Hi folks, hope you are all well after thursdays horrible event.
Thanks for the tip Chica, I will give hexagon a call to chat about what they are looking for. Tony, dont worry hombre, I have been making full use of your board since I arrived!
Candela,I think the job offered to me doesn�t really have any of the benefits you mentioned. This is mostly because of the unusual method employed by the the school, let me explain. The hours are 6-10 per night mon-fri, with one hour per student (no breaks for the teacher). The students do their work at home on computer software, then go through it with you in class. I got the impression that their system involves little or no planning on the teachers part (the guy interviewing me looked a bit puzzled by the term "lesson planning")
Whilst this could in a way be a bit demotivating for the teacher, I guess the plus could be that whilst it would be close to a full timetable if teaching normally, teaching this way would still allow me to do classes in the day and plan those properly. My dilemma is that if I don�t take this job, whilst I have been offered more company classes, they are insufficient to pay my bills, and slightly awkwardly timetabled. Do you think I should hang on and see if I can build up my conventional timetable, or take this job and see how it goes? I hope this posting doesnt come over as badmouthing a school that I have yet to work for, but I�m just a bit unsure as they are like nothing I have heard of before. I said I�d let them know by monday, so, once again if anybody here has experience of working for them please post! By the way the pay is a LOT less than the Eu10 ph quoted by Candela, but I probably shouldnt post a figure here.

oh shane, it sounds like tough times decisionwise. well, if you haven't enough work to pay your bills, you should take the job in the meantime. after all there is not a single teaching job i've worked where i haven't learned something.

also, as it is an evening gig it won't interfere with primetime...mornings, lunch and early eve, so you can still keep your schedule open for whatever comes along.

and as you don't have to plan the classes, it won't eat up your time outside of class.

i say go for it until something better comes along and surely it will.

good luck,
C

I agree with Candela. Stick it out and you can supplement your pay with morning classes.

I know that some people don't like to get up early, but these are the same ones who cry BROKE after a few months because they can't get all classes after 2:00. Oh well!, I say.

It took me a while to get my teaching load to the point where I can pay my bills. Things do take time and you just have to have faith and courage and face the CHALLENGE. These challenges do make us stronger every day.

Shane, stcik it out and make the best of it.

Shawn

quote:

I�m just a bit unsure as they are like nothing I have heard of before.

Shane, innovative can be good, you never know until you give it a try.

could be the next revolution in language teaching.

i say give it a shot.

saludos & please let us know how it goes,
jer...

Thanks for the pointers everyone. I think you are all right really, I have nothing much to lose by accepting the position, maybe my reluctance stems from the fact that I dont want to take on a job and dump it a week later, it�s not what I like to do. I am also worried that it may mean I will have to turn down other classes that may be offered to me in the evening. However, I think I will take the plunge - at least it may satisfy my curiosity about the place and pay the bills,(as long as they pay me as there is no contract!) Will let you all know how it goes.

Hi everyone, hope your spirits haven�t been too dampened by the rain! Just posting to let you know how it went. The job with Cambridge Institute on Gran Via fell through in a fairly confusing way. I accepted the job and went to work on a monday, which turned out to be a training session on the sofware they use. They told me that they would let me know when I was to start by phone the next day. So I waited...and waited some more...nearly a week later I got a message on my answerphone saying that they had checked with the owner of the academy who had told them they couldn�t hire anymore teachers. The weird thing was that they had already gone to the expense of advertising for and interviewing staff-go figure(I also got the impression that a bunch of teachers had recently left, not a good sign!)Anyway, I consider it a lucky escape because the same day got a call from another school offering me some properly paid classes in the evening. I would advise mm�ers to be careful if dealing with this academy. I may be wrong of course but they seemed at best disorganised and unprofessional-cuidado.

quote:

originally posted by Shane:
[qb] Anyway, I consider it a lucky escape because the same day got a call from another school offering me some properly paid classes in the evening.[/qb]

You must be making some good karma, Shane. I'm happy things appear to have worked out in your best interest.

Thanks for reporting back to the board and best of luck with the new gig!

:cheers: