Job Discussion Forums

pjrowland · Joined: 15 Feb 2006 Posts: 4

I was offered a job with Inlingua in Moscow, and I thought I'd check out the school before I signed the contract. If anyone has taught there, or teaches there now, I'd be very grateful for your experiences.

Thanks,

Paul.

ikmek · Joined: 18 Feb 2006 Posts: 1

I�ve worked a so many great little schools in Moscow that never get a mention on here, places like CDC, inlingua and ABC, so I thought I�d add my two cents worth on inlingua.

First of all, inlingua is a franchise so whatever you may hear about other branches of inlingua elsewhere on this forum won't necessarily be true about the one in Moscow.

I taught at inlingua Moscow for a couple of years and my impressions were mostly positive. It�s quite a small, friendly school and Tatiana, who runs the place, is one of the nicest Language school owners I�ve encountered in Moscow. Unfortunately while she is a good businesswoman, she knows nothing about teaching English (�What�s a CELTA?� she says�) So this means that the school doesn�t have very good resources � unless you have access to other textbooks you�ll be stuck inlingua�s own shitty textbooks, which look homemade and involve lessons which revolve around students repeating phrases back to each other, exercises that don�t make sense and games that don�t work. I defy anyone to teach with these books for more than a week. The place is also a little disorganized, so expect to turn up to cancelled classes and to be saddled with some groups of wildly varying levels (nobody tests new students - Tatiana groups students by who she thinks they�ll get along with best).

However, I would recommend working there, especially if you just need some extra classes. They were always short of teachers when I was there and often have work over the summer months too. Like I said, it�s a very friendly place, there�s never any agro and the students were all lovely (inlingua Moscow interview their students beforehand and only take on students that they like). Also Tatiana is quite reasonable and flexible you can negotiate with her if you�re unhappy with something but you need to stand your ground. Overall a good place to work.

I know inlingua have scaled up their operations in the past year and was becoming a little more proffesional by the time I left so it may have all changed since I was there.

Hope this is useful

pjrowland · Joined: 15 Feb 2006 Posts: 4

Thank you ikmek for your advice about Inlingua - by the sound of it, they have made things a bit more professional, but what you say about the atmosphere and the students was encouraging. I wanted to ask also about the Inlingua method - you seem to suggest it's quite limited, but I was under the impression that you had to use it in class. What is the situation on this? Perhaps it's changed... Again, I'd be grateful for any info you have.

Paul.

Yosma · Joined: 30 Jan 2005 Posts: 24

xsnoofovich · Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Posts: 3

for private students on the side the going rate is $25-$50 an academic hour.

xsnoofovich · Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Posts: 3

for private students on the side the going rate is $25-$50 an academic hour.

Yosma · Joined: 30 Jan 2005 Posts: 24

xsnoofovich · Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Posts: 3

top out at around $16. some are academic hours, some arent. other than that, its between $3-15 for schools on contracts.

canucktechie · Joined: 07 Feb 2003 Posts: 343 Location: Moscow

andidance3 · Joined: 16 Oct 2007 Posts: 7

hey -

thanks for all the info here -

what about contracts? i've been offered one with inlingua moscow but for some reason they won't send me a copy before i get there. she says she'll send me any of the terms i ask for, but is not allowed to send the text in its entirety. any ideas why?

help! i was really excited for this job.

Kootvela · Joined: 22 Oct 2007 Posts: 513 Location: Lithuania

maruss · Joined: 18 Mar 2003 Posts: 1145 Location: Cyprus

I also know the woman director in question and agree she is quite pleasant but I never actually did any classes with her firm.However, Russia being the way it is,I would strongly recommend you try to iron out any doubts BEFORE you agree to anything or go over there if you are still abroad.....unless, of course, you have other options as well.
It's also worth remembering that many schools are franchises so the name does not not neccesarily guarantee anything,good or bad as someone has already posted.
Working for less than $25 per academic hour is not really justifiable nowadays,unless all your classes are in the same place.I was getting a minimum of $20 back in 2006 and the cost of living has risen a lot since then in Moscow,as well as the devaluation of the dollar etc.
Accomodation is a major headache for everyone,both Russians and ex-pats alike and what people pay for just a room nowadays could get you a basic 1-room appartment in suburb a couple of years ago!I would very strongly recommend people bear this in mind....

andidance3 · Joined: 16 Oct 2007 Posts: 7

Hey-

Just for an update - they continued to refuse to send me my contract, but were kind enough to send me a number of excerpts of terms. I was not pleased with them and kindly turned them down.

However, most Russians (according to my Russian friends) do work stupidly long, hard hours, so if that's what you're prepared for than Inlingua is probably a great place to do so. I'm just not willing to make that trade-off yet.

canucktechie · Joined: 07 Feb 2003 Posts: 343 Location: Moscow

Russians may work long hours but the great majority of them certainly don't work hard. The whole country is allergic to work.

Red and white · Joined: 30 Sep 2007 Posts: 63