|
Job Discussion Forums "The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Students and Teachers from Around the World!"
|
View previous topic :: View next topic |
Author |
Message |
SueH
Joined: 01 Feb 2003 Posts: 1022 Location: Northern Italy
|
Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2007 8:26 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Actually,I don't think so LOL. At the schools I did there was a variety of teachers. I lived fairly locally, there were state school teachers earning a bit extra and some teachers from abroad in the UK due to an absence of summer work in their own countries (Turkey, Spain etc.). Nobody would have rented anything in addition to their usual accommodation. For the latter group it was stay with friends, relatives at either end of the summer school, and then back to their usual countries. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
lolwhites
Joined: 29 Jun 2005 Posts: 158 Location: France
|
Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 7:58 am Post subject: |
|
|
So you still have to rely on friends or relatives to bail you out at either end of the summer school? And did those who worked in Turkey/Spain etc go back to the same accommodation in the autumn or start afresh? If the former, they have had to pay rent over the summer or sublet, surely? Unless they lived somewhere touristy and then maybe a landlord might have been able to let to tourists. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
SueH
Joined: 01 Feb 2003 Posts: 1022 Location: Northern Italy
|
Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 9:19 am Post subject: |
|
|
Basically yes, I'd imagine. I've had both good and mediocre accommodation, but I've never seen it as an alternative. For those that come from abroad it just means no _additional_ costs. What their arrangements are elsewhere I've no idea in general, but imagine they vary a lot. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
lolwhites
Joined: 29 Jun 2005 Posts: 158 Location: France
|
Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 12:00 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I see. What I'm trying to get at is whether "accommodation provided" is really that good a deal. Not running up shopping and utilities bills is a plus (so long as you get decent food and enough hot water!) but whether it actually saves people having to pay rent is another story. And in any case, what kind of business would have to rely on friends and relatives of its staff to put them up at the beginning and end of the summer and keep their CD collections, spare clothes etc safe until the end of the contract? |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
SueH
Joined: 01 Feb 2003 Posts: 1022 Location: Northern Italy
|
Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 1:47 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Only you can decide. Last summer I lived in the UK I was approached to do some teaching but it wasn't worth the hassle. It depends what your alternatives are, doesn't it, and what the alternatives are to the 'provided accommodation' jobs. I presume you have some idea of the cost and short term availability of accommodation during the summer so that you can make your own decision. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Nomad79
Joined: 29 Mar 2009 Posts: 40
|
Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 12:23 pm Post subject: question about planning lessons at CES |
|
|
I am at an Embassy branch and have a question. How did you handle the lesson planning. Our schedule is an elective in the morning (abt 90 min.) and a core class in the afternoon (3.5 hrs). Some of us are feeling out of sorts knowing what to do with this. Despite our experience and training... |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
SueH
Joined: 01 Feb 2003 Posts: 1022 Location: Northern Italy
|
Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2009 7:36 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Hmm, you'd probably have been better off opening a new thread, this one was dead or at least receiving the last rites.
Anyway, is there no syllabus, no course book, materials, internet access?
Go and look at onestopEnglish for ideas, materials and worksheets. If they haven't got an institutional licence it might even be worth it on a personal basis as it lasts a year. Either way go and annoy the DOS and the Centre manager, en-masse, after you teachers have discussed it together.
It obviously also depends on the students. What levels are they, are the classes fairly level or are they hopelessly mixed?
Do some concentrated formal stuff, don't be afraid to do a bit of padding and exploit your materials and get the students to do the work e.g. brainstorm a questionnaire and then get them to disappear and ask the questions outside of the class. etc..etc..
Bit more detail might help people answer. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Nomad79
Joined: 29 Mar 2009 Posts: 40
|
Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 1:22 am Post subject: |
|
|
Thank you for responding. The school has great resources and is organized. The problem is more planning everday in the early morning before classes begin. Since we are not paid to plan I don't want to plan at home after work. I get in at 8 and begin planning for both classes and have the first class at 10:20. It's gotten easier, but so far is haphazard and just as many games and role plays as I can throw together to prevent dead air. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Chris_Crossley

Joined: 26 Jun 2004 Posts: 1797 Location: Still in the centre of Furnace City, PRC, after eight years!!!
|
Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 2:03 pm Post subject: Chopping and changing - and what a difference! |
|
|
I worked on behalf of Embassy CES for three weeks in the summer of '09 at both the Warminster and Roehampton sites. The former is an independent-sector boarding school while the latter is one of the campuses of the eponymous university where one can lazily watch planes on the flight path to Heathrow just less than five minutes' landing away!
The pay I received was fairly decent even though there was a �30 per week accommodation charge; not bad, when one considers that the room I had at Roehampton had an en-suite toilet and shower! It was also twice as big as the room I had at Warminster, given that it was an old building yet, what may be perhaps considered as unacceptable from the security viewpoint, the door could not be locked from the inside (although, thankfully, it could from the outside), resulting in some students even trying to break into it one night despite the heavy suitcase propped up against the door and then finding they had a teacher on their hands roaring at them at the top of his voice!
The contrast between the levels of interaction between the "blue shirts" (teachers) and the "orange/yellow shirts" (activity leaders) on the two sites could hardly have been starker: at Warminster, they got on like a house on fire and we rubbed shoulders in the local pub in the high street almost every evening (the centre manager even bought everyone a round at company expense one evening!) while at Roehampton they barely talked to each other. At Warminster, the senior staff (none of whom actually did any teaching) were approachable enough, but they seemed distant at Roehampton and virtually glued to their seats in the office as they seemed to be up to their eyeballs in administration.
One member of the senior staff at Roehampton who managed to substitute for another teacher who left early told me that she just detested the paperwork. This was not, so she told me bluntly, what she got a DELTA (I think it was a DELTA!) for; had she known that getting a DELTA would lead to her just sitting behind a desk, she would have never applied for a senior post in the first place.
I had originally volunteered to do all three weeks at Warminster, so I was somewhat surprised to be asked to go at two days' notice to Roehampton, from which one of the others had come at the end of the previous week! For myself, I'd say that I had no complaints about my experience, though it would have been better had there been WiFi facilities available for my lap-top, only they were totally nonexistent at Warminster since the school authorities are obviously not going to wire up their old buildings for new technology!
Amusing/annoying anecdote to share? The groundfloor exit fire alarm in my accommodation building went off on my very first night (thankfully I had not gone to bed by then!) at Roehampton and one of the senior members of staff announced to all and sundry (about 250 students, mostly Italians) how thoroughly annoyed he was that HE (personally?) would be fined by the local fire brigade if nobody owned up to setting it off. Needless to say, nobody did; I should know, I asked him two days later.
Will I work for Embassy again? Possibly, since, as I said, I have no complaint, but I think I'll try other sites next time! |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
JRJohn
Joined: 21 Jun 2006 Posts: 175
|
Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 7:41 am Post subject: I Worked With Embassy CES In 2008 |
|
|
I was at their Oxford Headington Centre and I actually had a rather good time there. But I must make things clear. I was there as a FULL TIME teacher-no excursions, and I got 6 WEEKS work. I liked the zig-zag pattern of teaching, only 1 hr 30 at a time. I liked the wide range of resources. I liked having 30 minute breaks for photocopying etc. I loved the location. We also had an interesting group. I made friends. It was very positive overall for me.
But let's be careful, here. I knew when I came that I would have to work at the job, and I did lots of preparation. I knew about meal supervision. Okay. I gladly accepted this. But sharing a hall with loud teenagers was something I don't want this year. I didn't like that. But I don't mind doing preparation. I prefer to teach full time-some don't. Some Embassy Centres have full time teachers. Others don't, and in the latter case, you will have lots of extra duties! If that's an issue, you need to know what happens at the centre you'll be based at.
I found that lots of kids said they liked my classes, and the Italian group leaders said I was VERY popular and professional. I had some real job satisfaction. My experience in Japan had helped.
Not everyone was as happy as I. It was MY favourite summer school, so far. But a 54 year-old teacher complained that most staff was under 23, and full of sentimental bullshit. I felt torn between good older teachers like him, and the youngsters! I was at some big parties with them). The older teacher noted that a number of people were unhappy and leaving early. I noticed one screwed up and was dismissed! The DOS actually chickened out. I thought he had been good. But suddenly he walked. Just before this he observed one of my classes, and gave a lukewarm review! It was one of the few "bad" classes I taught.
But I was offered work for a 7th week.
In 2009, I reapplied. But the boss of Embassy called me and totally rubbished my teaching. Basically she didn't want to hire me again, even though I had done okay. I REFUSED to believe what she said. In fact only one of our group was hired in 2009-but he had to be promoted. All in all, Embassy CES can be a positive experience, and I think I would recommend it safely. But don't take it for granted.
Financially I got a good deal: free food and accommodation for 6 weeks, and in a beautiful location. But I have read other posts here. It seems that some people had to pay for accommodation! That, I wouldn't accept. The salary is only worth working for by virtue of the fact that there IS free food and accommodation! If you are only paid by the shift, then that's not such a good sign Teaching can also be hard work! |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
GriffinParka
Joined: 16 Dec 2010 Posts: 41 Location: West London
|
Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 6:46 pm Post subject: Avoid Embassy |
|
|
I would be VERY wary of any organisation whose boss calls you to tell you you're a crap teacher. It's totally unprofessional and entirely unnecessary - and in this case, it appears to be a lie, too.
I have worked in summer school recruitment before (not for Embassy, thank God!) and the policy on refusing previous staff was quite simple - either ignore their e-mails or politely decline, saying there are no more vacancies for that centre, those weeks, etc. There is absolutely no need to rubbish anybody - unless you're a bully and enjoy humiliating people.
Actually, I worked for Embassy as a teacher on a summer school about 15 years back, and they were woefully disorganised then. Even worse, there was a tangible disdain amongst the activities staff for the students, expecially the younger ones who had a good deal of trouble adapting to a thoroughly alien environment for the first time.
Strangely, the only teacher who bothered to do the decent thing and try to comfort them was not re-employed the following year - but the arrogant slackers among the activities staff were!
I didn't bother reapplying ... and I recommend other teachers do the same. Embassy are krap, and employ some of the worst specimens of humanity to do their krap work! |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
scot47

Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343
|
Posted: Sat May 28, 2011 3:23 am Post subject: |
|
|
So it is much like all the other summer schools !!!!!!!!!!!!! |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Hod
Joined: 28 Apr 2003 Posts: 1613 Location: Home
|
Posted: Sat May 28, 2011 10:01 am Post subject: Re: Avoid Embassy |
|
|
GriffinParka wrote: |
I have worked in summer school recruitment before (not for Embassy, thank God!) and the policy on refusing previous staff was quite simple - either ignore their e-mails or politely decline, saying there are no more vacancies for that centre, those weeks, etc. |
What's the rationale for refusing previous staff? |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
barabbas
Joined: 22 Aug 2009 Posts: 58
|
Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 10:36 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Feedback from the DoS |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
mimiminime
Joined: 23 Dec 2009 Posts: 4
|
Posted: Sun Apr 14, 2013 8:35 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I worked for them last summer and would NOT recommend to anybody ever particularly Southend in Portsmouth campus.
the programme was pretty ıntensıve and the central managers and DOS, ın the town I worked for were NOT FAIR at all on the staff , they were the people who give preferential treatment according to their personal benefits and convenience so we suffered remarkable favoritism in the center
they put insensibly too much work load on your shoulders and obviously toooooooooo much stress!!!
slick, sneaky managers and DOS , keep making joke about everything to make themselves look cool (??!!) |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
This page is maintained by the one and only Dave Sperling. Contact Dave's ESL Cafe
Copyright © 2018 Dave Sperling. All Rights Reserved.
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group
|