Scam grows

http://www.justtefl.com/spl_tesol_main.shtml

Another site belonging to Bruce Allen Veldhuisen.



TEFL scam, Thailand

Beware of any schools that belong to Bruce Veldhuisen / TEFL international

taken from: http://www.iatquo.org/mauzac.htm

Received Sunday, 05 February 2006

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 !

This is a very unhappy customer

Huelah Lander

January 13th 2006

Wednesday, 15 February 2006 we are sent a copy of an e-mail sent to Bruce and Dave,

I am writing to express my displeasure with the TEFL course offered in Mauzac, France in November of 2005. I realize that several students have already written to express their concerns and that Craig Gamboretto Mackay has already been removed from his position. However, I would also like to add my two cents worth to make it clear that the complaints you have heard are not simply the mutterings of a few disgruntled students but rather the general consensus of all. Furthermore, I would like to address the problems that seem to plague the whole course and that cannot simply be blamed on Craig's inefficiency.

To be honest, I almost do not know where to begin. There were simply so many truly ridiculous and unprofessional aspects to this course but I will do my best to be succinct and to refrain from ranting. To begin, I contacted Craig before the course to ask him which train I should take from Bergerac airport. That is to say whether I should take the train to Lalinde or Mauzac or whether I should stay in Bergerac. He replied that he would be more than happy to pick me up at the airport if I let him know when I would be arriving. I kindly reconfirmed this information with him (although I had already indicated my arrival date and time in the e-mail) and expected to see him at the airport. He never arrived. I phoned his phone several times only to get a voice mail box that did not even confirm that this was in fact the correct number.

Fortunately I met another student also waiting at the airport. I say fortunately, because by this time a few hours had passed and it was growing late and dark. The tiny airport was closing and there was still no sign of Craig. Aileen (my fellow student) and I decided that at this point our only option was to get a taxi (this is the only way to get to and from Bergerac airport besides hitch hiking). Had we waited any longer, even this option would have been unavailable since taxi service is limited there. Initially we were going to take the taxi to Bergerac, perhaps use the internet and stay the night in the hotel to figure out our next move. However, the taxi driver convinced us that taking a taxi to Mauzac made more sense. So 70 Euro later we arrived at the Hotel. Fortunately, Jon and Sonya were there but they did not even know we were arriving. Craig never apologized for this situation and Aileen and I were forced to pay this taxi ridiculous sum out of our own pockets.

Had I known that Craig could not pick us up I would certainly have made other arrangements. I am so glad I met Aileen that night because otherwise I would certainly have cried, convinced that the school did not in fact exist, that I was the victim of a cruel internet scam and that I was now completely alone in this god forsaken town. The only explanation I was ever offered was that Craig's battery on his cell had died but I still fail to see why the school's number was not originally listed as a contact point or why Craig's voice mail message could not have at least given some indication that this was in fact the correct number.

After arriving at the school, I soon realized that many of the claims made on internet sites were false. I went to this school assuming that I would have access to a kitchen (as stated on the site I found). This is the budget I had planned. Unfortunately, my options were either to survive on bread and cheese or fork out for the prepared meals. I really had no choice but to choose the latter option or make myself ill. Secondly, I had indicated that I wanted a private room. As it turned out, every one got a private room, but those that had indicated that they wanted a shared room paid less. This hardly seems fair. Lastly, some sites indicated that we would be going on free field trips to cities around. This certainly did not happen. In Craig's defense, he did organize a trip to Bordeaux and tried his best to keep it inexpensive but it was hardly Paris. These sites represent your business. Whether you create them or not, by associating with them you are guilty of false advertising!

This brings me to my biggest complaint. I took this course because it was supposed to be accredited with a real BOAA. It has been brought to my intention that this is not true. It has also been brought to my attention that my certificate has an IATQUO print which, as I understand it, means it is invalid. I feel cheated. I could have taken a course through many organizations but I chose TEFL because I thought it was reputable. Turns out I was wrong. If my complaints are not addressed in a legitimate way I have no problem letting the world know of my complaints.

Of course there were a million other problems with the course, as I'm sure you must know. Craig's lack of knowledge about grammar was appalling. He made incorrect statements on numerous occasions and became completely flustered whenever a question was asked. We had no internet connection, and absolute essential when living in such a remote area, especially when no other teaching resources were available. We had no printer ink either at one point. We had no proper white board and poor quality pens. Worst of all, we often had no students! How were we supposed to conduct realistic practice lessons?

There was also the whole Marie Ann debacle which I'm sure has been brought to your attention by numerous students by now. However, since the certificate is invalid anyway, I'd almost consider her lucky since she's only wasted her deposit rather than the total amount. Nonetheless, the situation (Craig asking for cash or else threatening her with expulsion from the class) was ludicrous. On numerous occasions Craig also did strange things like hanging up on people while they were making phone calls. If I hadn't seen some of these things with my own eyes I would swear the whole experience was made up by someone with too much time on his/her hands.

Honestly, at this point, I don't even know what could be done to rectify the situation. Not only have I spent $2,000 (by the time accommodation and food is factored in) on a certificate that appears to be worthless but I've also spent a month of my life. This isn't to say it was all horrible. My fellow classmates were amazing and Sonya an Jon are terrific but it was really disheartening to spend hours on material packages that no one ever looked at and to prepare lesson plans that only other English speakers ever participated in. At least at the time I could comfort myself with the knowledge that at the end of it all I would have a TESOL certificate. Now, even that comfort is gone. I think every person who participated in this course deserves a refund and an apology. I sincerely doubt this will happen since it seems clear to me now that your organization only cares about money but I thought I should at least express my beliefs. I also believe that a small group of individuals can make a difference. So be prepared.

Sincerely,

Huelah Lander

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

In a message dated 14/12/2005 10:46:26 GMT Standard Time,

elena_korovina@mail.ru writes:

Good morning,

My name is Elena Korovina. I completed a TEFL course November 25, 2005 in France, Mauzac. I would like to inform you that the course does not meet any international standards or requirements.

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.

I am looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Regards,

Elena Korovina

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:

1. In the qualification of the pronouns he presented only 4 groups- Personal Subjective and Objective Pronouns and Possessive Subjective and Objective Pronouns. I asked him What about the Reflexive pronouns?. I needed to understand if TEFL has a different viewpoint. Because even a book "Cambridge preparation for the TOEFL test" by Jolene Gear and Robert Gear gives 5 classes of pronouns. I agree that there may be the difference in giving the definitions, for example, some books regard the Possessive Pronouns as the Possessive Adjectives, but the basic principles are always the same. Craig asked me what the Reflexive pronouns are. And when I gave him examples "himself, ourselves, etc", he looked as if he was surprised to hear about it, as if he did not know that those words are also the pronouns. And he answered: " OK, I agree, I did not include them into my qualification". My question is What does it mean that he did not include them in to his own qualification? Do all TEFL teachers have there own qualifications depending on how deep their knowledge of Grammar is?

2. In his Grammar reference papers he prepared for the trainees it was written that the Gerund is represented by the –ing form. At one of the classes one of the native speakers asked him if the –ing form can always be a marker for the word functioning as the Gerund. He said " Definitely,yes" ….I told Craig that what he said was just nonsense. What about Participle I which is formed with the help of the –ing ending? Even some adjectives have the –ing form and they can never function as the Gerund. And again it was a surprise for Craig to hear that. He said: " Adjectives with the-ing ending…? Please, suggest…" I said: " OK… interesting, amazing, etc"

3. Once we were asked to complete the charts for the Verbs in the Active and Passive Voice. I left the columns for the Present/Past/Future/Perfect Progressive Passive blank as these forms do not exist. Neither does Future/ Progressive Passive. We fill in the same charts at our English classes at school in Russia. The native speakers were completing the charts, and when they stated doing the columns I left blank they raised a question to Craig: " What about these forms? Shall we leave them blank? It looks like these forms do not exist" And Craig said: "No, the forms do exist" and he started giving the examples. " The film has been being watched. The film had been being watched. The film will have been being watched… The film will be being watched." I was just shocked to have heard it! The native speakers started to ague saying that they never say like that in English. And Craig said: " Well… We, the native speakers rarely use these forms in our everyday language, but the forms do exist and you have to fill in the blanks" Jesus Christ! If I could only imagine that I will hear such statements doing a TEFL course where people obtain internationally recognized certificates, I would never-ever have applied for the course! " I wanted to give him some examples and was trying to give him the names of the authors of different grammar books to make him understand that he was not right, but he was not going to hear me and he made a remark " Oh, our Russian colleague thinks that….but… she is mistaken" . That was said the way as if I have no right to discuss the grammar points because I am not a native speaker. And he ended up the conversation smiling making everyone look stupid.

4. At last we came to the Clauses. Even though I had enough of Craig's explanations, I was eager to continue learning something new...to improve my proficiency in English. The native speakers wanted to hear the examples to understand what the Clauses are. From my own teaching experience I may say that the Clauses may be one of the difficult aspects for the students. As a rule, the students are not able to recognize the Clauses in the texts and have difficulties translating such sentences. From the point of speech practice, the students prefer simple sentences rather than the clauses. I was interested in getting to know how TEFL deals with this aspect. And you know what he said? He said that the Clauses are not on the test….? Nevertheless we all insisted on working on the Clauses and then Craig said: "Well, for example, let's take a sentence "She looks like a princess" ( I do not remember the exact sentence Craig has chosen to give an explanation, but he definitely used the word "LIKE" in a simple sentence, which has nothing to do with the Clauses). And he said that a part of the sentence LIKE A PRINCESS is the Clause". ?!?! This is what he explained! My question is "Why did I get such international teaching experience for the cost of 1500USD plus other expenses including lodging, food and airfare?"

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,

I got a reply from Bruce that my complaints were minor. But as I explained I have more to say. I hope Monica, one of our trainees, will forward you her own complaint and you will see the whole story. In addition they demanded cash from one of our trainees and when she refused, though she had 2 credit cards and they did not accept them, she was suspended from the course when 2 weeks had been already done.

In my reply to Bruce I said that I have a letter from IATuO and I am sending you now his comments, here I quote "TEFL International is severing our relationship with IATQUO. Dr. Moller has a very serious conflct of interest with another course in France and he has been actively attempting to steer students away from Mauzac and to a course where he has a financial interest. So I would not be a bit surprised if he has attempted to scare you with his comments. Regardless, TEFL International courses have been validated through 2005."

In this case I wonder why www.teflcourse. net contains the following info?-

"Due to our external validation/moderation by a Board of Academic Advisors, you can be assured of the highest standards and quality wherever and whenever you take one of our courses. For more information about the BOAA, please click here."

When I applied for the course, their site stated that they are accredited and they placed your e-mail address , but when I came back from France, that page is missing. I was lucky find your address in all my papers!

All these things cause me a gread deal of concern and I would like to find the truth. I doubt now if we obtained internationally-recognized certificates and if the employers will hire any of us after all this. If you are in a power to help, please, do it.

I will be glad to hear from you soon,

Elena Korovina

Subject:

Re: new info

Date:

20/12/2005 08:01:29 GMT Standard Time

From:

helenkorovino33@yahoo.com

Dr. Alan Moller

thank you for your mail and help. I have already got a reply from Alan Maley where he says that he has no executive position in BOAA that training company and the only connection with Bruce is to run 2 day training for teachers in 2006. also forwarded his reply to Bruce.

I asked Bruce how we can settle this matter if there is no accreditaion and no BOAA and at first he offered

me his assistance in finding a job, but then refused saying that I have no right now to work and deal with TEFL International, because my accusations are not true in my letter to Alan Mailey. I may resend you all our recent correspondance.

Dr. Moller, may I kindly ask you to help me and all of us from our group in this matter.

I have read almost IATQuO sites and with all the facts I have I can clearly understand now that our certificates are not valid and they are making money.

Our certificates have a IATQUO print, it is not actually a real stamp. Also it is not IATQuO, but IATQUO. And this abbreviation must not be on our certificates.

I have already received mails from some of our trainees who are ready to start to file a group complaint against Bruce's company.

But if all of us come from different countries, and the course we took was in France, and Tefl International has head offices in Thailand, England and USA, I don't know which body to address our complaint.

I am very much looking forward to hearing from you soon

Regards,

Elena Korovina

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

From:http://thepiratebay.org/tor/3503020/Introduction_to_English_Language_learning__H.Douglas_Brown_disk

Pam25 at 2007-12-23 08:17 CET:

Hello to All:

I don't know about the video course. The course I attended at one of Tefl International school's however was less than professional.

The owner Bruce Veldhuisen has more interest that teaching English. He also owns bars in most locations where he has schools.

I was one of several students invited for a "night out" with Bruce. After a few drinks he made his intentions toward several of the female students clear.

He indicated he could do much to secure works for his "favorite" students.

I was offended and told him he should stay home with his Thai wife not hit up on students.

I completed the course and applied for work presenting The TEFL International certificate.

Each time the school where I applied would check my reference with TEFL international and no job was offered.