Gmail James **SURNAME** <== email address removed ==>

[celtastars] Immediate start at IH Bogota, Colombia
18 messages
Tom **SURNAME** <== email address removed ==> 28 August 2009 19:52
Reply-To: == yahoo group address removed ==
To: == yahoo group address removed ==
 

Hi everyone:
 
Colombia, anyone?
 
Tom
 
Ad says:
Teach in Colombia, one of Latin America's most beautiful and exciting countries

International House Bogotá is recruiting native‐speaking, CELTA‐qualified teachers for fulltime, in-company work, beginning immediately
 
--Excellent salary and benefits
--Assistance with accommodation
--Visa provided
--Free Spanish classes for all IH teachers
--Ongoing professional development
 
Interested? For more information, send your CV to
dos@ihbogota.com

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

__._,_.___
NOTE Please do not use your "reply" button to respond to the whole group if in fact you only want to reply to one individual (such messages will not get sent). Instead, reply to the person's individual email address or phone number (if given).
Recent Activity
Visit Your Group
Yahoo! 360

Share what matters

Share your photos, blog.

Control who sees what.

Yahoo! Toolbar

Get it Free!

easy 1-click access

to your groups.

Yahoo! Groups

Start a group

in 3 easy steps.

Connect with others.

.

__,_._,___

James <== email address removed ==> 29 August 2009 15:08
To: == yahoo group address removed ==
I worked there over the last year and wasn't terribly impressed with the school or the way I was treated by them.  There are a few posts on the Internet about them (a google search quickly finds a couple).




Tom **SURNAME** <== email address removed ==> 31 August 2009 10:07
Reply-To: == yahoo group address removed ==
To: == yahoo group address removed ==
 

Hi everyone:

Maybe you could be a bit more specific about what you didn't like, James?

I did a quick Google search on the Internet and found this:
http://poorbuthappy.com/colombia/post/working-for-ih-international-house-bogota/

If you read all the comments, however, you'll see that quite a lot of the criticisms expressed are in fact being shot down by other users (particularly those that refer to Colombia rather than specifically to IH Bogota).

But why not give us a few more details...?

Tom

__._,_.___
NOTE Please do not use your "reply" button to respond to the whole group if in fact you only want to reply to one individual (such messages will not get sent). Instead, reply to the person's individual email address or phone number (if given).
Recent Activity
Visit Your Group
Yahoo! 360

Share what matters

Share your photos, blog.

Control who sees what.

Yahoo! Toolbar

Get it Free!

easy 1-click access

to your groups.

Yahoo! Groups

Start a group

in 3 easy steps.

Connect with others.

.

__,_._,___

James <== email address removed ==> 31 August 2009 15:01
To: == yahoo group address removed ==
Dear Tom,

I am at the end an exam preparation immersion course at the moment and I have a pile of writings to mark.  I will post a more detailed reply in a couple of days, the madness should be over by Wednesday.

Basically I was lied to about my work status before going to Colombia and this led me to be questioned by the authorities (under oath).  The school has never admitted the seriousness of the position they put teachers in or apologised properly. 

I was very lucky at the school and had great students and really good working hours.  There were many teachers in a worse position than me who were also a lot angrier.  I do not know why these teachers haven't spoken up.

Regards,

-James.

selina <== email address removed ==> 1 September 2009 05:17
Reply-To: == yahoo group address removed ==
To: == yahoo group address removed ==
 

Dear Stars,

I did not work for them, however I was hired to work for them in
November 2008, after leaving Barcelona for Houston. My contract would
begin in mid-January 2009. Since I was in Houston and so close, I
decided to take a week's vacation to Bogota to visit the school. I
stayed with a teacher who'd been working for IH Bogota for I think
four or five months already. When she found out that I was going to be
teaching there in January, she said, "Oh gosh we have to talk." I'd
just arrived and I was super excited about being in Bogota and
teaching there in Jan so I didn't want her chat to bring me down. So
avoiding her the next morning, I went straight off to my Spanish
class.

The school was GORGEOUS, cute little patio with fountain, wooden
floors, beautiful tiling, I was stoked! but... it was cold and empty.
Not a single student in sight. And I thought hmm... must be off
season... I met my Spanish teacher and discovered that my group
intensive conversation class, would be just me and him. He told me
isn't is great you're going to get a private class for a group
intensive price? I wasn't too happy really but tried to remain
cheery. I had expected and was looking forward to the dynamics of a
great conversation class. I asked him why there were no other students
and he said, well I'll tell you but you have to keep it a secret. I
was like uh ok... this is so weird but ok. And he said, the school has
not advertised. No one knows about our programs or our classes, not in
the English department or in our Spanish department. And I thought
hmm... maybe he doesn't know the full story.

When I got home that day after 4 hours of just me and this dude, I was
exhausted, and keen to share my weird experience of the school and
hear my roommate's thoughts as well. When I told her, she shook her
head and told me: (James, please chime in if my version of Ivy's
experience is a bit off, it's been several months now):

1. they lied to her about helping with the process of getting her
status and also that she would have status. when she arrived she
discovered that the school could not guarantee her status and she'd be
kind of illegal. partially legal via some loophole in the law, but not
fully legal and therefore paid under the table.

2. they needed her to sign her contract and instead of telling her
this, they signed it for her. They forged her signature. By they she
meant the owner of the school (some guy named Alejandro) not the DOS.
when she asked why they'd forged her signature, they said oh it's not
a big deal, we couldn't find you around the school one day so we just
did it for you. she was nervous about what other documents they would
sign for her.

3. because the school had not advertised, there were no English
language students. the teachers were given company classes instead.
which is fine, however come december they had run out of company
contracts as well. so teachers were expected to take a low-paid months
vacation, but be on-call just in case, and stay in Bogota to do
administrative tasks around the school!

These were her three main beefs. I met other teachers there and they
all had similar horror stories. when the learned I'd be teaching
there come January they just shook their head and said, let me tell
you.... They had all been lied to about getting their status sorted
out,and ended up being only partially legal. were even paid under the
table (James maybe you can speak more to this, when you have time of
course!)

One teacher had been promised two weeks free transitional housing,
when he arrived his promised temp apartment was inhabitable, missing
key necessities in the bathroom and kitchen. Another couple of
teachers felt as though the school was very unsupportive. Whenever
they'd present questions or concerns about payment, medial assistance,
work/immigration status papers, they would get short ambiguous
answers.

I think a majority of the teachers I spoke with believed the DOS was
not at fault, and did have their best interest at heart. And that he
was just as shocked if not overwhelmed by all the mishaps. From the
story I heard from the DOS, it seemed as though IH Barcelona had
dumped the reponsibility on him to be the DOS, he thought he was going
to be there temporarily, 2/3 months max.

Most of the teachers I spoke with thought the owner was a crook, just
out to make money, but knew nothing about running a school.

Ah another point, no one was available to listen to the teacher's
grievances. They'd had meetings, spoken up , someone even came from
Barcelona to hear them. But nothing i guess changed.

I'm glad I took a trip down there to see for myself, luckily I was
close enough to make the trip (Houston is only a 4 hr. plane ride from
Bogota, not that long if you're from the US!). Most of the teachers
were British who'd come all the way there from Europe, going on IH's
reputation alone. They didn't really have the capacity to take a
preview of the school. It was really sad and kind of frustrating to
see such a beautiful school with a name like IH on it, deserted and
full of such unhappy teachers.

I did not actually work there, so some of my recounts might be
slightly off. But basically I encountered loads of legitimately
unhappy, angry teachers. I meant to share my thoughts earlier in the
year, but got tied up with looking for work elsewhere. Also, I figured
they'd have their act together come the new year, since so many
teachers had complained and they were in the process of hiring
additional teachers. Sigh... My apologies, my dear stars.

Anyway, I hope IH Bogota does become a great school. It's got so much
potential and Bogota is such an amazing, lovely, beautiful,
interesting city.

Best,

Selina

__._,_.___
NOTE Please do not use your "reply" button to respond to the whole group if in fact you only want to reply to one individual (such messages will not get sent). Instead, reply to the person's individual email address or phone number (if given).
Recent Activity
Visit Your Group
Yahoo! 360

Share what matters

Share your photos, blog.

Control who sees what.

Yahoo! Toolbar

Get it Free!

easy 1-click access

to your groups.

Yahoo! Groups

Start a group

in 3 easy steps.

Connect with others.

.

__,_._,___

claudia **SURNAME** <== email address removed ==> 1 September 2009 18:35
Reply-To: == yahoo group address removed ==
To: == yahoo group address removed ==
 


sounds like IH should think about ending their affiliation with them.

__________________________________________________________
View your other email accounts from your Hotmail inbox. Add them now.
http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/167688463/direct/01/

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

__._,_.___
NOTE Please do not use your "reply" button to respond to the whole group if in fact you only want to reply to one individual (such messages will not get sent). Instead, reply to the person's individual email address or phone number (if given).
Recent Activity
Visit Your Group
Yahoo! 360

Share what matters

Share your photos, blog.

Control who sees what.

Yahoo! Toolbar

Get it Free!

easy 1-click access

to your groups.

Yahoo! Groups

Start a group

in 3 easy steps.

Connect with others.

.

__,_._,___

Tom **SURNAME** <== email address removed ==> 1 September 2009 19:18
Reply-To: == yahoo group address removed ==
To: == yahoo group address removed ==
 

Hi everyone:

Thanks, James and Selina for feedback there.

I don't have any personal experience of either Latin America or of IH Bogota (other than being responsible for their website) so you're much better qualified to provide feedback than I am.

Nevertheless, I think we're possibly getting a slightly one-sided version of things here.

IH Bogota is a new school, I don't remember the exact launch date but it's around two years and it's taken them a while to get student numbers up (hence you might have been there with few students...).

What is certainly not true is that it hasn't been promoted in various ways. IH Barcelona was behind it at set-up and maintains a financial interest in it, and I know for a fact that IH BCN also therefore has an interest in ensuring that it is promoted. As the person responsible for creating and maintaining the IH Bogota website, I have in fact been part of their promotional process myself.

I can also say that IH Bogota are surprisingly up-front about the terms they are employing you on (as they should be if you are flying all the way out there). They send out (or at least they do now) a detailed document to all applicants -- 16 pages, in the version that I saw last month -- specifying things like the timetable and the visa process.

The timetable looks like a bit of a nightmare (I quote from the same document): "

All teachers are required to
be available to teach from 06.00 – 20.00 Monday to Saturday.  If teachers are on a contract and teaching
fewer than their contracted weekly hours, and they then refuse to teach a
course when it is offered to them, they will have to come off their contract
and will receive payment by the hour as and when the school is available to
offer hours for them"

Now the possibility of having a six (!!!!!) to ten timetable WOULD put me off too but (a) whether you like it or not, that's the local conditions, those are the hours available and (b) they are warning you of that in advance, before you sign the contract (which all too many schools, including lots in Barcelona, don't do).

But no, I wouldn't want anyone to sign papers for me either...

Never having been in the school I can't say what support is like for staff (but if it's poor, no, I wouldn't want to work there either). One thing I'm not sure I've understood: "the DOS, it seemed as though IH Barcelona had
dumped the reponsibility on him to be the DOS..." (???). Er, if you are the DOS, can you actually complain that you've got the responsibility for things...?

I can't say either whether it's true that "the owner was a crook, just
out to make money, but knew nothing about running a school" -- but if it WERE true, (a) sadly he wouldn't by any means be the only one like that in the world of ELT (though the word "crook" is maybe overdoing it a little) but (b) that again would definitely put me off.

Aside from the merits or otherwise of IH Bogota, another thing I think worth keeping in mind if anyone is thinking of Latin America and other exotic places (which as I say I haven't in fact been to personally) is that they seem to attract more than their share of criticism.

Note that I'm not for a minute suggesting that this is the case with the feedback James and Selina have given us, but if you go to somewhere like Dave's ESL Cafe forums and read -- say -- the Poland forum, or Chile, you'll find lots of gripes from (usually British) people who can't adjust to not being able to buy Marmite (etc) and hate the country as a result.

If you go somewhere "exotic", you've got to be prepared to put up with "differences" -- which is not intended to excuse some of the things that would make me not want to work for a school.

As IH Bogota point out in the info pack mentioned "Language teachers arriving in Bogotá are likely to feel some form of culture shock. Life and work in Bogotá can be more difficult than people expect, owing to some cultural differences. Not everyone realises the importance of the cultural differences until they have been here for a few weeks. Please give them careful consideration. Colombians are slow to take offence and do not find fault easily, perhaps because a number of things do not work properly in the first place. If you are someone who finds fault or takes offence very easily, then you may not fit in well here...etc".

Take "Bogotá" and "Colombians" and the same applies to just about anywhere beyond wherever it is you call "home"...

Or not....?

But thanks, again, to James and Selina for their feedback. Positive or negative, how useful CeltaStars is to people depends on you taking the trouble to provide us with feedback...

Tom

__._,_.___
NOTE Please do not use your "reply" button to respond to the whole group if in fact you only want to reply to one individual (such messages will not get sent). Instead, reply to the person's individual email address or phone number (if given).
Recent Activity
Visit Your Group
Yahoo! 360

Share what matters

Share your photos, blog.

Control who sees what.

Yahoo! Toolbar

Get it Free!

easy 1-click access

to your groups.

Yahoo! Groups

Start a group

in 3 easy steps.

Connect with others.

.

__,_._,___

James <== email address removed ==> 1 September 2009 19:57
To: == yahoo group address removed ==
I'll expand a bit on my experience and respond to some of the things mentioned by Selina.  I did meet Selina briefly in Bogota and I think I might have been one of the only teachers who said anything positive.

Firstly the visa fiasco was an utter disgrace.  I was under the impression that IH Bogota would provide me with the legal means to work in Colombia (and having since read International House regulations they are also obliged to provide legal status to work).   When I arrived to in Bogota I was informed that I would be working on a student visa and that I was allowed to work on a student visa for 30 hours per week because I was studying Spanish in Colombia (the free Spanish lessons that you are promised but have to argue to get and then are not very good).  Three months later in December I was informed by Alejandro (the Colombian part owner of IH Bogota, the rest is owned by the same man who owns IH Barcelona) that DAS had requested to interview me about my work status in Colombia.   DAS are the internal security of Colombia who are only answerable to the president of Colombia, plenty has been written about their human rights abuses, however as a white European I was probably not going to end up in the bottom of a mass grave somewhere.   Alejandro informed me that I should not say that I was working in Colombia but that I was a trainee teacher who was required to give lessons as part of my training.  I was also to say that I did not get a salary based on the hours I had given lessons for (clearly a lie) but that I received a fixed grant from the school for studying there.  I was then shown the documentation that was given to DAS to prove this lie, including documentation I had allegedly signed (bits of paper added to the back of the contract I had signed).   At first I was OK with this but after a nights reflection I realised what a disgusting scam had been pulled and how much I had been lied to.   I had a long discussion with Alejandro in his office and afterwards I talked to the British embassy.  I decided to tell DAS the truth and provided documentary evidence in the form of emails sent to me from the school before I left England.   Luckily DAS was only after the school and none of the teachers were fined or asked to leave the country.

I have since then had arguments with Alejandro about this and he has never admitted that the school did anything wrong.  Several teachers were obviously extremely upset by this whole incident and one teacher even hired a lawyer to go to DAS with her.  The school should at least apologise to the teachers involved although many teachers felt at the time that Alejandro should have been strung up.

I think this is wrong because it clearly betrays the trust that teachers place in a school that has hired them.  Many teachers joined IH Bogota based on the reputation of International House and knowing that is affiliated with IH Barcelona.  Personally I paid £800 out of my personal savings to go to work for IH Bogota which it was impossible for me to earn back.  I expected to at least be told the truth from the start (before I left England).    Once in Bogota most teachers need to then save up for their return ticket making it very hard to leave the country again.

I should mention that since this incident the school now always gets its new teachers a work visa.  This means having to commit to a year's contract and if you break the contract you lose over half of your final months salary to compensate the school for the cost of the work visa.  I.e. if you get there and find out you hate working there like most of the other teachers there you are still committed for the year unless you are willing to sacrifice a large amount of your salary.  I know that other schools do this but it is usually done in the form of a end of contract bonus that you lose if you break the contract early.

I mentioned in my previous email that I was happy with my hours and students which is true.   Every day I worked from 6am (meaning I left the house at 5.30am) and I was finished by 3pm.   All teachers in Colombia work from 6am, it's the lifestyle there.   If you're unlucky like many IH Bogota teachers you will also end up working until 8pm at night (which means you get home at about 8.30pm).  My students were great and I really enjoyed teaching them, Colombians are really lovely people and usually a pleasure to teach.

With regards to some of Selina's points.   The school is indeed very beautiful and it's the selling point for IH Bogota. 

There was a large amount of fuss re things being signed by the school instead of teachers.   Luckily this didn't involve any of my paper work but lots of teachers had contracts signed for them by the school.

I also agree that it wasn't the fault of the DOS who was working there at the time.  He was an extremely nice man and did his best to help teachers, I also believe he was slightly exasperated by the situation.  He left as soon as his 2 year contract was up and I don't think anyone could blame him.  IH Bogota still has not managed to hire a DOS despite the fact they have been advertising since March.   Therefore they currently do not have a DOS, I have been told that it is against International House regulations to hire teachers while a school does not have a DOS, if this is the case then clearly IH Bogota are in breach of International House regulations again.

I was very lucky with finding accommodation in Bogota.  It is very difficult for foreigners to get accommodation because landlords require so many guarantees and so much paperwork.  The school does not provide any help with this.  Many teachers were not so lucky and the unluckiest were the ones who ended up having to rent the school apartment.  This was rented out at twice the price of other apartments in the same block - so the school wasn't only screwing their teachers over hours and wages but also out of rent money.

Johnathon the super big boss of IH Bogota, IH Barcelona and a million other Spanish language based International House schools did come and visit us to find out why the teachers were all so upset.  I am not aware of anything being done about the items brought up during these meetings.

I disagree with Alejandro being a crook, I just don't think he's very good at running a language school or at managing Europeans and Americans.  He barely smiles or ever acknowledges a teacher in his presence.  He has failed to react to any complaint brought to him by a teacher.

I don't know how many more things do you want?  I can tell you about the teachers who were mugged on the way to work.  Despite the fact that several teachers were mugged on the same route visiting the same client the school did nothing and still kept sending teachers on the same route - they could have provided a discounted taxi or something - there were about 10 teachers all working in the same place and living in the same area.

Another teacher was promised some holiday pay and it took 3 months of arguing before she finally received it.  There's the one about a teacher who visited a hospital and was informed that the school hadn't been paying the health insurance and so she couldn't be treated.  Another teacher who complained about not being paid in time and was told that she was free to leave whenever she wanted. 

Anyway, I have another job now and I'm much happier here.  I have two complaints about this school; One the student feedback form isn't very informative and two the writing marking scheme doesn't properly reflect the FCE marking scheme.  I told the DOS and we are currently fixing both problems.  The joys of working for a well managed school.

Good luck if you do decide to go and work for IH Bogota.

-James.

P.s. I have just seen Tom's post.  I am aware of only one teacher being upset at not being able to buy marmite in Bogota and she had vast quantities mailed to her by her family, so much in fact that I managed to get a couple of free jars.

Many teachers who hated working at IH Bogota still work in Bogota, they have gone on to work for other institutes and universities.  They still work the same shitty hours and for the same shitty wage.  They do it because they love Bogota and they love Colombia.  I also love Colombia and Colombians.  I highly recommend visiting the country (and working there), it is beautiful and the people are beautiful.  I just don't recommend working for IH Bogota.

As for the hours it is worth remembering that Bogota is very near the equator, that means it gets light at 6am and goes dark at 6pm (all year round).  The hours you work mean that you are basically awake for all of the daylight hours - it makes sense for this part of the world.   You do get used to it, you just leave the bar at 10pm (if you're not working) and go home to bed like everyone else.

I wish you all the best in finding a teacher with positive things to say about IH Bogota.  I think if you read the above two posts you'll find that it was more than just culture shock that teachers are complaining about.




Tom **SURNAME** <== email address removed ==> 1 September 2009 20:18
Reply-To: == yahoo group address removed ==
To: == yahoo group address removed ==
 

Hi everyone:

Thanks, again, to James for taking the trouble to provide further instructive feedback...

I was joking about the Marmite -- but, you see, there are people like
that, apparently ,-) ! The fact that lots stayed on happily in Colombia
also goes to show that you CAN be happy in a country WITHOUT Marmite...
,-)!

(Here, for anyone wondering what on earth these Brits are wittering on about:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marmite

)

James says: "I disagree with Alejandro being a crook, I just don't think he's very good

at running a language school or at managing Europeans and Americans. He

barely smiles or ever acknowledges a teacher in his presence. He has failed

to react to any complaint brought to him by a teacher."

I can't say if that's true or not, never having met him, but it is, as I said, sadly true of lots of managers, and not just in ELT -- but it makes a huge difference to whether or not you like a school or not.

Without, again, wishing to pass judgment one way or another on a school I don't know personally, my suggestion in this and ALL cases would be that, often, you just have to put up with your boss; and what REALLY matters in a language school (etc) is how well the staff get on together with their colleagues...

Tom

PS James also says "I should mention that since this incident the school now always gets its new
teachers a work visa." And I think that that is in fact the case, that they've cleaned their act up a little... and I suspect that something HAS been "done about [some of?] the items brought up during these meetings"

It would be interesting to have someone working there now confirm that, or otherwise...

__._,_.___
NOTE Please do not use your "reply" button to respond to the whole group if in fact you only want to reply to one individual (such messages will not get sent). Instead, reply to the person's individual email address or phone number (if given).
Recent Activity
Visit Your Group
Yahoo! 360

Share what matters

Share your photos, blog.

Control who sees what.

Yahoo! Toolbar

Get it Free!

easy 1-click access

to your groups.

Yahoo! Groups

Start a group

in 3 easy steps.

Connect with others.

.

__,_._,___

Michael **SURNAME** <k== email address removed ==> 1 September 2009 22:06
Reply-To: == yahoo group address removed ==
To: == yahoo group address removed ==
 

I think its ok to be light and make jokes but from what I  have read I don't think what these poor teachers had to go through at IH Bogota is a laughing matter. I also think that IH Barcelona should make a statement to CeltaStars readers clarifying their position on these very serious accusations.
M
---

__._,_.___
NOTE Please do not use your "reply" button to respond to the whole group if in fact you only want to reply to one individual (such messages will not get sent). Instead, reply to the person's individual email address or phone number (if given).
Recent Activity
Visit Your Group
Yahoo! 360

Share what matters

Share your photos, blog.

Control who sees what.

Yahoo! Toolbar

Get it Free!

easy 1-click access

to your groups.

Yahoo! Groups

Start a group

in 3 easy steps.

Connect with others.

.

__,_._,___

Tom **SURNAME** <== email address removed ==> 2 September 2009 00:29
Reply-To: == yahoo group address removed ==
To: == yahoo group address removed ==
 

Hi everyone:

I think you misunderstand me, Michael. I don't think it's a laughing matter either, and I'm sure no one at IH -- either Bogota or Barcelona does either. After all, they depend entirely on teachers like yourselves working for them and being happy to do so.

You didn't like the one (not actually really intended as a joke) about the Marmite, for example? Aside from the serious issues people have had with IH Bogota, I think it's worth drawing attention to the issues, the shock, of working in "exotic" countries. Having read the feedback, I'd say not too many of you will be applying for IH Bogota -- but some of you are going to head to places like Latin America and come across such things. And even if you went to IH Badalona -- 12 km away, if it existed, and other schools in Spain -- you'd come up against some of the things found wrong with IH Bogota. 

I'm neither laughing about it nor trying to defend them (I could have censored all the negative comment, and just not published the posts): I'm just trying to add a little perspective from 30 years experience in ELT.

Rest assured that the comments made have been passed on to the appropriate people and that they will take them with the seriousness that they deserve.

Tom

__._,_.___
NOTE Please do not use your "reply" button to respond to the whole group if in fact you only want to reply to one individual (such messages will not get sent). Instead, reply to the person's individual email address or phone number (if given).
Recent Activity
Visit Your Group
Yahoo! 360

Share what matters

Share your photos, blog.

Control who sees what.

Yahoo! Toolbar

Get it Free!

easy 1-click access

to your groups.

Yahoo! Groups

Start a group

in 3 easy steps.

Connect with others.

.

__,_._,___

tomdoliveira <== email address removed ==> 2 September 2009 12:46
Reply-To: == yahoo group address removed ==
To: == yahoo group address removed ==
 

Hi everyone:

Jonathan **SURNAME**, who is the Director of IH Barcelona, as well as Chief Executive of the IHLS Group (which includes IH Bogotá) asked me to post the following reply to recent comments here on IH Bogotá (which I had forwarded to him...)

Tom

Jonathan says:
---
The comments recently posted on this site have been brought to my attention and I feel obliged to respond as I don't believe they paint a fair picture of life at IH Bogota. I'm not going to comment on everything that has been mentioned as a lot of it is simply based on hearsay or misunderstandings of one kind or another. For example, there is a comment about a teacher who visited a hospital and was informed that she couldn't be treated as the school hadn't paid her health insurance. The real version of this story is that the hospital made an administrative mistake. The school had paid the health insurance and the teacher should have been treated.

Similarly, the suggestion has been made that Andy **SURNAME**, the school's DOS left because he was feeling exasperated with the situation at the school. I believe Andy may well have felt exasperated with the attitude of a small minority of teachers, but the real reason he decided to leave is that he had already spent twelve years in South America and was keen to move back to Europe to be closer to his family. He is now happily employed with us as the Director of IH Palma.

It's true that it's taken us longer than we'd hoped to find a suitable replacement as DOS, and this clearly hasn't helped the situation in the school. That said, to suggest as one writer has, that the majority of teachers hate working at the school, is scandal mongering at its worst.

The visa issue also needs some clarification. The background to this is that Colombia has a law (la ley de proporcionalidad) that stipulates that each company must employ a large number of Colombian citizens for each foreign national it employs. That poses something of a challenge to a language school that wants to employ significant numbers of foreign nationals as teachers. The idea of providing teachers with student visas, as opposed to work visas, came from our labour lawyer and we were assured that it was totally legal and above board. It was, however, only ever going to be a temporary measure, designed to keep the company moving forward while we found another way to employ sufficient numbers of foreign nationals legally (which we eventually managed to do). The details of this temporary measure obviously weren't communicated to teachers properly and the investigation by the DAS clearly made people nervous. But the truth is that no teachers were under any risk at any time and, despite the implications in the comments posted that the school was deliberately misleading everyone involved, the truth is that we were simply acting in good faith on advice provided by our labour lawyers.

Alejandro would be the first to admit that he has made mistakes and that he still has a lot to learn about managing and communicating with a large group of foreign English teachers. But he is working extremely hard at trying to get a relatively new business up and running in a complex and competitive environment and to my mind, doesn't deserve the harping criticism that he is currently being subjected to. We understand that teachers sometimes get things wrong and, so long as they learn from the experience and make a better job of it next time, everyone is satisfied. It seems only fair that teachers should extend the same sort of consideration to people in positions of responsibility like Alejandro.

One final comment, I'm not the "super big boss of ... a million other Spanish language based International House schools". We have ten IH schools in our Group. More details here:
www.ihls-group.com
---

__._,_.___
NOTE Please do not use your "reply" button to respond to the whole group if in fact you only want to reply to one individual (such messages will not get sent). Instead, reply to the person's individual email address or phone number (if given).
Recent Activity
Visit Your Group
Yahoo! 360

Share what matters

Share your photos, blog.

Control who sees what.

Yahoo! Toolbar

Get it Free!

easy 1-click access

to your groups.

Yahoo! Groups

Start a group

in 3 easy steps.

Connect with others.

.

__,_._,___