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Oh My God
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 273
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 Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2011 4:11 am Post subject: |
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| London Bridge wrote: |
$3,000 USD during the Tet month of February, when schools were shut down for at least 16 days?
And many school actually shut down for longer than that.
I don't know what you're agenda is, but you have one. |
In another thread about RMIT I wrote:
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In a couple of these you'll see a poster with the nic - Texas_blu, he's been a friend of mine for years as well as a business partner. He and I did tutoring for business types and some corporate seminars. I mean, I still do but Texas_blu went back to the USA a little over a year ago.
It was because of the many contacts that he made while at RMIT that launched my night time and weekend enterprises. I only teach at a school during weekdays. |
So with the 1 school that I now work at, I get paid under a true salary - meaning that my monthly salary is consistent regardless of whether the school is open or not. It wasn't always this way but through some negotiations regarding leaving for a better salary, they sweetened the deal to keep me.
I make the bulk of my money tutoring business types and the seminars that my colleagues and I conduct all over VN primarily but have also done in Cambodia and Thailand and we're now exploring doing the same in other parts of Indonesia as well.
But my beginings were no different from any of you guys. I'm both lucky in having met up with Texas_blu and extremely diligent in being "driven" to constantly and consistently achieve excellence in all that I do professionally.
However in the "living it up" department, I'm probably a little boring as I'm devoted to my VN wife and 4 year old daughter except for my weakness for drinking massive quanities of beer with my VN friends.
I'm really not much different than any of you guys!
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Jbhughes
Joined: 01 Jul 2010
Posts: 254
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| Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2011 6:39 am Post subject: |
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| deadlift wrote: |
| jbhughes wrote: |
| I don't believe that it's fair to say that teachers without any form of qualification / training are bad teachers |
Nor has anyone put forward this opinion.
There's a lot of strawmen in this thread.
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My post may not have been clear.
My intention was not to represent anyone else's opinion with this statement, I was attempting to express my own.
I thought it was important to state that I don't believe teachers without qualifications aren't bad teachers lest anyone assume I think otherwise. |
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London Bridge
Joined: 06 May 2008
Posts: 34
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| Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2011 9:06 am Post subject: |
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[quote="Oh My God"]
| London Bridge wrote: |
| I mean, I still do but Texas_blu went back to the USA a little over a year ago. |
I stand corrected. Good on you and this entrepreneurial work your doing.
As for texas_blu, do you know how he's doing back in Texas? Is he adjusting well? It is, a change from Vietnam.
Keep up the good and lucrative work. Cheers. |
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LettersAthruZ
Joined: 25 Apr 2010
Posts: 466
Location: North Viet Nam
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| Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2011 4:13 pm Post subject: |
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| deadlift wrote: |
| LettersAthruZ wrote: |
There just is ZERO REASON to state -
"OH! You never got a (please select one or more from the following: CELTA/DELTA/TEFL/TESOL/ASAP/OMFG)??? Well, YOU must be a backpacker....."
OR
"OH! You paid $1200 to get your (please select one or more from the following: CELTA/DELTA/TEFL/TESOL/ASAP/OMFG)! Well, lotta good it did for you....a fool and his money are soon parted!!"
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No one HAS stated either of these positions.
| jbhughes wrote: |
| I don't believe that it's fair to say that teachers without any form of qualification / training are bad teachers |
Nor has anyone put forward this opinion.
There's a lot of strawmen in this thread.
I agree that there's some great, unqualified teachers out there.
I agree that some gifted autodidacts, such as the inestimable OMG, may be able to learn something from teaching at crappy backpacker schools.
I agree that there's some awful CELTA (or whatever) trained teachers out there.
But I maintain that a CELTA-esque qualification is a better introduction to teaching than working in a backpacker school. For one thing, it will help you get better jobs more quickly, our resident ELT superstar OMG's dubious testimony notwithstanding. |
Right, and nobody did state EXACTLY those statements that I put into quotes, but it sure as hell is obvious that it has been strongly implied by a few in this thread that, everything else being equal, those with said CERTIFICATES (NOT "qualifications"!! "UNQUALIFIED" refers to lacking the ability to perform the job up to an acceptable standard e.g. "qualified" meaning - "fitted [as by training or experience] for a given purpose") are just out and outright better teachers.
If you fail to see this implication in this thread, well....you really have to look harder. |
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mark_in_saigon
Joined: 20 Sep 2009
Posts: 837
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| Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2011 2:38 am Post subject: for what its worth |
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| I flirted with both Apollo and ILA on the CELTA thing, and I found Apollo to be much more customer friendly. I found ILA to be quite uppity, (sneeringly so) as if you (the paying customer) needed them far more than they needed you. I cannot speak to the quality of their programs or anything else, but if I had to choose which one I wanted to do any kind of business with based on being comfortable with one or the other, it would be Apollo, no contest. |
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1st Sgt Welsh
Joined: 13 Dec 2010
Posts: 946
Location: Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
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| Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2011 3:47 am Post subject: Re: for what its worth |
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| mark_in_saigon wrote: |
| I found ILA to be quite uppity, (sneeringly so) as if you (the paying customer) needed them far more than they needed you. |
I got the exact same vibe from Language Link in Hanoi where I did my CELTA (I had organised and paid for it when I was still in Australia). I've heard on the grapevine since that their CELTA instructors have changed. In fairness, I should state that many of the other trainees I went through with seemed quite happy with the course so maybe it was just me.
I don't know anyone who has done their CELTA through HCMC Apollo, but I know someone who did it through the Hanoi branch and they are apparently very good.
Also I know quite a few people who did the CELTA at ILA in Saigon and, although it is only second-hand reports, I have only heard really good things. |
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mark_in_saigon
Joined: 20 Sep 2009
Posts: 837
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| Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 7:14 am Post subject: Its all pot luck |
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| I have found that so much of what we encounter is just "pot luck". I do like to THINK that an organization that employs someone who acts like a jerk proves that the organization itself is questionable. However, that may not always be the case. Larger organizations in the west constantly take on problem employees for whatever reason, and of course, in VN, it must be especially hard to get foreign employees who are both capable of doing the work properly and free of character flaws as well. My particular situation is that I am free to take my money and time wherever I like, and if the organization throws up a big red flag, I can afford to go elsewhere. It would seem to me that when we are paying our money to these schools for taking the program, we should be considered customers and treated with respect. Apollo passed my test, ILA failed. However, working at any of these kinds of places as a teacher can be a whole other question. Day to day life here is just filled with potential for frustration, and it is likely silly of me to focus on this one issue. I know the VN workers have to put up with some conditions and behaviors that we would never accept. Perhaps some of the foreign employees at these schools are taking notes on what is considered normal here, and we need to accept being treated poorly by our fellow westerners as well. It certainly promotes obedience, which may be a good thing. |
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mag_nus
Joined: 10 Sep 2009
Posts: 12
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| Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 12:01 pm Post subject: |
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| What about Apollo in HCMC? Most of the stuff on this thread seems to have been about the schools in Hanoi and Haiphong. (Apologies if I missed a long and informative post on Apollo HCMC somewhere else on this thread/site!). Thanks! |
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Kornan DeKobb
Joined: 24 Jan 2010
Posts: 242
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| Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2011 1:55 pm Post subject: Re: for what its worth |
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| mark_in_saigon wrote: |
| I flirted with both Apollo and ILA on the CELTA thing, and I found Apollo to be much more customer friendly. I found ILA to be quite uppity, (sneeringly so) as if you (the paying customer) needed them far more than they needed you. I cannot speak to the quality of their programs or anything else, but if I had to choose which one I wanted to do any kind of business with based on being comfortable with one or the other, it would be Apollo, no contest. |
Agreed. |
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Mr. Kalgukshi
Mod Team
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
Posts: 6613
Location: Need to know basis only.
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| Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2011 7:40 pm Post subject: |
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ILA related comments must be posted here:
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=82697&start=0
Other threads containing ILA related comments will be locked or removed.
Members responsible for not adhering to board policy will be sanctioned, as appropriate. |
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