Join in 7 seconds.. Existing users: sign in.

all forums, active | friendly talkzone, travel tips, visa & paperwork, renting, selling & meetups, politics & the war, espanol

Would you like to teach English at Berlitz?

Option 1:
"Part-time".
Hours: 6 daily, Monday through Saturday (this is "part"-time??), AM or PM shift. I don't remember what time the AM shift started (maybe 6am?), but the PM shift was from 4 to 10pm.
Location: There's a Berlitz near where I live, which was where I interviewed and where I thought I would work, but then I learned that they can never guarantee from which branch a teacher is going to work, which means it could end up being in any one (or combination) of the 6(?) branches in Bogotá. A number of them quite a distance from my home and I was certainly not prepared to be coming home from some of them at 10pm (the morning schedule wouldn't have worked for me).
Pay: I don't remember exactly, but it's a fixed salary paid monthly and when I worked it out it came down to approximately COP$5.000 (US$2.50) per hour!!!
Benefits: They "help" you get your work visa (ie, they write a letter for you to present to the visa office - you still have to pay the COP$200.000 or so for the cost of the visa). There may have been some sort of health benefit and pension plan in there...
Other: You are required to wear professional dress (suit with jacket), which among other strange rules I remember included no open-toed shoes (not even the pretty high-heeled type for women wearing a skirt). This for me meant that I would have had to purchase an entirely new wardrobe (I don't have many business suits), which would have meant spending my first 5-or-so-months' salary on work visa and clothing!

Option 2:
Full time.
Haven't got the picture yet? Just imagine a number more hours tacked onto the first, no better hourly pay and still working on Saturdays.

I was absolutely shocked by this horrible lack of respect for employees in terms of pay, for people who OBVIOUSLY need to be either extremely well-educated Colombians to have the level of English (or any other language) they expect, or foreigners who are typically accustomed to much better pay and generally have at least their undergraduate degree anyway. And given the fame of Berlitz worldwide and the ridiculously high fees they charge their each of their students (who are taught in groups of 5 or more, often 10, making the pay for the teachers even more pitiful in comparison to what the institute brings in for each class given).

Oh, and of course they don't pay you the full pay (or even at all? - I don't remember) for training, which lasts a fair number of hours as well!

By manny0775 on Nov 17, 2007, 12:05 in Friendly Talkzone.

vicshere says on Nov 17, 2007, 14:59:

manny this is par for the course for a lot of English schools in Colombia not only dedicated to Berlitz

listo

Chelesupercono says on Nov 17, 2007, 15:12:

Slave Labor......

never go to bed with someone crazier then you are, you will do it and you will regret it.......

coffee beaner says on Nov 17, 2007, 15:16:

$5k an hour? LOL no wonder many people in Colombia rather be taxi drivers

Wastelandlive says on Nov 17, 2007, 17:31:

Berlitz is the McDonalds of the language schools.

It's the biggest, the most well known. It's also the absolute worst, bar none. Yep, it pays slave wages. Oh... unlike McDonalds, it's expensive. Whatever language I have been studying at the time, I have always found a better school at about half the price.

You're shocked, SHOCKED to find gambling in that establishment. They pay what they pay because they CAN. Yes, there are people who will take those wages. They are fairly shitty teachers... but then, who among the students is really going to know?

There it is. Save the energy you are expending on outrage and use it to find more suitable employment. If you want to teach English... become a private instructor. Call yourself a "consultant," and sell lessons to executives. It'll take you time to get started, but I guarantee you'll make many times what the idiots at Berlitz make.

Wasteland

Rob77 says on Nov 17, 2007, 18:25:

I guess I'm used to the free market model. If you don't like the price in one place, you go somewhere else. If enough people go elsewhere, prices change.

Problem is so many foreigners show up in Colombia with no skills to offer in the job marketplace but their native tongue. The schools know teachers are plentiful and have no other options... Law of Supply and Demand.

On a more sarcastic note, you could always start a ESL Teachers Union. But Union folks don't seem to live long in Colombia.

BOYCOTT CITGO - CHAVEZ SUCKS!!!

Leeroy says on Nov 17, 2007, 18:29:

I would say that EF is the McDonald's of ESL.

Berlitz is more like Burger King.

HisValentine says on Nov 17, 2007, 20:19:

Do they require any College education? When was it that you applied? I was wondering if they would be hiring durring the holidays?. The pay is bad, and the hours not so great, but it will help me get a work visa.

vicshere says on Nov 18, 2007, 04:05:

remember a work visa is only applicable to the institution that gives you a contract...you are allowed to work for a second institution but only 8 hours a week.....a work visa doesn't allow you to work where ever you want

listo

Robert Jorge says on Nov 18, 2007, 10:16:

I have no personal experience; but reading posts from this site and actually retaining a little bit of the information, 20.000 cop seems like a typical but good wage for an English teacher in a private school in Colombia. I have to wonder about the part time hours stated in the original post. 6 hours a day, 6 days a week - that's 36 hours ... that is technically full time in the States, but most teachers in the States work 45 hours a week "on the clock", and at least another 20 at home doing lesson plans, prep, grading papers, etc. Plus, in Colombia, there isn't a month that doesn't have at least one holiday. Colombia holds the World's record for the number of federally recognized holidays. No school on those days.

--"I believe in making the world safe for our children. But not for our children's children, because I don't think that children should be having sex." - Jack Handy

Robert Jorge says on Nov 18, 2007, 10:18:

Oh, but to answer the OP, hell no I wouldn't work for that Berlin, Berlitz, whatever company. Screw that. I would rather sell chiclets in front of nightclubs than teach for 5mil an hour.

--"I believe in making the world safe for our children. But not for our children's children, because I don't think that children should be having sex." - Jack Handy

manny0775 says on Nov 18, 2007, 19:58:

I´m very curious...... It is strange.......I do not see usher 127 defending Berlitz....

Of course not!...usher127 is part of the scam in "Tcolombia" rip off English School

usher127 says on Nov 18, 2007, 20:03:

err... calm down... frankly, your post was a little boring. I couldnt be bothered. It's sooo obvious that working for Berlitz is completely ridiculous... you would have to be mad. Satisfied?

Sam Salmon says on Nov 18, 2007, 21:42:

I studied Spanish at Berlitz here in Vancouver-complete waste of money.

The teacher was an ugly Venezolana-probably the ugliest women in that country-with a mustache better than I could grow in 2 weeks!

' a la orden!'

Rob77 says on Nov 19, 2007, 04:05:

20k COP, per day, is close to legal minimum wage for full time work. You should not expect to compare Colombia wages to developed countries.

But, you will get a taste of what so many in Colombia have to accept for pay. It's not an option.

BOYCOTT CITGO - CHAVEZ SUCKS!!!

esanch36 says on Nov 19, 2007, 08:51:

i went there asking for a job and they paid like 8 mil an hour...still i have also heard to that they treat there employes like shit...you can find other instuites that pay better and arent that strict.

All right, I'll ask: How come it took three seconds to euthanize Eight Belles, but the Womens NBA is starting Year 12???

manny0775 says on Nov 19, 2007, 10:33:

That´s right, esanch36.

Chelesupercono says on Nov 19, 2007, 10:49:

I have never seen so many posting about teaching English on PBH at one time......does such a low paying job really warrant so much controversy? For heavens sake.....it's a minimum wage job....why not just flip burgers and eat at the same time.....duh?

never go to bed with someone crazier then you are, you will do it and you will regret it.......

manny0775 says on Nov 19, 2007, 11:11:

Cheles, not low wages, not the bad conditions, The rip off...cheles.... the rip off

Leeroy says on Nov 19, 2007, 16:04:

ESL jobs anywhere tend to be low-paid. Many are happy to have unqualified and inexperienced "teachers" on-board, and the general pay and conditions in such institutions reflect that. There is nothing wrong per se - as long as everyone recognises it for what it is.

If you have no (or next to no) qualifications and/or experience, then you can expect relatively rubbish job prospects.

yummyj says on Nov 25, 2007, 01:43:

I wonder if manny is a qualified, experienced English teacher.

Chelesupercono says on Nov 25, 2007, 09:33:

All of the English teachers I have met where all former Burger King employees......hummmmm someone needs to do some serious research into this phenomenon.......

never go to bed with someone crazier then you are, you will do it and you will regret it.......

manny0775 says on Nov 25, 2007, 13:05:

yummy, let me have your e-mail and I´ll send you my résumé.......