I just got an email from EF, whom I worked for in England in June/early July and only YESTERDAY got paid for. Yes, beyond my financial frustrations, this email had a survey attached to it for the teachers/local leaders (I was both) to fill out and return in order to better the program. Please bear in mind that I was in Butlins Resort in Minehead, England "teaching" to both Spanish and Russian students for part of the day and "leading" the group of 27 Russians I was assigned to around the rest of the time. Please also note that EF, which in some cases refers to "Education First" and in some cases refers to "English First" is a very well known and established company. I'm honestly not sure how they made it to be so successful after seeing how things are run within that company though.
The survey consisted of seven questions mostly regarding accommodations and activities. I hate to be so negative, but I had very little good to say in response to any of the questions. The final section of the survey asked for "further comments" which I had plenty of (think about my personality...you know I had something else to say). The problem I had with this survey is that there was no question AT ALL regarding the actual teaching that took place. So, here are my additional comments:
I’m a little upset that, as an English learning facility with an “English first” mentality, there are no questions here regarding the teaching materials or standards for implementing lessons. I understand that you are concerned with the “camp” portion of the course, but as an educator, I’m very disappointed with the program. Putting 15 students into the tiny rooms we were provided, with nothing but a white board, a marker, a cd player and a textbook, these kids were done a great disservice. There were never specific objectives we were to teach; actually we were told to choose what we wanted from the book. When I asked about assessment, the response I got was “We don’t do that.” I was flabbergasted honestly. How can one teach and not assess? How does one know what the children are learning if both formal and informal assessments are not taking place? How does one exam at the end of the program tell us anything, especially when the kids are not in a secure testing environment? I’ve worked and travelled with EF for over 10 years now and I must say, this side of EF really let me down.
I'm not sure if anything I said will change the program, but I can say I won't work for that department of EF again and I certainly wouldn't recommend anyone sending their child to participate if the goal is to learn English. I'm sure the kids enjoyed themselves and I'm sure that just the little practice they had in speaking conversational English did them good, but the program as a whole, in my opinion, was a flop.
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