Job Discussion Forums

[johnslat]

Dear Lynn,

"Getting fired was the best thing that happened to me. "

Yup, life's a wild and crazy ride. You just never know what's around the next corner (Thank God).

It's great to hear that everything has worked out so well.

Regards,
John

[ntropy]

Congratulations. I'm happy for you.

Funny old thing, life. As the Buddhists teach, we have to let go of desires before we can be happy.

[Gordon]

Lynn, where are you going to move?

[Lynn]

I was arguing about the address of the school where I got fired today in the teacher's room of a different school.

Another teacher walks in, "oh are you talking about Mernie's school?"

Me: Yeah, you know him?

Her: Yeah, he has a rotating employment policy.

Me: What?!

Her: He hires teachers and then after a few months fires them because he figures they are getting too close to the students and will start stealing them for private lessons.

Me: I used to work there but got fired this week.
Her: how long?
Me: exactly 4 months to the day
Her: Yup! That's just about the time he fires teachers. He was just waiting until he found a replacement for you.

[Irish]

Ugh. So I guess in few months we can expect your replacement to post an angry/bewildered/hurt message here, wondering how her great job evaporated with no warning.

Lynn, I'm sorry that you went through all of this with your ex-weasel, er, boss, but it's good to know that you found something much better. Out of everyone involved in this deal, it looks like you came out on top. Good for you!

Congratulations on the new gig and new outlook.

[markoinbangkok]

[Wolf]

Hmm.

I think that a while ago one of my "from the belfry" rants was something about how I dislike having my teaching position be some sort of popularity contest. I never worked at such a place, but I did interview at one once (C the D, Japan.)

Having your job yanked out from under you with no warning sucks. I reserve any and all right to throw rocks from this here belfry whenever it happens. (I'm being metaphorical )

Anyway, there is wisdom in the "well, if they did that, then they're not worth working for" line.

My mom is a teacher, and she has things like union protection and seignority. Anyway, if she lost her job to a substitute, I'd imagine that she'd be pretty angry, and (another) court case would probably result (God love her, she's taken on the government in court twice as it is, and won both times.)

Sheesh, I stay away from here for a few days to cool my jets a bit, and now I'm shouting from the belfry... . Lynn, you're right about this industry needing some serious re-wiring. My condolances.

[sojourner]

I cannot see why anyone who is a qualified teacher would want to work for a language school.Such people should be looking for jobs in the uni or college sector - or the state primary/secondary/middle school sector.Until about 5 weeks ago, I was employed at a tertiary college in China.Yes,it's quite true that the college will often ask the students about your teaching performance,rapport with students, etc,but as we all are on 6 and 12 months contracts,it would be virtually impossible to sack us - unless we were absolutely incompetent,posed a serious moral danger to the students,having too many unaccounted -for absences from class,coming to class drunk,bible bashing instead of teaching,etc.

The only advantages in teaching in a language school would,possibly, be the smaller classes and better teaching resources.But how many language schools provide the sorts of long vacations that college/uni FTs are usually entitled to ?

But apart from things such as vacations,are far greater importance concerns the actual teaching environment .I can't imagine anything more demeaning than for a qualified FT being told to improve his/her's teaching performance - by a language school manager or owner who,in all likelihood, is not a qualified teacher but merely a businessperson responding to complaints by students (or their parents) threatening to take their business elsewhere ! Also,it would appear that some language schools are parts of franchise operations,a situation that may require FTs to teach according to some rigid syllabus,probably based upon some outdated methodology or/and SLA theory.How could any conscientous,qualified FT tolerate such crap ?

So,it would appear that qualified teachers should avoid language schools.Yet,some teachers who have tought in the college sector actually prefer language schools ! One such person is Roger . Undoubtedly,there would be some good language schools - but how would you find them ? With Roger's situation,he has been in China for a number of years - thus,he "knows the ropes",has links to various individuals/networks,etc.But for those of us who have been in a foreign country for only 1 or 2 years,it would be virtually impossible for us to know which language schools are professionally run.So,in the meantime,it might be best to work in the uni/college sector,until we find our feet.

Regards,

Peter

[Sherri]

sojourner
While I agree that there are many private language schools that fit your description, there are also others which do not. It is a pretty big field and there are all sorts of schools out there. I worked for 2 different private language schools in Tokyo, all the teachers had EFL/ESL teaching qualifications and experience before being hired. We were paid well, got pretty good vacations (8 weeks) and were generally well-treated. I liked working there rather than a university mainly because I was teaching adults (not a bunch of bored kids). The adults made their own decision to come to the school and study. They had clear goals for learning English and were KEEN! They came, they participated, they did homework and were a great bunch to teach. In general their levels were high as they were working in foreign capital companies and usually used English at work. Class size was limited to under 20. When I hear the stories that university teachers tell of their classes here in Japan, I am so glad I did not teach them. So it all depends, there are some advantages to language school work.
Sherri

[FGT]

Sojourner (et al) -

Please don't tar all language schools with the same brush. I'd much rather teach at the language school I work at than any local high school, college or university. I'm treated as a professional by professionals.

[markoinbangkok]

I agree. The pay is better, the students are better and the resources are MUCH better than Unis and primary schools. (Computers, markers, air con, etc!) The hours are less and you can be pickier about who and what you teach. Obviously sojourner hasn't worked in Thailand. I am talking about Thailand here, so all of what sojourner says doesn't apply at all.

(Also, sojourner: take better care of your grammar and punctuation when composing letters on standards of English educational establishments. "Tought" is NOT an acceptable typo!)

[Roger]

Dear Peter sojourner,
since you named me, my opinion on public schools versus private language mills is called for.
Actually, I am much with you: those private employers don't deserve of us. I have plenty to write against them. One reason is that they are constantly mutating and morphing into new entities. Currently, many of them no longer run adult classes; instead they act as your agent and put you in public school classrooms. Your time is their time, but you have no control over your students or your timetable which changes ever so often owing to the whims of all those that get a piece from the cake that you bake.
Last semester was one of my most unsatisfying ones because I was farmed out to various public primary schools and some kindergartens, always on shortlived loan that lasted one time or sometimes 2 months. In not a few instances, classes were cancelled on the very day I was supposed to go there; no performance no income, yet your time is taken for granted! Reasons for cancellations ranged from "saRS concern" to "teacher meeting" to "public holiday' (when it was in fact no holiday at all), and so on.
Early this week I was asked by one of these language mills to return to their fold - for a total of 4 hours spread over 4 days! you have to commute for half an hour, one hour one way, then do your job for 50 minutes (which counts for one hour), then you are on your own again.,..
i asked what had become of that prospective contract they had been so eager for December when they sent me to a PLA-operated kindergarten for extra-curricular English. The answer: the headmaster was currently under investigation for pocketing funds that the parents had paid towards the running of these English classes...

Am I in favour of public schools?
I can't say I am totally in favour as few of them respect you and your teaching techniques! But, on the whole, yes, I would say it's preferable as you get more potentially stable working conditions, though they come at the price of a lower monthly income!

[markoinbangkok]

Bloody hell, Roger. No wonder the state of teaching in Asia (the world?) is in such a dreadful state! I hope it is just you that is willing to be treated in such a disgraceful manner (although, sadly, my hopes are not very high!)

I don't know you, or where you are posting from. But one thing I'm fairly sure of is that people who treat their teachers this way get the teachers they deserve!

Maybe I'm wrong and you are a fine teacher. If you are then get the f@ck out of that situation fast!

[misterkodak]

Lynn,
My condolences. I have been (and sort of still am) in the same situation now. I left a decent (but steady) paying job in Turkey to come here to Germany to work for Inlingua. I'm not a big fan of "fast food English chains" but I saw it as a way to get my foot in the door. My wife is Turkish/German. We speak German at home and we both had our hearts set on coming back here. I have a BA in Germanistics with 5 years teaching experience and a TEFL.
I arrived here in Halle in August, and was "fired" by october. Why? Well, the teachers already here were whining and complaining about not having enough hours. If I believe the excuses from the adminstration, one of their plans "fell through". Anyhow, they wanted to send me to Dresden which paid even less than what I earned from them here in Halle. Actually they told me the people in Dresden were going to help me etc etc. When I went and interviewed there, they didn't even want to know about me. Go figure! Then again, after I saw a sign saying that teachers have to pay 15 euro a month for internet.. I decided I definitely didn't want to work for them.
So, here I am 6 months later doing 2 part time things, and whatever else I can get on the side. I saw last month on tefl.com that Inlingua here was hiring again. It was interesting. I called them up and the director (who incidentally can barely speak english) told me that'd call me back next week. That never happened.
Am I upset? Darn straight I'm torqued. I mean I haven't seen my wife and daughter for 6 months. I am barely making ends meet and these geeks are hiring what I consider young kids who could care less about anything but drinking beer and "scoring" ever night of the week. I loved it when a colleague of mine showed "A Clockwork Orange" to his advanced class and the other colleague who showed up for work noticeably stoned. Professionalism in this industry is nonexistant anymore. It was amusing to do the inlingua training with the "head teacher" who came from some asian mail order bride country whose english was as bad as her German.
I can't count how many different job interviews I have had in the past 5 months. I get tired of people telling me "We'll get back to you" or "We definitely want to work with you, but give us some time" or the old classic "Really, you're overqualified for this job".
Moral to this story to quote Navin Johnson's father from the movie "The Jerk"....... "Don't nevah evah trust whitey!" ... Whitey being owner and administration. I would far more prefer teaching back in the private Turkish school I came from than for a cowboy school like Inlingua. If it hadn't been for the fact I speak German I think I would have been screwed even worse.
I never planned to get rich doing this, but I also never planned to be screwed so hard either.

[sojourner]

[quote](Also, sojourner: take better care of your grammar and punctuation when composing letters on standards of English educational establishments. "Tought" is NOT an acceptable typo!)


Mark,

As Hohlee Skripcha sezs:

"Fisishin, Heel Thyself"