Job Discussion Forums

[the peanut gallery]

EP, I enjoyed your comparison, never heard ESL in Mexico expressed in such a way.

[EFLeducator]

[Enchilada Potosina]

[tideout]

I'm trying to head back to Mexico or Latin America as soon as my contract ends in S. Korea.

FWIW, people go on here (SK) about the "stagnant" wages here sometimes w/o real merit. I guess that conversaton will happen everywhere on some level. Despite the "rep" of Korea a lot of what you see is pretty superficial educationally.

The issues of how you're viewed by future employers in the States is ironic to me. I get better access to health care, better vacation time and have saved more money in a couple of years than I could have in 8 years in the States in my old career. Unfortunately, I think once you've traveled a bit and have some more global perspective - dealing with stereotypes at home is part of the price you pay.

[BadBeagleBad]

[EFLeducator]

[tideout]

Just to clarify my post - I can tell by the responses I did a poor job of articulating my situation and didn't mean for it to be misleading.

I was in Mexico and I'm currently in S. Korea where I get better benefits than in previous jobs in the States.

The landscape of the job market certainly seems to be changing. There is definitely an increase in the number of certified, yet unemployed teachers (generally recent grads) coming from the US and Canada to SK. They seem to see it as reasonably close to working in their profession as they can get at the moment. I can't predict the outcome but I imagine that the new dynamic of going abroad to find a job will at some point begin to change perceptions in the US market as people returning do get work back in the US market?

[tideout]

[EFLeducator]

[Guy Courchesne]

You might want to switch states. From what US colleagues tell me, Texas is scraping the bottom of the barrel for teaching jobs. One example...a friend from Philadelphia that taught here in DF for three years went back with her family to DC after getting some job offers that were very specific to her teaching experience in Mexico. She now co-ordinates an outreach ESL program for Hispanic kids and is doing quite well in her job.

[tideout]

[tideout]

[Berlitzvictim]

I am one of three roommates who all worked for Berlitz San Luis Potosi. None of us lasted more than 7 months. The pay is HORRIBLE - 120 pesos for a 90 minute class. The guy who hires employees is a total used car salesman- he says that most teachers earn more than 7000 pesos a month and that you can earn up to USD$1000 a month. DO NOT BELIEVE IT. None of us earned that on a consistent basis. I earned 7000 pesos for just one month, and mind you, that is only about 600 dollars to live on. The other months we were lucky to make 5000 pesos. They assign classes to teachers as they feel, without regard to the fact that they are bringing in foreigners to live and who cannot survive on the salary. They make HUGE promises that they just do not keep. They break all kinds of laws as well. They do not enroll their employees in health care as required by law, they work foreigners under the table, they take taxes out of paychecks of foreigners even though salaries of foreigners are not taxed up to over 1 million pesos of earnings. They do not know how to communicate at all - they MAY or MAY not tell you how to correctly get a work visa. There were three employees who they had hired and allowed to work who then had to return to the US to get a work visa because they were in the country illegally and Berlitz never bothered to tell them that they needed to get the work visa in the US. They do not train well, as the same idiot who hires also trains and he spends most of the time talking about himself and how he used to be a gang banger in Los Angeles. They do not teach the teachers how to do all the paperwork, LITERALLY, because I had to train other newer teachers how to do the progress reports and end of course grades myself. When the teachers do not do things correctly, they then chastise the teachers, punish them, and still do not train them how to do it. It is just a nightmare. Those people could not organize a beer bust in a brewery. When we all left, they refused to pay our last paychecks, and now Berlitz has lawsuits against them for unpaid wages. They have not given raises in years, even though it is required by law. They also are supposed to pay bonuses and profit sharing as required by law. They don't. The accountant juggles the books BIG TIME. The franchise owner is filthy rich, though.
They will find you housing but it is the most expensive housing you can have and considering how much you earn, you actually cannot afford the housing they find. Speaking of health benefits, one foreign teacher had just arrived and had worked a week. Then at the house that Berlitz placed her in, she slipped, fell, and slit her wrist open on the bathroom sink that broke. She had no medical coverage from Berlitz. That same accountant was called to the hospital emergency room, where the hospital demanded 10000 pesos before they operated on her. Berlitz' accountant, Enrique, ABSOLUTELY REFUSED to pay the fee for her!!! Instead, a Berlitz teacher, who was making all of 120 pesos per 90 minutes, had to front the money that the accountant and the company refused to pay.
In terms of its students, they brag that Berlitz is the most expensive language school around. How do they treat their students? For months their students did not have actual books and CDs. They had photocopies and bootleg CDs, many of the CD players in the rooms were broken or missing, the photocopier paper was recycled from 2007, the air conditioning was on the fritz, the computers at Berlitz for their web lessons were always freezing and there were never enough computers at the schools to teach all the students at once anyway. Some of these things were fixed but only after the teachers took their complaints to the head office in Mexico City. When the teachers brought up these issues to the admin in SLP, they brushed it off and blamed the teachers for the lack of everything. They have no management and marketing skills. They told the teachers to go promote their classes at universities but they never gave teachers any information to pass out. These numb skulls would not even tell us how much they charge for the classes, but then they expect us to go out on our own without getting paid and drum up business for them!!
They steal from both the students and the teachers. They would let an injured employee die in a hospital rather than pay a fee upfront because they never gave her healthcare insurance. Berlitz is a heartless, soulless, demon spawn of satan. Stay away from these evil, unconscionable, selfish, greedy people.

[bexarwithme]

How long did you work for them? Were you or any of the others held against their will? How long would you have put up with this treatment from an employer in your home country? Is this your first time living away from your parent's house? Sounds awful. Hopefully life is better for you now.

[Berlitzvictim]