Job Discussion Forums

[eslbear]

Wow, it took longer to read that last post than your tenure at UofB !

Indeed, draw your own conclusions. Disgruntled former employee lashing out or pleasantly benign new forum contributer who seeks only to help?

Yes, the fundamental spirit of this site is to provide objective information. Alas, that is not always the case and it often turns out to be a forum for spite and petty grievances. Since I have an understanding of the particulars of this case, I feel I have an obligation to respond.


Let me also offer to those who are willing to ask - please PM me for any more info / insight. I would be happy to oblige.

[veiledsentiments]

Well boys... the horse is now well and truly dead. I think most reader would have had enough information before my last post and the further additions will have made no difference.

Summary... it is a new place that still has problems. Some will cope and some will not. Some will have problems with management, some will not. Buyer beware. Of course the problem is that it is hard to know which group one will fit into before one arrives...

VS

[stonecold]

First off, The university of Buraimi does NOT direct hire teachers. You will be working for ELS (owned by berlitz now). The pay is average for oman. the university teaching experience is not a requirement of Omani Ministry of education. Its an ELS Oman thing.

second, The program is just beginning. Mr. Ali is no longer there.He was a nice guy but grossly incompetant. ELS sent him off to destroy er... start another program elswhere.

third, the current program has invalid assessments, poorly structured curriculum and they do their best to reinvent the wheel rather than use ELS materials.

4th,
The management are inexperienced with poor to no credentials. but they talk a good game. They are salesmen NOT teachers.

5th,

The students are the highlight of the Job. They are friendly outgoing and many try very hard especially the women. Buraimi is a conservative town but the students are free enough to engage you.

Finally,

if you love Oman or are curious and you don't mind working for incompetant people with no concern for the quality of the product but rather putting on a show, then come and try to help the program grow.Maybe you can make the difference.

The students need qualified and competant people that know how to deal with incompetant managers.

ps. the apartments are fairly nice and Al-Ain UAE is just across the border.

[stonecold]

He's defending his job not the merits of the program which are almost non existent. A truly objective person would mention the bad with the good rather than hurl insults at someone who's tried to do just that.

I like it here at Buriami because of the students, and the fact that not much is expected of us really. Just teach do some admin and go home. but its not well organized and there is alot of incompetance in the management as well as with some of the teachers, ESLguy was just a product of that fallout. I must also mention that numerous teachers have quit because of these problems and the lack of interviews is a product of managerial incompetance.

[veiledsentiments]

Thanks stonecold... a well-balanced assessment of the good and the bad.

I think it will a pretty good predictor of the management level of any employer that they hire without an interview. That guarantees that your fellow teachers will be an interesting mix too.

Are they still not doing interviews?

VS

[stonecold]

...and the managers and some teachers have a mafia style mentality:you are with us or against us. No doubt ESLbear is going to try to find who I am and try to "re-educate" me like they did ESL guy. Another Guy recently left for a differnt job after about 1 month because of his of these problems. This centre is full of coasters, including myself to an extent although I do dedicate myself to the students I think as did eslguy and so many other teachers who came and went recently.

[eslbear]

Indeed, the horse is dead, although the carcass seems to have attracted some attention.

Rather than go point by point with the eminent ESLguy, I feel the need to only respond to the accusation that I have abused anyone or distorted anything. I don't believe I have and my intentions are clearly stated in my earlier post. As for distortion, I plead guilty - for intervening and distorting the hyperbolic insinuation about UoB being the worst of the worst - tops of an ESL blacklist with such company as Korean con artists and sexually abusive managers? For God's sake....

Then, since the PMs were brought into play, further countering ESLguy's blatent attempt at smearing the Uni with serious and disparaging inferences to me, an interested fellow teacher who PM'd asking for clarification.

Sorry, but it's not acceptable and if I have a chance to fight against this kind of anonymous sniping which is all too common, then I will take it.

and btw, the Ministry does approve teachers - it's not someone's "thing"to decide and if they don't have the relevant experience, they are not likely to be approved - see the start of this thread for an example. All GFP's in Oman are now subject to the appoval of the Min of HEd. My own college has had this issue several times over.

eslbear

[eslbear]

Yes, stonecold, you are next. Are you sure your computer camera is not operating right now? Are those 100% cotton pyjamas?

full disclosure: I don't work there and also don't belong to a conspiratorial management group looking out for dissenters. THIS MEANS YOU

no, I fancy myself more of a "man with no name" Clint Eastwood type, serving various types of justice - as I said before, the sniping and pettiness really gets to me sometimes - I took this one on in that spirit.....but maybe too seriously.

Anyhow, good luck to all involved, those who have come and gone, those who remain and those who armchair q-b from the sidelines.

eslbear everywhere!