A tale of an abused..........ENGLISH ACADEMY!

[tonytorero]

Hi Tracy and company. This looks like the right place to post this. Feel free to move it though should you feel it better to have it elsewhere.



Ok, we’ve all heard about teachers being unhappy in one teaching situation or another. I’m going to give you a new twist to this tale as I tell you our story of a language school being unhappy with an unprofessional, unethical and deceitful practice perpetrated on us by a teacher. Those of you, myself included, who have been mistreated by a language school in the past may be tempted to say, “[!-- BBCode Start --]Finally, a language academy getting what they deserve![!-- BBCode End --]” Let me assure you that we did not deserve what has happened to us. We do business right, treating our students and our teachers fairly. What I’m about to tell you has completely rattled the way that I will no doubt deal with prospective teacher candidates in the future unfortunately.  [IMG SRC=\"modules/phpBB_14/images/smiles/icon_frown.gif\"]  



Two weeks ago this coming Monday, our language center received a telephone call from a local public school in our town telling us that, after two years of trying to get the idea approved, the school’s headmaster and the APA (Spain’s equivalent of the PTA) had finally approved an ‘English Workshop’ idea that we wanted to start within the school with children from 3 to 6 years old where one of our native English teachers would come in after school and, so as not to repeat what they already study in their English classes in school, bring them an hour, two days per week where these students learn how to listen & operate a bit in English while better preparing their linguistic foundations for the more intensive learning they will have later in their academic careers. We called the concept an [!-- BBCode Start --]English Workshop[!-- BBCode End --].



The representative of the APA that we were dealing with told us that they wanted to start a week from that Wednesday (Two days ago), so I got to work trying to find a good candidate for the position understanding full well that not just anyone could teach these age groups and that, though they wouldn’t need to be fluent in Spanish, they would need to be able to communicate at the very least with these young students and their parents when necessary.



We interviewed 4 candidates between Monday and Friday and, on Thursday, we thought we found the candidate we most liked. Incidentally, this particular candidate has advertised herself on this and other Spain/Teaching Bulletin Boards as possessing the following qualifications:



 [!-- BBCode Quote Start --][TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%][TR][TD][font class=\"pn-sub\"]Quote:[/font][/TD][/TR][TR][TD][FONT class=\"pn-sub\"][BLOCKQUOTE]“I have two years experience as a full time second grade teacher; I have two teaching credentials--English and Multiple Subjects--and one Masters in Cross Cultural Education. I also have my TEFL certificate. If interested in an enthusiastic and young teacher [!-- BBCode Start --]who loves a challenge[!-- BBCode End --], please email me!”[/BLOCKQUOTE][/FONT][/TD][/TR][TR][TD][/TD][/TR][/TABLE][!-- BBCode Quote End --]So we did...We interviewed this candidate, compared her with the others. Her CV and interview results seemed to support what she had said, she seemed to love what we stood for, we also felt like we’d made a connection with her, we invited her to return the next day on Friday to meet members of the APA. Things went well and we ended up talking to them for several hours. She had even requested we look into finding her a family where she could have free room and board in exchange for watching their children a bit and speaking English to the kids. We were able to secure this request within 48 hours.



We formally made her an offer to teach a block of hours that I have been able to push up to 10 hours per week and I think this will grow more. We got her free room and board with a private bedroom, bath and salon in one of the 5 most affluent communities in Madrid. We offered an hourly pay rate above the average.



On Monday of this past week we invited her to come back and meet the director of the school and stop by the school for the first time as well to get to know it. The meeting went well and afterwards we left her looking through the multitude of children’s materials that we have at the academy. Things were going quite well.



She got done meeting on of our Irish professors. The professor told her how lucky she was to be in an environment where the bosses cared about their employees. She said she was hungry and went to the bar-cafeteria in the plaza where we’re located and…..NEVER CAME BACK!



My wife and I literally couldn’t believe or comprehend this. We constantly asked for her input as we were moving this situation along quite quickly and her response was always an enthusiastic and emphatic,  [!-- BBCode Quote Start --][TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%][TR][TD][font class=\"pn-sub\"]Quote:[/font][/TD][/TR][TR][TD][FONT class=\"pn-sub\"][BLOCKQUOTE]“YES! I want this opportunity. Thank you so much. I get such good vibes from you guys.”[/BLOCKQUOTE][/FONT][/TD][/TR][TR][TD][/TD][/TR][/TABLE][!-- BBCode Quote End --]Not exactly the type of response to make you suspect that something is amiss.



We have called her cell phone at least 50 times this week, but her voice mail comes on with her voice every single time. We’ve left her messages. We’ve sent her SMS messages. No response. NOTHING! Now, we’re not so wrapped up in the academy that we haven’t thought that something couldn’t have happened to her, but it just doesn’t add up to tell you the truth.



Villaviciosa de Odón is not Vallecas. It is one of the nicer communities in the entire community of Madrid. The bar-cafeteria where she said she was going to eat is on the other side of the Plaza where we’re located. She couldn’t have gotten lost unless she suffers from some navigational ailment that she didn’t tell us about previously. And even if this would have been the case, how would she have managed to get from Santa Ana to Villaviciosa de Odón two days in a row and then get lost walking 200 meters to a bar-cafeteria? I don’t believe she got lost. I believe she deceived us and ditched us for motives that are foreign to my wife and myself.



This fact has been a bit hard for us to accept because, though we’re not rich and can’t afford to pay everybody a ton of money as we\'d like to, we try to balance things out by trying very, very hard to pay fairly, treat others with respect and consideration and give them an environment to work in that you won’t find in more than 5% of the language centers in Madrid.



Now, we did successfully start classes this past Wednesday at the school but, as jer, Chica and Tracy Moral can tell you, I was amazingly stressed as it was a HUGE struggle to find someone for the school in 36 hours that would work out. I spent Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights working until very, very late to find someone and give that person all the tools that they would need to do a fantastic job at the school.



The person we found is not native, but Spanish. However, she lives in Villaviciosa, has a degree in English, has lived outside of Spain, has experience with children and I think will do quite well with this 3-6 year old age group. Let\'s put it this way, the first class was a raging success.



This situation has left us with an opening for a teacher to help me teach primarily private classes as well as learn our system and integrate themselves within our system so as to work themselves into ‘[!-- BBCode Start --]our philosophy[!-- BBCode End --]’ and ‘[!-- BBCode Start --]mentality[!-- BBCode End --]’ for the first quarter of 2003 when we move into our new location. [!-- BBCode Start --]I now have a total of 3 families in Villaviciosa de Odón that are interested having one of our professors live with them with FREE room and board in exchange for speaking English to their children for an hour or two every day[!-- BBCode End --]. I think that’s a SWEET deal myself. If you think you’d be interested in this, please send me a C.V. and, in light of recent events, 2-3 references so my wife and I can call them and interview you. I can be contacted at: [!-- BBCode Start --][A HREF=\"mailto:tonytorero@onspanishtime.com\"]tonytorero@onspanishtime.com[/A][!-- BBCode End --].



Sorry for the novel, but the subject is an important one and worth reading in my opinion as this is a struggle that a lot of us on this board have to deal with either on one end of the educational spectrum…..OR THE OTHER! [!-- BBCode Start --]Keep fighting the good fight!! I know I will!!![!-- BBCode End --][addsig]

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[Tracy]

Thanks so much, Tony, for your story. For those who'd like to know, I asked him to post it once I found out that he'd been through such a mess. I wanted people to know what GREAT opportunities exist in Spain and WHY they exist. There are over 800 members at the Expatriate Cafe, to date, all of whom are DYING for positions like the one Tony's offering. But only a very small percentage of people have the actual experience and/or confidence to do such a job.

In my opinion, the person who got this job and then bailed out probably was all talk and no action. He/She had no experience, He/she probably didn't speak any Spanish and he/she believed that teaching English was just something to sustain him/her while partying in Madrid. What's very confusing is that he/she obviously had great qualifications!

Whatever the case may be, it was very upsetting for ME to hear that such a perfect teaching opportunity was not met with any gratitude. And if you notice, Tony has found a Spanish teacher to do the class, not a native.

It just seems to me that if Americans go all the way out to Spain to teach English, they better be somewhat serious about their work. And NO ONE should gripe about there not being opportunities. There are MANY opportunities for those who are strong, quick to learn and adaptable. Obviously this person, with all the credentials in the world, was none of those things.

At any rate, I would REALLY hope that Tony's story sends out a GOOD message. Most academies offer 1 hour a day if you are lucky. When you find an opportunity that offers you 10 hours a week to start in an English Workshop, it's like heaven! BE GRATEFUL and don't make the mistake that this person did.[addsig]

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[Porter-]

hey there folks,



I can think of two plausible reasons why she left.



1. She received a better deal from another language school (more hours most likely) - but compared to living for free, I don\'t think its worth the jump. I know of a couple of language schools that have tried to pinch me from the language school I am at currently.  Lucky for bosses, I am not the kind of guy who jumps ship. Maybe she found another school more to her liking and in an area where she can socialize with greater frequency.??





2.  Wasnt able to deal with the fact that they were really doing something quite different.

Some people have a hard time dealing with something completely new and end up skipping out of town. Its been known to happen.



Thats my two cents,

Porter-[addsig]

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[Tracy]

Good thinking Porter, but I believe she didn\'t have any legal status. So the third and most important thing is that English Unlimited was even willing to apply for her work/resident status. Not many other language academies will do that. So...Yes, it is VERY possible that she THINKS she found something better, but I, personally, doubt it.



Then again, you\'re very right...WHO REALLY knows!



(this is getting more exciting than the sniper case in D.C.!)



tracy [IMG SRC=\"modules/phpBB_14/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif\"] [addsig]

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[florecita]

Hello there,



What I have to say about this person is that it does not matter what reasons she had for leaving.  She should have come and tell Tony thank you very much for the opportunity, but "whatever the reason" I am not able to take the job.  I think people like her just make Americans look bad.  There is a lot of people coming from America  to Spain to really make teaching ESL as a career.  We are really responsible and profesional, but people like her just give bad reputation to hard worker like us.  [IMG SRC=\"modules/phpBB_14/images/smiles/icon_disbelief.gif\"]  [IMG SRC=\"modules/phpBB_14/images/smiles/icon_evil.gif\"]  [IMG SRC=\"modules/phpBB_14/images/smiles/icon_mad.gif\"] [addsig]

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