One of the many lessons we have learnt from blogging about corruption in the TEFL industry is the facility that liars and scammers have in wiggling out of responsibility. But perhaps this ought not to have surprised us at all. After all, imagine you are a dishonest person who doesn’t want to play by the…
Yesterday we receieved an irate post from someone who can only be the owner of Rumah Bahasa, a notorious new school in Kelapa Gading which has earned terrible reviews from expat teachers unfortunate enough to work for Frendy Horas and his team. The post was 98% in Indonesian, which doesn’t bode well for a school…
The amount of hits this blog has received over the last few months has been remarkable. In January alone we had 5,500 views- a very high number for a blog focused on a single issue: corruption in Indonesia’s TEFL industry. For the first time, most of these “hits” have not been from searches about TBI…
Last week we discussed the economics of TEFL wages, and showed how the tight new DIKNAS regulations have resulted in wage inflation for schools who follow the law eg. Wall Street. We also showed how the economic fundamentals of supply and demand are the most important factor in determining wage levels across the industry as…
One thing that people never seem to discuss much in terms of TEFL wages and conditions is the basic economics of supply and demand. The industry, like any other, responds to the amount of labour available. If there are more Native Speaker teachers who want to live in a particular area that will exert a…
In recent days we have shown that since 2009-2010 both Thailand and Indonesia have been on similar trajectories in terms of TEFL teachers. Formerly free-wheeling TEFL industries that employed people without anything more than a TEFL certificate (often fake) have now markedly tightened up. Indonesia now requires teachers to have a Degree in English (whatever…
A few days ago we reported that Thailand is now tightening up the restrictions on expat teachers. Again. This time the regulations have been worded in such a way that only people with a Degree in Education will be able to apply in most cases. (Some may be able to get a “waiver” for up…
Over the coming week we will take a look around ASEAN to see how Indonesian teaching regulations compare with those of some of its neighbours. First off we will focus on Thailand, which like Indonesia has been tightening up regulations on expat teachers for some time. Despite the recent political chaos in Bangkok, it has…
The Marketing Department of TBI was long under the control of Ibu Mariam, which is why it is such a disaster. It is almost an in-joke with local staff in TBI that Ibu Mariam is such an incompetent manager that anyone who is ‘promoted’ to work with her will soon end up leaving the company.…
This interview, with a former manager of TBI Kelapa Gading, covers the early history of TBI Kelapa Gading and explores why it lost most its early customers within 2 years. What can you tell us about the establishment of TBI Kelapa Gading? The school was opened in 2006 as a Franchise school. It was sold…
tbilanguageschool 