Initial impressions- the course and standing up for oneself

Initial impressions- the course and standing up for oneself

Stepping off the plane I had mixed feelings. It was hot in the UK, and the weather said it'd be raining when I got off the plane. I'd been chatting bad Portuguese with the lady next to me, which had been nice, but now I was here and couldn't take my eye off outside. It was sunny!!!!! Not only was it sunny, it was very hot,so hot I felt pretty stupid in my hottest, thickest trousers,... and it was nearly 5pm. There was a sign saying it was 26 degrees.


I'd asked to get a list of the teachers' emails to establish initial contact before our orientation started and this had blossomed into an email list. Since then, we'd all met up on the airport, somewhat nervously and chatted on the plane.

After being greeted off the plane we were driven to the hotel, paired off with people we were to share a room with and told to be ready to meet for dinner in 50 mins. I was paired with the first teacher I'd met at the airport, a guy called Gwylym. I got on with him well and was happy to be in a room, from the get go, with someone I liked- we weren't told that we had to share rooms...


Dinner was a lavish three course meal, with all the teachers spread along a long table down the middle of the restaurant. I had soup, salmon and fruit salad. Three hours of eating later I was getting seriously antsy, I wanted to walk about, explore, but had to wait.

Back at the hotel we went to the nearby bar. The bar looks at bit odd, more like a cafe, though it had drinkers there till past midnight and over the next 10 days we got special treatment and were frequently allowed to stay till past 1am. With warm evenings, especially the last 2 weeks in Sept (with evening temp of over 25!) most of the time we sat outside until midnight then inside until we were turfed out.


The bar sessions were great as the first 10 days were anxious for everyone. The orientation was more fear mongering, lecturing us, sometimes by teachers with less experience than their audience. These sessions were dull with a capital DUH. The teachers who were delivering the 'sessions' are the heads of the various schools, some were cocky, some were rude, some insulted us(one riduculed me in front of everyone- I fell silent and she profusely apologised- probably to fill the silence), some were boring, some were all of the above.

To put it into perspective that we were all homeless, staying in an expensive hotel and had to find housing for the next 9 months. We were also new to the city, and to top it off didn't know anyone, anything, or any Portuguese. The sun was shining all through the sessions, making them that more painful. Something had to be done. Oddly, at a few key moments in my life, there are times when I feel very agitated by a what I, and often others, feel to be unjust, unfair, annoying and unnecessary. Sometimes it's only be that's bold though (self righteousness is something I'm definitively not short of!)

Last time I remember this happening was when I went to New York, to work on camp America and there was an overgrown bully aged 22, throwing (literally) his weight around.. His age matched his appearance which equaled his attitude to life- he didn't care about his appearance (ugliest dude ever) like he didn't care for anyone, or anything. He routinely insulted peers, kids and even superiors- amazingly often to their face, to little reaction. Being in New York was shocking to a 19 year old, but this guy was something else.

Oddly, he never insulted me, I'm still not sure why(he was three times me size in both directions). Anyway, I tested the ground and for about three days, I let him do it to others. Then he insulted my room mate, who'd just come out of the army, where he'd shot down enemy war planes. No one had ever challenged the bully. He'd been at the top of this very small tree for a while. He'd never even been challenged. I have never wanted to kill anyone more than this guy, and I'm not a violent person. Nir, my Israeli friend, was the calmest, sweetest, friendliest guy there is. He'd been selected to come to New York for being the best soldiers, not just on a military level, he was what was considered a true representation of the best of what Israel had to offer.*

*There were a group of Israelis that had been picked to have time off from the IDF and Nir was one of the eldest in the group.

Now picture this. After finishing one of the days orientation (why do this bullshit always happen on orientation) the leaders in our group are gathered around chatting about the day. I don't know which god was smiling on me to get me lumped with Kartman(just to preserve his true identity), but it happened. So, I walk over and he's slagging off everyone. Then, Nir. I look at the others, some of whom have known Kartman for years. No one says or does anything. I do. Damn right I do.

Kartman says Nir hasn't do anything manly (not realising he's just come out of war). I proceed to ask Kartman what HE has done. Silence kills the loudest bullies. He shrinks. I'm so ready at this point. The others get twitchy. Turns out Kartman is all mouth and I'm ushered out. One of Kartman's friends says how amazed he is that I'd stood up to him and how he'd wished he'd done it.

I am not a angry or violent person. But I am opinionated and have a strong sense of what is right and wrong. The orientation here in lisbon was carried out by the heads of the schools, some of whom are well experienced, some of whom are not. By the end of week one everyone was complaining, at the bar, about the patronising and dull nature of the course. Some of it was ridiculous.

A big thing in the TEFL world is encouraging students to learn actively and to cut down on the TTT (teacher talking time). We all knew this. We are qualified and experienced teachers ourselves. Yet, the organisers of the orientation failed to realise the irony of lecturing us on good teaching habits, talking at us for 90 mins flat about things we already know (and reading from a damn sheet!). Again it is a bit hard to articulate the grind of 9-6 sessions of patronizing lectures. It was SO bad.

By the end of the Friday I had to tell someone. I asked the others if anyone had felt the same as me. The previous few days I'd heard a lot of people, if not all, say how bad the sessions were and how they just wanted to sort out housing/bank accounts/travel passes etc But no one wanted to report anything back to the management. They made excuses, looked edgy, skipping around the issue.

It had been similar with Kartman. I'd asked his friends if he was just excited or if he was always such an arsehole. They said he was just like that and I would have to get used to it, everyone just accepted it. The same with most of the other teachers, they told me that it was normal, that it would damage my reputation, wasn't worth it etc etc. Stress built up is not a good thing, so I did what I thought was right. I went to speak to the head of all of the schools in the whole of Portugal. I went with a list.

The guy, Jeffrey, was very receptive. He was surprised but understanding and said that they had been thinking of changing the course but had not bothered and it hadn't been changed for some time. Afterwards I felt like I had confronted the school bully as the other teachers were dying to know if I'd been successful at making a challenge. I said that I needed to pack up my things and that my complaining was not 'the cambridge way'. I said I was upset at being fired but that was how it was. They had a major look of sympathy in their eyes.
Some really did believe me,....

A few weeks in, like with Kartman, despite worrying slightly about repercussions, nothing detrimental has happened to me and in both cases people treat/treated me with a tad more respect.

ps. sorry for the digression!