Comments on: The Thomas Jefferson School in Chile http://www.teflschoolreviews.com/the-thomas-jefferson-school-in-chile-2008359.html Independent Information on TEFL Life, Opportunities and Schools Fri, 18 Nov 2011 10:45:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Jessica http://www.teflschoolreviews.com/the-thomas-jefferson-school-in-chile-2008359.html/comment-page-1#comment-105737 Jessica Fri, 16 Oct 2009 20:31:42 +0000 http://www.teflwatch.org/the-thomas-jefferson-school-in-chile-2008359.html#comment-105737 I have been working at TJS for 8 months now, and am already starting the renewal process for my contract to come back next year. I acknowledge that this is my first year teaching ESL, but I find the first review to be extremely exaggerated and inaccurate. Although there have been some snafus along the road (some TJS related, others Chile/culture related) this place is definitely not a nightmare. I have never experienced any of these major problems as mentioned above (resumes, phone, work visas, pay supplies etc). As a matter of fact, the secretary notified me last week that we would be starting the visa renewal process for next year (2 months early). As far as supplies go, i haven't found that to be an issue. The only thing is ink and paper for printing. Everything else is pretty much "ask and you shall receive." It went so far as the maintenance guys making me a small portable whiteboard so I could have class outside, and them installing a special material on the walls of the english room to reduce the echo during conversation activities and general classtime. Sure, some things are lacking (good speakers for all the rooms) but as long as you keep asking, you will get what you need (as the year has gone on, they have been installing speakers, we even have surround sound in the english room). some things can be a headache to get resolved, which is frustrating for sure. however, if you keep at it you will get what you want or need. that being said, the warm social environment, the advanced english of the students, and the opportunity to live and work abroad are great. the positive definitely outweighs the negative, and that's why i'm staying. I have been working at TJS for 8 months now, and am already starting the renewal process for my contract to come back next year. I acknowledge that this is my first year teaching ESL, but I find the first review to be extremely exaggerated and inaccurate.

Although there have been some snafus along the road (some TJS related, others Chile/culture related) this place is definitely not a nightmare. I have never experienced any of these major problems as mentioned above (resumes, phone, work visas, pay supplies etc). As a matter of fact, the secretary notified me last week that we would be starting the visa renewal process for next year (2 months early).

As far as supplies go, i haven’t found that to be an issue. The only thing is ink and paper for printing. Everything else is pretty much “ask and you shall receive.” It went so far as the maintenance guys making me a small portable whiteboard so I could have class outside, and them installing a special material on the walls of the english room to reduce the echo during conversation activities and general classtime. Sure, some things are lacking (good speakers for all the rooms) but as long as you keep asking, you will get what you need (as the year has gone on, they have been installing speakers, we even have surround sound in the english room).

some things can be a headache to get resolved, which is frustrating for sure. however, if you keep at it you will get what you want or need. that being said, the warm social environment, the advanced english of the students, and the opportunity to live and work abroad are great. the positive definitely outweighs the negative, and that’s why i’m staying.

]]> By: Gregory Trzebiatowski http://www.teflschoolreviews.com/the-thomas-jefferson-school-in-chile-2008359.html/comment-page-1#comment-95363 Gregory Trzebiatowski Sun, 21 Dec 2008 00:13:53 +0000 http://www.teflwatch.org/the-thomas-jefferson-school-in-chile-2008359.html#comment-95363 I am the founder and headmaster of the Thomas Jefferson School(TJS). I took early retirement from the College of Education at the Ohio State University to found TJS in 1992. We have hired 3 to 6 ESL teachers per year since the school opened in 1993. The great majority have been wonderful individuals who have made a great contribution to our English program. For example a recent graduating class took the TOEFL and half (10/20)qualified to get into Harvard on the basis of their English. A Harvard grad prepped them. Unfortunately a few ELS teachers come with serious personal problems which, regrettably, we can not solve. Incidentally, we rated #12 of 425 paid private schools in Chile on the Chilean university admissions test the PSU. For the past 12 years we have had 10 to 12 student teachers from Ohio State U. do part of their professional practice at TJS for a one month period. Needless to say, the OSU professors would not send us their students year after year if it were a bad experience for them. Twelve Wright State student teachers spend the month of November, 2008 with us on a similar program. Two are planning to return in March to teach for a year. As the introduction to the school reviews says carefully evaluate all comments before you reach a conclusion. As my father used to say "Paper takes anything". I wish you the Best, Gregory Trzebiatowski I am the founder and headmaster of the Thomas Jefferson School(TJS). I took early retirement from the College of Education at the Ohio State University to found TJS in 1992. We have hired 3 to 6 ESL teachers per year since the school opened in 1993. The great majority have been wonderful individuals who have made a great contribution to our English program. For example a recent graduating class took the TOEFL and half (10/20)qualified to get into Harvard on the basis of their English. A Harvard grad prepped them. Unfortunately a few ELS teachers come with serious personal problems which, regrettably, we can not solve. Incidentally, we rated #12 of 425 paid private schools in Chile on the Chilean university admissions test the PSU.
For the past 12 years we have had 10 to 12 student teachers from Ohio State U. do part of their professional practice at TJS for a one month period. Needless to say, the OSU professors would not send us their students year after year if it were a bad experience for them. Twelve Wright State student teachers spend the month of November, 2008 with us on a similar program. Two are planning to return in March to teach for a year.
As the introduction to the school reviews says carefully evaluate all comments before you reach a conclusion. As my father used to say “Paper takes anything”.
I wish you the Best,

Gregory Trzebiatowski

]]> By: Barefootbelle http://www.teflschoolreviews.com/the-thomas-jefferson-school-in-chile-2008359.html/comment-page-1#comment-91161 Barefootbelle Mon, 01 Sep 2008 21:05:13 +0000 http://www.teflwatch.org/the-thomas-jefferson-school-in-chile-2008359.html#comment-91161 This place was a nightmare. They accused us of lying on our resumes when we hadn't. They turned off our phone. They were using us to commit tax and insurance fraud. They didn't file our paperwork so we were working illegally. When we tried to straighten out our work visas ourselves, they refused to give us the documents we needed and then threatened to send Immigration after us. They wouldn't not give us supplies (black markers for art classes, nothing special.) They shorted my pay the first month and never reimbursed me. The list goes on. We worked in Korea for 2 years and never had this much trouble. This is a horrible, horrible place to work. Do not go there. This place was a nightmare. They accused us of lying on our resumes when we hadn’t. They turned off our phone. They were using us to commit tax and insurance fraud. They didn’t file our paperwork so we were working illegally. When we tried to straighten out our work visas ourselves, they refused to give us the documents we needed and then threatened to send Immigration after us. They wouldn’t not give us supplies (black markers for art classes, nothing special.) They shorted my pay the first month and never reimbursed me. The list goes on. We worked in Korea for 2 years and never had this much trouble. This is a horrible, horrible place to work. Do not go there.

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