Job Discussion Forums

[wilberforce]

Has this place improved? I once briefly worked here about ten years ago on a part-time basis. It was run by a crazy Portuguese woman who surfaced at QP. She found a Qatari sugar daddy and started dressing like the local ladies. She was involved in an unsavory court case but I don't know what happened. I think she didn't turn up. She was shunted out of ESL because of her late night activities. I stopped moonlighting about then because the pay was lousy. We also were very shook up when one of the best teachers, a Scottish woman, died in a head on collision with a truck. A very sad business.

It seems they have moved the school from near the veg souk. Does anyone know where they have relocated and what it's like working for them now?

[paperback]

This place stinks! I did a summer course here a few years ago and had to fight to get my money! Some of the teachers are unqualified American housewives with no teaching experience. Being a native speaker is enough!

[rslrunner]

The new location of ELS is behind Mesimeer Health Center on Wholesale Market Road. It is on the opposite side of the road from Wholesale Market.

The vast majority of teachers have TEFL degrees. The expectation is that if they don't have a TEFL degree yet, they are getting one.

All of the teachers get paid. A few times the checks arrive late, but advances for the teachers are available in that case.

The pay is 100 QR an hour.

I can't speak about the Portuguese ex-director. I heard about the auto accident, very sad.

I don't think the place stinks.

[paperback]

I worked there for one summer about 8 years ago. Only three teachers including myself were qualified teachers. Two of us were English teachers, the other one was actually a science teacher. One teacher was someone's son who was spending the summer in Doha. He was an undergraduate. Three or four others were housewives, none of whom had teaching qualifications. One teacher did not have a university diploma. These were the people I worked with and the people teaching students who paid good money to attend classes.

The man in charge of the finances, a guy from Bangladesh or Pakistan, was very tight fisted. I got paid 50 QR an hour. I taught the whole of July and part of August. I only got my salary in October. Formal complaints were made to ESL head office about the problems here. Evidently someone took the complaint seriously. Probably you work for a better manager. There were several managers within a short period of time.

If you say things are better, then so be it. 100QR an hour is below the going rate. Western expatriate teachers get between 150- 300 QR an hour in other places.

[rslrunner]

Sorry that you got paid 50 QR. That's way too low.

Everyone who teaches now is a native speaker and has a certificate.

I have heard that a couple of places may pay a bit more. But not that much more.

I am a little skeptical that any place pays 300 QR an hour. Or even 200. 150, only if you teach IELTS.Can you provide a specific name or place that offers this kind of salary?

[paperback]

[veiledsentiments]

Language schools like ELS or whatever have always paid at the bottom of the scale in the Gulf. It is unrealistic to compare what they pay to what you get for private lessons or part-time at a university... apples and oranges. Because of that, they will normally not be able to get the teachers with the top credentials. In most places in the Gulf (all?), they only do local hire, so it has to be spouses of someone there with a residence visa. I suspect that British Council is the only one that will have a few full contracts.

Entry level jobs at best...

VS

[rslrunner]

It's true that private language centers pay less than university positions, which in turn pay less than tutoring.

If you can get a gig at QU, great. The better the position, the harder it is to get.

I don't know how well the British Council pays. They have a great brand name and they can rely on the British government for funding, which means they don't have to spend much time trying to recruit clients or cut costs.

I know ELS has full time employees and instructors who make more than the 100 QR. The 100 QR is for local hires who want to work part-time.

It's true that native speakers aren't necessarily better instructors than non-native speakers. However, if one wants to employ the conversational method, having a native speaker has numerous advantages.

Sometimes non-native speakers don't get positions because of unfair discrimination. However, I have seen non-native speakers being quite capable when it comes to teaching grammar, but less able to put things in context. I recognize this doesn't always apply. But it is an issue.

Getting back to the topic, Veiled Sentiments is right that ELS and other private language centers pay less. However, that may change in the years to come, if the increase in business due to the 2022 World Cup brings a corresponding increase in demand for English language instruction.

[lollaerd]

I remember that crazy Portuguese woman who left ELS and came to the Gulag. One day she was dressed normally, the next she was covered head to toe, apparently her national boyfriend told her to cover up and so she did. She was very strange and did not seem to be all there. She had a court case with somebody who used to work at ELS over - guess what- unupaid wages!! It's good that ELS has cleaned up their act and started paying teachers their salaries. This man was left without salary for months, she didn't turn up after the first or second court case so they ruled in his favor.

[lollaerd]

They have jumped onto the IELTS bandwagon apparently, like everyone else. Those QU students are keeping people in jobs. What I don't understand is why they encourage such low level students to do the IELTS exam. They should have a minimum entry level.

[rslrunner]

The problem is that IELTS students come to ELS and other centers demanding to take an IELTS course. I know that students are told that they need to meet a certain standard. They don't make the requirement, but they insist, so they have to sign a waiver.

Then they complain that the course is too hard. Which is exactly what was said in the first place.

Do you refuse business to students who won't take any course except the IELTS?

By the way, these students are few in number and do not keep anybody in business. They are customers, however, and they have to be satisfied even though that may be difficult to do.

[veiledsentiments]

That is a constant problem in the Gulf. Be it TOEFL or IELTS or whatever exam is used at their preferred university, students think a "test prep" course is the key... not learning the language.

It is, of course, a reflection of their experience in school. They were given an English book to basically memorize... then regurgitate mechanically for the school leaving exams... taa daa!! It was always very difficult to convince them that they knew a "book," not a "language" and exams like the TOEFL and IELTS test knowledge of the language.

VS

[paperback]

[veiledsentiments]

To be honest... as long as you inform them that their skills are too low for the course... go ahead and take their money. I know how these students are. They are positive that it is just a matter of being there and by osmosis, or some such process that doesn't require actual work or study, they will pass.

I used to teach TOEFL prep in Cairo and about 25% of the class had taken the course 5+ times and still tested out at about 350 - which is actually random. Even though I sat them down and explained... every time... that unless they take some appropriate English lessons at their level to start bringing them up, they would never get to 500 on the TOEFL. But, a couple months later, they would be back.

One doesn't dumb down a test prep course... because the texts assume a certain level...

VS

[rslrunner]

No IELTS students are at the elementary level, they must be intermediate. If they are not at the higher intermediate level, the students are told that they should get some additional course work done before taking the course. If they don't take our advice, there is not else that can be done.