Job Discussion Forums

[SandyM]

Another 'tale of woe' from a British Summer School! Why do so many idiots sign up for this sort of torture year after year?

Camp Beaumont is the summer branch of Kingswood Schools, and they both operate under the umbrella name of Britannia Learning & Leisure. When I worked as Director of their summer English programmes, the hourly wage for teachers worked out at about �1.50 per hour, and of course they were expected to work 6 days a week from 9 am - 11pm. I kept pushing for a pay rise for the teachers, but was told that it was impossible as the social activity staff were actually on less, and would also expect a pay rise.! Although board and lodgings were free for teachers, social activity staff had to pay, leaving them with �40 a week wages!

Health and Safety was horrendous - at one centre in Norfolk all the students were sent to their dorms for fire practice, as that was the only place on campus where the fire alarms could be heard. At the Isle of Wight centre the go-karts were in such bad condition that staff had to stop the students after every lap to tighten up the wheelnuts, and there was an infestation of rats in the kitchen.

As for me, I was working from early in the morning often until 3 or 4 am to try to keep things as organised as possible. At the Isle of Wight centre, the only room they had free for me was in the boys' block (even though I'm female) - and there was no lock on the door - which meant that boisterous 10- year- old boys thought that it was a great game to barge into my room every five minutes. When I asked for somewhere more suitable to sleep, I was told that there wasn't anywhere, and they wouldn't pay for a B&B under any circumstances - despite the fact that I was told at my interview that they would put me in a B&B whenever I worked away from London. Later, after being caught in a state of undress when the young boys burst in as I was getting changed, I asked again. I was sacked on the spot and told to go home, as I was no longer needed. Some thanks that was after working til 3 or 4 am most days.

Yes, that's a typical Summer School story, and one that I can verify - if not the actual example, then through my own experience. You work your balls off for peanuts, and if you have the nerve to complain about anything, you get dumped on the spot!

[SandyM]

Things seem to be going from bad to worse at Camp Beaumont. Here's the latest appendage to their entry from my blog:

BE WARNED! Think long and hard before accepting a job with these cowboys. I've just quit after a mere 3 days as a TEFL teacher and it's the best move I ever made.

They have NO COURSEBOOKS (despite my having been assured at interview that they did), no means of printing materials from the internet, no dictionaries, no video or audio facilities...

Without these basic facilities, we struggled to find texts on which to base lessons... and then - unbelievably - we were told that we would not be allowed to use the photocopier!

On the very first day, we "taught" six 1-hour lessons without any chance of preparation, and without any books or materials whatsoever (that's 6 different groups, at 4 different levels). Despite frequent requests, we were not told in advance which levels we would be teaching.

When i suggested that the school could provide such essentials as newspaper/magazine articles, videos etc, i was told that these things were "gimmicks" which "no good teacher needs to rely on".

It seems that they want CELTA-qualified teachers solely in order to boast of it in their advertising material. They are interested in neither the well-being of their teachers, nor in the educational worth of the lessons.

So, learn from my experience and and steer well clear of this place!

Well, after such a glittering recommendation, there's really nothing I can add. Perhaps the 'school' in question would like to put their side of the case - or will they prefer to try to get this thread pulled, as they did before?!

[SandyM]

This is what Camp Beaumont have written in reply.

Sandy

I would be delighted to discuss these points raised which are simply not true. I can send you copies of our workbooks � What would you like Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced? I can put you in touch with Brendan Maitland our Course designer who will forward you the teaching notes. Most importantly I can put you in touch with the Overseas Party Leader who asked that his group must have another EFL teacher because:

She was teaching grammar so incorrectly (tense, structure etc) that it was confusing the students. All she did for one session was play patience on the computer

I could go on�But will it make any difference to your posting?

Jonathan Barber
Director
KINGSWOOD GROUP
Norwich Centre
0870 4997744

So, there you go. I do like a fellah who sits up and takes notice (rather than gives it). And yes, John, it DID make a difference! Thanks.

Would anyone else care to comment?

[Frontline]

Ahhhhh summer schools. I don't know anything about this specific one; is there somewhere on the forum we can just kick back and swap horrific stories about random ones? How about the teacher we interviewed today, who was made DOS at a summer school three days after he passed his CELTA?

[Ralu]

There is a huge difference between what they are offering and what they are advertising. The buildings are old and smelly, the bathrooms are filthy, there are spiders all over the place, they always assured us that every problem was to be solved, but no measures were taken (smile, not, and pretend to care attitude). The organization is very weak, during some very cold nights they refused to turn on the heating, the instructors (group-leaders) are bored and unenthusiastic, sometimes children waste time instead of being engaged in the scheduled interactive activities, there are 12-15 children in each group and most of the times only one leader is involved with each group, the evening activities are not organized well and children are poorly supervised, kids are not allowed to change clothes or get warmer clothes during the day, if needed, because dormitories were locked (some of them had to stay out in the rain only in their T-shirt, while leaders were wearing raincoats!!!), the food is not enough, especially when you go on a trip (you get a sandwich, an apple and a bag of chips as lunch). When we were there, there was at least one child who tested out positive for the AH1N1 influenza (swine flu) � there were at least 50 children who were presenting symptoms at a certain point; the management team decided to keep it under raps and what they published on their site was that �they have the situation under control�. Their �under control� really means: no doctor on site, the ill kids were placed in an isolation room where they were sleeping on mattresses which were placed directly on the floor, it was very cold, the door did not shut, there were cardboards instead of windows, they did not receive proper care (only two pills during the 4 days they were isolated). The First Aid personnel (which I really doubt that had medical training) did not even bother to check the Pastoral Care Form, about kids� medical history, allergies, etc.
This is a very expensive camp and definitely it is not worth the price. We are never going back there and I hope that anyone who reads this will think twice before believing their offer and before deciding to go there.