Complaints about TEFLINTERNATIONAL in
Mauzac France
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Another point of view about Mauzac
A happy customer ! Received Sunday, 05 February 2006 |
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Wednesday, 15 February 2006 we are sent a copy of
an e-mail sent to
Bruce and Dave, Yet another unimpressed Tefl trainee from the
course in Mauzac France in November 2005 writes to you . You may
wonder why I left it this long, well, I HAVE been working 6 day weeks since the
day I got back from France in order to pay back the money spent on the course
and I don't have Internet access where I live. By now both of
you gentlemen must be familiar with our complaints. My grievances are the
same as those expressed by my fellow tefl trainees, namely: False advertising,
inadequate facilities, a wholly incompetent teacher, insecure handling of
trainees finances, and perhaps worst of all, a frequent lack of students.
Believe me, I could go on ad nauseum about each and every one of these
points, but I feel by now the picture has been made clear to you. From
beginning to end, this course was a disaster. People took a
month out of their lives and an enormous chunk out of their Wallets to
attend, some leaving families and young children at home. I feel the
buck has to stop somewhere. It was not enough for Craig to Claim that he had
done his best in trying to convince the powers that be in Tefl International
to amend the highly misleading and erroneous websites-several students very
nearly ended up in the wrong part of France due to a mistake on the website,
for God’s sake! I know all of the Tefl courses are not run like this. Last
June, my Sister attended a course in Rome, Italy, which, she assures me, was
run professionally, taught by several teachers, and guaranteed students in
every class. So here we have a problem. My sister and I both paid more or
less the same amount for our respective courses in Rome and Mauzac(in fact I
believe mine cost more overall). Her experience was that of a professional, competent
service;mine, that of a series of (let’s be frank) screw ups by a crowd of
crooks. What is going
on here??? Not only was the course in Mauzac appallingly bad, now it appears
our certificates are practically invalid??! And to boot, should any of us be
asked in interviews for the grades we received on
our course , we will be unable to provide a grade, Craig not having bothered to
correct our coursework and assignments. I tell you, it is only through the
help and support of my fellow trainees, Jon and Sonya, and David, who was
dragged into this mess at the last minute, that I learnt anything about ESL
teaching at all. Considering
your reputation worldwide, I believe you can well afford and should make it
your business to afford to refund each and every one of us in full and
in our native currency-please do NOT send me an American cheque that is
ultimately worthless. I would like a
response to this email, and a response to each of the very real complaints I
have expressed here. Sincerely, Aileen
Armstrong |
Dear IATQUO: I became aware of your website recently
and I felt I should make some comments. I have recently completed the TEFL
course in Mauzac, France and I have absolutely no complaints (other than the
cold, wet weather!). Our trainer,
Esme Noakes, was very knowledgeable and professional. The course had everything we wanted and
needed. All of us were happy with the
results. Our time in Mauzac was also interesting
because we met several people from the past courses. One woman had taken
the course in October and she was generally happy with the way the course was
run, although she did not feel it was as good as it should have been. Another had taken with
course with Helen, the woman from your website. She said the training should have been better and did have some
negative things to say about TEFL International but that Helen was a
difficult woman who would have been unhappy under almost any
circumstances. Finally, Craig, the
recently fired trainer, was still there, renting a room close by, apparently
with plans to open his own training course.
At one point he became
irate and began shouting profanities at Esme. He seemed emotionally unstable. I believe your website is unfair. I signed up for the Mauzac course in late
November 2005 and there was no mention of IATQUO on the website. ( how stange ! it has only been removed only a week ago!) The
course was run professionally but seemed to fail because of the trainer, not
the company. He has now been fired
and left. He moved out last
week. If you wish to tell everyone about the
problems with the course I think you should tell my experience as well. Sincerely, Anita
Stromme anitastromme@yahoo.co.uk PS: You are free to post my letter but I do
request that you do not share my name or Email address. This happy trainee
does not want her name to be published !
Another
copy of an email Hello
Bruce and Dave. My name is Monica Cannon, and I just completed the
course in Mauzac, France run by Craig Gamboretto-McKay. I am very upset
about the way the course was run and the quality of instruction I received,
as well as the quality of lodging. First, I'm going to tell you what I
want, and then I'm going to tell you why I am mad. I would
like to see Craig Gamboretto-McKay removed from his position. He is not
representing your business well, and I believe if left in his position will
be a detriment to your reputation. Why do I
feel so strongly? Let me share the details with you. Craig is
unprofessional. I am 31 years old, I have taught in South Korea, and I
have taken college courses on Second Languages Acquisition and
Teaching. I know what it is to be professional. From week one,
Craig told us that he had not been paid in three months. He assured us
that he would see us through the course, but it made many of the students
uneasy. He also discussed the validity of the certification. He
told us other schools are more recognized throughout the world, and that, I
quote, our certificates are "worth the paper it's printed
on." Now, while I recognize that there is some truth in that, it
was presented in a very negative way. It really shook the
confidence of the other students. They wondered why they were paying
for this course if the certificate wasn’t recognized worldwide. Class was a dismal
mess. Craig made up a schedule, then he proceeded to completely
disregard it. He talked about
whatever he felt like, skipping over some topics completely. For
example, we never discussed analyzing texts, even thought it was slated for
Thursday at 10am. We had no overview, although he did assign us to read
the book. He started talking about random details that had no
context. The only reason I knew what he was talking about was from the
college course I had taken. The other students, though, who had no
exposure to teaching or teaching methods, were completely lost. When he
did cover a topic, he breezed over very major concepts with no
explanation. He told us we would be teaching in the communicative
method, and that meant speaking over grammar, and that it should be in
digestible chunks. I felt the need to interrupt, and explain what
digestible chunks means, briefly discussing the I plus one theory, or L plus
one theory, whichever way you call it. He spent 3 minutes discussing the
affective barrier, and never once said a definition that was
understandable. Then he had the gall, two weeks later, to chastise
a student for not knowing what an affective barrier was. If they didn't
know, it was because he didn't teach it to them in a manner that they
understood. So, the one week of instruction by Craig was pretty
useless. I must tell you, though,
that the other teacher, David, was fantastic. David taught us
phonetics, lesson planning, and the foreign language experience. All
three topics were extremely helpful, thoroughly explained and discussed. He brought up some very good points for us
to think about as we were teaching and continuing to refine our skills.
Craig, when he graded us on our observed teaching, would not give a reason
for why we received the mark we did. David, who also observed us,
gave us the mark, explained what went well and what needed
improvement.On the subject of observed teaching, Craig’s showed himself to be
a hypocritical jerk. Aileen and I were the first to do our pair
teaching. We were nervous, because we were the first to go in this new
method we were just learning, and this was Aileen's very first time
teaching. We both felt the lesson went well, although obviously, we
could each name five things that needed improvement. We were feeling
very good until we got our review. Craig was very somber, and said not
one positive thing about our teaching. His whole manner was condescending
and negative. Aileen and I were shocked and discouraged, and both of us
thought about quitting at that point. Craig had told us in class to
encourage our learners and be supportive, and for him to turn around and
trash our lesson, along with our budding enthusiasm, is not right. He
may have had a reason for giving us a low mark, like maybe to start off low
so as we improve the marks have our room to go up, which is fine, but
the manner in which it was done was totally unacceptable. Every single
person that day got a bad review. After some thought and based on my
previous teaching experience, I knew the lesson went okay, and that Craig was
being unreasonable in his harsh judgments.
However, Aileen did not know that and she was truly discouraged. Also unacceptable on observed teaching, was the fact
the Craig frequently left the classroom during the lesson. Each of our lessons had the
trainee/teacher and two trainees acting as students. During one of my
lessons, he was absent for 25 minutes.
At my last lesson, he was only present for 15 minutes. I don’t know how he can give me a mark
based on that. I realize the last
week we did not have a second observer, and he had said he would peek in on
the other classroom, however, when I taught in the other classroom, peeking
in was just that, two minutes or less.
One day, when I had no other duties, I was in the living area watching
television with two other students.
Craig came in and stayed with us for 20 minutes, while two other
trainees were teaching real students at the same time! Unacceptable. Bruce, I’m sure you remember the
incident with Marie-Anne Denicolo.
He spoke to her in the living area, where five other students were
having breakfast. I felt
uncomfortable listening to what should have been a private conversation about
her credit card not going through. I
heard him demand payment in cash or she would have to leave. One student was so upset that Marie-Anne
should be treated that way, she felt unable to teach. I want to vouch for the fact that at no
time had this subject come up before, and at no time did he give her another
opportunity to pay with a credit card.
It came out of the blue. We’re
a small group; we grew very close, and I don’t know why he thought we didn’t
talk to each other and know all about what was going on. He had the gall to hold a meeting to tell
us Marie-Anne had to leave because she refused to pay, and that it was TEFL
policy not to let any non-paying student remain. I personally heard him say he could not accept another credit
card as payment, but that it had to be cash.
We all knew he hadn’t been paid, and that he was worried about having
to pay David. That incident was the
turning point for our group. If we
weren’t so close to finishing the course, with one week left, I think many
people would have left. He also left
her dismissal letter in the living area, where any trainee or French student
could walk by and take a copy. Many
students refused to talk to Craig after that, and the whole atmosphere was
awkward and tense. This was the same meeting, I
might add, where Craig told us we had to pay for our own ink cartridges. He informed us, again, that he hadn’t been
paid, and had received no money for school incidentals, so there was no money
to pay for the ink cartridge for the printer. He said he paid for the last one out of his own pocket, and he
wouldn’t do it anymore. One student
said to him, I paid $1500 for a course, this is ridiculous that I have to buy
supplies. His response was, “That is
not my problem.” We were all very
upset, but we made a plan to each pay in 4 euro, and that should cover the
cost which was 42 euro. Come
Wednesday, when we ran out of ink, Nicole ran up to the store to buy the
cartridge. Craig came to me, and
said, I have good news. I got paid, so
I’ll pay for the ink cartridge. I
said, Don’t worry about it, we have it under control. He said, No, since I’ve been paid, I can
release the petty cash to pay David and there should be enough left over to
cover the ink cartridge. So he paid
Nicole. It’s also absurd that the school
had no internet. I know you have no
direct control over that, but to me it shows how Craig is not doing his
job. We are in the middle of nowhere,
France. Craig said there was internet
access in Lalinde, 6km away. I never
saw it. Some of the girls walked to
Lalinde, they said it took one and half hours. When we came to Mauzac, Craig said he went into Bergerac two or
three times a week for the internet, and that he would be happy to take
us. He did this the first week, and
once things started going downhill, he stopped taking us. If he drove to Bergerac for the internet
he didn’t tell us, and he didn’t offer to take us. I took care of my emails on the weekends when we went to other
towns, mostly Bordeaux or Bergerac. One
day Sonya, who ran the hotel, took me into Lalinde to do the internet, but
again we couldn’t find it so she prevailed upon a personal friend to let us
use his internet. In the fourth week,
I told Craig, I really need to use the internet. Can you take me into Bergerac?
He said, Well, I’m pretty busy and I have to take Colleen to
Perigeaux, so I don’t know when I can take you. Why some woman, who happens to be staying at the hotel, has
more priority than me, who has paid for the course is beyond me. It ended up he did take me, but that’s
just like Craig, to first say no, then later say okay as if he’s doing you a
personal favor rather than doing his job. On the subject of extras, this
may sound contradictory, but I paid for a course, and I want a good course,
well prepared and executed. It seemed
there was money for unnecessary things, but no money for necessary
items. For example, Craig subsidized
our hotel in Bordeaux for the weekend, which was nice, but if the school has
no money why is he paying for extras when the basics of the course aren’t
covered? He took us to Domme, but
then we missed class time with David.
We had this huge extravagant graduation dinner, but we have to pay for
our own ink cartridges? As for
supplies, we had printer paper, some ink cartridges, and one set of colored
pens. That was the total of our
classroom supplies. He wanted us to
create realia. Out of what? There were no reference books, no
classroom supplies per se, and no store in Mauzac where you could buy colored
pens or magazines to cut pictures out of.
No white out, glue, paper clips, regular ink pens, nothing. I emailed TEFL, asking if I needed to
bring my reference books, and TEFL said they would forward the email to Craig
and I never heard from him. I expected
there to be a lot more for our use. I wasn’t the only one who did not
get an appropriate response from Craig.
I know two girls, Heulah and Aileen, who emailed Craig to tell them
they were flying in to Bergerac Airport on Saturday, and Craig emailed them
back saying okay, I’ll pick you up.
The girls flew in, and no Craig.
They called his cell phone and could only leave a message. Craig said his cell phone died, but that
is no excuse. He knew in advance they
were coming, and he left them there.
They waited two hours for him, and then the Bergerac Airport was
closing up, so they knew they had to leave.
They ended up having to pay for a taxi all the way to Mauzac, which
Heulah tells me costs them 70 euro.
They didn’t want to have to pay for a hotel in Bergerac, and then in
the morning still not know how to get to Mauzac. As for the quality of the hotel,
the couple who run it, John and Sonya, were lovely. They did all they could to make us feel welcome, and were
helpful with buying groceries and such.
Still, the hotel itself is substandard. The first night was so uncomfortable I couldn’t even sleep in
the bed. My pillow and mattress
smelled of mold. John was helpful and
got a board for my bed to make it more firm so I could sleep. There were no extra blankets, so some
nights I went to bed fully clothed.
When we washed our clothes and hung them up to dry, it was so cold and
damp the clothes did not dry. Toilet
paper was not provided. I pay 450
euro for a room, and I still have to buy my own toilet paper? When I bought it was less than 2 euro for
a roll of six. I don’t understand why
the hotel couldn’t provide that.
Eventually the heat did come on, but the main classroom was always
cold. Not once were we forewarned
that the hotel had to be paid in cash.
John and Sonya were very nice about accepting payment in chunks, since
my card had a limit about how much money I could take out at one time. Also, there was no bank machine in
Mauzac. I had to wait till someone
was going to Bergerac or Lalinde to get out cash. One day there was no water.
Again, John and Sonya handled it in a very good manner. One of the pipes had burst and it was a
holiday so none of the stores were open.
There was only so much they could do, but still, these things happen
when you are doing construction on a hotel.
There was a digging machine operating during our class hours that was
very distracting. I have no
complaints about John or Sonya, and everything good to say about them. But the hotel itself was substandard, and
it was very inconvenient to stay in a place that is being brought up to
snuff. The cost was too high for the
standard that I received. Also, fix the websites. I found nine that refer to the school in
Mauzac, and they all promise different things. One stated that there were kitchen facilities, and we didn’t
even have access to a microwave. One
promised weekend trips, with a tour of Paris, and of course there was none of
that. One promised a free online
course, which I never saw. One
promised job placement help after the course, and of course that’s not
available. I told Craig, I know you
don’t have control over the people that advertise the course. Why not craft an email that as soon as a
person pays the deposit on the course, which I’m assuming you receive, then
they get an email stating how to contact the school, what things they need to
bring, how much the rooms are and warning there are no kitchen facilities,
and all the true details people need to know before they come. He said he’s tried to do something like
that but I don’t believe him. I
wouldn’t have minded most of the things that annoyed me if I had just been
forewarned that this is what it’s like. So, to recap, I am extremely
disappointed in the whole experience.
You may have good schools in other cities, but Mauzac is not one of
them. In my opinion, Mauzac is too
remote. There’s not enough public
access to nearby bigger cities, and the facilites in Mauzac are paltry: one
grocery store and one restaurant. The
hotel is in a lovely location, but until it gets up to standard it’s
uncomfortable and inconvenient. Craig
is a terrible teacher, and personally irresponsible in handling the day to
day interactions with the trainees.
If you want your school to thrive, I recommend you a) remove Craig and
b) you move the location. Either
Bergerac or Bordeaux would be an improvement. I
hope to get a response back from you, letting me know some of the
improvements you hope to make. If
not, my only recourse will be to go to the internet and post warnings for
people to avoid the school in France.
I have also encouraged my fellow students to write to you, to let you
know of their experiences, rather than hearing about them third person from
me.I was so excited to take this course.
It’s so frustrating to see twelve people so eager to learn and so
enthusiastic about what they are doing, to twist that into such a negative
and bitter experience. Even so, we
made the best of it, and there are good things that we each got out of the
course. I think it speaks of our
determination that we all graduated, when at so many times we were tempted to
quit. You owe a huge debt of
graditude to John, Sonya, and Pete, who even though they don’t represent the
school, were a huge support and encouragement to us. The same goes for David, who we turned to
many times for guidance and support which he handled with great aplomb, even
when it put him in a prickly position. Sorry this email is so
long, but as you can see, there are many things that were not right and I felt
needed to be brought to your attention.
If you have any questions, feel free to email me at monz06@hotmail.com . Monica Cannon |
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In a message dated
14/12/2005 10:46:26 GMT Standard Time, elena_korovina@mail.ru writes: Good morning, Our trainees and myself sent several
complaints to the head office but still have no feedback. Unprofessional
teachers, disorganized structure and a remote destination shocked everyone
there .If you are a person to talk about it, I will
forward you our complaints.
The e-mail Elena sent to Bruce My name is Elena Korovina. I completed a TEFL course
November 25, 2005 in France, Mauzac. I would like you to know that the way the
course was arranged there does not meet any international standards or
requirements. I was teaching English in different foreign
companies under the contract of Chevron in Kazakhstan in one of the famous
oil-fields and I was also teaching at the University of Medicine in Russia. I
graduated from the University in 1991 with the qualification of a teacher of
English and I thought that this is the time to make a logical step forward
and develop the new skills and methodologies. I was also interested in
learning how the teaching is done at an international level. I am quite
ambitious and I keep leaning and improving during my lifetime. As I had read
a lot in the Internet about the professionals and experienced teachers running
the course, I was very much looking forward to studying under the guidance of
TEFL qualified professionals. I hope that the reason of why I applied for a
course is understandable. So, having come with such expectations to France, I
was completely disappointed. I have already had a good read of Monica’s
complaint and I may say that everything what is written there is the bare
truth, but I have even more to add. Craig Gamboretto-McKay… First of all, this
person is not qualified to deal with administrative duties or he does not
want to. And I don’t think he is a well-balanced person. I am going to give
you a very detailed explanation of what happened to me on my first day. I
flew from Moscow to Paris and took a train to Bordeaux. On the letter of acceptance
it was written: “Bordeaux to Bergerac, Lalinde or Mauzac. When you arrive to
Bordeaux, simply purchase a ticket to your chosen destination…” So I bought
my ticket to go to Bergerac, one of the destinations mentioned on the letter.
I arrived to Bergerac October 30, at about 10:30am and gave a call to Craig
as agreed (he previously e-mailed his mobile number and I was also told to
arrive Sunday or Saturday if possible.). Upon arrival I called Craig several
times, but his mobile phone was not working. I left a message, but there was
no reply. I spent an hour and a half at the railway station trying to figure
out what to do next. Some people at the railway station advised me to take a
train again and go further to Lalinde, the second place of destination.
Lalinde, as I was explained, is nearer to Mauzac, only 10 minute drive,
whereas Bergerac is about 40 minute drive. It was Sunday and there was not
many trains running. So I decided to hurry up. I took a train and came to
Lalinde at about 12:30pm. I gave a call to Craig, there was no answer again.
I gave him a call sometimes later in the afternoon and here Craig answered
saying that he is not obliged to meet everyone, as picking up people is not
his duty as he explained. He said that there used to be another guy who was
doing it, but he left. I still don’t
know whom he meant. More than that he told me that my name was not on the
list of the trainees! I managed to
persuade him that I was one of the trainees who had already paid the deposit,
got a letter of acceptance and arrived in France having a business visa. Then
he told me that I had 3 options: 1. to take another train and go back to Bergerac
(this sounds rather strange, doesn’t it ? )
and he will be there at 18:00. ( In this case I had to wait at Lalinde
till the 17:30 train) 2. to stay at Lalinde till 20:00 and wait for him
when he meets everyone at Bergerac, bring them all to Mauzac for the Initial
Orientation that is scheduled at 18:00 and then he will go to Lalinde to take
me. (at that time I was not well-oriented geographically and I did not know
how far all these places are from each other). 3. to stay at Lalinde and take the 19:30 train that
goes to Mauzac (as it was Sunday,
there was no other train to Mauzac, but only at 19:30), to call him again
upon arrival or take a car to go straight to the hotel from Mauzac railway
station. In fact, he told me that it was up to me how I
want to get to Mauzac. I tried to find a taxi, but the taxi was not available
as it was Sunday and they do not work on Sundays. I went to the police
station where the policeman on duty was trying to call different taxi
services but none of them was available. I went back to the railway station
at Lalinde and started waiting at the railway station. Lalinde is bigger than
Mauzac, but still a small village. On Sundays you will not see a car or a
person passing by, especially in the area of the railway station. I was actually ready to walk, but it was
not easy with all my baggage. The railway station was closed, and the ticket
machine placed outside accepts only the coins to purchase a ticket. On that
day the only money I had were the banknotes, so I could not even buy a ticket
to travel either direction. I was lucky to meet an American couple who was
biking around that area and who went to the railway station to find out how
to get to a town near Bordeaux by train as it was already getting dark. They
didn’t have the coins either. Well, we all counted how much money in coins we
needed to buy the tickets and as they had the bicycles they went somewhere to
change the banknotes. OK, having got the coins I decided to take the
17:30 train and go back to Bergerac. I called Craig again. He was surprised
to hear that I was still at Lalinde and I could not find a taxi, though he
knew that taxi service was not available and he told me about it later. Then
he asked me if it was necessary to change the time in France as that was the
day when everyone in Europe had to change the summer time into the winter
time. And I told him… yes, and I told him what time it was. The way he talked
to me made me feel that I was talking to the wrong person, the person who has
nothing to do with the course I applied for. Well, I went back to Bergerac and called him
again as I could see neither Craig nor his van. I think that when you meet
someone, you place yourself at the entrance door, preferably with a special
notice and in this case it was supposed to be “TEFL” or something like that.
But Craig was standing somewhere near the railway station and he was explaining
me on the mobile phone which way to go!!! “Go straight forward… turn right…
where are you?... OK… I can see you… turn right again…” That was
unbelievable! Every time I was calling him I used my international line, and
it was as if I was calling from Russia. You may imagine how much money I
spent on that day!? When I saw him, he did not even apologize for the
inconveniences caused and later in the evening he said that he was extremely
busy at a business meeting. Sonya and John could have met me at Lalinde as
they do the shopping every day there, but Craig did not even tell them that I
was sitting at Lalinde railway station which is just about 10 minute drive
from the hotel! What was Craig doing at that time, I do not know. Well, I
gave him a credit still thinking that the things would go better when we all
start studying. But I was mistaken. The next day we started the course. I may tell
you that he is not competent in Grammar. Every time a question was raised, he
could not give a clear explanation or he was trying to confirm that he was
right giving the wrong examples or explanations. He always kept saying that
we are not going to teach grammar, but a communicative approach. ……I also
raised some questions because the explanations he was giving did not meet the
ones I knew from my educational background. I understood that it is not worth
discussing even simple grammar questions with him. I am going to give you
several examples which are just ridiculous:
There were also some other things I did not
like at all. Here are some of them. I talked to a lady who did the same course in Mauzac
in June or July. Her name is Colleen, she is a retiree and has moved to
France to live. She told me that on their course the trainees had a TEFL
teacher who came to teach them Arabic and Phonology. We were also learning
Welsh, but I think that the classes should be provided by a person who can
really speak a foreign language. Dave is a nice person and he is very good at
teaching the lesson planning, etc. But he learned several words in Welsh and
came to the class to teach us Welsh! Why Welsh? Dave was doing it probably
because TEFL could not send anybody else to Mauzac? We did not take the
classes seriously. But Dave was doing his best and we were all enjoying it.
At least we got the difference between the learning and teaching processes
when learning Welsh, but I just wonder
why everything is so disorganized in Mauzac? I am not happy with the Phonology classes. The
reason is the same. The classes must be given by a qualified professional,
the one who is qualified in Phonology to be able to answer all the questions
without making silly mistakes and apologizing afterwards. And now let’s go back to Colleen, the lady who
did a TEFL course 2 months ago and
came back to the Hotel de la Poste as a guest to stay in Mauzac indefinitely
waiting for her Green Card to live in France. One day during our teaching
practice she showed up together with Craig to observe us teaching! Craig did
not even introduce her to us. We did not find her comments valuable as we
knew her as a guest at the hotel. Talking to us previously, she has never
mentioned that she is going to work for TEFL and we did not know if she has a
teaching background. Craig said that she was employed by TEFL when we refused
to have her as an observer. Anyway, the lady left the class and probably went
on doing her paperwork regarding her residence permit. Some days later, Craig
said that Dave was going to take some days off, and there would be nobody who
could observe the intermediate classes. Instead of presenting the apologies
on behalf of TEFL (as we paid the money
and did not get a sufficient service! Why did we all pay the money for
nothing to someone who is obviously making money? ), Craig was trying to
make all of us feel guilty because we were not nice to Colleen as he
explained. He was telling us that she used to be an English teacher at the
University back in the States, but who could believe what Craig was saying?
Then he said that he does not really care what’s going on as he does not sign
the certificates we obtain at the end of the course. On the back of our certificates is written
“…It meets all international standards for Initial Teacher Training.” What
kind of Initial Teacher Training is meant? And are the certificates good to
teach all levels? All the trainees on our course were very talented
and creative people. I am glad to have met all of them in my life. We all
could learn something new from one another because everyone was just a real
pearl. But why had we been placed in such a miserable situation? Frankly
speaking, being in Mauzac and doing the course we were all shocked every
single day. I could continue writing long incredible stories. But the more I
write the more I go mad about it. I would prefer to talk to you personally as
it is impossible to write everything in the e-mails. If you want everyone
consider TEFL as a reputable organization, you have to do something about it.
Russia is one of the countries that employ the
native speakers with TEFL certificates to work at the language schools and
Universities. In Russia we all knew that TEFL is great! I was so eager to
learn the new things and so enthusiastic in arranging my trip to France to do
the course and it is so unbelievable that I had to go through that
TEFL-Mauzac nightmare! I am not going to leave it as it is. At the moment I am waiting for job placement assistance as promised in the Internet and in all my correspondence with the head office. Craig actually said that we should not believe everything what is written in the Internet… I still hope that TEFL cares of the graduates
and help them find and get a good job without delay. I am sorry that my mail turned out to be that
long. I am looking forward to hearing from you and I will appreciate your
help and understanding. Best regards, Elena Korovina PS: One of the classrooms has no whiteboard!?
The one we used is not acceptable! The trainees are coming from all over the
world, and the French people come to the classes and see those awful pieces
of raw/crude wooden boards knocked up together and covered with white
paper... Follow up In a message
dated 15/12/2005 08:44:19 GMT
Standard Time elena_korovina@mail.ru writes: Dr. Moller,
Dr. Alan Moller More!!!! http://www.tesolmax.com/discussion/index.pl?noframes;read=2497 More From maxine babazadeh maxinebabaz@hotmail.com Monday, 09 January 2006 Dear Mr. Moller, This letter contains information about the
TEFL International course in Mauzac, France, from October 31 to November 25, 2005.
As you might guess, I was dissatisfied,
appalled even, by the manner in which this course was run. There are frankly
too many details to cover in this letter, so I will only discuss the key
points. Firstly, Craig, administrator and teacher of the course, behaved
inappropriately, and failed to teach the students relevant material. He confided in several students early in the
course, that his strange behaviour was a result of the way he was being
handled by his employers. He
also told us that Bruce does not care a bit about the quality of the course,
and that his only motive in creating such a school is to make money quickly
and easily. At
that point in the course, the other students and I were obviously
disappointed to hear such remarks. Secondly, we did not train as many hours as
are printed on the certificates, nor did we have near the amount of observed
teacher training as required. Thirdly, our certificates are stamped by
IATQUO, which is, as Elena has researched, problematic. I have now visited this site and have seen the
bold red statement that disclaims that IATQUO has approved our course in
Mauzac. Thus, there was never any external board checking the quality of the
course, as the website claimed when I signed up, and as Bruce tries to ensue
in a roundabout manner, by saying that TEFL International has worked with
IATQUO for a time now. By the
way, I have emails from Bruce stating also, that Mr. Moller is angry because of
political reasons, and this is why, he claims, IATQUO has disclaimed the
approval of TEFL International, Mauzac.
As you can see, I am not happy with the
situation. I have written Bruce, asking for a refund. I have also contacted
my credit card company, to report my dissatisfaction of the course. I am not
sure if these words will help you in any way. However, if you need more
information, I would be happy to provide you with more details. Sincerely, maxine babazadeh
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