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Teaching with BKC-IH

 
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sampatel13



Joined: 02 Aug 2009
Posts: 1

PostPosted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 11:05 am    Post subject: Teaching with BKC-IH Reply with quote

Hello everyone!

I've recently been offered a vacancy with BKC-IH Moscow and thw towns are yet to be confirmed, but I know they are Zelenograd or Zhelesnodorozniy.

Has anyone worked for BKC-IH recently (past 2 years)? Can anyone give advice about working for them and give me any words of advice or words of warning and how your experience was working for them.

I'm newly qualified and would like any info about working for BKC-IH.

Thank you.
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Sashadroogie



Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Posts: 11061
Location: Moskva, The Workers' Paradise

PostPosted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 12:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Sampatel

I know a little about Zelenograd, but most my information is second-hand.

It's a place that is remarkable for its unfriendliness, numerical address system ( no street names, just regions and street numbers) and dullness. When I had a nose around I thought it was like a social experiment in housing that went horribly wrong.

The BKC school there gets mixed reviews from the people I know who worked in it. Some hated it with a disturbing passion, others thought it was at best ok and efficiently run. Depends on how much you like teens I'm told. You'll be teaching 50% YL. Benefits are that you'll have a blocked timetable (no mornings) but that was not enough for my friends who disliked feeling trapped out there in the winter. It is a lot further than you think, or than you will be led to believe, if you are using public transport.

Don't have any info on Zhelesnodorozniy, but from the stories my buddies' tell me about 'Greentown', it sounds like the better choice. That's even without knowing one iota about Zhelesnodorozniy!

There is loads of info on the forum already about BKC, which a search will turn up easily. Most of it is quite negative. However, as an NQT, I think you'll find that BKC will be your best option first-time out. You'll get proper support, academically and administratively. Good teacher development etc, visas and flats handled for you. But be aware that you'll be worked hard for peanuts, as you are not getting all that mothering for nothing. Security costs, and in BKC, as in "Fame", you pay for that in sweat.

Best of luck to you!
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kazachka



Joined: 19 Nov 2004
Posts: 220
Location: Moscow and Alaska

PostPosted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 8:13 am    Post subject: Re: Teaching with BKC-IH Reply with quote

sampatel13 wrote:
Hello everyone!

I've recently been offered a vacancy with BKC-IH Moscow and thw towns are yet to be confirmed, but I know they are Zelenograd or Zhelesnodorozniy.

Has anyone worked for BKC-IH recently (past 2 years)? Can anyone give advice about working for them and give me any words of advice or words of warning and how your experience was working for them.

I'm newly qualified and would like any info about working for BKC-IH.

Thank you.


Wow- they are in Zhelesnodorozhny now?! It's also out there like Zelenograd, but to the east and Zelenograd ecologically is a better place. Zheleske is about 35min by elektrichka from Kurskaya and you certainly aren't going to be too safe going out there at night from Moscow on that particular elektrichka line. I know someone from Reutov which is on the same line but closer to Moscow who was pummeled by 6 drunken scumbag teenagers a few yrs back as he was on his way home from work about 10PM. He was alone in the car and the losers beat him up just because. That train line is the notorious Moscow Petushki line, so many criminals /former criminals ride it. Petushki is near a zona(prison). Once the criminals serve their time, they are allowed to resettle only within 100km of Moscow and Petushki is the place they go. Zheleske is a boring sleeper town out in the sticks.
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maruss



Joined: 18 Mar 2003
Posts: 1145
Location: Cyprus

PostPosted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 2:45 pm    Post subject: Well said! Reply with quote

Both the towns mentioned are boring and miserable,not very friendly AND not much cheaper than Moscow for groceries etc.(plus the risks Kazachka mentioned)
I wouldn't go and live in either of them,or go to work for this firm in Russia for the peanuts they pay...
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kazachka



Joined: 19 Nov 2004
Posts: 220
Location: Moscow and Alaska

PostPosted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 6:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, Zele has a plus -it has the biggest half marathon in Russia each June Very Happy I have several friends in Zele and in nearby Mendeleevo. It's about 45min-an hour to/from Moscow depending on how bad the perpetual traffic is. The elektrichka to Zele takes just as long.
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Sashadroogie



Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Posts: 11061
Location: Moskva, The Workers' Paradise

PostPosted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 9:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Teaching in said BKC school there feels like an uphill marathon, by all accounts. Steer clear of Zeleck. Bad for health....
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canucktechie



Joined: 07 Feb 2003
Posts: 343
Location: Moscow

PostPosted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 5:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The advantage of working for a BKC satellite school as opposed to working in-town is that you work only at that school. The downside is that it's not practical to go into Moscow except for weekends. Depends on what you want from life.

It looks pretty awful but Zelenograd is a middle class community compared to Zheleznodorozhny which is more grungy and gets a lot more pollution being east of Moscow.

As for the schools themselves Zelenograd is bigger which means you have more company. Also the Zhel-dor school was run by a pretty nasty guy a few years back, don't know it he's still there.
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Sashadroogie



Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Posts: 11061
Location: Moskva, The Workers' Paradise

PostPosted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 8:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oops. A place worse than Zelenograd? Sounds like Hobson's choice then to me....
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evelopez



Joined: 11 Mar 2009
Posts: 46

PostPosted: Sat Dec 26, 2009 11:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Uh - stay clear of BKC. No health care. Incompetent staff. They won't answer your emails if you have any problems. Actually, if you have any problems, they won't help you at all.

When I first started with BKC-IH Moscow, I thought they were great. Then I got sick. It all went downhill from there.

There's a reason why the turnover rate is so high.

http://thingsevewoulddo.blogspot.com/
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cbrredrider1



Joined: 06 Aug 2010
Posts: 15
Location: USA

PostPosted: Sat Nov 27, 2010 8:48 am    Post subject: All you need to know about BKC-IH Reply with quote

http://bkc-ih-moscow-sucks.blogspot.com/2010/11/warning-wild-dogs-in-podolsk-russia.html

http://bkc-ih-moscow-sucks.blogspot.com/2010/04/bkc-ih-moscow-is-not-bound-by-laws-or.html

http://bkc-ih-moscow-sucks.blogspot.com/2010/04/bkc-school-in-podolsk-is-owned-by.html

http://bkc-ih-moscow-sucks.blogspot.com/2010/04/bkc-ih-moscow-is-not-bound-by-laws-or.html
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