Has anyone heard of Canterbury English? I've researched a lot of different companies that offer the TEFL certificate (just in case I end up needing one) and I just found this company. It sounds too good to be true. Can anyone offer any scoop on them?
I just starting housing their students. I do not know enough about them yet, but Jeremy has had dealings with them in the past and could possibly tell you more about them. All I know is that they offer low prices and also jobs to their students when they finish the course. Maybe someone who took the course is a mm board member and can tell you about the quality of instruction? Rocco.
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Posts: 881 | Location: Madrid | Registered: 08 November 2002
Hi Salsera, I did work once for Canterbury English as a tecaher WAAAAAYYYYY back when but have no experience with their TEFL program as they did not have one when I worked for them.
I began working for Canterbury English as an English teacher and was sent to in-vompany classes as they were realy a consulting agency and had no in-school classes )not sure if this has changed).
This was over 5 years ago and they paid 1,500 pesetas/hour (9�), now they pay 10�/hour which, as I understand it, is on the low end.
Canterbury is owned and operated by 2 brothers who are American but have dual nationality and while they were fair employers and it was a decent place to work, I found them to be very cheap and nitpicky on all money matters.
They did have student-tecaher nights out and other social events, I attended very few but the ones I did go to were ok. These events usually took the form of pub nights, movie nights, bowling, etc...and even a few amateur bullfights.
After tecahing for them for a while, I became their web designer as well which is where the problems began. Wwhen I left, they ended up owing me money for some web marketing I had done for them.
on the up-side, they did accept "ALL CVs" when I was there and had a system for beign able to hire ANYONE
Hi all, I must add here that I have not worked with/for Canterbury in over 3 years (maybe even 4 or 5, time flies!!) and as I understand things they have grown and changed a lot. They now have a Spanish teaching program and a TEFL program which they did not have when I was teaching for them, therefore, any opinion I have or had of them, can not be applied to those programs. I hope you all understand this.
I have been in contact recently with Canterbury regarding the money I said that they owe me but...
IN NO WAY DID I MEAN TO SAY THAT THEY DEFAULT ON PAYMENTS TO TEACHERS!!!.
My case was special since a web hosting that I provided them overlapped with the new host they changed to and as I saw it, they owed me a month's hosting when I left.
Important to note that we are talking about approx. 3.000 of the old Pesetas (less than $20 so my post may have been misconstrued to make them look like the do not pay their teachers.
NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH: In my time teaching for them, I NEVER had a problem getting paid, EVER.
In addition, they recall having put the money in my account and we are trying to clear it all up as I write this.
Just wanted to clear the air on this Canterbury subject as it seems the $20 owed to me could end up being a misunderstanding and may be blown out of proportion by readers of this and/or other threads.
Canterbury is now offering a 2nd TEFL Course similar to ITC and EBC, with job guidance instead of obligatory work hours. http://www2.paginasamarillas.es/sites/108/471/254/001/libre2.html This is good because in Madrid you can usually find better jobs on your own at the higher market value than what most teacher training centers could pay you if they assign you.
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Posts: 881 | Location: Madrid | Registered: 08 November 2002
Hi. I know this post is old but I wanted to revive it to see if anyone else had anything to add. Hopefully I will have something to add in a few days, but I want to speak to the owners first before I post anything. Anyway, just wondering if anyone had any comments to add as I know that many people work for them. thanks.
Posts: 102 | Location: American in Madrid | Registered: 07 July 2003
Jer, Hey, no, no plans to use Canterbury anytime in the near future, that�s for sure, as I have recently had a very disappointing experience with them. I have mentioned this to them now, so I feel that I can talk about it to you guys. I wanted to wait until I talked them first before I put it on the board. Anyway, to make a long story short Canterbury had a Robert Burns party at our store on Friday night and I was extremely disappointed by the behavior of the group as a whole. I feel that we went out of our way to accomadate them and they had a complete lack of respect for us. One, they brought food over, which was ok, but then later didn�t offer to help straighten up and left morcia ground into the carpet and cigarette burns. Some of their people were rude when I had to make last call and get everyone out by 2:30 (which is the law) and I felt the director should have been in charge of saying, alright guys lets go instead of saying 'wait, wait, one moment'.
Also, several people who were there on Fri but are not a part of Canterbury told me that they had seen several people from the Academy stealing books. And even one of their directors returned on Saturday to pay for a book that he found in his bag. It was nice that he returned but it was also proof that people there had no respect for us or our things. It is hard to explain just by these examples the complete lack of respect by their directors and staff on Friday. But I did talk to one of the owners today and he apologised on behalf of the Academy and offered to pay for whatever was missing. For me, it wasnt about what was missing but just that their business left a very bad impression and I wanted them to be aware of it. I feel better now that they apoligized, but we will see what happens in the future. Anyway, I was wondering if anyone had other experiences with them. Good or bad or whatever comes in between that.
Posts: 102 | Location: American in Madrid | Registered: 07 July 2003
keep in mind that as a general rule canterbury hires most anyone (or used to at least) as a teacher so you do not get the most serious english teachers. if you read my above posts you will see the experiences i had with them, not as good as i would have liked.
quote:
One, they brought food over, which was o
no, actually that was a bit pathetic of them!!!
oh well, live and learn.
saludos, jer...
p.d. as a related side note, you should make "no smoking" a rul at the bookshop since smoke/fire and books do not go well together, except in "Farenheit 451"
Jer, Smoking IS prohibited downstairs and I told the director that before they came, but as I said before, no one respected any of the rules or even just the rules of common courtesy. Live and Learn.
Posts: 102 | Location: American in Madrid | Registered: 07 July 2003
when I was there and had a system for beign able to hire ANYONE 
- rent or buy a cell phone from me for your stay in spain, more info at 
- already have a cell phone, get a spanish SIM card for it at 
