I don't really know where to start with this guy. I worked at the school for two months, which in hindsight was a rather regrettable decision!! When I arrived I found that the reason the previous teacher had left was because the boss of the school had slapped her, pushed her to the ground, and grabbed hold of her when she tried to run away. This was witnessed by another teacher (who told me these details). She tried to go to the police about it but wasn't taken seriously, because another member of the Italian staff who also witnessed it contradicted her statement, as he didn't want to end up losing his job. I would just like to emphasise that the boss is a 6ft tall, 50-year-old heavily built man, and the girl he hit was 21 - and this was her first experience of working abroad.
When I arrived, having been promised 25 teaching hours a week, I found that I had been timetabled 38 hours (some of these involved 2 hours travelling time from the actual school). I objected to this immediately, threatened to leave unless it was reduced etc. So I finally got my 25 hours a week, but the boss refused to give me the standard contract, saying he was going to draw up another contract since I was so 'unaccomodating' (he is very fond of this word). This contract was ridiculous and I refused to sign it. Not that it would have been much good anyway, because it was a misspelt badly written imprecise paragraph, with just the owner's signature and the teacher's signature at the bottom. So I never got a contract, none of the teachers ever got their permesso di soggiorno, and we believed that there was no tax being paid on our behalf.
The next thing is that, unsurprisingly, we were almost never paid on time. Usually we would get half of our (measly) pay a week or two weeks late, and the rest just before our next pay day. In order to get the money we would have to ask for it repeatedly. My colleague, who had worked a lot of overtime and was continually reassured that she would be paid, left owed 1500 euros. At the end, the boss said she was lying about her hours and she could not possibly have worked that much overtime.
His personal manner is really unpleasant. He is manipulative and tries to blame his teachers for everything that goes wrong (despite the fact that it is usually due to his appalling management style and trying to suck up to important local people). He treats the students really badly, the school has no resources to speak of, except old useless textbooks, and there are never any CDs or tapes accompanying these, so the students can never do listening comprehension. He only employs young women and likes to see a picture before you arrive, to make sure you are sufficiently attractive. We found ourselves going to work dressed like nuns because if there was the slightest suggestion of cleavage, his eyes would not move from your chest! He actually gave out the phone number of another teacher to a friend of his who then sent flowers and champagne, and when this didn't work, threatening text messages. He also left threatening notes on the computer restricting our internet use to 5 minutes.
My conclusion was that this man is mentally ill. I really cannot explain his manner, his lies and his obsession with money any other way. He is like a cartoon villain, he's widely disliked in the town where the school is, and nobody we met was surprised by the things that were happening. The bottom line is DON'T WORK FOR HIM!!
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6 comments:
Wow, he sounds like some piece of work but I'm not surprised. I met the man(and I use this term very loosely) briefly and I clearly saw that he's nothing but a no good loser. I had gone to the Angloschool, which is where I had the misfortune of meeting this jerk. I was vacationing and I went to the school out of curiousity because, at the time, I was considering going to Italy to live there awhile and teaching English seemed like the only logical job choice. At that time, however, I had not yet finished college here in the states, which is why he basically didn't want to waste his precious time speaking with me. Well, now I have a degree and I ought to go back there and tell him to go back under the rock which he crawled out from. In addition, his English SUCKS and he has no business teaching it! I also heard about him being a notorious womanizer so I'm not surprised to hear this but slapping someone takes a lot of balls and, quite frankly, I'm surprised no one waited for him at night to walk out of the school, especially since the police did absolutely nothing. I think it's disgusting that the police did not investigate this matter further, especially since this twisted individual has such a reputation. He would never get away with shit like that in New York! Unfortunately, the laws are very lax there. I can't wait to show my friends in Potenza this site but they already know what he is all about.
The man was evil and I shall never forget how scared I was . But I shall also never forget the friends I made in Potenza.
All I hope and pray is that no one else will ever have to suffer at the hands of this twisted sexsist pig ever again.
xrhix
From "an editor"
How about this for a rewrite?
A colleague of mine worked for “Professor” Larry Adeyanju, of Angloschool, Potenza (Italy) at the school for two months, and came to regret the decision entirely. There were a whole range of problems, several of which will be mentioned below.
Firstly, when she arrived she found that the reason the previous teacher had left was because the boss of the school had apparently slapped her, pushed her to the ground, and grabbed hold of her when she tried to run away. This was apparently witnessed by another teacher, who told her all the details. She tried to go to the police about it but wasn't taken seriously, because another member of the Italian staff who had also witnessed it contradicted her statement, as he didn't want to end up losing his job. It should be emphasised here that the boss is a 6ft tall, 50-year-old heavily built man, and the girl he hit was 21 - and this was her first experience of working abroad.
Secondly, having been promised 25 teaching hours a week, the new teacher discovered that she had been timetabled 38 hours, some of which involved 2 hours travelling time from the actual school. She objected to this immediately, and threatened to leave unless it was reduced. Eventually she got the 25 hours a week, but the boss refused to give her the standard contract, saying he was going to draw up another contract due to her being so 'unaccomodating' (he is very fond of this word). This new contract was ridiculous and she refused to sign it. Not that it would have been much good anyway, because it was a misspelt, badly written and imprecise paragraph, with just the owner's signature and the teacher's signature at the bottom. In short, she never got a contract, none of the teachers ever got their permesso di soggiorno, and it was believed that there was no tax being paid on the teachers’ behalf.
The next thing is that, unsurprisingly, the teachers were almost never paid on time. Usually they would get half of their (measly) pay a week or two weeks late, and the rest just before the next pay day. In order to get the money they would have to ask for it repeatedly. One colleague, who had worked a lot of overtime and was continually reassured that she would be paid, left owed 1500 euros. At the end, the boss said she was lying about her hours and she could not possibly have worked that much overtime.
His personal manner is really unpleasant. He is manipulative and tries to blame his teachers for everything that goes wrong, despite the fact that it is usually due to his appalling management style and trying to suck up to important local people. He treats the students really badly, the school has no resources to speak of, except useless old textbooks, and there are never any CDs or tapes accompanying these, so the students can never do listening comprehension. He only employs young women and likes to see a picture before you arrive, to make sure you are sufficiently attractive. The female teachers found themselves going to work dressed like nuns because if there was the slightest suggestion of cleavage, his eyes would not move from their breasts! He actually gave out the phone number of another teacher to a friend of his, who then sent flowers and champagne, and, when this didn't work, threatening text messages. He also left threatening notes on the computer restricting the teachers’ internet use to 5 minutes.
In conclusion, this man is probably mentally ill. His manner, his lies and his obsession with money cannot be explained any other way. He is like a cartoon villain, is widely disliked in the town where the school is, and nobody was surprised by the things that were happening. The bottom line is DON'T WORK FOR HIM!!
Potenza has a population of only 70,000 people. For a town that is so small to have two schools on The TEFL Blacklist, (this one and also The British School of Potenza) takes some doing.
Bargepoles out!
OMG! I'm form Potenza but I didn't know anything about that! I was looking for English schools in Potenza for a friend of mine and I read that post....what a nightmare for you...!
Apologies on behalf of all people from Potenza: I ensure we are better than this jerk!
The mildly Svengali-like director of Madrelingua in Bologna, Italy heads my list of nominations for Italy. He is not quite up there with dastardly villains of the TEFL world and does in fact run a school that would otherwise be a model for the industry to follow …….if (note the long pause here) he was as exemplary in practice as regards treatment of teachers as he is in his own head or as he presents himself to be. A paragon of helpfulness and cordiality at the outset it is all the more disappointing when this seeming embodiment of good practice drops his sunshine persona to become abrasive and sometimes simply “offensive” in the word of a DOS from another school who had no axe to grind with him.
He pays well by local standards (€20-25 Gross per 60 mins, 2007) but has a penchant for agreeing with teachers on a number of hours to pay them regardless- “a minimum”, then displaying some creativity in finding ways out of his commitment – assigning them classes which they are not competent to teach (business for YL teachers) or on days that one has already agreed will be left free as in my case and when one says no the teacher has “refused” work and hence the minimum guarantee is rendered void.
He may offer half-price or even a week or two of free Italian for non-Italian teachers although in one case agreed to deduct the money in three instalments only to have a peevish change of heart and deduct it all in one capricious ah….whammy…from the teacher concerned who left not long after as a result. The director lamented that she made more money than he did.
Indeed she did as the school is new and still struggling (at least as of 2007) to get ahead. A fact that the director was always at pains to point out, in particular, how much his wife, also a partner, suffered when teachers ask him to stand by his commitments- She probably won t sleep tonight because of this! – was one of his classics.
For good measure he threatened not to pay the same teacher for the last few classes she had taught (I don’t know if he followed through) when she said she was leaving without teaching the few classes remaining till end of term despite the fact that as a “collaboratore occasionale” she could by law quit at a moment’s notice. For info on such contracts and other ex-pat issues in Italy you can visit www.informer.it/Default.aspx?tabid=39
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