Topic: English Solutions

[blackpanther]

Beware this outfit.

A very funny and scandalously explicit thread was on the old thaischoolwatch forum for a short time before it was removed. I cannot understand why these cowboys have not got a repeat?

No work permit. You may ask but you will never get. Only the two "bosses" (henceforth refered to as little "boss" and big "boss") have these as they paid some Thais to sign their name as ES employees. You will be illegal and will also get no insurance. Fall off a motorcycle and tough shit Jimbob....

No holidays. They will bleat....ohh we are flexible and will give you time off whenever you want BUT this is NEVER paid. Tough shit Jimbo.....

No cancellation policy. If they(or the company) cancel classes on the day you will not be paid...unless you go in and complain in which case you will be earmarked for later "elimination"?

Little "boss" is an unbeliveably arrogant, petulant piece of doodoo who should never have been allowed to leave his mothers womb?  Yes!! He is that bad!!!!!! He will smile and shake your hand in the interview but after this he will treat you with barely concealed contempt. NONE of their corporate clients want him to teach as ALL the students hate him. These are Thai students and many of the readers will recognise how hard it is to get a group of Thai students to hate you but little "boss" has it down to a tee.

Big "boss" is little better. He will smile more and actually has some human skills like small talk and such but, again, it is all a facade. He will lie to you and manipulate you.

Both big and little "boss" have a total of...........wait for it...............ZERO....teaching qualifications. They do not care either. Little "boss" cannot teach. Big "boss" can teach test-prep to high level students but once they drop below upper-intermediate he is useless.

The material is all copied from text books and the internet. It is also "copyrighted" hahahahahahahaha

The material is in no way connected from section to section so if you like to actually teach your class something then you will have to find some way to connect these pieces.

Turnover is <<ahem>> high...........many? good teachers have gone through those doors regretting ever responding to the ad on ajarn.

One good thing is that they pay on time......if little "boss" comes back from the bank on time that is. They may tell you that they pay everyone the same but that is a lie. It's all smoke and mirrors with these boys. Don't believe anything they say.

They will probably be advertising for fresh meat soon on ajarn. Beware amigos, beware.

[Ronaldo]

Black Panther is totally correct about these charlatans.

Some points to bear in mind are:

1. Yes... you will be happy with a little above average wages but this won't last long as there are no guaranteed hours.

2. You get what they don't want (be prepared to go off in the wild blue yonder), and if you have the audacity to complain, you will be placed on the blacklist for less hours (in the hope you bugger off), or later termination which they are know doing by text message.

3. Work, insurance, no holidays and/pay, no cancellation policy etc. etc.

4. Little boss and Big boss are not qualified to teach, proof of this is on their resume at their website. You'll find them amongst the teacher profiles page where eighty percent of the teachers don't exist or do not work there any longer, so many people leave they can't keep up changing the pictures and profiles.

I could go on... But I imagine you get the drift. Beware of these charlatans.

[Bangkok Phil]

I don't know anything about this operation other than what I read on here but it's important to keep in mind that the nature of English Solution's business is corporate work.
Corporate work has always been and always will be 'the icing on the cake' for teachers already doing a full-time job. I can't think of one corporate training company with the possible exception of Inlingua (maybe) who offer work permits, paid holidays, etc - this is predominantly freelance work and you can never rely on it providing you with a steady income. It's either feast or famine in that game.  You do a few hours here and a few hours there.

If you interview with any corporate training company and they offer you regular hours from now until forever, I would approach with great caution. Your hours depend among other factors, on the marketing ability of the management.

[samvimes]

Corporate work has always been and always will be 'the icing on the cake' for teachers already doing a full-time job.

Jeez Phil, still playing the same old tune, you sound like a stuck record.

Just because the work is corporate work does not mean that the companies can be even less professional than some of the schools here. Maybe you should support the teachers in Thailand instead of condoning the status quo which you are yourself perpetuating.

[blackpanther]

I understand your perspective Phil but as you have stated you know nothing of this operation besides what you read here.

These boys have ****screwed**** so many people around that it is no longer funny. I hope to enlighten those unfortunates who think they are a reputable company.

English Solutions have offered contracts and/or guaranteed hours to many of their past teachers. These "contracts" never came with paid holidays, insurance or work permits. All illegal work. Their management "style" is absolutely despicable and cannot be condoned by anyone who wishes to consider themselves a professional teacher.

And, Phil, none of the teachers I knew there had full-time jobs outside of ES. Most of them were duped by silver tongues and false promises. 

[admin]

Phil is probably playing the same tune because the tune is the same. Corporate work is corporate work. If the pay is good, then it worth the hassle, but only if the pay is high enough. Back 6 years ago, most teachers had two choices, language institute work and corporate work. One offered steady pay and the other offered a chance to earn more money. It is the name of the game and if you take any job expecting that you will be taken care of and that you having a regular salary is an important consideration for your boss, then you are sadly mistaken. In Thailand, farangs are hired to make schools, insitutes, agencies and businesses more money.

Most teachers don't want to deal with this BS and they have every right not to deal with it....and since free speech reigns, they have a right to say they don't like something and hope that things will change.

 

[hero]

English Solutions have offered contracts and/or guaranteed hours to many of their past teachers. These "contracts" never came with paid holidays, insurance or work permits.

Did the aforementioned contracts promise holidays, inurance and work permits?

All illegal work.

Technically all the corporate work I've ever done has been illegal - as I guess is the majority of corporate work going on

Their management "style" is absolutely despicable and cannot be condoned by anyone who wishes to consider themselves a professional teacher.

Information like this is always good to know - I have seen their adverts myself!

[blackpanther]

Yes, thank you admin.


I am exercising my right to spread the word on these chancers. I cannot do this on Ajarn nor can I, or will I, walk the sultry streets with a sign on my ?back proselytizing the masses.


Admittedly, their "contracts" were for guaranteed hours only with no extra benefits. Their usual excuse is that you are getting a high rate (500-600 usually) and that this extra money suffices.

Management is the main concern. You will not be treated fairly. They will screw you and lie to you.

[admin]

This thread has been split. The bickerfest has been moved to Sour Gripes. Keep it on-topic about the this school, not about corporate teaching in general or about problems you may or not have with other users.

[hero]

One post split and moved to the English Solutions thread in Sour Gripes http://www.teflwatch.org/forum/index.php?topic=181.0.

Please keep this topic for discussion about the bad practices in this company and use the other thread for discussing management style and personality!

Hero

[blackpanther]

Ok. Let's stick by the rules. Bad Practices only please.

1. There is no cancellation policy. If your corporate class is cancelled on the day you will not be reimbursed....even if you have planned your whole day around this class.

2. They openly admit that their material is plagerized. They copyright this material which I believe is <illegal> ?

3. They have no educational qualifications. I personally believe that if you wish to set up an "institute of learning" then you need some credentials to back ths up. Big and little are NOT qualified and CANNOT justifiably evaluate teachers. As a direct result this leads to friction with qualified teachers who **dislike**being patronised by unknowledgable fakes.

I know that standards are low in Thailand but this practice will most defintely NOT improve this situation. If we, the teachers, are to achieve our goals then we must do this in a constructive, honest and professional environment. I hope this is sane enough for you Bangkok Phil.

4. Teachers are/have been/were told that they will be given loads of hours in the initial interview. While I totally accept the retort of incredulity it is still bad practice to lie. All the teachers who believed this later left in disgust. Why can't they just tell the truth?

5. Teachers are/have been/were told that their was no work for them while others were given extra work. These teachers did their jobs well but for whatever reason they were not appreciated by big and little. They were "phased out". I accept that it is the right of the employer to choose their employees and the jobs that they send them to. However, I feel that it is unethical and BAD practice to tell a teacher that they will have more work next month while knowing full well that they won't and that big and little have absolutely no intention of giving any work to the teacher.

6. Full-time corporate teachers...yes there are/were full-time teachers there.....have NEVER been given insurance. I know that one teacher asked for insurance only to be told that it was not possible because none of them had work permits. When said teacher showed the thread (from ajarn.com) that stated that insurance WAS readily available for illegal employees he was ignored. Is it bad practice to lie and put the health of your full-time employees in danger?

I am hopeful that my efforts to express the various bad practices of this cowboy outfit wil be heartily appreciated by all of my many ex-colleagues and admin here. I have purposely not gone on any tangents about personality and style.

If anyone wants to add their own experiences to this section of my wonderful thread then please remember to NOT expressly witch about big and little. Please keep it to BAD PRACTICES of which there are many many amigos?

[Bangkok Phil]

There is no cancellation policy. If your corporate class is cancelled on the day you will not be reimbursed....even if you have planned your whole day around this class.

Now that is appalling. I would never work for a company that had that kind of arrangement. I've worked at a couple of places that had a rather 'wishy-washy' 50% reimbursement rule but even that is no good to the teacher. The problem could lie with the marketing and the setting up of the corporate contract. Your multinational companies will fully accept that they must pay if they cancel the class on the day. I suspect that the kind of client English Solutions goes for - the less discerning client (and I would include most of the banks in that category) will scrap and hassle for every baht. When you sell corporate training, It's much harder to do business at the bottom end of the market than it is at the top. Never touch Thai companies. And never touch government organisations.

They openly admit that their material is plagerized

I think you'll find most training companies are guilty of this. This is nothing new or unusual.

They have no educational qualifications. I personally believe that if you wish to set up an "institute of learning" then you need some credentials to back ths up. Big and little are NOT qualified and CANNOT justifiably evaluate teachers. As a direct result this leads to friction with qualified teachers who **dislike**being patronised by unknowledgable fakes?

Actually I disagree in part because it's all about treating teachers well. If a teacher is treated well and paid on time, etc, etc then the last thing they will do is moan about the management's lack of qualifications. What would be the point? You just do you work, count your money and go home happy. What you do need if you set up an institute is business acumen and the understanding of the market and of teachers needs. It's these areas where English Solutions fall down.

Evaluating teachers is a seperate issue and always a tricky area. It's a complete misconception that an observer needs to be 'more qualified' than the person they are evaluating. Everyone notices something different. What's important is how the feedback is delivered and that is not an easy task to those who lack people skills.

I feel that it is unethical and BAD practice to tell a teacher that they will have more work next month while knowing full well that they won't and that big and little have absolutely no intention of giving any work to the teacher.

I totally agree.

[blackpanther]

Thanks for taking the time to reply Phil. I thought we may have lost you when the thread was split 



If, <ahem> when, these cowboys go into the Hall of Shame will you continue to post their ads on ajarn???

[Ronaldo]

The 'bad practices' of this company certainly need to placed in the 'hall of shame' for consumption by the teaching fraternity and other interested parties.

They are deserving of this award due to those practices outlined in the thread, which are truly shocking.

The necessity to put them in the hallowed hall should act as a clear warning to all teachers of the sharp practices that these clowns are continually involved in.

One extra point that is of immediate concern is black panthers remark concerning the teaching of children at the offices of English Solutions (presumably a Thai registered company), wherein the two principals are not qualified to teach English and therefore do not have the prequisite Thai teaching license, which I am led to believe, that any teacher of children at an established office is required by law to possess.

Is this true or not?

[blackpanther]

Well noted Ronaldo!


Yes, they do promote summer classes with International school kids. They are not qualified to teach these kids nor are they legally permitted to do so. They do NOT have teaching licenses.

I think their parents would be very interested in this fact??? Maybe the Ministry of Education as well???