Reagan? Are you organizing? Fancy yourself raising a bar?
Competitors of Khaleej and KSU's Obeikan (Education Experts, companies that change their names) generate more negative posts to Dave's.
Your basis is...a text. A scripted text shackles and turns the unwary into robots. You're either exaggerating, joking or just really wanting to raise the topic of best practices-- which isn't relevant, but I sympathize. I'm no fan of scripted texts. 90% of the textbooks I've ever used were crappy. Publishing is a bloody, bare-knuckled enterprise. If all people needed were textbooks to learn, I'd be out of a job. I might have been that Senator, film star or curer of cancers...
You don't know the first thing about KSU or Khaleej. Admit it. |
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teach star
Joined: 06 Oct 2010
Posts: 10
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| Posted: Sat Oct 09, 2010 6:23 pm Post subject: AVOID Bell/Obeikan |
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I advise teachers to AVOID working for Bell/Obeikan. The attractive salary is not adequate compensation for what you will have to put up with. Here are some things that have happened to teachers recently:
-being paid 2-3 weeks late
-having your salary withheld
-accomodation was ratty last year and it's still ratty
-an hour long commute each way to and from ratty accomodation
-tedious and time-consuming administrative demands
-Bell/Obeikan recruits have their passports taken away the first day. Not all companies do this. It's a control mechanism.
-no days off work, that's right--no holiday after late November. You work straight through from late November to late June.
-General mismanagement and disorganization resulting in stress for the teachers
-promises, promises...that never materialise. |
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lazycomputerkids
Joined: 22 Sep 2009
Posts: 360
Location: Tabuk
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| Posted: Sat Oct 09, 2010 9:00 pm Post subject: |
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Promises...never materializing...that is a bummer.
Any one of the complaints listed suffices. Let alone combined.
Location, location, location. |
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scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343
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| Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2010 4:55 am Post subject: |
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"The largest EFL project in the Middle East" seems to be blazing a trail for other employers in the region. They seem to excell in whittling away at salaries, other benefits and living conditions, not to mention payment for holidays.
I praise the Lord that I am on a direct hire with a reasonable institution. Contracting out the EFL and Prep Year is, I fear, the way other institutions may go. Nothing would accelearte my departure more than to see a contractor take over at my place of employment ! |
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lazycomputerkids
Joined: 22 Sep 2009
Posts: 360
Location: Tabuk
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| Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2010 7:05 am Post subject: |
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| scot47 wrote: |
| Contracting out the EFL and Prep Year is, I fear, the way other institutions may go. |
Maybe. A consortium of companies were gathered as a matter of policy. The question being... How is it that language institutes were doing business in areas where higher education was available? Should the universities be given all the money ear-marked for a push of English literacy? How would that money be accounted? Competitive models applied to education spending are all the rage, globally.
Unfortunately, without a Master's, I could not have worked in this part of the world any other way. And what a prep year does is different from university. I'm doubtful the typical ESL university teacher with a Master's would take these jobs. |
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Grendal
Joined: 13 Aug 2009
Posts: 861
Location: Lurking in the depths of the Faisaliah Tower underground parking.
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| Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2010 12:32 am Post subject: |
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| scot47 wrote: |
"The largest EFL project in the Middle East" seems to be blazing a trail for other employers in the region. They seem to excell in whittling away at salaries, other benefits and living conditions, not to mention payment for holidays.
I praise the Lord that I am on a direct hire with a reasonable institution. Contracting out the EFL and Prep Year is, I fear, the way other institutions may go. Nothing would accelearte my departure more than to see a contractor take over at my place of employment ! |
Well Scot I'll let myself (the cat) out of the bag. Guess where I am this year? Salaries seem to be on par for someone with my qualifications. I'm only doing this for the benifit of my CV (I'm not that callous. OK? For me too). A year or two here should beef it up a bit. As for accomodations we are promised a brand new building that married couples will share with the women. All this will come to light on the 18th of this month when I make one small step for Grendal. A giant leap for kitty kind.
Regards,
Grendal |
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Grendal
Joined: 13 Aug 2009
Posts: 861
Location: Lurking in the depths of the Faisaliah Tower underground parking.
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| Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2010 7:54 am Post subject: |
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| 7168Riyadh wrote: |
Yeah, of course--they feed off of each other.
But we had two very good managers last year, who were getting it right, and for whatever reasons they left. It is exceediingly demoralizing to see good managers go, only to be replaced by inexperienced people who struggle to communicate in an effective way, let alone improve things. |
I'm guessing they left because they had better job offers. After a successful and productive year at KSU with good references they probably got a better offers and flew the coop.
G |
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Grendal
Joined: 13 Aug 2009
Posts: 861
Location: Lurking in the depths of the Faisaliah Tower underground parking.
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| Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2010 8:06 am Post subject: |
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| desert_traveller wrote: |
| woman05 wrote: |
| There is a lot of talk about where Bell went wrong. |
who told you that bell went wrong?
nobody went wrong. everybody is making tons of money and thats the only thing that counts in the ksa
people who think otherwise are the ones going wrong, not bell |
here here
G |
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Captain Willard
Joined: 11 Sep 2010
Posts: 251
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| Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2010 12:41 pm Post subject: |
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| Grendal wrote: |
here here
G |
There? There?
Where is there?
Someplace where homophones are still taught?
On a serious note, Bell is not presently hiring Americans:
"I regret to inform you on this occasion we are unable to proceed with your application as we no longer hold any United States visas."
I never knew the U.S. Citizens needed to get U.S. visas from a British company. I thought I could just return to the U.S. with my U.S. passport. Some things don't make any sense. |
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veiledsentiments
Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA
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| Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2010 2:20 pm Post subject: |
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It has been mentioned here in the past that the Saudi government assigns nationalities to the visas that it allows for particular employers. That is why Saudi job ads usually list nationalities accepted. I'm not sure how much say the employers have in the choice.
VS |
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teach star
Joined: 06 Oct 2010
Posts: 10
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| Posted: Fri Nov 05, 2010 3:43 pm Post subject: new leave policy |
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Obeikan just changed the policy for taking leave. EFfective October 24, teachers can no longer apply to take days off, even unpaid. Instead, the 2.5 days off accrued per month will just be paid at the end of the contract.
So after the 10-day break in mid-November, teachers will not be able to take any days off until the end of the contract, which is at the end of June 2011 for most.
Obeikan is afraid that teachers will go on holiday and not come back. One month into the school year, several teachers have already resigned. Are there more resignations on the way? |
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desert_traveller
Joined: 28 Nov 2006
Posts: 335
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| Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 7:53 am Post subject: |
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rumour has it that now teachers are required to give classes on thursdays a few times per semester
can someone clarify please
sounds scary  |
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Linguist
Joined: 22 Feb 2006
Posts: 202
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| Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 6:01 pm Post subject: |
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In their new job advert found on another TEFL website, Bell writes 'Bell Educational Trust, in partnership with Obeikan Education, continues to successfully manage the world�s largest English language training programme. '
Hmmm, based on what is written on this thread, it appears more like 'unsuccessfully manage'. Or ? |
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