I’m going back to the world of Teaching English as a Foreign Language for a moment with shocking news of some dodgy dealings in said world. And yes the shocking bit is ironic to say the least.
I got an email from Alex Case recently warning about the head of a UK based language school who was being scummy to say the least. To make the whole thing even funnier, about a week after I got the email, said scummy school owner found a comment by Alex on this here blog and spouted some nonsense about Alex’s evil doings in trying to out him.
Anyways, apologies to Alex for leaving this a little late but continue reading for a warning regarding said school, namely Windsor School. For anyone thinking about a move into TEFL, or anyone who knows someone thinking about such a move, be warned about them, and while you’re at it I can only recommend that you do plenty of research before embarking on a TEFL ‘career’, especially one in Japan or any foreign country. While it would be great for the world to be an ideal place, the cold truth is that even when it comes to teaching the world is full of people that are only after money.
See my own posts on this blog (under the Teaching category) for more regarding my experience about teaching in Japan and especially working for Shane English Schools, who themselves have a bit of a reputation. And now it’s over to Alex.
An appeal to TEFLers everywhere. I would be grateful if you could help me and TEFLers everywhere by sparing ten minutes to read this and do one of the actions suggested below. Some background: 2 weeks ago a certain Paul Lowe of Windsor Schools/Windsor TEFL came out of nowhere and into my life by threatening to sue me and the owner of the site my blog ,TEFLtastic, is on.
Obviously boosted by the success this effortless method had in shutting down Sandy McManus’s TEFLtrade blog and Wally Windsor’s site, he didn’t even think it was worth spending a few minutes checking what TEFLtastic had to say about him before firing off a threatening email. I can say that with full confidence because before I reprinted his email mentioning legal action there was not one reference to Paul Lowe or Windsor Schools on my blog. So, why should you care? Apart from the specific loss of a couple of blogs, I would argue that there is a major principle at stake here, one that could affect all of us and one that we are approaching a critical period with.
The TEFL world on the internet is rapidly changing from one where a quick Google search can bring up a full and colourful range of views from teachers, students, trainees and the occasional crank, to one where any TEFL related searches will find you yet again on Cactus TEFL or i-to-i TEFL. My accidental brush with Mr Lowe has helped me come up with a plan to tackle that loss of our influence. Whether it will be a successful last stand or not I can’t say, but here’s how to go out with our guns blazing:My proposal is to make a lesson of Mr Paul Lowe of Windsor Schools/Windsor TEFL that other school owners and TEFL training organisations can learn from by making sure that everyone who searches for him on the internet hears what we have to say, and making sure there are enough of us saying it that he has to give up the use of unjustified threatening emails to silence us.
As diversity of voices is the whole point, I won’t even suggest what you could say about him, but here are some simple and time efficient ways of using this opportunity to show the TEFL big boys we won’t be gagged:
- Paste this and/or your own comments into an email and send it to everyone you know, especially people in TEFL
- Leave a brief message of support here or anywhere else he or his school get a mention
- Google him or his school and only click on the pages that give an independent viewpoint
- Give links to such pages in your blog, MSN page, Facebook page, email signature etc…
- Paste this post and/or make a comment in your blog with suitable tags, or in any of those other places mentioned above
- Start a new thread on this topic in TEFL and other forums
- Start a suitably titled new blog with info and links on Paul Lowe and Windsor TEFL. It takes literally 5 minutes to set up a free blog on Blogger or WordPress, and if I can anyone can!
- Write to Paul himself at paul@windsorschools.eclipse.co.uk and let him know what you think
I hope I have convinced you that by making our voices heard in this way we can all benefit in the longer term, or at least that I am genuine in my attempts and worth 5 minutes of your time to help.Any help at all would be much appreciated
Thanks
Alex Case, TEFL teacher and blogger. TEFLtastic blog- ‘All the truth that’s fit to teach’ – www.tefl.net/alexcase
PS: Independent sources on Paul Lowe, the man who recently threatened to sue me despite the fact I had never mentioned him, and his outfit Windsor Schools/ Windsor TEFL:
- The TEFL blacklist
- ELT World
- Rip off report
- Usingenglish
- Hypersonic beams
The ‘man’ is a pure scumbag. Avoid him at all costs!!
I contacted Paul Lowe, proprietor of the Windsor Edwardian regarding accommodations for an upcoming stay. He indicated that I would need to wire an amount equal to one night’s stay in order to reserve a room.
On March 9, 2008 I wired $160 to the account he had specified.
On March 16, 2008 Mr. Lowe e-mailed me with the news that he had given me the wrong “IBAN Code” for his bank and that the funds had probably been sent back to my account. He supplied me with a different IBAN code for that purpose. A check with my bank indicated that the funds had transferred successfully; the funds had not “bounced back” to my account.
It was then that I became a bit suspicious and did a little research on the Internet. Though I could find no reviews at all for the Windsor Edwardian B&B, I found plenty of information regarding the proprietor and his past as the operator of “Windsor Schools” a TEFL training institute. It appeared to me that the training institute was now operating as a B&B, thus the lack of any reviews.
On March 19, 2008 Mr. Lowe again contacted me requesting I send one night’s tariff in order to reserve the room and it was then that I admitted to him that I was aware of his past activities.
A few heated e-mails were exchanged until on March 23 he sent me an e-mail that had supposedly come from his banks customer service department informing me that the funds had been returned to my account at Bank of America on March 10.
The problem is, the communiqué from the bank’s customer service was addressed to me, but was sent to him and forwarded by him. One might think that given the sensitivity of the situation, the bank would have e-mailed me directly.
Another problem too; I did not send the wire transfer from Bank of America, nor do I have an account with Bank of America.
Caveat emptor.