Some clips of Flight of the Conchords. "Business Time" and "Jenny" are partcularly great. Two very talented and funny Kiwis!

Saturday, March 03, 2007

Teaching English Abroad by Susan Griffith

Astonishment on picking up a copy of this supposed definitive reference guide, to discover that lots of BLACKLISTED schools are recommended. Should the Inspector be surprised? No of course not! She is after all trying to make money by selling her book and clearly cleans up through selling advertising space. What's wrong in that?
A cursory glance confirmed my worst fears. The roll call of recommended rotten schools is far too long to list for the moment as The Inspector has just upgraded his yak to the Himalayan variety and now that the beast has a child's size ski strapped to each hoof (the cucumber ski experiment was a total failure after the ungrateful brute ate them*) we're ready for the slopes and raring to pursue better things than some TEFL tabloid hack by the name of Susan Griffith (for the moment at least).
Regarding good (or rather bad) old Susan. A charlatan I'm afraid. That's not to say it would be fair to discount every single word she's written about "Teaching English Abroad", simply that she has a different agenda, which involves (yes you've guessed it) making money, and the more the merrier.
Get your barge poles out, all you fellow blacklisters, complain to the publisher, and we'll wade together through the "informative unbiased guide" weeding out blatant examples of self-interest.
Such books do so much harm, as the innocent newly qualified teacher turns to them for impartial advice.
Well don't. Put it in the bin, use it to light the fire, use it if you've run out of loo paper but above all don't fall into the trap of thinking it's the Bible of Teaching English Abroad because it is most definitely not. Shame on you Susan, my Granny would love to give you a good spanking for being a very naughty girl (for all The Inspector knows you may be an old tart but I digress as usual), you've written a book which should be pulped, reprinted and re-entitled "Teaching English Abroad For The Financial Benefit of Susan Griffith".

Here are the ISBN numbers:
  • ISBN-10: 1854583522
  • ISBN-13: 978-1854583529

* The cucumber ski experiment was mentioned in the response to Sandy in the section "The Inspector is in Cloud Cuckoo Land". Just a quick word to reassure you anxious readers, that unsound as he might be when it comes to yaks on skis, The Inspector knows that your ordinary cucumber has many other valuable uses.

Inspector McHammered of the Lard in Val Ferret, Switzerland

FOR THE MOST RECENT POSTING CLICK HERE
FOR BLACKLIST NOMINATIONS CLICK HERE

TEFL.COM - THE USUAL SUSPECTS ADVERTISING

Yup the cash tills are still ringing at TEFL.com
A very quick check by The Inspector shows that these people are currently advertising (Friday 2 March) all of whom are BLACKLISTED:

This is just in Europe!
Now why on earth do they need teachers in the middle of the academic year. I can't possibly imagine. You don't think that some of their teachers quit do you, because they are crap schools? No no no, perish the thought. It must be The Inspector's suspicious mind at work.

There are over 34 jobs in China and loads in Korea, some just have to be total nightmares and traps for the unwary. International House Kuala Lumpa has also been spotted, Shane English Schools naturally is there, also the usual crowd of crap jobs in the UK well documented as usual by Sandy. The Inspector may need to apply to Scotland Lard for an assistant as the workload seems to be piling up and he's currently stuck halfway up a mountain with a yak.

Shame on TEFL.com who clearly couldn't give a toss about the quality of organisations who pay to advertise on their website.



Inspector McHammered of the Lard
FOR BLACKLIST NOMINATIONS CLICK HERE