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Working for IH Bogota..... Don’t do it, OK it might be the best (most respected) school to work for in Bogota (but certainly not the best paying) but if you're flexible on location look elsewhere.
When you’re interviewed for the job it sounds great; free Spanish lessons, guaranteed 60 hours per month, health care included, warm weather and an exciting atmosphere....
The reality is a tad nastier...
Free Spanish lessons; ha ha.. once you get to Bogota you’ll have to argue pretty hard to actually be given any Spanish lessons. If you do manage to be given some then you’ll be required to attend them all and you’ll be reliant on there being paying customers (you’d have to be mad to pay IH Bogota for Spanish lessons and as you’ll find out paying customers are a rare thing). Once you are attending classes you'll find that the standard of the Spanish teaching is so poor it's not really worth going.
Guaranteed 60 hours per month; OK you do get this but... 60 hours are not actually enough to live on in Bogota (yes I know you’re told it is during the interview). It works out at just under 1.5 million (or 1.3 million for new recruits), after rent you’ll have about 1 million (or 800,000 for new recruits) to live on... ask the teachers - if you want to enjoy Colombia this will not be enough. If you don’t have 60 hours worth of lessons you’ll be expected to go into the school to carry out administration tasks to make up your hours (and it’s not your fault that you don’t have enough hours, it’s because the school hasn’t found you any). While you’re under 60 hours you’ll be expected to take which ever class they offer you and not be able to turn it down (however far away it is from your home). Classes are also regularly cancelled but instead of the school taking the financial hit, you take it!
Health care is included for most, unless you’re like one unlucky teacher who turned up at the hospital needing treatment and was turned away because the health insurance bill hadn’t been paid.
Warm weather – nope, it’s rainy and cold at 2,600 metres in Colombia.
Exciting atmosphere? Not sure where this was, most teachers are completely pissed off. They’re annoyed at having been brought to Colombia under false pretences (that £500 (one-way) flight is a big investment – and you're stuck there for a year (see below)).
So most of the things you are told in the interview are not entirely true. Let's look a bit deeper – why do IH Bogota teachers hate working for International House Bogota so much? It is after all part of one of the biggest English Teaching Organisations in the world.
Expect to be treated with contempt by most of the administration staff, some of this is cultural and some of it is because one or two of the admin staff just seem to hate teachers. In Colombia it is normal to call your boss Don and never argue with him and to show him the utmost respect – this clearly isn’t a very western attitude – we tend to tell our boss when he’s being a numpty and expect him to fix some of issues which are affecting us badly – this hasn’t been realised at International House Bogota yet (nor have any of the major issues with teaching been addressed).
Teaching is kind of fun. All courses are 96 hours long (this includes all late cancellations – of which there are many) and your students will be moved up to the next level at the end of those 96 hours (whether they pass the level or not) – it’s written into the contracts with clients!! Great you might think, but then when you think that students are doing 8 hours a week, this means on the whole most students do 3 levels per year. International House only have 9 levels.. doh... it means that a piss poor student can reach IH level 9 in 3 years from not knowing any English before they start.
If you are crazy enough to accept a job at IH Bogota most of your lessons will be on company sites. If you teach in the school you’ll be paid 22,000 per hour, if you teach on site you’ll be paid 25,000 per hour. This gives you 3,000 per hour compensation for travel costs and travel time. Your classes will be 2 hours and you’ll probably have to travel between 30 and 45 minutes to get to your class. A bus ticket will cost you 1,200. So basically for spending over an hour travelling to and from a lesson you will receive 3,600 compensation, great!
The final bone of contention is the hours, IH Bogota can’t do much about this because it is cultural to Colombia. However, you’ll still have to deal with it! Companies pay for about 80% of the cost of a class and the student pays the last 20%. For this the student is expected to complete the classes in their own time, most Colombians work about 10 hours a day, their free time is before work, lunch time and after work. Before work is 6am – 8am, lunch time is 12pm – 2pm and after work is 6pm – 8pm. Lunch time classes are very rare. Therefore to get your 15 hours a week you are going to be working mainly morning and evening classes, i.e. 6am – 8am and 6pm – 8pm, given you’ll have to travel another 40 minutes on the end of that you will leave home at about 5.30am and get home at about 8.30pm – leaving you 9 hours to have dinner, (have a life?,) get some sleep and have breakfast. You’d better hope you’re good at sleeping during the day.
And another thing, one of IH Bogota’s biggest clients (so it's pretty hard to avoid working for them) has just moved far out of Bogota to a small village, you’ll be paid 27,000 per hour to visit these guys but expect over an hour of travel each way to do a 2 hour class here. You better hope you get over 60 hours of classes so you don’t get forced to work here!!!
The support is pretty poor for doing your job as well – the photocopiers don't work most of the time, student books aren't kept in stock so for the first 3 weeks of the course you'll be photocopying the books for your students (on those copiers that don't work) (and the books only arrive in 3 weeks if the admin staff can be bothered ordering them once you've asked for them). There are 3 computers for 35 teachers which are badly maintained and thus take forever to use and over 10 minutes per A4 sheet to print!!
Also don't take the student flat, you'll be expected to pay twice the amount of your neighbours for a worse flat! Nice that the school still feels able to rip off their teachers while offering them such a bum deal.
And another thing, the current contract is for one year and includes a work visa. For this work visa you are expected to travel to Venezuela. The school values the cost of getting you a work visa as 1 million pesos. If you want to leave the school before the end of the one year you will have to pay back this 1 million pesos (that's most of your last month's pay cheque).
From a personal view, I really liked all of my students and I really enjoyed teaching them. It used to annoy me that there was no additional material available if I wanted to do something away from the course book. I also hated the fact that the standard of Spanish teaching was so poor and that I had to argue so hard to get any Spanish lessons (despite being promised them in the interview). The thing I hated most of all was having to go to the school and argue every month because my pay packet was wrong (the error was always because of the women who works in finance who has an insane belief that she’s brilliant when the truth is rather different).
It is a shame because IH Bogota could be a good place to work, however teachers should be given more compensation for the unsociable hours they have to work, they should be given more support by the administration staff (and not penalised so heavily for making a slight administration mistake) and finally they should be given some teaching resources to help them do their job better.
As a final point the school currently doesn't have a DOS. While I worked there the DOS was still at the school and he did an excellent job. He also managed to shelter the teachers from a lot of the stupidity from the top. Apparently working at International House Bogota now has become a whole lot worse as you are now directly managed by people who are not used to managing (teachers, westerners or anyone else).
These may all seem like small points and I guess most of them are. To be truthful I probably wouldn't make this post if I had seen evidence of the school trying to fix some of the many problems. However the administration of the school pays very little attention to the school and certainly give the impression that they do not care about their teachers' welfare.
Well that's a pretty big rant. My name is James, I worked for IH Bogota from September 2008 until June 2009. The above opinions are my own but I have asked other teachers for their opinions and tried to give a balanced view. I left the school on good terms and got all of the money from them I was owed. I'm happy to defend the above opinions and answer any questions you have.
By unhappy_ih_teacher on Jun 12, 2009, 09:08 in Friendly Talkzone.
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miamimike says on Jun 12, 2009, 09:21:
Wow- Crazy travel hours, distance & Time. Here in the US what you were subjected to would be classified as abuse.
"You can take the Banana Out of the Republic but you Cannot take the Republic Out Of The Banana"
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theflatline says on Jun 12, 2009, 09:29:
Well, it sounds like you did not do your research before you took the job, that place has been notorious for years.
The Colombo Americano would have been a better option.
I would have also reccomended teaching in Manizales or Medellin, smaller towns, where they are not chock full of gringos tend to be better.
I worked at the Autonoma University in Manizales in 2000 and made about 2.5 million a month working working 25 hours a week. I taught one university level class, and the rest diplomados.
I also took shifts at the Colombo Americano for extra cash, the pay was not great, but worth it for the contacts.
Between the university and the Colombo I meet a lot of local politicians and business owners who used to pay me to give private classes to their execs.
As for learning Spanish I never had any lessons. I just wrote down the definitions to ten words a day, ten times each as well as 10 verbs conjugated in all tenses. After awhile you just pick things up.
Also helps when your girlfriend post it notes your apartment.
Legaleez for Complete Morons - A book for gringos in Colombia for who think they understand the nature of the law in a country where they cannot speak the language.
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Noelito40 says on Jun 12, 2009, 09:30:
Can't comment on IH and I do have some sympathy for you but I do know that as for crazy hours, English classes usually are from 6 or 7 am to 8 or 9 am, and that's just a fact of life here, the day starts early, believe it or not these hours are not considered unsociable in Colombia. Also because Bogota is a big crazy, metro free city, you should count yourself lucky that your trips to off site locations are only an hour, in pico horas it can be 2 or 3 times that!
Noelito
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mranderson says on Jun 12, 2009, 10:12:
Working at one of these places can be good but 25.000 per hour is definately not enough. I would rather work in an institute for 15.000 per hour.
I have a class at a similar type place (not ihbogota) but I´m not under contract, so I don´t have to accept anything from them. I accepted the class that I have now becuase it´s less than 10 minutes from my house. It´s also good because I teach professionals and they are way better students than what you´ll find in most institutes.
Remember early morning and evenings are prime time so you should demand top dollar for those time periods. Also never accept a job that involves travelling under a contract, then you´ll be at their mercy. You should have the freedom to not accept what they throw at you. Jobs like this can be a good supplement if you work part time at another institute....And they are selling you as a professional native speaker so demand a professional native speaker salary which includes delivering your classes to the clients private location. In bogota I would imagine this should be around 40.000 per hour.
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pedro says on Jun 12, 2009, 10:27:
They promised you warm weather in Bogota? That's a pretty cruel joke...
Thanks for taking the time to report. PBH has a very high Google search ranking, so your warning will definitely be seen and heeded by prospective teachers.
"Pedro: Pease stop sounding like a pompous and arrogant ass." -- darloup
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srobledo says on Jun 12, 2009, 10:31:
yes, very thorough comments too, I work for the Colombo Americano in Manizales and the experience has been totally different.
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theflatline says on Jun 12, 2009, 10:49:
Clara still the boss at the Colombo?
Legaleez for Complete Morons - A book for gringos in Colombia for who think they understand the nature of the law in a country where they cannot speak the language.
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coastalad says on Jun 12, 2009, 10:53:
my advice is that if you want to teach English then go to Japan. You will generally be treated well, earn a lot of money and have the capacity to save a lot of money in one year.... enough to survive in Colombia for a year.
Enjoy Colombia, just don't work there... maybe it is ok for ppl of a retiring age but for anyone young with lots of options why work for peanuts in a non career enhancing position where you are not respected. Teaching privately can be ok if you happen to be lucky enough to get reliable students... its a catch 22 as the students with money are likely to be the hardest working and busiest, so unlikely to always be available for class.
always avoiding white picket fences
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srobledo says on Jun 12, 2009, 10:55:
yeah Clara still here, it's been like 12 years with her on board or so
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Adam00 says on Jun 12, 2009, 11:06:
1.5 million for working only 60 hours per month? - I think that's a very good salary for Colombian standards. 1.5 million is about the same a Colombian University graduate earns, but for working more than 200 hours per month. You are working in one month about the same a Colombian works in one week for the same monthly salary. I think you were very lucky in finding such a relaxing job!
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Bill Turley (Moderator) says on Jun 12, 2009, 11:11:
My suggestion is and has been to work for schools rather than institutes. Then you have a normal schedule at a fixed locale. There are generally openings for Native Speaking Experienced English teachers at the Bilingual schools.
Mr. Bill Somondoco
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Adam00 says on Jun 12, 2009, 11:23:
That's a good point, Bill, but you will have to deal with hundreds of children and their parents! – I would prefer to teach just 60 hours in a month and not to deal with hundreds high class children and parents...!
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greg-oreo says on Jun 12, 2009, 12:07:
I work for IH and disagree with the majority of these complaints. I won't respond to them individually here, but if anyone is considering working for IH and has any questions, feel free to PM me. Especially compared to friends working in other schools, IH is FAR more organized, legit, and fair than any other language institute I know of in the country, with the obvious exception of the British Council. It does sometimes take a little bit of patience, but working for IH is not a bad experience at all, and I mostly enjoy it (like any job, it there are moments when I don't) and find the administration mostly helpful.
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theflatline says on Jun 12, 2009, 13:02:
I have worked at three Colombo Americanos and all were top flight.
As well as the Autnoma unviersity. The contacts I made their were invaluable, it is good to know the parents of the kids. You get invited to dinner, to fincas, and offered translation jobs, which in the end turns into you working less because you are making more money.
Again, I would pick some other place to work other than Bogota.
Legaleez for Complete Morons - A book for gringos in Colombia for who think they understand the nature of the law in a country where they cannot speak the language.
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Carsten says on Jun 12, 2009, 13:55:
It is quite obvious that you are a very inexperienced teacher and trying to damage the reputation of one of your first employers will not help you to find better teaching jobs. You will find the same problems in almost every language school around the world. Problems with printers, photocopiers, computers and books are more than common in language schools and Universities around the world. Working early in the mornings and late in the afternoons is what you will find in most language schools in Latin-America. These are just the peak times for this business! Taking apart the B.C. and a very few Universities Latin-America earning US$13 an hour is much more than a teacher can expect in the whole continent, even in the US!
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span_colombia says on Jun 12, 2009, 13:59:
adam00 - just wanted to point out a couple of things. those of us who work at IH are university graduates, plus we have are required to have a challenging and expensive certificate to teach English (CELTA or equivalent). and remember that 60 hours off-site teaching/month doesn't equal 60 hours of work per month! (possibly more than 120).
I am also willing to give advice/my opinion to those who pm me.
I think working for IH can be a positive experience. it's just very important to carefully consider all the details (such as, can I handle many hours of commuting every week for work) and talking to a current/recent teacher there can be a great help in that.
once I'm in the classroom and teaching, I (usually) love my job. it's some of the peripheral issues that can be quite challenging.
thanks James for not posting anonymously.
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McPesos says on Jun 12, 2009, 14:11:
I understand the crazy hours.... I've been arguing with my school for months now everyday because I refuse to get up at 5am to travel and teach a 1hr class and then wait 7hrs for another class and eventually get home at 9pm, saying that it is a crazy work-day and I am not desperate enough for that exta 1hr a day to change my work-day from 5 or 6 hrs to like 16 hrs for an extra hour. They are very nice but get very frustrated with this and say any other teacher would just be happy to have work and think I am very picky. They don't seem to get the idea of a "work-day" here, I don't know, but as an American friend pointed out in another latin country where we had to wait through a 2-hr siesta everyday and work crappy scheduals at a school, although latin america can be more tranquil than the US life-style, there's something to be said for the American 9-5 work schedual. My school also gets confused as to why I don't want to work when I get a huge break of free-time in the middle, they tell me that it is an advantage because it is free-time, while I try to explain that it is the exact problem. It's a good institute with good pay with many typical English-teaching problems (cancellations, etc), and I know the inherent difficulties of a schedual here as "unhappy teacher" points out, but it gets frustrating arguing all the time about how I won't turn my work-day into 16 hours for that 1 hour in the early morning, and it seems no one here understands my logic behind it and generally treat me like I am being lazy (I have done the crazy schedual before in another country, waiting hours between classes, a 16hr work day, geting paid for 5 or 6, and many times it's just not worth it, and I tell them I won't do it again, but they still ask me everyday and still are confused and try to convince me to do it).
Another difficulty I have had is the latin pressure to take any available job. When there is a job available to teach English, but is obviously not a good one, with bad hours, too much travelling and cancellations and not great pay, my girlfriend, her family, or latin friends always put a huge amount of (polite) pressure on me to spend all of my day working for nothing, waiting for nothing, with a huge commitment to nothing because at least it's SOMETHING and I should work until I can find a better opportunity. But if the job doesn't lead me anywhere close to sustainable living, committing all of my time to it in the end is the same as having no job and all of my time free... but they never understand that and think I am being again, lazy, don't see the logic, and I have had many arguments over this for the past few years. I understand in a poor country there is a desperation sometimes for whatever work is available, and I try to explain to my surrounding latinos that I am not desperate enough to spend all of my time working almost for free just because, by the grace of God, there's an opportunity to "work". I have wasted a lot of time teaching English and refuse to take a crappy job or put myself into another crappy commitment, but I get a lot of (polite) heat for it, trying to convince me that I am not being logical/don't understand the inherent problems teaching English, and that I "need to do this" and "need to do that" from my surrounding latinos who have never taught anything before. Dammit, I'm not lazy because I refuse to work basically for free, just because an institution was nice enough to give me the opportunity to be taken advantage of.
Sorry for the rant, I've got a lot of experience wasting my time teaching. I'm happy where I'm at now, the pay is good and they are very nice, it's just frustrating having the same arguments and pressure from latinos in both Central and South America about the same crap for years. But I did learn to put my foot down (even learned that in spanish) about this a long time ago, and stopped being really polite and accomodating about everything (that was my problem in my past, being too nice about everything and not saying simply "no" "no" "no"... although it is still hard to get them to understand "no".... I think I need a gringo English-teacher's rape wistle)
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mranderson says on Jun 12, 2009, 14:31:
I know what you mean mcpesos. I´ve had some similiar problems with scheduling and they just don´t get that I´m not going to wait several hours in between classes. In the past I have simply refused the classes and told them to get back to me with a better schedule. They really hate that and wanted to just replace me but apparently they couldn´t find anyone better than me who was as reliable as me.
My wife has the same attitute as your girlfriend and latin friends when it comes to working shit jobs. I´m slowly trying to change the way she looks at things so she isn´t taken advantaged of. Problem is that so many people are willing to be taken advantaged of.
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Carsten says on Jun 12, 2009, 14:51:
theflatline, how much is Colombo paying? A friend told me that they pay about $15.000 per hour and you have about 20 students in each class. It doesn't look very motivating...
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StevStef says on Jun 12, 2009, 16:09:
This all sounds quite horrible. I start the Celta next month and I decided to shell out the money because I heard IH pays well, enough where I can still pay my student loans in the U.S.
But after hearing all your posts I am considering not doing. Not being compensated for paying 2 grand for Celta is complete bull shit.
I would be highly pissed off at the end of the certification program if I only made 1 - 1.5 million.
That is complete crap and unless you have mommy and daddy to leach off of from U.S.
There is no way to live on that amount, atleast to live comfortably.
I am completely dissapointed by these posts.
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span_colombia says on Jun 12, 2009, 16:25:
don't expect to pay off student loans or any kind of first world debt on a normal entry level english teaching job in latin america. at IH you will make enough to not have to worry too much about finances, but not enough to live in any kind of luxury. you heard wrong about paying off loans.
asia is widely known as the only place in the world for newbies to teaching english to make good money.
the CELTA is an excellent course. you could look into doing it a southern cross in ecuador. it only costs $1300 there.
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mranderson says on Jun 12, 2009, 16:42:
"at IH you will make enough to not have to worry too much about finances,"
Well, maybe...but that really depends on lifestyle. I currently make about that and I´m packing up becuase it´s hard living on such a tight budget. I did it for over 2 years and that´s enough for me. And I live pretty cheaply.
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span_colombia says on Jun 12, 2009, 16:59:
fair enough
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travelguy says on Jun 12, 2009, 18:32:
I just finished my IH course in the states and have a certificate. I plan to go to Colombia in September. Now, with some of these posts, you're depressing me. However, I plan to go anyway and have a good year whether or not I'm teaching. I'm glad to hear all the stories. It gives me some idea of what to expect. I don't plan to stay in Bogota, though.
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span_colombia says on Jun 12, 2009, 18:37:
welcome when you get here! there's lots of teaching opportunities and motivation to learn english here.
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unhappy_ih_teacher says on Jun 13, 2009, 03:34:
at theflatline
> Well, it sounds like you did not do your research before you took the job, that place has been notorious for years.
The school has only existed for 2.5 years so I find that hard to believe.
at coastalad
> Enjoy Colombia, just don't work there...
I disagree with this. Colombia is a fascinated country with lovely people. Teaching English in Colombia can be very rewarding and the students are great - motivated to learn, respectful of the teacher and hardworking.
at Adam00
> 1.5 million for working only 60 hours per month? - I think that's a very good salary for Colombian standards.
For Colombians it would be an excellent wage. As a gringo you have some extra costs, for example accommodation. Most Colombian graduates would live with their parents, unfortunately our parents are a few thousand miles away. Gringo accommodation is also more expensive - we can't take normal accommodation because of the paper work and guarantees you have to give. Plus most people want to travel while in Colombia so you need some extra dosh for that.
at Bill
> My suggestion is and has been to work for schools rather than institutes.
The advantage of institutes is that they allow you to sign short term contracts. Anyone planning on settling down in Colombia should definitely look at working for a school or university. If you are just passing through for a year you will have to work for an institute.
at greg-oreo
> I work for IH and disagree with the majority of these complaints.
My views are representative of a large number of teachers at the school but certainly not all. I know of other teachers who also do not share all of these complaints. I also enjoyed working for IH Bogota but I think some of the above points need to be addressed.
> IH is FAR more organized, legit, and fair than any other language institute I know of in the country
Hence the first paragraph!
> I find the administration mostly helpful.
There is one girl on the reception who is excellent and very helpful.
at Carsten
> It is quite obvious that you are a very inexperienced teacher and trying to damage the reputation of one of your first employers will not help you to find better teaching jobs.
This post is hilarious, I wasn't sure whether to reply or not. Do you really think someone could get another job using this approach. I would suggest the alternative, I am risking not getting a job in the future by highlighting the problems in IH Bogota.
In case anyone thinks this is serious - This is the 4th school I have worked in and I already have another job at a very highly regarded institute.
> Problems with printers, photocopiers, computers and books are more than common in language schools
It is very true, there are many badly run schools in the world including IH Bogota. I have worked at other well run schools that do not have these problems. When working for an IH school you would hope it would be well run (for example IH Barcelona which does not have these issues).
at StevStef
> This all sounds quite horrible. I start the Celta next month and I decided to shell out the money because I heard IH pays well, enough where I can still pay my student loans in the U.S.
Most people don't become English teachers to get rich! However posts in Japan, China and South Korea pay very well..
at stephen_aubrey
> he even complains that you cannot argue with your boss and must show him the utmost respect
Not sure where you're from but having held down an alternative professional job in the UK for many years and managed people I have some idea of what to expect from an employer. I would think it is reasonable to earn someones respect and not just get it because of a position. Additionally I believe that it is good management strategy to listen to the concerns of your staff and address them - this is not the approach at IH Bogota where staff complaints are considered unloyal. One girl went to the school to complain about being paid late, the response was "You know where the door is" - a great management style!
As an aside here are some comments I have received from other teachers about this post:
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it is fair ....there seems to be no space for us to discuss openly any problems teachers might have ....good job on the review....take care
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I think you've covered everything. I fully back you.
--
That is brilliant. My sentiments exactly! Thanks.
--
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makopp5 says on Jun 13, 2009, 04:38:
"at Adam00
> 1.5 million for working only 60 hours per month? - I think that's a very good salary for Colombian standards.
For Colombians it would be an excellent wage. As a gringo you have some extra costs, for example accommodation. Most Colombian graduates would live with their parents, unfortunately our parents are a few thousand miles away. Gringo accommodation is also more expensive - we can't take normal accommodation because of the paper work and guarantees you have to give. Plus most people want to travel while in Colombia so you need some extra dosh for that."
Just working 60 hours a month for 1.5 Mio is a very good salay. If it´s not enough, so you have to look for a secound job or you can give private classes. You can´t expect to 5 Mio. for 60 hours of work.
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BillBigD says on Jun 13, 2009, 06:18:
Makoppf- I am glad you point this out. Seems like some of these guys are just plain lazy
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mranderson says on Jun 13, 2009, 06:45:
"unhappy_ih_teacher (newbie) says on Jun 13, 2009, 03:34 (today): flag
Teaching English in Colombia can be very rewarding and the students are great - motivated to learn, respectful of the teacher and hardworking."
If you have professional students then it can be good. Other than that I find students can be very disrespectful and completely unmotivated. Many expect to learn without any effort.
"makopp5 (☼Travelguide writer) says on Jun 13, 2009, 04:38 (today): flag
Just working 60 hours a month for 1.5 Mio is a very good salay. If it´s not enough, so you have to look for a secound job or you can give private classes. You can´t expect to 5 Mio. for 60 hours of work."
Yes, it is a good salary for 60 hours of work. But unfortunately the hours are much more. Depending where your class is located commute time can be almost as long as the class itself, especially in rush hour traffic. And you have to commute at least twice a day. In addition to commute time is preparation time. Gathering the material, making photocopies, planning activities, even studying the material. Good teachers walk into the classroom completely prepared. Also each class is different. Most likely you will have to prepare each class seperately adding much more time to the prep. In the instititue that I work at I have 5 classes that are at the same level. So I only have to prepare 1 class and use it 5 times. Makes a huge difference in preparation time.
So I don´t think it´s laziness or anything like that. I think it´s underpaid especially for someone with an expensvie celta certificate.
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mranderson says on Jun 13, 2009, 06:48:
For a job like this I would expect at least 1.8 millones a month. 30k per hour. Well, I would expect that in medellin...I thought teachers made more in bogota.
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mranderson says on Jun 13, 2009, 07:06:
Stephen aubrey...have you ever worked for a language institute in colombia?
I´ve seen language institutes where the director doesn´t have a clue and the administration is almost useless.
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mranderson says on Jun 13, 2009, 07:38:
Well then I guess you don´t know that bosses here can be completely out of touch with reality. I´m not saying to be disrespectful to your boss but sometimes arguments are necessary. Although sometimes bosses just do not deserve any respect at all by the way they treat their employees.
One example..I worked for an institute teaching conversation classes. The institute had absolutely no material to give me and told me I have to come up with my own material. So I did that. I spent time searching libraries, photocopying books, and searching the web for material. I built up my own library which I can now use to teach private students. One day the director told me I must give him photocopies of all the material I have collected. After I told him he can buy it from me which created another argument, I told him he was completely insane.
Bosses are always going to be talked about behind their backs. Doesn´t mean the employee isn´t loyal. Maybe the employee is being taken advantaged of. Or is that ok with you?
Of course they can manage their buisness any way they want but bad management leads to bad employees.
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makopp5 says on Jun 13, 2009, 07:42:
mranderson
that are the cultural diferences. I worked for a company and I quit because I couldn´t support the owner. Ready quit.
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webmanco says on Jun 13, 2009, 07:44:
This has been a very interesting topic. Maybe is time for unhappy_ih_teacher to move on to a managment position. But if you complain about the weather in Bogotá, then I see how easy if for you to find anything to complain about. The only good thing I read was that IH give you guys a working visa.
No hay extremo cierto o verdadero, porque los extremos opacan, enruedan, (lavan cerebros) verdades. Yotas
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justanothergringo says on Jun 13, 2009, 07:47:
Stephen: "My work experience is 20 years regular Canadian mechanized infantry." Canada has a military!? ROFL my head off. And you say it like you are proud.
Yes blind obedience is the key, worked well for Nazis Germany. Just do what you are told, don't like it there is the door. Excellent management technique. You are like that ship captain on the Colombian commercial who insists on listening to music rather than tend to the ship.
.EDITED.
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unhappy_ih_teacher says on Jun 13, 2009, 07:59:
at makopp5
As mrandersion points out the hourly salary includes your travel time and preparation time. Given a 2 hour lesson, I would have 1.5 hours travel time and another 1 to 2 hours preparation time. So yes I get paid a lot for 2 hours but I've done 4.5 to 5.5 hours work. Given I had 4 to 6 hours of lessons per day this actually works out as 8 to 12 hours work a day - I don't think that is lazy!
at stephen_aubrey
I don't think the army is a realistic model to expect most companies to work with. On the whole (in the real world) you hire staff that know what they're doing and bring expertise to the company. Ignoring that expertise would be pretty stupid and a waste of money. Feel free to question my work ethic, personally I believe I bring a lot to companies and I have some pretty damn good references to show for it.
I have worked for various different companies in my life and of course various different company directors. The successful companies (and directors) I have worked with have always listened to their staff. The few arrogant directors (who think they know best and everyone else is wrong) I have worked for are still in the same position with the same sized company - go figure it out.
I agree that not all counties have a similar work ethic but that doesn't mean that each country's work ethic is correct. In the end I have now left Colombia to pursue a job elsewhere which was partly due to not enjoying working within a Colombian run school.
Out of interest do you respect all politicians because they've been elected into a position above you?
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unhappy_ih_teacher says on Jun 13, 2009, 11:17:
at webmanco
Getting a work visa is good and more than most schools in Colombia offer. It is part of the International House contract with teachers that they should have the correct paperwork (although IH Bogota actually had me working illegally for the first 6 months).
I didn't actually complain about the weather - it's not that different to English weather. I used it as an example of how not everything you're told in the interview is completely correct.
Also if you bother to read the post you will find near the bottom the section where I mention that all of the complaints are petty and that normally I wouldn't post such a rant.
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mranderson says on Jun 13, 2009, 11:25:
I´m glad you posted this rant. Many people have the wrong impression or have higher expectations of what it will be like to teach english in colombia. Of course this doesn´t always happen..some people have great positive experiences, but this type of example is not at all uncommon.
Enough petty problems can add up to a poor experience.
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unhappy_ih_teacher says on Jun 13, 2009, 11:37:
at mranderson
The thing that annoyed me most was that I thought I was going to work for International House and therefore a lot of the problems that exist in other schools would not exist there. However the school administration do not appear to be interested in keeping the good name of International House.
I do not count my experiences in Colombia as negative. I enjoyed teaching there a lot. The thing I didn't like was how poorly the school was run, it made my job harder than it needed to be. Me experiences in Colombia were all positive except when I had to walk through the doors of IH to deal with the school.
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makopp5 says on Jun 13, 2009, 12:30:
unhappy
if you are not agree so make your own language school and make competition to IH when you know how to make it better, bery easy.
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kpennell says on Jun 13, 2009, 23:03:
Jeez...I was making 40000-50000 doing privates...My friend Tom seemed to be doing ok at the IH, but I do remember complaining about how poorly run the place was...
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More posts by the same author:
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See also:
Learn Spanish in Bogota (Colombia) with International House (2008)
Furnished Rooms MEDELLIN this is a unique, international house (2010)
International House Bogotá is recruiting native-speaking qualified English Teachers. (2008)
Working in Bogota (2006)
working in Bogota (2006)
Being a working actor in Bogota (2005)
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