| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
jfurgers
Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 442
Location: Mexico City
|
 Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2008 7:55 pm Post subject: Benefits at Harmon Hall |
 |
|
Anyone here worked for or are working for Harmon Hall? I was wondering if someone could tell me if they give medical benefits? What kind of benefits package do they offer?
I'm may be signing a contract with them next week and I'm asking here because I haven't had time to talk with the Director yet since I'm working 50 hours a week.
Gracias! |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
MikeySaid
Joined: 10 Nov 2004
Posts: 509
Location: Torreon, Mexico
|
| Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2008 5:34 am Post subject: |
|
|
My wife works for them.
The only bennies you should get through them would be from the IMSS. I'll ask the wife tomorrow when she wakes up and see what else there is to know, but it might be that every branch is different. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Prof.Gringo
Joined: 07 Nov 2006
Posts: 2236
Location: Dang Cong San Viet Nam Quang Vinh Muon Nam!
|
| Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 8:18 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| MikeySaid wrote: |
My wife works for them.
The only bennies you should get through them would be from the IMSS. I'll ask the wife tomorrow when she wakes up and see what else there is to know, but it might be that every branch is different. |
I guess we got the answer on that one.
No bennies and no pay (at least not on time) at Harmon Hell. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
PlayadelSoul
Joined: 29 Jun 2005
Posts: 346
Location: Playa del Carmen
|
| Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2008 1:41 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Harmon Hall's, generally, pay between 70 and 110 pesos per hour. The specific rate is based on a) merit and b) the institute's business plan.
Every HH offers all of the benefits that are guaranteed by law (i.e., IMSS, paid holidays and vacations (three weeks), pension, etc.). Other benefits vary from school to school. Some may pay housing or transportation. All HH's offer ongoing training and specialty workshops.
Don't rely on outdated information coming from someone who tells jokes that were stale a decade ago. Go the institute and talk to the teachers. Ask if they pay on time. Ask about the work environment. It will be worth the time if you have any concerns. As with many large and successful companies, there are always those that will try to spread disinformation. They may have been canned for being poor teachers or passed up for employment, in the first place, because they did not meet the basic requirements. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Prof.Gringo
Joined: 07 Nov 2006
Posts: 2236
Location: Dang Cong San Viet Nam Quang Vinh Muon Nam!
|
| Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2008 6:43 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| PlayadelSoul wrote: |
Harmon Hall's, generally, pay between 70 and 110 pesos per hour. The specific rate is based on a) merit and b) the institute's business plan.
Every HH offers all of the benefits that are guaranteed by law (i.e., IMSS, paid holidays and vacations (three weeks), pension, etc.). Other benefits vary from school to school. Some may pay housing or transportation. All HH's offer ongoing training and specialty workshops.
Don't rely on outdated information coming from someone who tells jokes that were stale a decade ago. Go the institute and talk to the teachers. Ask if they pay on time. Ask about the work environment. It will be worth the time if you have any concerns. As with many large and successful companies, there are always those that will try to spread disinformation. They may have been canned for being poor teachers or passed up for employment, in the first place, because they did not meet the basic requirements. |
Why don't you ask jfurgers? He's working at the wonderful world of HH and he isn't getting any bennies, says he works 50 hours a week and they shorted him $1,500 on his pay.
Yeah, I interviewed at an HH about almost two years ago. This was the deal: One month training (low or no pay), no bennies, and the best part was there was nu guarantee of hours. If you don't "retain" enough of your students then you lose hours and have to take "remedial training".
Speaking of training, why do you have to constantly spend your time taking classes and training courses at HH? I thought that one month of HH indoctrination would be enough.
BTW HH begged me to come and work for them. In fact, they were so hard up for teachers they were willing to wave the one month Harmon Hell boot camp. I said thanks, but no thanks.
What basic requirements? That you pass their entrance "exam"? Or that you can speak better English than the basic students? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Samantha
Joined: 25 Oct 2003
Posts: 2038
Location: Mexican Riviera
|
| Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2008 8:14 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| I think jfurgers has moved on already, if I read one of his posts correctly. I also believe that Playa del Soul knows of what he speaks when he speaks of Harmon Hall. So Harmon Hall wasn't for you. Or for jfurgers. Every person wishing to teach English in Mexico is not necessarily a fit for every single teaching job. It seems to work for many teachers. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
El Gallo
Joined: 05 Feb 2007
Posts: 318
|
| Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2008 10:03 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| After tutoring two separate graduates of Harmon Hall in Tuxtla who where taught English in Spanish by only Mexican teachers with outdated books full of errors, HH here would "not meet the basic requirements" of a school I would want to teach at or send my child to to learn English. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
PlayadelSoul
Joined: 29 Jun 2005
Posts: 346
Location: Playa del Carmen
|
| Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 1:53 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Quote: |
| Speaking of training, why do you have to constantly spend your time taking classes and training courses at HH? I thought that one month of HH indoctrination would be enough. |
Let me introduce you to the world of "professional growth." It is probably a difficult concept for someone with an all ecompassing knowledge of best teaching practices and other ESL-related themes, like you. Everything you learned, years ago, still holds true. There really is no need to keep updated on what works in order to give your students a better chance of learning the language. Keep on trucking, man. 
Harmon Hall is the most successful ESL business in Mexico, for a reason. Students don't pay to not learn. If the system didn't work, the company would not be growing, domestically and internationally. Cambridge University Press would not have entered into a partnership with HH. ITPTOEFL, TOEIC, and the University of Michigan would go elsewhere to administer their exams. In short, I wouldn't be sitting at my desk watching students lined up to reenroll for the next course.
There are a lot of "haters" out there. Some think working in HH is beneath them. Meanwhile, my teachers are taking home more in a quincena than some of the "haters" take home all month. I suppose that you could put false pride on a tortilla, but I prefer my tacos with chicken.
To the OP. As I stated before, go and talk to some teachers. Get the real scoop. I am not here to sell you on working in HH. That decision is yours. I am here, however, to counter some of the BS that is so liberally thrown about regarding the company I proudly work for. I started as a teacher, nine years ago. I now direct a school with 700 students and 20 teachers. There is no "Hell" in the Harmon Hall I work for. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
jfurgers
Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 442
Location: Mexico City
|
| Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 4:42 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| PlayadelSoul wrote: |
Every HH offers all of the benefits that are guaranteed by law (i.e., IMSS, paid holidays and vacations (three weeks), pension, etc.). |
Every HH??! NOT the one I WAS working for. They made it VERY clear to me that NONE OF THE TEACHERS get paid holidays or private health insurance.
Only the coordinators get the private health insurance at the HH I was working for. I would have gotten two weeks off in December...WITHOUT PAY like all of the teachers at the center I was working for.
Pension??? Not at the HH I was working for.
All of this was made very clear to me...no bennies. They even told me that I wouldn't keep getting 50 hrs a week because they would have to give me benefits so they were going to cut my hours for a couple of months then go back up to 50 then down then up. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
jfurgers
Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 442
Location: Mexico City
|
| Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 4:50 pm Post subject: |
|
|
[quote="PlayadelSoul"]
| Quote: |
Let me introduce you to the world of "professional growth." It is probably a difficult concept for someone with an all ecompassing knowledge of best teaching practices and other ESL-related themes, like you. |
The best teching practices HH was teaching isn't the best,not by far. You see, EFL methodologies are like religion and health, there are THOUSANDS of different opinions on what works and what doesn't.
I personally believe the natural approach works best. Hear the language first, practice pronunciation and speaking.
THEN the grammar and the wonderful structures.
The HH I was at had the same approach the college I worked for in the States had....keep a book in front of the Ss.
ALLof my students I had in the States knew all of the grammar yet could not speak. Of course HH has many students returning....most Ss don't get it. They only want a BOOK in front of them so HH gives them what they want. Can they speak??
Some, but they can't understand native speakers very well maybe because HH has so many Mexicans teaching. And they teach TERRIBLE pronunciation and yes, I saw MANY mistakes in the UPDATED, NEW book HH is now using. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
jfurgers
Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 442
Location: Mexico City
|
| Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 4:56 pm Post subject: |
|
|
The ongoing training HH has (at least the one I was working for) is to make sure the teachers are doing the HH method. Other teachers there told me that. They said there's nothing new.
Plus we had to keep attendance, record ALL of the grades from the tests
9oral and written) AND write out the lesson plans even though they were already in the teacher's edition.
Kind of stupid according to the linguistic I occasionally speak with at Southern Methodist University. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
jfurgers
Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 442
Location: Mexico City
|
| Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 5:00 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| I think I'm starting to understand why some on this site teach independently. The big chain schools are looking for ROBOTS. They HATE independent, creative thinkers. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Samantha
Joined: 25 Oct 2003
Posts: 2038
Location: Mexican Riviera
|
| Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 5:07 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| All the large organized schools I have taught at here expect teachers to do what you noted in your post. Marking attendance, recording grades, doing report cards, and adapting lesson plans are what teachers do. Attending meetings with school admin AND parents is also something that should come as no surprise. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
jfurgers
Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 442
Location: Mexico City
|
| Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 5:20 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Samantha wrote: |
| All the large organized schools I have taught at here expect teachers to do what you noted in your post. Marking attendance, recording grades, doing report cards, and adapting lesson plans are what teachers do. Attending meetings with school admin AND parents is also something that should come as no surprise. |
True. But when you have close to 80 students like I had and after you have everything recorded on paper they want you to put it ALL in the computer system all on your own time....no thanks.
I'm not a Mexican, I won't work for free. I would have had to use all of my free time.
All of that with NO BENEFITS?? No thanks. I'll pass. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Samantha
Joined: 25 Oct 2003
Posts: 2038
Location: Mexican Riviera
|
| Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 5:30 pm Post subject: |
|
|
jfurgers wrote:
| Quote: |
| I'm not a Mexican, I won't work for free |
jfurgers, while you may not have liked your new job at Harmon Hall, there is certainly no need for this kind of comment. It speaks volumes about your attitude. Good luck with your future endeavours in Mexico, and next time perhaps it would be best to ask what the benefits and expectations are BEFORE starting the job. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
