Black lists .is there one for Teachers or indeed Centres?

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Mike9998nz
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Black lists .is there one for Teachers or indeed Centres?

Unread post by Mike9998nz »

I unfortunately had a nasty experiance in Russia a couple of years ago when the Franchisee of a LARGE Company ( I won't name them to protect the guilty). lied to me a couple of times and I went from flavour of the month to a candidate for the gulag!I did nothing to deserve this..but 2 out of the 600 students did not iike me ) , I mean to say you cannot please everyone all the time right ..the remainder of the students and I got on really well and the majority of the staff too.I was made to work out the remainder of my time in Orenberg for no pay and my final pay was used as a "contribution" to my airfare which I did not see. The teachers had a whip around and i left seemingly disgraced , the Owner having his staff scared of him not to do his bidding (i WAS GIVEN A SHAM of a supervision by the DOS for the final two weeks which was very stressful for me .On my way back to NZ I shared a coffee in Moscow with a mate who is in the business and he called the Owner a petty tyrant.It took me a few months to remember how to feel good about myself again and just when I thought things were coming right I e-mailed the Head Office of the Franchise to try and get some redress for my pains but they just ignored the e-mails and held that everything was my fauit.They have considerable checks on the teachers but not on the Franchisees and I ma wondering if anyone else has had these experiances ??Is there a Black List for Franchises .Centres ,,I assume by their non-replying to ANY emails of mine that I have been blacked by them and I have applied to them for other jobs without their even replying.
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John V55
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Re: Black lists .is there one for Teachers or indeed Centres?

Unread post by John V55 »

Hi Mike.

If it happened a couple of years ago, it’s something that you should have put behind you by now. I’ve heard mention of these ‘blacklists’ but ever met anyone affected by them and I’ve met some pretty unsavoury characters along the way. I might be wrong, but I think the blacklist probably involves the centre itself and the franchise company. If you had such a bad experience with this franchise, who I’m sure were of no help either at the time, I’m left wondering why you applied to them again.

There are two sides to every story, but my advice is to stay away from franchises and ‘for profit’ companies and the small independent recruiters. They’re more to do with profit not teaching and if you don’t fit into that mind set, you’re going to have problems. It’s where the majority of scams and problems across the internet come from. Stick to schools or universities, they have a reputation to live up to and contain teachers and headmasters, not disposable backpackers managed by a profit orientated DOS.

Put it behind you; mention the teaching experience on your resume, but not the full name of the company, put it down to experience, consider it a learning curve and move on somewhere else.
Mike9998nz
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Joined: 13 May 2015, 02:41
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Re: Black lists .is there one for Teachers or indeed Centres?

Unread post by Mike9998nz »

Souns lie good advice but I will not mention it in my CV i think that would be the best plan for sure because it might frighen any potential employers?
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John V55
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Re: Black lists .is there one for Teachers or indeed Centres?

Unread post by John V55 »

That would leave a gap in your CV and which in all likelihood would be bought up as an interview question. I’d mention it:

Private EP centre, Orenburg, Russia, 2013-2014
English conversation teacher
Introduced critical-thinking skills using Activity Based Learning, which led to increased self-confidence and increased the level of competency

Keep it focused but non-committal. Example of online CV:
http://independent.academia.edu/JohnV7/CurriculumVitae
Mike9998nz
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Re: Black lists .is there one for Teachers or indeed Centres?

Unread post by Mike9998nz »

I just posted this to prevent anyone falling into a similar trap...
footballmad
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Re: Black lists .is there one for Teachers or indeed Centres?

Unread post by footballmad »

TEFL organigrams are based on the lines of "ah, you can serve a good gin and tonic at 30,000ft so we'll let you fly the plane!" Because of this many of the folk running TEFL are useless, and I don't know of any DoS who has had any relevant training for the job, apart from actual teacher training (see my quote above). It's the same for all of us....
Mike9998nz
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Re: Black lists .is there one for Teachers or indeed Centres?

Unread post by Mike9998nz »

Haha classic... I have never heard that quote before but now it is etched into my vocab for sure! well done ! That DOS could write faster than I could talk and I make no exaggeration about that! I see now that the person involved has advertised for Teachers , happy and effervescent Teachers which i wonder how long they will remain the same . I have NEVER felt so dispirited or belittled as I felt then and am very vigilant about advertisements now.Lessons learnt!
Mike9998nz
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Re: Black lists .is there one for Teachers or indeed Centres?

Unread post by Mike9998nz »

This thread was started so no-one would fall into the same trap I did..please feel free to contribute your stories ( horror or otherwise) so WE ALL can learn.And if you have a particularly GOOD experiance let us know too.so we all can share them as well !
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John V55
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Re: Black lists .is there one for Teachers or indeed Centres?

Unread post by John V55 »

Good experience. They'd have to forcibly drag me away from this job :)
http://www.academia.edu/11776487/An_Eng ... r_Mongolia
Mike9998nz
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Re: Black lists .is there one for Teachers or indeed Centres?

Unread post by Mike9998nz »

Yes ok that's great thanks John, my GOOD experiance was in 2012-2013 when I first went to Russia, I was in a suburb of Moscow called Zelenograd and he people there were absolutely fabulous! I was teaching in State Schools and Tutoring adults after hours and everyone made me feel really welcome !
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