Rick
- 2015-02-07
The point of my original message wasn't to discourage people from teaching or working in Latin America. While I did have a bad experience at one school, there are numerous others throughout Honduras and Central America that provide quality education for their students. While my salary was indeed lower than it would be for the same job in a place like Japan or Saudi Arabia, the cost of living was much lower as well. Either way, I was well aware of how I would be compensated when I took the position in Honduras, as it seems Greg was above. The bottom line is that while one school did not live up to its promises, you shouldn't generalize that to the whole region. Likewise, you shouldn't write off a position somewhere due to a low salary. There are plenty of other reasons to teach abroad besides money.
Greg
- 2014-05-22
I worked almost all of 2013 in Honduras (not Eagle's Crib) and it was the 1st and last time I will ever work in Latin America..The salary is EXTREMELY low in most cases and the facilities are poor at best. I did interview with a gentleman at Eagle's Crib for a short contract in 2013 just to finish up the school year, I was offered the job, but I'm glad I didn't take it in retrospect. The reason why Latin American countries are so far behind other continents such as Asia is not enough emphasis is put on education let alone learning new languages. They also pay you like a volunteer all the while requiring that you pay for everything to get there as well as not applying for legal work visas and expect you to pay all costs for your visa runs lol as well as having MA in the subject you are applying for which is ridiculous I mean really who is going to have a University degree from an English speaking country and go work for those wages?
Rick
- 2014-04-25
While I appreciate the compliment of being called an excellent teacher, I am disappointed at this libelous claim against me. Everything I stated is true, and as I said there are several other teachers who can corroborate that information.
Eagles Crib
- 2014-03-25
In response to Mr. Rick´s post, we feel very disappointed, here he showed a different attitude towards the institution and the activities hosted. To shortly clarify his complaint about us, Mr. Rick broke a federal law and our only intention was to protect his well being as a foreign teacher in our country, sadly his interpretation was that his privacy was being invaded. If you have any doubts about Mr. Rick´s complaint, you can contact us at our e-mail. All we can say about Mr. Rick is that during the time he worked for our institution, he was an excellent teacher.
I worked for Eagle's Crib from January to November in 2013. I found it through Dave's ESL Cafe, which is still running their job ads, and though they treated me well in the beginning, by the end of my contract pretty much all of their promises had been broken. They gave me an extremely difficult time when it came time to pay for my return flight, often did not pay on time, once made us work 21 days in a row (sometimes for over 14 hours a day), and as if that wasn't enough I found out they were coming into my bedroom and going through my drawers without my permission. With regards to the flight reimbursement, they initially told me they would pay up to $500 for a return flight. This was later changed to $350, and they wanted to select the date, time, and flight, even though it was not when I planned on leaving. When I protested this and after three days eventually received what I was promised, the principal informed me that I was not needed for the last two weeks of school and that I would need to leave the house they were providing me, despite my contract not being finished.
During the months of August and September, the teachers were required to build a parade float for Independence Day. Sounds innocent enough, but since the principal has no sense of organization or consideration of anyone's time other than her own, teachers often worked from 8 AM to 11 PM and spent much of that time waiting around for materials or redoing something we had already done because she changed her mind.
I also discovered that the housekeeper they sent over was basically a spy, rooting through our dresser drawers and refrigerator. It was frightening and a tremendous invasion of our privacy. All in all, though the bosses had me fooled for the first few months, they turned out to be liars and unkind. Staff morale at the school is astonishingly low, and the latest teacher for this year made it two weeks before quitting.
I HIGHLY recommend that you DO NOT work at Eagle's Crib in El Paraiso, Honduras. The owners care only about money, not about their students (as evidenced by the policy that "everyone passes," resulting in students who do not speak a single word of English being moved up a grade level). Though I was fond of my students, the overall experience was not a good one. These events are just the tip of the iceberg...I would be happy to elaborate or put you in contact with other teachers who can offer more information. There are now four of us who can confirm this information.