Would YOU work for 20K in London?

Well, would you? If you’re an EFL teacher you’d probably have to, but did you also know that – even as a Diploma-qualified Tefler with the following attributes, you may well have to!

• Experience of delivering examination classes ( FCE/CAE/CPE/IELTS) 
 • Experience of working in multilingual classroom 
 • Experience with continuous assessment, adapting lessons to meet individual needs, giving tutorials and setting learning goals 
 • Proficiency in time management and record keeping 
 • Can demonstrate a strong commitment to own CPD 
 • Confident with using IT in the classroom including IWBs
 • Flexibility and cultural awareness

Yes, step forward the Wimbledon School of English for advertising such a demanding job with so little reward!

I’m rather surprised, and not a little disappointed, that despite this very same school having won the highest of all possible marks in its recent British Council inspection, it’s still offering shit salaries for Dip teachers with oodles of experience.

 What’s worse, the ad makes no mention of how many of hours of classroom capers you’ll have to put in before they cough up that mighty 385 quid every week. If it’s around the 25 mark, that means you’ll be in effect working for something like a pisspoor 15 quid an hour!

Mind you, they do offer a free lunch. Whether you’re allowed a doggy-bag to help prevent yourself from starving to death on their shit salary is not clear, however. 

 Care to comment on that, Fiona Dunlop and Jane Dancaster?

Speak Up! forced to Pay Up!

Once again, Sandy's Tefl spies have brought to greater attention the dodgy doings of another shyster school. In this case, I am very proud to be able to shine the 'Spotlight of Shame' on Speak Up! London, who have been found guilty of flouting employment laws and promoting outright sexism in the workplace. The main character responsible is an upstanding gentleman of Asian extraction, pictured alongside, who goes by the glorious name of Mr Fartan!

Without doubt, this thieving toad represents another fine example of the cockroaches and scumbags who infest the UK Tefl scene. Last month he attempted to fire an employee for no reason and without notice or payment. No doubt this is the way employees, especially female ones, are treated in his country of origin. However, Mr Fartan (a.k.a. Farhan Quraishi) seemed to overlook that he lives in a civilised country now, whose laws need to be respected.

After a spirited campaign via social media, Mr Fartan was forced to change his cheating ways. You can find out all about the matter here:

http://www.solfed.org.uk/north-london/victory-against-wage-stealing-language-school

http://www.solfed.org.uk/north-london/marta-2-speak-up-0

http://libcom.org/blog/working-man-06062014

Anyway, I did some further digging into Mr Fartan and his academic cesspit, and I found some pretty vile stuff. He is a man who is not shy of making grand claims on his LinkedIn page, but in reality he appears to be much more of a wimp.

For example, he claims to be a "Multi talented individual whose skills set ranges" . Indeed , they probably range from promoting discrimination against his female teachers to failing to issue teachers with contracts. Or perhaps that is what he means by his boast that he is "Definitely not a one trick pony."? After all, he seems to have lots of tricks up his sleeve, especially when it comes to dodging his legal obligations as an employer.

He has also been pulled up about the full name of his school, which is Speak Up! London School of English on their website and advertising. Certain people at the London School of English, which is probably the UK's very best EFL school, have asked him to either alter his school's name or issue a disclaimer, stating clearly that his cheapskate outfit in tourist town is nothing at all to do with the high-quality outfit in Holland Park. However, for some strange reason that only Mr Fartan can provide, he has consistently refused to do so!

Another strange matter is the fact that on June 4 this year - just a few weeks back - Mr Fartan and his co-director, Kamila Cwiklinska (both of 49 Clarence Gardens, Camden) registered a new company at Companies House. This new school is called Speak Up London Language School Ltd - a name that is very similar to their current company, which was incorporated in August 2012, called Speak Up London Ltd.

Now, language schools come and go, and my experience of those that go after a name change is that they often claim insolvency and dodge the taxman. And for some reason, the current Speak Up! outfit has apparently paid no taxes and filed no accounts EVER!

Oh, and sometimes these shyster schools avoid paying their employees too. Is this another of those tricks that Mr Fartan likes to crow about?



Do YOU work at Speak Up!? Got a story to tell? 
Just send it to teflsandy@yahoo.ie and you'll receive a free packet of 10 Park Drive in return!

The oddness of Riyadh: the place and the people (part 1).

Sandy McAnus is proud to present a series of pieces dedicated to that shimmering hub of teaching excellence, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. One of my contacts over there, based in the capital of The Gulf's shining light of democracy, has bravely volunteered (no inducements were offered, really) the following tribute to his equally singular colleagues.

*******

When I arrived in Riyadh a few years back, I had little idea of what would befall me. Having never been to the Gulf region before, there was much of a muchness about choosing a particular location -  they all seemed the same, and were equally desperate to recruit me. When two teachers dropped out of a PREP Programme at the prestigious King Faisal School Riyadh situated next to the American Embassy in the Diplomatic Quarter, two vacancies arose. With some research I noted that the school was home to much of the ruling elite of the country, with the Bin Ladens and the Al-Sauds being the more obvious benefactors. Yet generally, as is often the case with such dodgy institutes, there was a paucity of information about the place - just a bunch of sour grapes by some sad Tefl twats who either got fired or walked out because they were about to get fired. Aside from that, I knew very little.

The first thing people notice about working in Saudi is how painfully slow the visa process is, not to mention the cost of it. After running around for the best part of two months, however, I was soon on board a flight crossing hour upon hour of gleaming sand, wondering whether I had done the right thing. My main reason for going was because I wanted to get SARS; yes, that’s right - SARS. Not the bird flu kind, but Saudi Arabian Rials … or ‘fluse’ as it’s known locally.

Upon arriving in Riyadh, I was met and taken to a 3-star hotel on the edge of the city. This place doubled  as a knocking shop for fat Saudis and Bangladeshi boys, with the room opposite me being the main hub of activity, unfortunately. On my first day at work I was told that there would be a three week induction period before the students arrived, and that I should use that time to get to know my colleagues and the city. That was when the fun really began. Looking back, I regret not noting all this down at the time, as I have told many I could have made millions from revealing the antics that occurred in the first few months. Given the nature of it all, like many observers, I was too stunned to act, and completely unable to overcome the disbelief that occurred on a daily basis.

The job itself did not get off to the best of starts. One teacher resigned on the first day, rather than pander to a bunch of spoilt Saudi brats all year, whereas another teacher, Palestinian, was fired shortly after for allowing a boy to drown in the swimming pool during a poorly supervised sports day. I befriended what few ex-pat teachers there were, not yet aware that this is not always the best thing to do in the Gulf region. My colleagues were a whacky bunch of misfits, all of them mad in their own way, though two of them were clearly beyond anything I have ever come across. I will mention the merely unbalanced characters first, before moving onto the real crackpots.

To be continued

Outbreak of Activity at Windsor English!

Does anybody remember 'The Windsor Swindler'? I thought not. Well, just when you thought all the slime had dribbled back into the tin, it pops its lid up again! Paul Lowe, I mean. Yeh, that's the old bastard alongside...

Yes, our most favourite Tefl Slug is now firmly back on the Tefl Trail, after a brief but unsuccesful detour into the B&B trade. Paul Lowe has recently advertised on tefl.com for a few gullible Tefl Twerps to join him at Lowe Mansions, a.k.a. Windsor English, in his defecatory pedagogical ponderings across the Windsor skyline.

However, it seems that Paul's still on 'the medication', as the ad features a few howlers. Can you spot them...?

English Teacher - Windsor English

Location Windsor UK, United Kingdom

Deadline Thursday 18. May 2000

Experience 1 year

Positions 3

Details

English Teachers URGENTLY needed to fit in with a close-knit team of friendly teachers and students. Year-round position to the right person

Qualifications - TEFL Cert.

1 year experince minimum - Dip preferred

Needs to be local to Windsor

Compensation - £17 per hour

Of course, dodgy Paul does not even know what year it is, and fails the basic literacy test by spelling 'experience' wrong! Silly boy, Paul - you only had to copy the word from the form!

And despite apparently advertising for three teachers, he claims there's only ONE permanent position available TO the right person ... rather than FOR the right person. Sadly it appears that all those copywriting skills Paul presumably acquired during his years in the advertising business have been lost.

Anyway, if you fancy availing yourself of Paul's almost generous offer of 17 smackers for each hour of classroom capers - paid (hopefully) in a brown envelope at the end of the week - here's the number to call.
01753 858995
Just tell him that Sandy sent you. I'm sure he'll be delighted!

Revolutionary Tefler Needed...

Pissed off you missed out on the Spanish Civil War by a few decades? Fancy Syria instead? Well, Inlingua can help you!

Jobs in Syria

inlingua Aleppo offers English Teaching jobs.

The teacher should be native speaker (American or British), reliable ,dynamic and able to teach both Business and General English.

For more information please contact us at: dos@inlingua-sy.com

Yes, I know that there are many Tefl Twerps who went off to teach in Spain after reading Orwell's 'Homage to Catalonia', and then returned home severely disheartened, after learning that the International Brigades had long been abandoned. Well, cheer up, fellahs, there's no reason to sit at home regretting that cruel twist of fate that led to you being born around 60 years too late!

Thanks to the generosity of Inlingua, who proudly claim 'Inlingua - crossing language barriers' as their slogan, you can now also risk crossing the mortality barrier by getting a large hole in your head while shouting 'Allahu Akhbar' or some such religious nonsense. Yes, leave that large red and black anarchist flag at home and dress yourself up in an oversized pair of green curtains. Then launch yourself out on the the dusty streets of Aleppo, between classes of course, and wave a dog-eared copy of Headway Pre-Intermediate at the Syrian Army in a menacing way.

I can guarantee you'll become a martyr almost instantly. Liz and John will be proud of you, and you'll almost definitely get a posthumous mention in the EL Gazette.

And all that time you spent reading 'The Spanish Civil War' will NOT have been in vain!

Regency College, Brighton

Not a lot of people know this, but Sandy has a network of Tefl spies peppered around the South coast of England, where dodgy outfits outnumber the bona-fide schools by about 2:1. My latest damning intelligence report concerns a rather vile little setup in Brighton, Regency College.

We'd like to nominate Regency College in Hove, Brighton, as a candidate for Crap Employer of the Year. The senior teachers there, Andy and Sheena, offer little support to new teachers, even for teachers coming in who are newly qualified, just having got a CELTA. Yes, there are complete novices there, straight out from the CELTA classroom. They just wanted somebody who would accept all the students that none of the other teachers wanted - a most noble educational sentiment!

As for the other management, the D.O.S is hardly ever in the school building, but this may well be to her partner having passed away recently. However, her deputy, Mary the ADOS, is aggressive, shouting at students and teachers alike, and generally serves only to create a hostile atmosphere. She likes to employ methods of 'psychological bullying' intimidating and undermining less experienced teachers, making comments like 'where are all our important teachers?' when only the newbies are around. Motivations skills like that must be very hard to acquire!

The students are given precedence and power over teachers, even to the extent of some teachers feeling bullied and unable to do their jobs properly. More worryingly, many of the college's students are working illegally against student visa regulations, with the full knowledge of the school managers. They typically work as cleaners in nightclubs or have jobs in hotels as chambermaids, or as cooks and waiters in restaurants etc. - all this is common knowledge at the school.

Other staff have reported being offered a job in writing and then having it retracted at the last minute, while the teacher was on the way to the school to sign the contract itself. One teacher was offered a contract which was then withdrawn it as the management shifted their schedule round to keep certain teachers on.

Teachers' morale is generally low there, with everyone looking out for themselves - even to the extent of hiding new teachers' administration papers so it looks like they are at fault. In general it's a nasty place to work, and best avoided.

Clearly this is a dodgy outfit that needs to be be checked out. We have accordingly informed the British Council and UKBA, and look forward to co-operating with them soon.

So, sounds like a cracking place to work, eh?! What do you have to say in your defence, Regency?

'CrapJobs!' for an Indian Summer!

I would like to offer my sincere apologies for this belated battering of summer school ‘Crap Jobs!’, but adverse circumstances put themselves in my way. If you had the misfortune to walk into one of these nightmare jobs, paying 'Indian-style' wages, please leave a comment below and apprise us of your personal horror!

First up is the Eckersley School of Oxford, a dignified Tefl institute that, according to the advert on tefl.com, “has a long history of learning and teahing” [sic]. Clearly, though, the school has no extended background in correct spelling or proofreading. It also claims that “many of our staff have a long history with the school”, which probably means in excess of six months.

Anyway, this outfit was offering Celta-belters a mighty £13.60 per hour for 21 hours of classroom capering, resulting in an impressive weekly paycheck of ... 285 quid!! In my view, any Tefl job that pays less than 300 quid a week is still living in the 1990s, when it was possible to earn that sum for the usual timetable of 25 contact hours per week.

If you’re interested in making an early application for next year’s round of summer shenanigans, try contacting the Academic Manager, Jackie Halsall, on 01865 721268. I’m sure she’d be happy to lie through her teeth and kid you what a wonderful experience the whole things is!

Next in the queue of awful summer employers stand the infamous cheapskates OISE, who were offering a measly 280 quid for 22.5 hours of intensive classes in small groups, which works out as less than 12.50 an hour!! In admission of this truly derisory financial offering, the tefl.com advert proudly states that “Newly-qualified teachers are welcome, and will be supported.” Clearly no experienced teacher would consider going near the place, then.

In my experience this company are exceedingly shifty. So the statement that “Contracts generally offer ... some leisure supervision in the afternoon on a rota basis” needs to be treated with extreme caution, as there’s no mention of any payment for these rota duties. The same goes for this – “There is a Saturday excursion, for which supervision duties are available on a voluntary basis for extra payment”. This ‘extra payment’ is a mere £50.00, which is around minimum wage level!

Still interested in this ritual humiliation? Well, please call 01865 258323 and ask to speak to Duncan Jamieson, the ‘Academic Mangager’ [sic], who also appears to have a problem with his English.

Last up is the well-loathed Devon School of English, who are already familiar to readers of the pages of this blog. This bunch of shysters were offering a true financial slap in the face – 299 quid a week (the same they were paying in Easter 2009), from which they deduct £35 to cover your accommodation!

The thoroughly obnoxious Bret Hawthorne is the boy to contact here, on 01803 559718, if you’d like to pre-book this once-in-a-lifetime experience.

So there it goes – or went, rather. But perhaps you had an even worse wage or experience this summer. Feel like sharing it with us? Please do!

Crap Jobs, British Council style...

Yes, it looks like the British Council is really scraping the barrel recruitment-wise. One of their recent adverts proudly claims a need for 10 newly-qualified Tefl twerps for Cairo – no experience needed at all!!

Of course, there was a time when BC only accepted highly experienced and well-qualified teachers, but now a greenhorn – no, TEN greenhorns! – will have the lucky chance of being inducted into the BC House of Horrors. As the advert states...

No post-certificate experience is needed; this programme is for teachers without the two years experience we usually ask for.

To which we have to ask ... why? Maybe, just possibly, there’s a financial reason lurking behind all this. After all, the salary is a measly 1100 quid a month, and there’s NO accommodation allowance – so you can kiss a lot of that money goodbye immediately. Mind you, there is the very heart-warming promise of “Assistance provided in finding accommodation plus reasonable time off in first two weeks for this purpose”. There you go – that’s BC being generous for you!

And they’ll have you work your butt off for them too – teaching up to 20 hours a week in the first six months, and then the standard 25.

Of course, if that’s not bad enough for you, try this other one, in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It’s allegedly a ‘local contract’, which is why it offers no baggage allowance or airfare at all – and no accommodation allowance either! But of course, if you just happen to be there already...

As the advert admits, “For a poor country, Tanzania is surprisingly expensive.” So trying to live on the measly BC salary of LESS than 1000 quid a month (in a declining local currency) might be very difficult indeed.

So, does anybody else have any Crap Jobs from the BC camp? Sandy would be very interested in checking them out, seeing as he’s got a LOT of free time on his hands right now!

British Council 'not ready' for zombie attack

A worried member of the Tefl profession has forced the British Council to admit it is unprepared for a zombie invasion of under-qualified ‘instructors’. The BC received a Freedom of Information request which said provisions to deal with such an attack, often seen in teacher-training horror films, were poor.

The ‘concerned Tefler’ said the possibility of such an event was one that the Council should be aware of, especially when considering that the salaries offered for many of their teaching posts were so much below par that the term ‘instructor’ is now used in their recruitment advertisements.

That Letter in Full

Dear British Council,

Can you please let us know what provisions you have in place in the event of a zombie Tefler invasion? Having watched several teacher-training films, it is clear that preparation for such an event is poor and one that British Councils throughout the world must prepare for – a sudden influx of under-qualified instructors who are hired on the cheap.

Please provide any information you may have.

Yours faithfully,

Concerned Tefler

"We've had a few wacky ones before (i.e., teachers), but this request did make us laugh," said Sharon Slapper, head of Information Governance at the British Council in London. Ms Slapper said she was unaware of any specific reference to Tefl zombies in the BC’s current recruitment plan, but some elements of it could be applied if the situation arose.

“BC used to insist on teachers with a Diploma at least” she continued “but nowadays we’ll take anybody with a Mickey Mouse Tefl certificate, as long as they’re prepared to work for ‘local salaries’ – peanuts, in other words”. However, she expressed the opinion that the organisation would draw the line at zombies and Crystal Palace fans.

However, Ed Thurlow, who runs zombie website Terror4Fun, said he felt a Tefler zombie invasion of the British Council was highly likely. "I’ve seen some of these types hanging around language schools in Oxford during Summer, and they really scare me. I reckon that this ‘Concerned Tefler’ has got something here” he stated, before disappearing behind a well-known chain school pursued by garishly-painted teenagers clutching newly-acquired Tefl certificates.

Summer School Caveat Issued!

Well, this is REAL proof that Sandy Mac is losing his marbles day by day. I mean, I almost forgot to post my annual warning about working on Summer Schools! I've written more blog-postings about this particularly nasty type of bonded labour than any other subject, I guess, so it should be at least be a little bit uppermost in my mind.

Anyway, here it goes for 2011. Just click on the link here and you can discover the indiluted truth about slaving your guts out for peanuts while having to endure the most odious types of rich-kid students and semi-alcoholic 'colleagues' (as per above) that you could possibly imagine. I have no wish to crow and repeat the awful cliche of "you have been warned", but ... I'm just pointing it out!

BTW, those idiots amongst you who choose to ignore my sound advice should have some excellent stories to tell come late August. So please do pass your depraved accounts this way.

And if there are any other (over-)seasoned Teflers out there with similar stories of hellish summer schools, I'd be very grateful if you could let me have them too. It's not that I'm hard-up for material, but I do feel that a few fresh tales of Summer School despair and despondency would help to persuade the as-yet undecided to avoid a humiliating fate.

Crap School - The Burlington [UPDATED]

You see! I've only been back in the country a few weeks, and my TeflTrade spooks are STILL beavering away tirelessly, unearthing crap schools and passing on the news to Sandy. The latest piece of hot 'intelli' concerns a dump in London that rather grandly refers to itself as The Burlington School of English, and that rather gross-looking trout alongside is the Principal.

The report begins: "Several comrades have informed me about the Burlington School of English and how crap it is. They expressed surprise that nothing had been written about it, because everyone they know who's worked there thinks it's shit too."

I can easily believe this asessment, as I once went there for an interview myself, albeit many years back. The labels 'crap' and 'shit' were quick to establish themselves in my mind too, so I see that consistency is also one of their trademarks.

The reports goes on to state that this school pays less than £10 an hour for IELTS teaching, and has a pathetic lack of resources - just dog-eared old textbooks and a few dodgy worksheets. Even worse, the DoS is a disgusting fat bastard who, despite claiming to have ‘run’ a British Council School somewhere abroad (Libya? Saudi?), is utterly lacking in life or brains. On top of that, he has an elevated opinion of himself and is extremely rude and unprofessional in his dealings with staff.

In fact, this all sounds very déjà vu to me - it MUST be the SAME loathsome git of a DoS from way back when!? He was keen to impress on me that he'd worked for the BC in the Gulf, a fact that is hardly something to crow about - unless you're a saddo Tefler, I suppose.

Anyway, somehow The Burlington managed to scrape a measly pass for its British Council accreditation back in 2009. In fact, a closer inspection reveals they didn’t do too well, as the BC report mentions a distinct need for improvement in several areas, and zero areas of excellence.

So - any other news on this dump? Have you worked for this grumpy cunt of a pompous DoS? Please add your comments below!

UPDATE:

At the BSE the starting salary for a newly qualified teacher is £27.50 for a three hour session (20 minute break, unpaid). Those with a whole one year of teaching experience are on £28.50 per session, and the highest rate is £32 for a three hour slot – but only if you have a PGCE!

Incredibly, those teaching university preparation classes every morning for three hours are paid at the same rate, despite having to make do with various ageing coursebooks without CD's and having to make up a syllabus with pretty much no help. Asking the DoS for assistance was a waste of time, as he barely had a pulse.

Moreover, because of new Home Office regulations, the classes are going to be slightly longer with only a ten minute break, so that the students get the full three hours per day. Of course, there has been no mention of any increase in teaching rates to compensate for the extra work.

In fact, there is now a new Dos in place, as the old one left two weeks in advance after being badly treated by the Principal. Perhaps she rattled his coffin? Anyway, the new DoS was obviously more suited to the school, adopting a policy of “hear nothing, say nothing” in order to give the Principal no trouble.

However, one teacher had to keep pestering the guy for days to get ANY information about her new class, so that she could sort out books and prepare. Then he told her on the Friday before that there actually WAS no other class. Since the teacher was on a part-time contract, she was left with nothing but a suggestion of a 3-6pm class, which the dippy DoS knew she could not do owing to other commitments. Cracking management skills, eh?

The following Monday the same teacher, who had already considered herself unemployed, received a text message (the school only ever communicates by text) informing her of a new university preparation course starting the next day – even though she had never taught such courses before. It’s an absolute scandal that a school that is accredited by BC treats its students and teachers in such a shoddy fashion.

In contrast to its obvious failings, the school is extremely good at several things, though. For example, they successfully upset several teachers by putting up in the teachers' room a list of students who fail to improve on their exam grades. Alongside the student's name they put the teacher's name for everyone to see, which understandable causes no small offence.

The teacher concerned no longer works there, as she rightly figured she would be better off working in the domestic care sector. It pays the same money, almost ten quid an hour, but is much less bother – and no planning and marking! So you can see, it’s a cracking place to work at, is the Burlington School of English!

'Crap Jobs!' for (erm...) August!

OK, I know this monthly summary of the good, the bad, and the downright fuggin' ugly Tefl salaries on offer is more than a tad late already, but so what? I mean, is there any sane teacher out there who would actually consider applying for one of these dogshit jobs?

Oh, right ... I see.

Job	Nuthouse	Wonga
1-to-1 Teacher	King Street College, London	£20 per hr
Academic Manager	Margate Language Centre	Not Given
Academic Manager	EF, London	Not Given
Academic Manager	London Meridian College	Not Given
ADOS	Malvern House, London	£23-24k
DOS	Berlitz, Manchester	£22-£26k
DOS	IH, Belfast	£20 - £22k
EAP Teachers	EF, Oxford	Not Given
EFL Teacher	London Empire Academy	£10-15 per hr
EFL Teacher	Inlingua, Manchester	Not Given
EFL Teacher	Belgravia College, London	£10 per hr
EFL Teacher	TTI School, London	Not Given
EFL Teacher	Inlingua, Swansea	Not Given
EFL Teacher	EF, Cambridge	Not Given
EFL Teacher	ELT, London	£12.40 to £15.50 per hr.
EFL Teacher	Inlingua, Cheltenham	£20k
EFL Teacher	ABC School, London	£10 per hr
EFL Teacher	London Meridian College	£19-21.5k
EFL Teacher	King Street College, London	Not Given
EFL Teacher	West London Business College	£11.00 - £14.00 per hour
ESP (Law) Teacher	BBSI, Bournemouth	£19 - £20k
Senior Teacher	Bloomsbury International	Not Given
Senior Teacher	Berlitz, Manchester	£17,500-£18,500
TOEFL Teacher	Kaplan Aspect, London	18.69 per hr

Anyway, let's get straight on with dishing out the honours, shall we? I mean, for starters, how many of these esteemed TEFL employers are being a shade too secretive about the attractive salaries they're offering? Ten, it appears. Clearly they're worried about being deluged with applications if they publish their generous rates of pay, so I congratulate them on making the sensible decision to merely whisper 'salary on application', or similar. Cunts.

The other usual suspects are also there, namely BBSI in Dorset, who somehow think that they'll get an experienced legal wizard to work for them for an unbelieveably miserly 19 thousand quid a year. And Berlitz in Manchester - what about them, eh?! Offering a mighty 1500 quid a month for a Senior Teacher position - baah!! Cunts the two of them.

The traditional Sandy McManus 'Golden Fuck-off Award' goes to those providers of EFL tuition who manage to pay ten quid an hour or less, and this month I shall be informing the following schools of their entry (or permanent inclusion) in the McManus Hall of Infamy - the London Empire Academy, the ABC School, London, and the Belgravia Academy, London. You lot are cunts too.