TEFL Scooby Doo, where are you?
Missing- One Subash Melwani and Two Advanced Institutes
Talking of Spain (see below), whatever happened to Advanced Institute in Fernandez de los Rios in Madrid? More important, what happened to the lovely filing system I set up there? Has my life’s work gone to waste???? Is my masterpiece no more?????
Not that this would be the first English school to disappear without trace, if in fact it hasn’t just changed name or something. In this case, the fact that there is nothing on the internet is probably a good sign. At least this school actually taught some students (very well when I was there!) unlike the “schools” in Spain that make their money offering Pakistanis jobs teaching English in Spain as long as they send a “small advance” to sort out their visas.
Anyhows, Scooby doobie doo- where are you? (What a prescient nickname by George Cloonie that turned out to be!)
October 4th, 2007 at 11:35 am
I heard he sold the business. Ben McVay told me, but I know not from whence he attained that information.
Last I heard of the AI was on the net a few years ago, Scooby was employing untrained teachers, and the pupil feedback was something like ‘teachers aren’t trained, but it’s nice to hear a regional English accent in conversation classes’! Shame really, it could’ve been great if he’d employed fully trained and experienced staff, new how to manage a business, and treated the receptionists nicely!!
October 10th, 2007 at 6:47 am
Thanks for the update (and nice summary of his business plan!), but all links for Advanced Institute on the Net are now dead, so where has Scooby run off to now??
Anyone else seen a slightly rumpled Subash Melwani anywhere?
November 12th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
Trying to enroll at Goldsmiths college, University of London, to do a P.G.C.E. (Currently unsuccessfull though)
November 18th, 2008 at 5:50 am
Scooby? Is that really you? Can’t see you surviving a classroom full of English teenagers…
November 18th, 2008 at 6:36 am
I was looking forward to ‘Doo’ based classroom ideas (insert unhappy smiley here).
December 9th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Ya no vives en Madrid ?
December 10th, 2008 at 2:24 am
Not for the last 8 years or so
December 10th, 2008 at 7:15 am
Or were you asking Scooby?
December 10th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
My question was to you Alex, do you know where he lives now
December 10th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
I mean where does Melwani lives now
December 10th, 2008 at 10:32 pm
No idea. If that is really a comment from him above, maybe London. A believeable thing for Subash to be doing…
December 11th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
His family lives in London, but he thinks he is a Spaniard
October 25th, 2009 at 4:47 am
dear friends, rest assured, the quality never faltered, the teachers were superb, and alex, matt and john, and many others, you can be proud of having built an institution that, with limited finances, was an academic standard-bearer to the very end. but it didn’t change the world, did it? of course i was imperfect, and depended on your great idealism and contribution that went well beyond the call of duty. but perhaps on account of my different background, i was greatly affected by the direction and dynamic of world events. as i watched the news and observed my english peers gleefully bombarding the populations of iraq, afganistan, and most recently slapping the backs of israelis after butchering 431 palestinian children, for whom they supplied the bomb parts, i concluded it made no sense to offer english classes to the priviledged anymore. as you will recall i wasn’t a bad young-learners’ teacher, at least in the tefl field, and now entertain hopes of helping others educate children in the uk to respect diversity, and human rights, both here and beyond these narrow and ill-defined borders. who knows, maybe this calls for the setting up of another kind of advanced institute. well, i guess it’s what happens when you hit 40…! best wishes to all – onward and outward!
January 13th, 2010 at 11:42 pm
That´s another way of saying that it failed, off passing time and not doing something real with your life at 40, just living under your family wealth.
February 8th, 2010 at 11:33 pm
Experto en perder el tiempo, que tiene que ver Israel o Afganistan, no es preciso.
February 11th, 2010 at 4:38 pm
Well Scooby I think that’s great. I live in Oxford now, so if you’re in London or elsewhere in the UK I’d gladly meet up with you for a chinwag etc. I gave teaching in a state school a go myself a few years ago but it didn’t work out because a) I hate kids, b) I hate teachers (not in TEFL of course) and c) I hate the bullshit that comes with the job. Anyway, don’t let that put you off!! Matt
February 11th, 2010 at 4:40 pm
By the way, my email: matt_noy@hotmail.com
My number 07875 793536
Hasta la victoria siempre! (As long as I can do it from an armchair in front on of the tele)
Matt
Oh and I’ll be glad to meet any other ex-Advanced Institute staff/students who are still alive.