lovejoy Rhh
map-marker Watertown, Massachusetts

International House Budapest: Get taught how to teach English by illiterates

Updated by user Nov 19, 2012

Contrary to what Cambridge ESOL states in its advertising, this was not a college level course. International House Budapest ran this course amateurishly. The documentation was skimpy and full of grammatical and stylistic errors. One of my trainers, Eszter Baumann, was abusive towards me. I am a middle-aged man. This woman would laugh at me. She also sabotaged my last teaching practice by giving me inappropriately difficult material for Pre-Intermediate learners. Cambridge ESOL initially blamed me for using this material, and used this to hang me. When I complained that this material was given to me by my trainer, Cambridge ESOL stated the following:

\"It is true that the Chief Assessor\'s report Grade Review 15th May 2012) notes that the example sentences you were asked to use were \'rather complicated for the level\' however in the absence of evidence from the Assessor\'s notes that those sentences were in fact too difficult it is impossible to say whether that particular group of students found them a barrier to understanding.\"

So, essentially, it was okay to hang me with what Cambridge ESOL originally thought was my material. But now that Cambridge ESOL is faced with the reality that it was my trainer\'s \'rather complicated\' material, now there is an \"absence of evidence from the Assessor\'s notes that those sentences were in fact too difficult....\"

Note that there is a grammatical error and punctuation error in Cambridge ESOL\'s quote. What a joke.

Original review Nov 19, 2012
Contrary to what Cambridge ESOL states in its advertising, this was not a college level course. International House Budapest ran this course amateurishly. The documentation was skimpy and full of grammatical and stylistic errors. One of my trainers, Eszter Baumann, was abusive towards me. I am a middle-aged man. This woman would laugh at me. She also sabotaged my last teaching practice by giving me inappropriately difficult material for Pre-Intermediate learners. Cambridge ESOL initially blamed me for using this material, and used this to hang me. When I complained that this material was given to me by my trainer, Cambridge ESOL stated the following: "It is true that the Chief Assessor's report Grade Review 15th May 2012) notes that the example sentences you were asked to use were "˜rather complicated for the level' however in the absence of evidence from the Assessor's notes that those sentences were in fact too difficult it is impossible to say whether that particular group of students found them a barrier to understanding." So, essentially, it was okay to hang me with what Cambridge ESOL originally thought was my material. But now that they are faced with the reality that it was my trainer's 'rather complicated' material, now there is an "absence of evidence from the Assessor's notes that those sentences were in fact too difficult...." Note that there is a grammatical error and punctuation error in Cambridge ESOL's quote. What a joke.
View full review