The Week of Interviews

So I went to two interviews this week at other English schools. The coordinator at the first school talked to me for about 30 seconds before she offered me a class. (It's because I was recommended by another teacher, so she was a but more trusting.) The school seems decent, and the pay is better than both of the schools I work at, but it's REALLY difficult to park there (it's downtown), and so far, she can only offer me one class.

I had the interview at the other school on Friday. This other school is new, and teaches English and Spanish. The coordinator was friendly, and the school's layout is clean and professional and all that. Something I liked about this school was that they cater to teenagers, but encourage them to stick around the school instead of hanging out on the street or at the mall (preferring them to be at a safe, enriching place). The entire bottom level of the school is a "club" (English borrowing with semantic shift)-- kind of like a Boy's and Girl's Club. It has TVs, couches, computers, video games, a little library, even a swimming pool and barbecue area.

Both schools are chains, which means they'll be on the more organized side of the EFL school spectrum. They each have their own book series and I don't have to prepare anything (yay). Unlike Crazy Boss, they don't promise that the students can study whatever they want, whenever they want (and with the AMERICAN!).

Anyway, at the second interview, the coordinator asked me if I'd be willing to teach Spanish classes. I was honest- I'm not a native speaker, and my vocabulary is actually very limited. She asked if she could just give me the Spanish test and see how things went.
Oh my gosh... my poor brain! I took the English test first, which required a lot of translation of English to Portuguese (phrasal verbs), and Portuguese to English (nouns). The Spanish test was really difficult and also used Castillian Spanish (and required translating from Spanish to Portuguese and vice versa...).

I told her that I didn't think I'd be comfortable teaching Spanish. She admitted that they were totally desperate for a Spanish teacher during the week and that it'd only be basic classes. So who knows. She said she liked me and would be emailing me this week to set up a training, but didn't say how many classes they could offer.

But it should be fine-- between the private classes I already have, and the classes I'll be picking up from the job I'm keeping, I should have more or less the same number of hours (maybe 3 less per week or something negligible). I decided that my last day at crazy job is going to be the 20th (but he has an extra week after to find a new teacher because it'll be Carnival and the school will be closed). I'm going to tell him some time this week... gotta find an opportune time.

I don't think the crazy boss will be surprised. Yesterday, he called me at home. He said that I seemed stressed and unhappy at school and wanted to know why. He sounded considerate enough at first, but I knew to tread lightly. I explained that, while I was happy that he was planning to change things (since most of those changes I talked about from the beginning of the year, like grades and rules for 1-1 classes, haven't actually happened), I feel like there's not really any standards for the school and that I am too responsible for the success of my classes. I reminded him how he only recently ordered the textbooks for the semester (classes started January 12th), and he didn't even order all of them and they still haven't come, so I've had to prepare material from scratch for all my classes. I also pointed out the frequency with which he schedules me with a new student with absolutely no information about them, and I have to walk into the first class (that they're paying for) checking their level and asking why they're learning English and all that. Then I have to make something up really fast to fill the hour, or hope I have some activity with me that they can use. I also noted how ridiculous (I used the word 'frustrating') it is to be double-booked for classes.

He didn't hear a word I said. He jumped in to attack, going on about how "everyone's complaining" but he's doing his best so he doesn't see what the problem is. (Right.) He also said that the books would be coming, so that's not a problem (um.... he asked why I'm stressed now...). His argument was basically that things would be changing eventually in the future so I had no reason to be dissatisfied. Fucking Douche. Before I could respond to anything, he said, "I need to call you back later" and hung up without waiting for a reply. When he called again a few hours later, I didn't pick up. What's the point of asking me to air my grievances if he's not going to listen?

As we (?) say in Portuguese, "ele não existe." It's the negative meaning of, "he's such a character." If he asks why I didn't call him back, I'll say that I prefer to have serious conversations like that in person. And then I'll tell him I've gotten a better offer from another school and I'm going to try it out.

In short, this job stuff has really been stressing me out and I'll be glad when February is over.