Raffi
- 2016-03-28
Good on you for venturing out on your own. Europe is good in that sense. For those who can hustle there is freedom to build something of your own. I had problems with private students not showing up was the only thing. Have them pay in advance.
Me
- 2016-03-09
I agree..I worked for this company for a year and it was the worst. They pay you minimal and avoid social security by giving you a milage pay and subsistanceas part of the company. Without predjudice i have learned that they have had to change company as they were receiving public funds for courses that never happened. They called it an admin error...others may classify it differently.....
No support for teachers on any level as i had to find material to use but I was the one who got up at 6 am for the classes while they slept earning my money.....
Better now as I am in competition with them and making my own cash.......legally and paying my taxes too..
Do not work for this cowboy outfit...be warned...
Best of luck to you all and be proud but nit humble. With no quality teachers these guys do not have a business model.....
Delighted Dannny
- 2013-01-15
Couldn't agree with you more in your last post TEFL professional. The problem for me is that I took up employment with the company.
I was very forgiving during the interview process and wished I hand been a lot more probing. Sadly, I took the job only to discover that many details had been "twisted" during the interview.
For example, being told that your pay "includes" lesson planning, holiday time, system updating and travel time might make your ears perk up during an interview. However, discovering when you travel to begin working at the school that you only get paid for the time you teach - i.e. your pay "excludes" lesson planning, holiday time and travel - would come as a real blow. Especially if you have made a massive effort to reorganize your life and paid for your flights and transport.
How this is presented to you when you arrive is that YOU have somehow misunderstood the difference in the meaning of "include" and "exclude". These are of course latin worlds and I'd imagine Spanish speakers would know the fundamental difference in meaning? Nevertheless, the meaning is somehow "lost in translation" and its only you, the native English speaker, whose got it all distorted and misunderstood.
The story goes on: you discover the "5 minute walk to the office" actually takes 15 minutes. 20€ car rental per weekend, is per day of the weekend, with a maximum travel distance of 100KM. "You can afford to eat comfortably for 5€ every day," actually means, you can live on bread and water if you try your hardest. The list goes on, and on.
Basically, what is said during the Skype interview is anything that will get you to go there. Once getting there, the guilt trips are put on you: "we all work 12HR days, don't start thinking your above us in some way?" (I can't remember the mention of 6AM starts and 8AM finishes during the interview either).
To conclude on KOMAlingua, the company is organized by people who take short cuts to hit their quotas and targets without giving a toss about how it affects the lives of teachers who get there only to discover they have been duped by a bunch of tricksters; students are dissatisfied by the high turnover of (especially, native speaking) English teachers.
I've more to add: after working for EF I can't help but wonder if this poor treatment of teachers is a particularly "Swiss" business model since KOMA and EF are both swiss and adopt very similar standardized business models. The goal is quick profit and rapid "global" expansion and marketing and sales departments seem to be the bread winners rather than the teachers who are treated like morons, bossed around, demanded upon and sacked if they can't keep every student happy and clapping.
What keeps good teachers working in such positions of employment? That's the problem! A good teacher cares about their students, makes sure they prepare well, worries about their students learning - normally putting job satisfaction before payment and benefits - these companies recognize this and I honestly believe that this "empathetic" factor is somehow designed into their business models that are more focused on what happens outside the classroom than inside of it.
What we need is more websites that can work as a watchdog for shark-like companies out there. With a rating system that takes into account length of employment, facilities for teachers, companies attitudes and general treatment of employees, healthcare, wages and additional benefits.
(If you cleaver enough to be search for advice on working for KOMA before taking up a position of employment, my advice would to be to keep on searching).
Having not actually worked for this school, this message is not intended to be a moan or a complaint about what they do or how they do it...but how often as a TEFL professional do you feel like you're being pushed around by language schools and organisations who don't seem to have much respect for you, your qualifications, your experience...etc.? Leaving aside the argument as to whether TEFL teachers are really paid what they're worth (that probably would stir up a hornet's nest!), this is simply about the treatment I recently received from what I can gather is actually quite a respectable school.
I applied for a job at the Basque country branch of Komalingua advertised on TEFL.com. I heard nothing and assumed my application had been unsuccessful. Two months later I received an email from the head of studies thanking me for my application and inviting me for a Skype interview as the post would be staring the following week (regardless of the fact that I was living and working on the other side of Europe!). Although I already had one or two other offers in the pipeline, I thought it would still be worth investigating and replied. At the same time I asked for further details about the post (as anyone would) because the original advertisement had by this time expired.
The head of studies replied and told me that 'all the information I needed' was that it was a full-time position, teaching adults and young people at all levels. THAT'S ALL??! Wait, what about, the number of hours I would be teaching? What sort of courses I would be expected to teach; conversational, business, exam preparation, EAP, ESL...? And, the all-important question: how much are you paying? I may just be a lowly TEFL teacher, but I think most people would consider this to be essential information to be in possession of before charging into an interview. If nothing else, if the money turned out to be terrible (not unheard of in this sector I don't think), an interview would just be a waste of time, especially if those offers in the pipeline were well-paid enough to be worth considering.
I wrote another email and tried (politely) to get this information, but to no avail.
On the day of the scheduled interview, I had re-arranged my timetable to ensure I would be online at the specified time. I had provided my Skype name as requested and assumed that I would receive a contact request, followed by a call at the right time (punctuality is something employers look for in TEFL teachers, isn't it?). The hour passed without a call or a contact request (oh, by the way, the head of studies hadn't provided her Skype name at this point). After another half an hour of waiting, I sent an email to ask what was going on.
The head of studies for Komalingua told me she had been waiting for my call (HOW? TELEPATHY??!) and also had been unable to find me using the name I had given her (strange that two other people had been able to find me and interview me during the couple of weeks before!)(and yes, I checked I hadn't made a mistake with the name I sent her).
When I wrote back to ask her how I was supposed to contact her without her Skype details, she replied to tell me she had sent them...as I could see in the email below! Derrr, yes, that was only when I asked you why I was still waiting for you to contact ME!
...
Needless to say, I decided not to pursue the job.
The reason for this post then is to make a request to all you other TEFL professionals out there. Yes, I know we all need to work and we all do what we can to make a crust, but please, let's stop allowing these schools and organisations with self-important Principals and 'heads of studies' push us around and treat us without any respect. If you come across an outfit who does something like this to you (OK, not so bad, but still leaves a sour taste), write about it, tell other people about your experiences and most of all, stand up for yourself (and others) and say NO! Maybe eventually a few of these so-called professional language training providers might actually realise who they rely on to keep the whole thing going...
...and for those of you who don't really care, good luck when you get ripped-off, pushed around or treated like 'just another TEFL teacher' rather than a self-respecting professional.
Oh, and one more thing, if you do happen to be the prospective candidate who's applied for the position at Komalingua in Spain and you come across this doing your research as you should, ask them for a bit more money and good luck!