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[blackcorsair]

EXT: Thunder and lightning sound-effects. Some desultory snow flakes falling. Dank atmosphere of dread and unease. A large, gloomy building with an enormous clock looking rather like a futurist relative of Big Ben. In fact the municipal building that houses the local trade union offices of Krasnoyarsk. Outwardly nothing especially sinister. However, within these walls, on the second floor, there exists a place of horror and serfdom, and here exist at least two people who might very well have been put on this Earth to taunt you, exploit you, to punish you (unwitting green-around-the-gills EFL adventurer that you are). At the very least they will try your nerves again and again and again, perhaps even drive you to the edge of reason... For here you will find the offices of Link (Russian affiliate of the Language Link EFL brand).

Joking apart, to anyone intrigued by Russia, its language, culture and traditions, it sounds seductive: a teaching post way out in the wilds of Siberia and a golden chance to intimately familiarise yourself with a part of the country tourists usually only glimpse through a train carriage window rattling down the trans-siberian line en route to Vladivostock or Peking. Opportunities to make friends and learn the lingo, go skiing, to revel in the icy romance of a Russian winter, then drink away those winter blues, (knocking back vodka like nobody's business and thinking you're turning into a Russian). Nice image, huh? And a job at a local language school would be the perfect deal, right? Well, that depends. It depends largely on who you intend to work for. And if that organisation is LL Krasnoyarsk or 'Link' then I advise you to think again. No, let me rephrase that, I warn you to think again. Your dream could, in fact, be your nightmare.

You'll notice on all the posts that they are advertising 4 teaching vacancies? There is a good reason for this. (And very sorry do I feel for anybody who has already taken up a post with them.) There is a high staff turnover. Teachers are conveyor-belted in and once there can only dream about getting out again. And get out they do. For this is the teaching post you did not want with the managerial double-act that makes ol' Joe Stalin and Lav Beria seem like a pair of mischief-loving cheeky cherubs. So what conditions can you expect? What are the joys and miseries of employment at Link? For a start - following the initial smiles and token gestures of welcome - expect fairly constant tension and conflict with the 'administrator' - a woman of 'fragrant' morning breath going by the name of Irina. Although only doing the bidding of the glorious leader (and company proprietor), Tatiana, this woman is snakelike in her powers of cunning and deception. Expect discrepancies in your wages. Expected to be subtly conned over the number of hours you've worked. Expect every kopeek to be counted. Expect to be bamboozled by the byzantine methods by which holiday pay is calculated or deducted. Expect classes and lessons to be swept away from you just when you thought everything was cozy and the students loved you. Expect students to be encouraged to complain about your lessons and for your innocent pleas to count for naught. Expect to be a worker ant showing unswerving loyalty and prepared to die for the greater cause. Expect to be moved from flat to flat with a couple of days' prior notice. Expect to regularly turn up for lessons that were already cancelled without your knowledge. Expect to be teaching lessons that were not even printed on your timetable and to endure the wrath of the snakelike one and her controller for not having attended those classes whose existence you were sweetly oblivious of. Expect to find companies in the city with incorrectly drawn maps your only means of navigation. Expect to run around the city and its suburbs like a manic blue-arsed fly to teach a majority of sullen, slow and disinterested adults whose companies demand they learn a language they have no desire to use when they could be enjoying an evening meal with their families or getting drunk like any normal citizen. Expect split shifts everyday (8am starts and regular 22pm ends to the day). Expect a sharp and rigidly enforced apartheid in the office between Russian staff and foreign teachers. Expect to intrude on private 'staff' parties when you need a textbook or have the temerity to collect your salary (Such an array of champagne, vodechka, caviar, cake and red salmon I never did hitherto see - and all to celebrate our good work I'm proud to say - shame not so much as a swig or fishy morsel was proferred our way, though.) And did I mention Sasha, the dunderhead boss's son? The function of young Sasha is a mystery to all but this low-voltage, not unlikeable, sloth of a boy must have some importance in the grand scheme of things to justify the fact that he has his own private office wherein he puts his feet up playing Doom and surfing internet porn sites to his heart's content, whereas the hardworking teachers don't have so much as their own cubicle to prepare lessons or speed-eat their lunch in.

All these treats and more you too can look forward to. But, mark this, I only scratched the surface to give you a taster, to whet your appetite like... Just one last crumb of advice: learn Russian before you come because nobody in the office will understand you, especially when it comes to signing any contract or airing any grievances.

Stay tuned for the lowdown on life in Krasnoyarsk where you will remain a virtual prisoner for the duration of your stay (sentence), surrounded as it is by closed cities, frozen in winter and crawling with encephalitis-carrying ticks the rest of the time.

[coledavis]

mm, sounds attractive. think another year, though

[jpvanderwerf2001]

Hurrah! Great read! Sorry about your experience; though, sadly, much of what you describe is probably uncommon in those neck of the woods.
Your quote at the bottom...prophetic?

[blackcorsair]

I really only posted the above message out of a sense of civic duty. I felt the need to warn all teachers seeking a post in Siberia who might think that Link in Krasnoyarsk (otherwise known as KrasLink in the city, plain Language Link or whatever they call themselves now) sounds like a promising place to work. It's not. Make no mistake - it's one of the bad ones. To seasoned teachers in Russia, TEFL old hands and newbies alike, I strongly advise you to avoid this school like the plague. Everything about the way they do business and treat the teachers is just plain WRONG. Above all else I got so sick of the lies. Lies to cover themselves, their own professional incompetence and mean-spiritedness. Lies about wages. Lies about classes. Lies about Russian lessons. I could go on at the risk of sounding repetitive.

Once you're there they cynically play on the fact that you're far from home, changing the rules, blatantly disregarding the contract and controlling all the strings - even interfering with your life outside of the school. What you say means nothing. Your opinions are disregarded. They know damn well that you've made a committment to live and work there and that a flight out of town sets you back more than a 1000 bucks. Much more to the States. And Mr Jensky up in Moscow knows all about the problems in Krasnoyarsk because he must have read e-mail complaints from nearly every teacher who ever passed through this school's doors.

During my stay there were so many run-ins between the teachers and the people who run the show you just felt relieved when there was a day of calm and you were allowed to just get on with your job. There is also a very specific attitude towards young foreign western teachers implicit in how they talk to you which is zenophobic.

Yes, there are some great people to meet in Krasnoyarsk - as there are elsewhere in Russia - but this is only the consolation for working at this organisation and wasting your precious tefling time. Language Link, if you are reading this, why do you let this nasty cowboy outfit sully your name!?

[mdk]

Sweet are the uses of adversity which like the ugly horned toad still has a jewel in it's head.


There is a lesson to be learned here. Don't go off into the boonies without a bail out stash in the old grouch bag. Indian health service used to love to do similar tricks. They would pay moving expenses for an RN to work waaaay out in the sticks and after the poor schmuck had moved her piano out there, she would find she was a wage slave for 12 months unless she could pay off her indenture. Also that life is tough in the sticks on a GS-5 salary.


As to $1,000 simolians to get out of Krasnoyarsk. You can get a first class sleeper coach to Moscow for around half of that. You could also get to Peking or Vladivostok where there is a ferry to Honshu. To quote the Mahatma it appears that in this case resignation is the remedy.

[coledavis]

By the way, although I made my reply in order to be mildly funny, I also appreciate your having informed other people about a school that definitely needs to be avoided.

[Larry Paradine]

Bravo blackcorsair! May your declamatory prowess deter potential recruits for the Krasnoyarsk Kolyma.

[loki42]

So language link is evil in many cities (most) and really bad in Krasnoyarsk. Are there any good schools in Krasnoyarsk? How about Tomsk?

[blackcorsair]

There are three other schools in Krasnoyarsk as far as I know. Welcome, O-key (Which doesn't employ native speakers) and another one whose name I forget (something like the International School of English). I knew a couple of guys who worked for Welcome and had some grief. One had a bizarre tale to tell about the school hiring some dudes to dress up as cops to steal his passport and documents so as to process his eviction from the country quicker. Nearly all the teachers there are Russian. One American guy still there as I remember. Link is for the masochistic and for those who want to see all their homely preconceptions about the 'Russian soul' and the generosity of this country's people dashed into smithereeens on the ground.

[maruss]

This school is just another franchise which uses the L.L. name and to presume that it must be o.k. for that reason is obviously a mistake!
Mind you,not that L.L. are exactly noted for their generosity either.
BKC is exactly the same,using the association with International House to lure people into working for them in Moscow.On this point it might be worth noting that International House in London admitted to me that they don't keep track of feedback from people they send to work abroad because'the firm is too big and they don't have the time!'

[Red and white]

Although BKC does play an active role in IH-wide conferencing activities. It may not be an integral part of the game, but it is a part of it.

During my year there people had wildly varying experiences, but it was broadly true that the people who were least satisfied were the ones who had come straight out of uni and hadn't actually worked at another school or in another industry. With one noble exception.

That may explain a little about expectations of the realities of actually working for a living (in some cases, and not directed at any poster here before I get a rant in response!)

[maruss]

Not having previous experience to compare something with is hardly an objective way to draw conclusions about anything,not only work!
Unless someone has been studying Russian history or the language etc. and has a particular interest in gaining first-hand knowledge of the country, Russia is hardly an ideal place to go for a first job,especially in E.F.L.But the fact remains that there always seems to be a supply of people who accept these vacancies and for as long as the situation continues the conditions offered by the employers are not likely to improve!