Dodgy VN English schools

Thks , I tried Daves ESL one other time, its such a cluttered site , hard to find anything, they are too busy trying to sell ESL courses, I've e mailed them, so will see what happens.

bluenz wrote:

There should be a thread dedicated to dodgy VN English schools, ( I've heard of many on here ), to warn potential Teachers about shady operators .BUT according to EP rules we are NOT allowed to name the said schools, better left to PM  the poster who is issuing the warning?
  I can start with 2 English Centre's in Quang Ngai, run by the usual money hungry operators, one owner is that stupid she must think a Dutchman is a Native Speaker, and couldn't even sort out a Visa,  ( but  had already done the Work Permit ), the other is a lying hypocrite, who has made a fortune from passing off Filipino's as Native Speakers,  some people are very gullible up this way, and stupid enough to pay the same monthly fee's they would have if their kids were being taught by a Native English Teacher, at the SAME school, but I suppose " prestige " is everything to some people? ( Keeping up with the Nguyens??? )

Dave's ESL is a joke, he's too busy trying to sell his ESL courses. No reply.
Add your dodgy school pls.

bluenz wrote:

Thks , I tried Daves ESL one other time, its such a cluttered site , hard to find anything, they are too busy trying to sell ESL courses, I've e mailed them, so will see what happens.

Dave's is focused on other countries. Mainly China, Korea...

My last employer insisted that I pretend to be from the UK. (Got a UK degree which - as might be normal - was kept "until you leave" and then not returned. But then, by not paying the salary, these people found a way to make me want to return...    It's important to investigate a school and also speak with an existing teacher there.

* payment - in full and on time?
* kickbacks demanded? (Customary for VN teachers, now I know that greedy owners work on ways to make foreigners pay as well. No, they won't be upfront about it. And they label it differently... )
* resources? There might be TVs but no audio or the TVs require a modern connector some poor chalkie won't have on his notebook.
* Churn (turnover of staff)?

There are small-time operators who cannot possibly afford a full time teacher. You can imagine, this won't end well. (I had been promised "$ 1,000" by a school which wouldn't gross that in a month!

Some owners cannot speak English and they have no education background. It's all about making a fast buck. Selling IELTS courses to total beginner with a vocabulary of <100 words? You bet!

One common practice is to soften someone up by not paying on time. A week after payday, that teacher will be both desperate and vulnerable. (...)

even nice contracts may not be worth the paper they are printed on. Am going to find out about this. In Western countries, a business has to have the cash for its payroll. who knows the rules in VN??


...

One crazy owner had a day job at the university as economist. But his English was atrocious While his wife's English was much better and she was better suited as a kindergarten teacher to handle younger kids. No, the Alpha male had to repeat words, mispronouncing them horribly.

That guy had a few good teenagers as students. He prepared lessons based on vocab these students knew. What a waste of time!

Guys, you gotta get some input in how a lesson is to be handled - or you won't be happy at some places!

CRAZY ENGLISH? The owner wanted to send us to some seminar. SCREAMING won't be necessary - the usual teacher isn't shy and she can sing and dance as required 

It amazes me how many of these English school owners also work at University's, etc, I thought being a public servant, it would be a ' conflict of interest ".
   One school i worked at was teaching practically the same lesson material as the kids were learning in the VN school???, ( now it is compulsory to learn English in VN schools ), I introduced new vocab, etc, otherwise it made for boring lessons.
Yes, if your laptop, ( or their TV ), doesn't have the HDMI port, you can't use their TV. ( One classroom had a dodgy cable, so I would spend 10 minutes trying to get it to work , and of course the TV menu was in Viet ).
It makes it almost impossible to teach when you have students of all abilities, including many with no exposure to English, all in the same class, and as you say, always an alpha male, who knows all the answers, ( I tell him to quietly tell me the answer first, so the others can have a chance ).
  Then if you are " lucky " enough to have a TA, and who doesn't repeat EVERY bloody word you say????, and then when you ask them to repeat something you really want translated, you have to tell them twice.( and you are still left wondering what they have told the students??? )
I would never know if I was going to have a TA most of the time, and sometimes it was better without one, with some students, I would say something, and they would immediately look at the TA.
  A small school here I've been helping get " established ", hasn't paid me for 2 months, and now she is avoiding me, she has reasonable English, but has never taught before, ( or has any idea of teaching, her eyes really lit up when I joked about going into partnership with her ), so after Tet it will be bye , bye to her school, in it's nice new , expensive location, but after a month I will probably have her students in my own school, ( if I wanted them??? ). No one is going to pay 500k a month, for 2 lessons a week with a VN English teacher???The paper trail starts next week
  Screaming!!!! Best left to Filipino's, one class I sat in on, she was that loud my ears were ringing every time she spoke, I asked the TA about it later, thinking my ears must be sensitive, but she agreed with me, poor kids, but they are most likely used to loud noises?????
.

Contracts, honoured only when it suits them,  a school here gave me a contract last year, I did all the leg work, and paid for the Work Permit and Medical,  then they tried changing my VEC to a TRC, it didn't help when the idiots in Immigration had no idea what to do, ( although I found out later, someone at another school had done this ), after 4 --5 trips to Immigration, the lazy " Principal/owner ", ( who hardly ever visited the school ), decided I would have to stand down until it is sorted out, but when I was employed as a relief teacher at another school here later, she made a big issue of me having this " contract ".  I was told I could take this first employer to court and be reimbursed for the broken contract, but they know you won't do it, as we Foreigners don't want to make " waves ", or bring unnecessary attention to ourselves..
       A handshake agreement is even worse, I was offered 2 jobs by handshake, ( in the same week ), the first one, a new school that was about to open, said they would call me the next week, ( after the photo's at their " opening ") and I was to go in and sign a " contract ", ( never heard back from them ), the 2nd, in a big speech in front of all of her staff, welcomed me to her school, ( after 5 weeks relief teaching ), and said I was to work part time, ( until another teacher left in 2 months ), but the very next day, told me I now have to wait those 2 months, then she would ring me and see if I was still " available "????? I had the utmost pleasure last week, in telling her , " no thanks " and left her wondering why???? ( It will be impossible to get a part time Native English speaker up here ).

@Bluenz. This might open up a wound. but may I ask which steps you have taken to get paid?

Not getting paid has been a major headache here in VN! Okay, when there is no contract, we might as well forget about it (Dept. of Education said so). That center pulled the very same scam time and time again. And yes, they still are in business. They sold courses "by a native teacher", got non NES teachers like a Filippina and then the boss himself took over. Guess these people can't get a refund?

So you got a written contract? Then what?

* a registered demand letter?
* ...

You wouldn't give the owner the satisfaction that she successfully ripped you off, i hope?! She will do it to the next guy without fail!

hs0zfe wrote:

@Bluenz. This might open up a wound. but may I ask which steps you have taken to get paid?

Not getting paid has been a major headache here in VN! Okay, when there is no contract, we might as well forget about it (Dept. of Education said so). That center pulled the very same scam time and time again. And yes, they still are in business. They sold courses "by a native teacher", got non NES teachers like a Filippina and then the boss himself took over. Guess these people can't get a refund?

So you got a written contract? Then what?

* a registered demand letter?
* ...

You wouldn't give the owner the satisfaction that she successfully ripped you off, i hope?! She will do it to the next guy without fail!

My wife doesn't take any shit from other VNs', ( she is a Deputy Principal ), she was all for taking the school that bailed on the contract to court at first, but I said not to make waves, but later I thought, this bitch needs to be taught a lesson, and the best way is to hit them in their pocket, but then the wife changed her mind????
The next time, I did 5 weeks relief work at another school, at first they said 30 hrs a week, but then changed it to only 10 hours, because I didn't have a Permit for her school, ( I had one for the other school, but that was not much use ),  I soon found out she had another VN teacher covering the other hours, for 1/3 of the hourly rate of course ), it increased to 12 hours in the last 2 weeks, and when she paid me , she took 10% tax out????? Not bad considering I was working there illegally???? the wife was rope able, demanding the schools phone number, but I said not to worry about, and this week I had the satisfaction of stuffing them up.
I think the students should also be getting a refund, but as in the school here, because the Filipino's have the exaggerated American accent , the gullible parents seem to accept it, even paying the same amount as they would if they had a genuine native English teacher, hope they don't mind being mistaken for Filipino's themselves later??
   The small school that owes me the 2 months pay, it would like getting blood out of a stone, i know she won't have it, apparently I helped pay for her new house, ( 1 month she only paid me 1/2 , due to " hardships ", I found out later she was building this new house ). Once again I will have some satisfaction , when i see her school go under in 1 months time.
  This is just one reason why I don't want to ever work for a VN again. Soon I will only have the unreliable parents to deal will, ( many don't pay in advance, so you end up with the " 3 week " students  ).

Wow, there are similarities... Wish some other teachers would contribute their experiences in an open and honest matter. (There is more to it than venting or VN bashing).
* One owner suckered me by pretending that his microphone doesn't work. So there I was, having this strange job interview via Skype. These owners will say anything and promise everything to make you come.
* Within hours of arriving, we visited a local school. The kids treated me as if I was a bee Gee and it was the UK in the 1980s.The potential is there!
* I tried to argue to do other stuff than GRAMMAR. A center should differentiate itself from regular schools...

It's interesting that I've drawn the same conclusion about working in VN.

By not paying the salary, a center is "softening up" the foreigner, preparing the "sucker treatment". A week without a single Dong and that teacher will agree to changes in the contract and getting millions less for time worked, as long as some CA$H gets paid.

Q: Why can't government schools handle the recruitment of foreign teachers themselves? Just wondering.

I would recommend some relaxed paperwork deal where a foreigner faces less hassle with approval of the authorities. Me, i would gladly forego 1/3 of my salary for not having to deal with b.s.

Like: it's one's day off. The owner wants you to hand over flowers to a student. => Leave at 6:50 am for some school 25 miles away. Returning hours later. You give them a finger and they will take the hand.
...

My suggestion to test each student and to sit down and figure  out how to help them fell on death ears. Reading? I've yet to meet a student who is good at reading! (PAUSES, slowing down, ...)

Bluenz, hope you will go for it and help your community. The need is there. Strangers would stop me in the supermarket and on the street, grandmothers wanting me to speak English with their grandchildren...  Motivating learners is crucial. And kids learn playfully - something many centers keep forgetting.