Job Discussion Forums

[Manaus]

Has anyone ever worked for Berlitz in the U.S.? Share your experiences.

[NYCESOL11211]

I interviewed and turned down the offer. The pay rate was comical.

[wilsonslacker]

I worked for Berlitz in Philadelphia and Wayne, PA for 6 months in 2007. I have to say it was one of the better teaching experiences I've had. It's more like tutoring than teaching. Usually there is only one student per class, maybe two or three. The students were pretty much all highly motivated. Most students were foreigners working for American companies that sent them to improve their English skills. The lesson plans were all prepared for the teacher. I met a lot of interesting teachers, students, etc.

The down side was the pay. It's not too much. But on the other hand the job's not too hard. If you can get enough hours, you could make decent money.

The upside from my experience, is that if you want to work overseas, having taught at a well know US language school is a big plus on your resume. You could also get a Berlitz job overseas, however I did not try that route.

I would consider working for Berlitz again.

[spiral78]

Berlitz may rank as a 'well-known US language school,' but having it on your CV does not necessarily enhance your employability abroad, except for other Berlitz schools. They use a method considered outdated by many in the field, and teachers with only Berlitz experience generally need training in other methods before they can be successfully integrated into other teaching contexts.

Not to knock the chain in other ways - it does carry some reputability with businesses in particular, but this has more to do with the fact that it's been around forever and represents a safe investment for companies sending their staff to lessons.

However, it's got lots and lots of competition in most regions, and their methods, as I mentioned above, don't prepare one for many other teaching contexts.

[rusmeister]

[spiral78]

Well, I could...but it wouldn't be diplomatic then!

[gaijinalways]

Just wondering, have either of you worked at a Berlitz recently?

Their methodology changed a few years back, and is actually not that different from some other schools. Yes, it's primarily still a direct/natural method that is used there, and they do have larger classes, but not so many.

[spiral78]

I've zero interest in working for a Berlitz, but we do sometimes send any very low level learners who wander in our door to the local one here. They report Jurassic Methodology is still very much in vogue there.

[gaijinalways]

[spiral78]

Actually, it's an interesting question.

I'm not sure, in fact.


The few low-level learners we see here in the Netherlands are typically foreigners from somewhere on the African continent or the ME. They tend to be more comfortable with traditional teacher-led classrooms. I would argue that going first to something like a Berlitz might help bridge them better into our highly learner-centred teaching context.

Anyway, I'm at a university where PBL is mandatory across all faculties and studies. We're simply not in a situation to provide bridging classes to low-level speakers - if they come to us, we have nothing to offer except very non-traditional learning situations.

I think that learner-centred approaches can work with low-level learners, but on an affective level, it may be overload for many (new country, new culture, new language, new people + non-traditional teaching may well = too much).

[gaijinalways]

PBL seems just like a variant of TBL. Not exactly high tech, but certainly more learner centered. Since Berlitz is also often most popular in L1 students' home countries, it might be perceived as less threatening.

We actually do tailor books to students to some degree (the housewife doesn't want to talk about business, nor does th uni student want to talk about his job), and students often bring in real life examples of situations that they need foreign languages for. We also sometimes work on real student situations to resolve problems that students wise to tackle, but it is limited in the number of instances I can think of.

But yes, doing more problem solving, which is a overlooked skill in Japan, would be a great addition to lessons.

[spiral78]

I run a short course every summer using a TBL approach for a few students from Meiji Gakuin university. It's three weeks, and the first week it's tough to transition them into contolling the classroom, but by week 3 they are usually happily organising and carrying out tasks, and it's lovely to see only student handwriting on the board:)