Chris Fitzgerald
- 2007-06-01
Beware: William Scanlon, SPLC, Philippines , a Nasty Piece Of Work.
Now that Mr. William Scanlon has given his version of the correspondence between us following my response to his advert for teachers at Damaguete, Philippines, I can now reveal my side of the story and how that person deals with those who apply to work at the school where he is the director (?). I reject entirely his suggestion that I sent him a series of angry e-mails, in fact my mails to him were in the most part in measured tones compared to his foulmouthed abuse and threats against me, so I copy below the mails that passed between us. Judge for yourselves.
I spotted an advert on this Teachers Board in early April this year for teachers at his school in the Philippines, and duly sent of my CV with a covering letter. I have spent some time in the Philippines in the past, I also have many friends there and thought this would be a good opportunity to work there. After hearing nothing for around 6 weeks I sent a short note saying;
Dear Mr. Scanlon, I sent this reply to your advertisement back in
William A. Scanlon
>early April of this year. As I did not receive the
curteosy of a reply, is there any point in me applying again to your current advert on the ESL Teachers jobs board. ?
>In case you did not receive my original e-mail, I forward it to you again now.
>
>Should you consider me unsuitable, a negative reply would be appreciated.
>
>Kind Regards
To which I received this reply the next day;
Dear Mr. Fitzgerald,
Like most schools we recieve many resumes weekly,more than 100. Usually most
companies reply to candidates that they are interested in. If you did not
get a reply then it usulaly means that we were not interested in you.Thats
the reality of modern ESL business.
I did review your resume and you do not fit our needs. Plain and simple.
I need teachers who have a academic background in either applied
Linguistics,English, or ESL education. Someone who has actually taught the
TOEFL/TOEIC/GRE preperation courses. We are an ETS testing center in the
Philippines.
A professional trained or licensed teacher with more than two years
experience. Most of my foriegn teachers are at the master degree level We
all have more than 6 years of teaching experience in Asia. I myself have 14
years in China, Korea and the Philippines. My Philippine teachers also . 4
out 5 have a masters degree in English . All have on the average of 8 years
of English teaching experence. We have a 10,000+ volume resource library for
our teachers. Being able to speak English just is not good enough for my
school or my students. SPLC demands more.
My students pay a lot of money to come to our school and SPLC only wants the
very best teachers,textbooks and cirriculums for them and we pay well to get
just that
Reagrds,
P.S. By the way the word "curteosy" is spelled couresty.
SP International Language Learning Corporation
Dumaguete,Philippines
Busan,Korea
Had he said that I did not fit their needs because I was to old, too fat, the wrong colour hair or wasnt an American, that would have been OK with me. However he chose to tell me that I was not qualified despite my CV which he had copies of, stating that I have an MA Applied Linguistics and a Diploma ELTAand have been teaching ESL, EFL, TESOL etc. for the past 2 years. Like with most teachers, after spending many years gaining my degree etc., to have it completely overlooked and ignored and to be told that 'just being able to speak English is not enough' was a little too much to bear, as you will see from my subsequent reply;
Dear Mr. Scanlon, Thank you for your prompt reply, negative though it may be. It is of course your prerogative to hire whoever you deem suitable.
However, I am somewhat bemused at your implication that I am under qualified to teach at your esteemed establishment. If you can find time in your busy schedule, you will see that I not only graduated from
a 4 year Masters Degree in Applied Linguistics from Sheffield University, England, but had also previously attended a 4 year (400 hour) Diploma course in English & Modern Language Studies at a well
respected College of Further Education, graduating with a Diploma in ELTA. (although looking again at my resume I have not made that entirely clear, for which I apologise)
You may also note, that although my career has been varied in it's content, I have been teaching, albeit not always wholly ESL apart from the last 2 years here in China, during most of my career path adding
up to more than the average mentioned of 8 years. Therefore your remark aimed at me that "being able to speak English just is not good enough" is to say the least, erroneous.
From the arrogant and hostile tone of your e-mail, it is fairly clear to me that a school led by one capable of writing to an applicant in that manner is not the kind of school I would wish to work for.
By the way, many words in English have been bastardised by various English speaking peoples, but I grew up and was educated in the home of the English language where the word curteosy may quite properly be spelt as I did, however it is never spelt "couresty" as you have done.
His next e-mail began to reveal his true side;
Good luck in your search for teachers that 'fit your needs'.
The above was not sent in anger but rather in astonishment at his hostile tone.
I replied to you Mr. Fiitz in the same arrogant manner as your first email
to me today. My hr staff, which also has a graduate from Cambridge,she also
found your email somewhat arrogant in nature. Here we concentrate on
American English.Thats the language course of he school, which is why we
give the TOEFL examination. Your resume showed nothing of your ability to
create cirriculums suitible for Korean,Japanese or Filipino students. As to
your choice of words such as bastardized societies, simply that statement
says your closed mind to other cultures. I am surprised that you survived
for two years in China. You sound like someone that could benefit from some
serious anger management therapy with a trained professional. Good luck!
And as far as spelling try a Longman dictionary of English or a Websters Dictionary.
Here is the last few lines of this mail;
You are the very type of Brit teacher that most schools avoid. Simply because you look down your little snobbish nose at others and treat them as
less. You will not fit well in the Philippines.
Less than 10 minutes later I received another mail containing this;
By the way my teachers here got a great laugh at your email. They would tear you apart if you were here. One of my teachers is retired British military of the Scotish Black and Tan with 12 years of service in Northern Ireland. He had the same comment that I did. You asked for a negative reply,you got one.Then you complained about it.
To which I replied;
in language not demeaning other nationalities.
You sir obviously have a problem with as you put it "Brit. teachers". I on the other hand have no such xenophobic tendencies.
By the way, your fictional ex-Scots soldier has his facts wrong.
There is no such regiment as Black and Tans. it would be the Black Watch or not at all, so either you have faulty hearing or someone is pulling your leg.
Accuracy is not your forte is it ?.
I am disgusted at your unprofessional and ungentlemanly behaviour, I have no wish to receive any further communication from you.
Good day
Then the real abuse began; In a mail entitled,;
He wrote; Watch Your Mouth Asshole
First you ask for a negative reply,then you complain about it, then you
start to criticize me and my staff. And if your so great then why are you
teaching in a vocational training school in Wuxi as opposed to in a Chinese
University. By the way my wife family is still in China and her father is
with the Chinese Public Security Bureau. One of the leaders in Jiangsu
Province. So I would watch my mouth if I were you, Mr. Fitz or a meeting
with them can be arranged very easily.
Know others first before shooting off one's loud arrogant Brit mouth.
Now his true character was beginning to show through with his threats and personal abuse.
My reply was;
Your use of profanity and threats against me only go to prove what a
nasty piece of work you are 'uglybear'. After reading your CV, I can
see where it comes from.
I am not in the least fazed by your threats as I have an exemplary
record in China, unlike some. I have also spent a great deal more time
in the Philippines than you have and will be spending my annual
holiday there as usual with my adopted family and my many friends.
Perhaps I shall have a meeting with you.
Any further mails from you at any of your e-mail addresses are not
welcome and will be blocked, so disist from issueing threats against
me and watch your own mouth, if you can see it through the dirt.
I used the term uglybear as that is what he calls himself on another web-site that I found him on when
I googled his name. You can see his CV here.
http://www.eslteachersboard.com/cgi-bin/esl/index.pl?noframes;read=19647
None of my mails were written in anger, but surprise and astonishment that here is a man who according to his CV is such a well qualified academic and a paragon of virtue. My mail block system however failed to filter out his mails.
His next effort is true to form;
If you try that I will introduce you to my friendds the PNP(Philippine
Do your worst, there is nothing in my e-mails that can in any way construed as offensive and to say I have libeled you is laughable.(note the spelling of libel).
Don't dig yourself any deeper, call it a draw if you wish, but don't
Good day and goodbye
National Police). you know nothing about me. So F*** you and don't forget to
take your Prozac for those Psychotic moments.
I replied thus;
As you have ceased to desist with your fouI mouthed threats I shall
post the complete set of conversations on the ESL Job Forums including
the ones you advertise on, to show just what sort of potential
employer you are. I also post on some Philippine boards and I'm sure
your comments will be of interest to the readers.
By the way, I now know all I need to know about you.
Scanlon then issued more threats with this mail;
And your emails I will notify your school in Wuxi and the Foreign Affairs
Office of the Public Security Bureau so they can revoke your visa and fire
you. Then I will file a liable suit against you through my lawyer in China.
You can go to a Chinese jail for such as your writings.
Then 4 minutes later, another mail from Scanlon;
You are the one that startd his whole thing to begin with because you cannot
take rejection due to your ego mania. As I said get some therapy.
I replied hoping to end his harassment;
More threats ! My college know me well enough to ignore any defamatory statements from such as yourself and can read English including your brand of it, and I repeat, I am working legally here with all of the correct visas and permits. I have nothing to hide.
Any statements you may make to the PSB or anyone else about me would be a.) untrue and b.) pure spite on your part.
Is this how you conduct yourself in your business life ?.
You sir are the one who has been throwing threats and foulmouthed tirades against me for daring to suggest that an acknowledgement to my original e-mail would have been polite. In the same position, I would have sent an acknowledgement to all who took the trouble to apply for the positions advertised no matter how
many.
It will be interesting to see what comments from other posters are forthcoming when they read your base insults to me as I cannot be the first to have come across you in the ESL world.
threaten me, is does not become a serious man of letters as you say
you are, and I'm sure we both have better things to do.
As you can see from my mails above, I told him that as he would not stop sending me
abusive and threatening e-mails, I would post the correspondence on the teachers board form.
You will see his reaction to that, he will get in touch with the PSB and get me fired and my visa revoked.
How vindictive can you get, all because of a difference over interpretaion of my comments in the
e-mails I sent to him, so apart from misusing a supposed relative high up in the PSB to pay me a visit, introduce me to his friends in the Philippines National Police, sue me and have me thrown in jail, he also resorts to foul language which is a sign of a poor vocabulary. Furthermore, as a man of God(?) as he likes people to think when he is writing for US.Catholic Magazine and another evangelist publication, as well of course as Penthouse and FHM magazine, he should know better. Of course, I know he is a downright liar as evidenced in his post to this board about me which he obviously made to pre-empt mine.
This vindictive, hostile behaviour cannot have arisen overnight, so there are probably other recipients of his nastiness out in the ESL world. Perhaps they would like to contribute to this thread.
Mr. Scanlon will undoubtedly arrange some favourable posts for himself saying what a great chap he is etc. Its the sort of thing his type does.
Fortunately, I have given a file with all the details of our contretemps to my FAO so if he does contact my present employer he will be ignored as they know and trust my word.
I hope this serves to warn others who may be thinking of applying to him for a position. My advice is, dont.
Especially if you are British, he doesnt like us.
Chris Fitzgerald
- 2007-06-01
William Scanlon is being extremely economical with the truth in his post accusing me of harassing him.
The truth is he bombarded me with a series of foulmouthed and abusive e-mails because I asked to have the curteosy of an acknowledgement even if negative, in case he had not received my original application some 6 weeks before for a job he was advertising on the Teachers Board Jobs Board.
Had he said in his reply that I did not fit their needs because I was to old, too fat, the wrong colour hair or wasnt an American, that would have been perfectly acceptable and the end of the story. However, he chose to take another tack which was completly erroneous and I pointed this out to him, not agrily. He doesn't like to admit when he is wrong, nor does he like British teachers as he later made quite plain.
Apart from saying that I was 'just an English speaker and that was simply not good enough' despite him having my CV which showed my MA as well as a 4 year Modern Languages and EFL course qualification plus experience, he subsequently proceded to abuse me in a foulmouthed way when I pointed out that I was as qualified as his existing staff.
I sent no 'angry at rejection' e-mails to him as he claims, I simply replied each time asking him to stop being abusive and be a little more accurate.
Here is a selection from the e-mails this School Director and so called man of letters sent me after he had sarcastically pointed out I had spelt 'curteosy' wrongly, which he proceeded to spell 'couresty'.
You are the very type of Brit teacher that most schools avoid. Simply because you look down your little snobbish nose at others and treat them as less. You will not fit well in the Philippines.
I had said nothing to merit that response. He obviously doesn't like 'Brits'
He followed this a few minutes later with this goad;
By the way my teachers here got a great laugh at your email. They would tear you apart if you were here. One of my teachers is retired British military of the Scotish Black and Tan with 12 years of service in Northern Ireland.
I reminded him that there is no such Scotish Regiment as 'Black & Tans' it would be The Black Watch,(but that if this fictional Scot had been a Black & Tan, the notorious thugs sent to Ireland to beat and murder Irishmen, he would be well over 100 years old by now.) He then accused me of abusing his staff penning this gem;
Watch your mouth A**hole! ( my edit)
First you ask for a negative reply,then you complain about it, then you start to criticize me and my staff. And if your so great then why are you
teaching in a vocational training school in Wuxi as opposed to in a Chinese University. By the way my wife family is still in China and her father is
with the Chinese Public Security Bureau. One of the leaders in Jiangsu Province. So I would watch my mouth if I were you, Mr. Fitz or a meeting with them can be arranged very easily.
Know others first before shooting off one's loud arrogant Brit mouth.
I never complained about rejection, just his arrogance and inaccuracy and never 'angrily'.
More threats followed swiftly after I told him his conduct was unprofessional and ungentlemanly for a man in his position. Here is another of his profane rants after I told him that I visit the Philippines on holiday each year and maybe I would have a meeting with him.
As you can see, not a nice sort at all. I told him that if he did not stop sending me abusive, goading and threatening e-mails, I would post his correspondence on the teachers board forum, so he obviously posted his lies about me to pre-empt my expose of his behaviour.
His vindictive & hostile behaviour cannot have arisen overnight, so there are probably other recipients of his nasty character out in the ESL world. He says he was here in China for a number of years. Perhaps they would like to contribute to this thread.
Mr. Scanlon will undoubtedly arrange some favourable posts for himself saying what a great chap he is etc. Its the sort of thing his type does.
I won't bore you with any more of his profanity and vicious threats. I'm sure you can make up your own mind. The comments to him in my mails contained no profanity, threats or anger, but he responded only with abuse.
If you try that I will introduce you to my friendds the PNP(Philippine National Police). you know nothing about me. So F**k you (my edit)and your emails I will notify your school in Wuxi and the Foreign Affairs Office of the Public Security Bureau so they can revoke your visa and fire you. Then I will file a liable suit against you through my lawyer in China.
You can go to a Chinese jail for such as your writings. Big man huh. Can't even spell libel correctly, (which I hadn't done anyway.)
Fortunately, I have given a file with all the e-mails mine and his to my FAO, so if he does contact my present employer he will be ignored.
I hope this serves to warn others who may be thinking of applying to him for a position. My advice is, dont, he is a foulmouthed bully.
Especially if you are British, he doesnt like us.
As a School head teacher I have discovered just how out of control some esl teahers can actually get. Case in point. A British teacher. He sent an email to our school last April 2007 and was not selected for the position advertised. Then resent again yesterday and was again rejected by our HR people, so then he begins a series of very angry emails about our school is to blame for rejecting him. I finally ask him to stop and blocked him and his emails. This is what we call harrassment and is considered illegal in most countries. This is not how things are done. Not all teachers are qualified for every esl position offered. Schools usually write back to those that they are interested in. If you get rejected or no reply, it just means its time to move on.