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The Reviews 'n' Ratings - 2 This school always worried me with their adverts in the Bangkok Post stating
enthusiastic teachers wanted, experience/qualifications not necessary.
The bottom line in English teaching is that it is not those who speak English well that
make good teachers, it is those who know how to teach that make good teachers
and this Bangladeshi owned school simply doesn't realise that. Paying a maximum of 200 baht an hour and frequently lower (Thais get 100 an hour and other Asians This school also has the dubious reputation of bouncing cheques, paying teachers late etc etc. Are you an absolute loser? Are you a nobody? Have you been fired from another school? Are you a pedophile? No problem, come to British American who will welcome you with open arms! Oh, by the way, like those rogues at Siam Computer, they want you to work 36 contact hours a week.....you too can sell your soul to the devil! They are very keen on having purely farang teachers and those of Indian or Asian descent would be well advised to steer clear. One Asian American teacher, a totally fluent native speaker, had his rate of pay reduced to Asian levels basically because of his Oriental looks. They do give class bonuses, a magnificent 300 baht if the teacher maintains his students at 80% attendance and wears their splendid little BA jackets (one size - fits nobody), which they are totally obsessed with. The bonus is sporadically enforced however and when business is low it gets withdrawn. They offer some full-time contracts, again, only when business is good, so some teachers might find themselves on part-time after a few months. The basic rate is 20,000 but if they decide that they like you, you are sometimes able to negotiate it up a little. Generally a teacher will either work inside or on outside contract work (rates of about 350 baht an hour), but you will be mucked around at every opportunity. An inside teacher will have to accept outside work at any time if it is deemed necessary and for no extra payment other than paltry travelling expenses. Contract teachers are required to stay on premises at all times during contract hours (vary slightly from branch to branch but typically 10.30 to 8.00 Mon-Fri and 10-5.00 Sat, Sun) for testing etc. Overtime is paid at the normal hourly rate. If a contract teacher misses some days off (even if they are in hospital on life support) their pay is pushed back by the same amount of days. Also, there is no health insurance. Don't be deceived by the attractive offices and professional presentation of the branches. You have been warned! If your IQ is over 5 which is probably comparable to a severely handicapped ant, go elsewhere! Overall: Sweatshop The author couldn't cope in this environment - it really is for the career teacher. If you are serious about your teaching long term, this really is a good place to teach and really develop as a teacher. The Bangkok office prefers to recruit RSA clones with at least two years post-RSA experience. Because this school has an excellent reputation, they are able to pick and choose who studies in which courses. Some schools will allow a prospective student to pretty much study what they want because the school wants the revenue. Not the Council! If someone comes in and isn't ready to study a certain course - such as IELTS because their General English isn't up to the required level to complete the course successfully - the council will tell them so. This means that as a teacher, your students will be placed correctly - the council probably has the best student/course placement in Bangkok. No other school can boast this efficiency. The British Council distributes a list of all of the English language schools and their contact details in Bangkok. Simply stroll on into reception and they will happily provide it to you. Excellent if you are searching for work. It seems that the rates of pay that the British Council offers vary drastically
between Bangkok and Chaing Mai. Word on the street is that part-time teachers
at the Chiang Mai branch are getting not much more than 200 baht an hour - with their high standards they should be paying much more - at least twice this. I hear
strong (but unsubstantiated) rumours that the British Council Bangkok pays
extremely favourably for outside contract work. More as I learn of it. Located in Samut Prakhan and I believe, at another location somewhere in Bangkok. They have absolutely loads of work and not so many teachers, probably because the place is in the back of beyond, way down past Seacon Square. The manager is ex-alumni of British American and he likes to spend a lot of his time slagging off British American - can't say I blame him because I do the same! Cambridge Schools claim that they can organize any of the Cambridge examinations. All kinds of work going including TOEFL, children's, conversation etc. They have a very complex salary band that goes something like this. Teachers are graded like mangoes coming off the farms from upcountry and the better the quality, the higher the money...
Grade E: Teachers without a degree. "Have to" work 22 hours contact per week. After 6 months they are tested in some TESOL course by some certified examiner - info is not entirely clear... Grade D: Teachers with a BA and little or no experience. 250 - 270 per hour or 23,500 baht per month if full-time. 150 baht per hour & travelling allowance if they do any outside work. Package includes FREE apartment within walking distance of school - but teacher pays utilities - this is GREAT! 10% bonus if they help to retain outside contracts and if full-time, comprehensive AIA medical insurance is provided too. Grade C: 310 Baht per hour part time + expenses for part time teacher. Full time is 29,800 & all the above benefits + a bonus scheme at the end of each course which depends on the amount of students who complete the course and who rebook for a further course. At this grade a teacher is given a percentage of what students pay when they rebook the next level - real incentive to deliver quality lessons! Grade B: Teacher is a teacher who has a MBA in English Language and who has 3 years experience teaching inhouse and corporate classes too this salary starts at 36,900 baht per month but must be a 3 year contract only, it also includes all the above benefits plus a higher bonus scheme. But these teachers must be able to teach academic and exam preparation courses such as TOEFL, TOEIC and IELTS etc. Grade A: These teachers must have an MBA and also have a teachers training certificate with a minimum of 5 years hands on experience and must be able to teach at all levels including Universities plus be able to train teachers too and to teach TESOL and be suitably qualified to so do. This salary starts at 45,000 baht with a 6 monthly bonus scheme. Also a bonus is given per student who passes TESOL and for each teacher who passes TESOL certificate. With this position, they give a three bedroom house free plus all the other above benefits mentioned in the other grades!
This is a really novel system to have but WHY DOES THIS SCHOOL INSIST ON TEACHERS HAVING ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS? It really annoys me that schools do this - why don't they follow the excellent example set by Austil who actually value real teaching qualifications... Still, they are making an effort to reward experience and qualified teachers and that is just great. Further, the free accommodation is a fantastic idea and for someone new to Thailand, could be a huge relief of one's mind - no need to hunt for a place to stay, put down deposits etc. This school does actually check that your teaching and educational qualifications are bona fide so if you have fake stuff, go elsewhere... They also happen to be one of the Trinity College of London Examination Centres...not that that means much to one as a teacher.
They thoughtfully offer all teachers an option of either 1 year contract or 3 years - it is entirely up to the teacher except the Grade A position which is only available as a 3 year contract. They pay most teachers working outside from 350 baht per hour up with the most a teacher being able to get is 950 - but those teachers have to travel a long way so it's not as good as it looks. The average outside contract hourly rate is around 425 baht per hour. They allow all teachers to work for 3 months before the contract is valid to allow them to see if they like the school and it is what they want - another good thing, this. Obviously, the school may also decide that they do not like the teacher - hehehe! They are very proud that the have very modern facilities with lots of new electronic goodies like Aiwa stereos in every room. They state that no lesson preparation is required as it is already done - don't quite know what the story here is. They even claim to use only the latest materials that cannot be bought in the book shops here.... No copied books unlike many other other schools and they also claim that all student books are in stock prior to the start of a new class. No waiting for materials to teach with. This school makes a lot of claims which I am unfortunately unable to verify - but if they are true, and I believe that they are, it indicates to me that the manager is running a fairly well oiled vehicle.
Knowing that Bangkok has certain allures in the evening, they have caffeine shots available free to the teachers in the form of free coke in addition to coffee and even have snacks available too. They are connected to the Internet which the teachers can use for a somewhat expensive 19 baht per hour which they claim is to cover the air con in the computer rooms - damned expensive air-con that - still, they offer enough other decent benefits that it would not be fair to grumble over this. I have heard rumours that they insist that you pay for your work permit yourself. Still unable to confirm if this is true or otherwise - tell them to go and fxxx themselves and that they have to provide it and pay for it themselves. This is just penny pinching and being pedantic. It is their legal responsibility and obligation to provide you with the work permit! Now, the killer at this school is the penalty clauses that they impose on teachers. I can't quite work out what it is all about but they seem to do everything in their power to suppress the chances of a teacher/student relationship ever blossoming and also prevent the students from studying with the teachers privately, away from the school. Note: The contract is written in Thai so these fines are not immediately obvious! 1. 50,000 baht fine for looking for another job while employed at Cambridge. 2. 100,000 baht fine for each year remaining on the contract, for attempting to leave before the end of the contract. 3. 200,000 Baht fine for: - Socialising with the students. - Having a student visit you apartment. - Giving a student your e-mail address. - Giving a student your mobile or home telephone number. Heavy rumours are doing the rounds that the following fines also exist but unfortunately, they cannot be confirmed. 4. 1,000,000 baht fine - Accessing Stickman website. - Emailing Stickman. - Saying anything positive about Stickman or his website. All in all I think prospective teachers need to be aware. The director has told a few tall stories and in my opinion, this does not bode well for employment. As a top notch Canadian teacher that I used to work with once said, "I judge organisations on how honest they are with me". I do not consider the powers that be at Cambridge to be particularly honest. I previously had some negative things to say about this school which were provided by a very reliable source. I removed them when the director assured me that they were all false. I then found out from another source that they were in fact true. Not good, is it? Overall: Unclassified - (Too much conflicting information to classify, but some confirmed bad points...)
Teachers work a six day week with Friday being the day off at many branches. Saturday and Sunday are the two busiest days and will usually require a 9:00a.m. start meaning that it is difficult to party hard on either Friday or Saturday night. The weekend work will usually include classes teaching children. You should consider the requirement to work weekends seriously if your reason for coming to Thailand is to have a good time - you do not want to have to curtail entertainment on a Friday or Saturday evening due to work commitments the following morning. ECC make an effort to recruit good staff but those with real opportunities tend to leave before they have been there for a year. ECC is considered by many to be a good starting point. Interestingly, this school has the Thai agency for the RSA certificate - offered at the Siam Square branch in Central Bangkok. The Siam Square branch, the head office, is where the hiring for all of their branches nation-wide is done. All candidates are best advised just to show up in person and request an interview. First, you will be given a grammar test which tests the different parts of speech, the active/passive and verb tenses. Note: If you are not an experienced or qualified teacher, or do not have some sort of qualification in linguistics, this will be difficult! Unlike most schools, ECC has a solid commitment to vocational training and workshops are regularly held by their RSA certified course trainers. This is one of the things that make ECC a very good bet for your first job. I note recent adverts in the Bangkok Post from a firm calling themselves First Training and stating that they are actually the corporate arm of ECC - more on this as I investigate. I have a lot of Thai people asking me for recommendations on where they should study English in Bangkok. I always recommend ECCbut the Siam Square branch only as most of the teachers there are RSA trained and should therefore be capable of doing a solid job. ECC is downright stingy with their rates of pay for teachers. I have certain
privileged information about some of the bonuses that certain people get within the
organisation and they are HUGE! We are talking MASSIVE! (6 X the salary that teachers get...) There is no reason why this school couldn't increase salaries by a
few thousand for every teacher it employs. Further, if rumours are to be believed,
they charge Government schools a paltry 500-600 baht an hour for external
contract work and then only pay their teachers 250 baht an hour. Pay for teachers is a reasonable 36,000 - 45,000 and they require a
degree plus RSA and prefer those with an RSA "pass A" or "pass B" (That rules me
out..... I got a bare standard pass.....!) And their advertisements in the Bangkok
Post mention a definite preference for Australians - fair enough. The bulk of their work is English for Academic Purposes and some outside corporate and school
work. A good contract by the sound of it but I wonder how much General English they do - and
let's face it - that's what many people want to teach. They advertise the pay as 25,000 - 30,000 for teachers but only 27,000 for head teachers (what's the deal there?!?) I get the impression, although
I could be totally wrong, that no teachers will be starting anywhere near 30K. They have bold
plans so it will be interesting to see how they develop. Reports from teachers report very poor resources and not a lot of guidance or assistance for the inexperienced teachers. Nonetheless, this is probably the best school amongst the sweatshop/cowboy operators. Still, their standard monthly salary of 25,000 baht is higher than the likes of Siam Computer or ECC. One embarrassing thing for this school is that they outsource teaches to Thai schools and organisations. I know of one place where the school has a bunch of Elite contracted teachers and 1 or 2 independents. The remuneration that the Elite teachers are on does not compare with what the independents get! Note September 2000: This school has been involved in misleading advertising! They are advertising contracts in the Bangkok Post at 30,000 baht per month which on the face of it sounds reasonable. However, further investigation reveals that to earn the 30,000, you have to work overtime on a Saturday! If you choose not to work on Saturday (and *who* wants to work six days a week and instead just do the regular Monday - Friday thing, you get the standard 25,000. With this in mind proving that this school is involved in deception, be very wary of them! Overall: Sweatshop Little is know about this school but one fellow I know was hounded by this school
for him to go and work there. When he finally agreed to go for an interview, the
owner forgot all about it and after he had traipsed half way across Bangkok for the interview, the interviewer wasn't even there! This doesn't bode well for this lot and indicates a distinct lack of professionalism. After it's inception, I was flooded with positive feedback and rated this school with my top rating, quality establishment. However in late 2000 there was a lot of turbulence and things changed. An acrimonious split occurred in the departure of the British co-owner. This apparently was a bitter pill to swallow as he had inherited the company from a close friend - hence the name of the school, the founder's name. Henley Language Center is now 100% Thai owned and managed - but the Thai manageress seems to be strangely popular enough amongst the current teachers even though most of them have never even met her? (Some really weird feedback come through about this school!) There were some tales doing the rounds of cancelled work permits, unpaid commissions, contract encroachment and the "psyching out" of both clients and teachers but this seems to have effected the previous manager and his marketing team as opposed to the teachers. All in all, it was a bit of a mess there for a while but it seems as though things are back to normal now. Henley Communications overall business objectives include language consultation, advising and counseling, preparation of integrated H-R and language plans, overseas education and short corporate courses: Overall, quality rather than quantity... It's my understanding that most of the original foreign management and staff have moved to MELS, Mahidol English Language Service, which is part of the college of Management, Mahidol University. Only some of the teachers are still at Henley and on the whole, seem to be content. As this school is going through a period of change, it is hard to give them a rating. Overall: Unclassified Ideal ELT's head office is based in Lad Prao (recently moved from Nontaburi and rumour has it that the reason for the move is that a massage parlour was being built above them! - fools missed a marketing opportunity - come to ELT, drop off the kids and while they are studying English you can go upstairs and have a full service massage.) The company has a small school at the office that does some weekend classes and has contracts to supply native speaker teachers at a catholic school in Klong Toey. They have plans to develop the classrooms at their head office in Lad Prao into a small school. They also have contracts at Thai schools in paradise, Phuket. They appear well organised and offer good contracts - this is
one of the better schools to head for, for your first teaching job in Thailand if teaching children interests you. They currently offer a reasonable contract
paying 26,000 baht a month (paid twice a month instead of monthly - bonus!), 6 sick days per year, 24 days holiday per year, include medical insurance (the cost
of the policy is 1,600 baht per year), have an air ticket home contract completion
bonus and at one of their schools you can use the internet for free and you even get a free lunch! Further there
is a 5,000 baht bonus after 3 months and another 5,000 baht bonus after 6 months.
After a year, there is a 10% pay increase and a free return air ticket home! ELT is
definitely recommended to anyone without teaching qualifications or a teaching background and who wants a sound contract and a five day week. The work itself involves teaching conversational English (the Thai teachers teach grammar,
reading and writing). While this in itself is a positive thing, there is little structure to
it meaning that some teachers just go into the classroom and talk - so much for any semblance of structure. At many schools in Bangkok there is friction between the teachers and the Thai management which is usually due to basic cultural differences. This school has reasonable Thai management but the last three DOS's have proven less than popular. The current DOS may in fact know what he is doing BUT I can confirm that he is hated by the staff and this is the reason that quite a few teachers have left. The current DOS, like the previous DOS, is extremely unpopular - who is the idiot recruiting these people? Still, from a teacher's perspective it's a relatively cushy number..... I knew two people that worked at one of their schools and can confidently say that the students are getting ripped off because some of the teachers at this school don't have a clue. This is a real shame as the parents probably think that their little darlings are going to speak fluently at the end of the course. This school has the audacity to request that teachers pay for their work permit
themselves. Absolutely horrendous policy. Tell them to go and shove their work
permit where it hurts if they say this to you. Tell them straight - they pay for the
work permit or you go elsewhere!
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