ABCi Volunteer Program

I am a current volunteer on the ABCi intermediate programme. I have been asked before I leave to write a review of my experience and thoughts about this programme. Austria is a beautiful country to work in and we have seen a lot of the country driving to and from schools. One of the biggest pros of ABCi is that the students really respond to active learning, which is this company’s focus. I have worked with a wide range of different students and this approach seems to work well with almost any type of student. It was particularly beneficial to students with learning difficulties and disabilities as they found the songs very beneficial, with parents asking if they could sing them at home with their child to keep them learning English.
During my time at ABCi I have worked with many different types of children throughout Austria and have had over 320 hours’ worth of teaching experience. To my knowledge this offers the most teaching hours I have heard of for a TEFL and TKT certification programme, as you are expected to teach full time after just a week and a half from starting the course. This has been a primarily learn-by-doing experience with the academic part of the course being taught and assessed after working hours. This has been difficult as this means that during the beginning of the course we could be working at school from 7/8 in the morning to 1 / 2 in the afternoon, then do training sessions til 4, drive back to our accommodation by 6pm and then spend a few hours preparing lessons for the rest of the week and researching and writing assignments.
There are some financial costs to taking this course. Flights are not paid for, and you are expected to show proof of a round trip travel within a short period of time after accepting the position. For me, this meant borrowing money on very short notice. If you do not have the opportunity to pay for flights right away this could be an issue. It has also cost a lot in living expenses, particularly as I have had the Vienna location twice. It is lovely to live here but the living costs are more expensive than elsewhere in Austria. I would not recommend coming to this course with less than 1200€ at least. ABCi provide store cupboard essentials such as pasta, rice, sauce and bread etc. but do not offer any fresh fruit or vegetables. As fresh produce is quite expensive in Austria a food budget is needed. If you have special dietary needs this may be quite difficult with the store cupboard food and in Austria in general. Store cupboards contain meat sauces even if the people living there would prefer a vegetarian sauce, and most of the essentials contain gluten with the exception of rice.
I believe that my time here has been a generally positive one, and I have made some friends who I will stay in contact with for sure. It has also been a good taster experience of EFL teaching without a long term contract. This experience allowed me to trial teaching with no commitment and I believe this was helpful.

ABCi claimed to reimburse travel for its volunteer teacher trainees. However, having left 2 months ago, I still have not received a penny from them. Unfortunately, there is no written obligation from ABCi in their contract with trainees to pay travel reimbursements. However, since this was a core element in their job advertisement on The Guardian and TEFL Jobs websites, this is a clear case of false advertising.

Having complained to ABCi about this on numerous occasions, they now no longer respond to emails. Previous responses have been unprofessional and claimed former volunteers are no longer registered with ABCi. I am also deeply suspicious of reviews left on online forums. For example, the review, written by a person called 'Millie', appears to contradict the claims made against ABCi regarding travel reimbursements. Whilst Millie may be a former student from a different placement who did recieve her travel reimbursement, there was nobody of that name on the April - August 2015 intake.

The trainee contract is written in German and ABCi refuses to provide a written translation into English. I was instead assured during the interview stage of the application process that it would be verbally translated upon my arrival in Austria. This service was never provided, in spite of requests being made several times. However, after using Google Translate, I am deeply concerned about the organisation's insurance policy (or, more accurately the lack of it) with regards to its volunteers, who are not recoginsed as official employees or associates during their three-month voluntary placements. This is particularly worrying given that teaching takes place in an Active Learning environment, where children are running around inside classrooms, and with sporting activities and lessons making up a crucial component of the project weeks. Although trainees undertook a day of training with the Red Cross (as they are obliged to under Austrian Law), we never received formal training on how to safely teach sports or deal with any injuries that may occur. Given the lack of clear insurance policy and procedure, this is clearly unsafe for both trainees and the young students they teach in Austria.

The contract contains no statistics whatsoever in such important elements as the number of working hours required of volunteers, dates and amounts of reimbursement money to be paid, or classroom sizes teachers can expect to teach. Nor does it specify any obligations on the part of the organisation to provide safe and secure accommodation for its volunteers. In fact, it does not even stipulate the nature of labor which was to be expected of us. This had implications for the volunteers on my placement as we were expected to assemble furniture for ABCi's offices after a full day of teaching in late July, even though the welcome pack clearly states that volunteers could expect to have their afternoons free after the intensive CERTesol component of the course, which had ended two months before. To be clear, this was not a voluntary option and were not provided with a way to opt-out. We were instead told one morning that after school that day we would be driven to the new office to build furniture. The furniture building took two hours longer than expected. We were then housed in the old office, and expected to sleep 10 of us in 9 beds (which had been constructed by the volunteer office interns), and provided with only one shower, which was broken, and two kitchen hobs with no oven or grill. There was also a shortage of bedding meaning I didn't have a pillow or bed sheets for several nights. This was an ongoing problem, since on our day of arrival it was clear that the apartment had not been cleaned (there were dirty razors in the bathroom, uncleaned floors and old food left in the kitchen). Again, I did not have a pillow or duvet cover. This is highly demonstrable of the way in which ABCi routinely disregarded the welfare of its volunteers.

I took part in the course when the organisation was ABCi, and personally I had a great time. It was the first time I had been abroad for more than a holiday and I was quite nervous, but to be able to do this with a group of like-minded people was great. We all started at the same time, so immediately I didn't feel alone.

I remember talking to my group of trainees towards the end of the placement about what the best thing about the whole experience was- and we decided it was the amount of time we spent laughing.

You have to be pretty flexible and adaptable, because there can be last minute logistical changes. But the more relaxed and open-minded you are about it, the more you'll get out of the experience.

I'd recommend this course for anyone who wants to travel around Austria and gain lots of teaching experience. I did an online TEFL course before I came out here and learnt so much more by actually being in a classroom and teaching in different schools in Austria than I did at my computer.

- volunteers from the last intake (april to august) are still waiting on the flight reimbursements that they were promised. while this reimbursement may not be a part of the new program, it was a part of the previous program and those volunteers are entitled to this reimbursement.

- to dismiss a former volunteer's comments, with the argument that (1) the particular program has been discontinued and (2) the content is now considered out of date, is misleading. again, the last intake was april - august of 2015, hardly out of date.

- a significant number of the reviews on this and other sites have been written by current or former employees (many who did participate in the program, but were hired afterwards) and not volunteers. if this isn't a conflict of interest, then I don't know what is.

Above all else, I feel the interns and trainees are being taken advantage of. I shall focus primarily on the former so as to be able to speak from personal experience. The interns' wage is unacceptable. I find it all the more despicable that we 'volunteer' 20 hours so as to ensure there is no need to pay a living wage for your workforce. When we factor in the cost of travel to and from the office (something not mentioned during the interviewing stage), it becomes extremely difficult to afford basic necessities like food. Furthermore, we were advised during the interview process to bring around 300 Euros to cover the first month of expenses. I will go onto highlight further levels of poor communication from the side of the organisation later. Regarding the previous point, it isn't explained that we wouldn't receive a proper month's wage until the middle of October. If it is difficult to make (not even) 300 Euros last 4 weeks, six weeks is near impossible. I can't help but feel as many corners are cut as possible by the organisation. Knowing that interns and trainees are in a vulnerable position, the organisation from a position of power does things like only allocate 3 keys to 5 interns, not provide a freezer for the trainee accommodation in Brunnenweg, etc. While I can accept room sharing as occurs in the interns' accommodation, I'm astounded on two counts. First, that a trainee may share his room with 3 other people, and second that up to 400 Euros is taken from the interns' wage for the pleasure of being housed in a different town to the office. Again, this wasn't told during the interviewing process. If given proper notice, I would have personally preferred receiving my wage in full and have the opportunity to source more appropriate accommodation for the duration of my stay. Regardless of whether or not I would have been successful, I feel it's my right to make the decision. Moreover, the fact that the interns' have such a sizeable amount of their wage taken because of our accommodation makes the threat of random trainees being dumped in our flat with no more than 48 hours' notice and no consideration is all the more galling. I emailed HR twice regarding this matter for clarification on whether or not rumours were true. These were ignored.

In my time I've found this organisation disturbingly disorganised. In the first week, the interns were very much an afterthought, left alone for hours on end with no work or guidance. We all became quite familiar with the coffee machine and the interior design of the kitchen. Why all of us had to pay extortionate amounts of money for a hotel just so we could sit through a trainee teacher lecture is beyond me. Why not save your hardworking new staff a hotel bill by housing them one extra night or else pushing timing back a few hours and negating team building. Why team build when the majority will move on across the country, not to be seen again for several weeks? Further examples of disorganisation can be found regarding the use of the virtual classroom. I believe I'm correct in saying trainees are supposed to be handling it during regular hours. If that is wrong, it seems strange that interns would be taken away from their regular duties. Regardless, both times that I've been asked to handle virtual classroom duties (on both occasions told at 1400, with no consideration for what work I may be doing) I was given no advice regarding where I could go. What results is a desperate rush around Vorchdorf looking for a free computer where I won't disturb other staff. This isn't to mention having to borrow appropriate kit to utilise a microphone and hear sound. Further highlights of disorganisation include, during the first project week the interns were sent out on, the girls (staying in a different town to me) arriving at their accommodation to find nobody in the guest house and no key. When they were eventually let into their house, the senior teacher and I faced the same problem at our accommodation. To date, I have done 1 project week, 1 project day and assisted another intern on the final day of her project week. None of the interns have received training regarding proper ABCi practices. We have viewed a senior teacher take 1 period of our classes individually during the first project week. I have personally had the least amount of teaching when it comes to the interns. That one of the other interns is set to do 5 consecutive weeks of teaching in the first 6 weeks of work is absolutely astounding. None of us came here to be teachers. We all have varying levels of experience anyway and chose to come here to work in an office. I would suggest for the next intake, that interns arrive a week earlier than trainees to help in preparation for their arrival. It may just help the logistical nightmare that this organisation seems to face every day (if the completely unreliable, ever-changing calendar is anything to go by). Finally, the interns haven't been allocated our due holidays in September.

Below I shall outline examples of poor communication from this organisation:

We were told by different parties that the introduction of a wage was because of a change in the law or out of the goodness of this organisation's heart. I don't think it's too cynical to assume the former over the latter.

In week 3, interns hadn't been allocated time to open a bank account. Communication regarding this amounted to surprise and acknowledgement that something should happen regarding this.
Office training was allocated 2 hours. This consisted of a second identical tour of the office and a 5 minute guide on how to use the printer.

Interns are invited to a team building lunch that is mandatory (how else would we get home after the project day if our senior staff member that drove us is going). We are then told, at the end of the meal, that we have to pay. Why weren't we warned beforehand? To assume causes unnecessary stress.

The contract we signed is in German. Why is there not an English copy? It is pure luck that 2 of the interns speak German. Regardless of whether or not it would be official, an English transcript seems appropriate.

Finally, there has been no opportunity for professional development. The first aid course consisted of a four hour lecture with minimal practical activities. The teacher training (lectures) is not relevant for me personally or professionally (we aren't supposed to be teaching regularly and don’t receive any formal qualification). The intern office work is menial and doesn't allow for any learning of the inner-workings of a nonprofit. I had personally hoped to be able to spend at least some time shadowing the Director of Fundraising and to sit in on some meetings. While I have expressed this wish, my work has consisted of moving information from one spreadsheet to another.

As someone with 6 months experience teaching in China I was very keen to finally experience teaching in Europe - and when I saw the advertisement for ABCi I thought that this would be a great route for me to go down. ABCi offered me a Trinity Cert TESOL qualification in return for my time - so I got an internationally recognised language teaching qualification for free AND 3 months teaching experience in Austria on top of that - a great addition to my CV. Another great advantage was the variety of experience: a different school each week provided me with the opportunity to teach students from 5/6 years old up to students in their early twenties; and the opportunity to experience small rural schools, huge urban schools and everything between. I could also spend my weekends and down time experiencing many different cities in Austria - from Gmunden, Salzburg, Graz to Vienna. But for me the most valuable part of this experience was volunteering for an NPO. Visiting schools for just one day to provide them with free and fun English lessons and seeing how grateful they were for my time and efforts was incredibly rewarding and important to me. Thank you ABCi for giving me this fantastic opportunity!

I have recently taken part in the office internship with ABCi. I worked in the office and helped to ensure that the teachers of ABCi had everything that they needed. I worked in HR, Project Logistics and Fundraising and Marketing. It was interesting to be able to see how the administration of a not-for-profit organisation works. Although a lot of my tasks weren't all too challenging, I enjoyed the more creative tasks like creating a newsletter. One of my favourite parts was gaining experience teaching in the classroom. The ABCi program is great fun to teach and it was amazing to witness the students finding ways to communicate to me and to each other in English, coming up with creative plays and playing the games and singing the songs with huge grins on their faces. I have enjoyed my time in Austria immensely, all the staff were very friendly and it was great working together with other people, who are all passionate about teaching and working towards the same goal.

This is exactly what I was looking for. I had recently completed my PGCE at Cambridge and I wanted immediate classroom experience, as well as a formal qualification for teaching English plus time in a new country...well I got that, and more! I loved teaching in Austria, do not misunderstand it was tiring and on occasion difficult but it was such a great experience. The students were generally lovely, and willing and able to get involved in the activities, games and songs. This was such a contrast to teaching in England.

We got to travel around a lot and teach in lots of schools, while also receiving training to improve our own teaching. The staff at ABCi have a lot of teaching experience and the feedback I received was so helpful and can be applied to any classroom situation in the future. I was also afforded the opportunity to get my certTESOL and TEFL-YL certificates which will be invaluable when applying for jobs in the future.

I found the very early starts coupled with the active learning very tiring as we had to travel distances to get to schools, but this is part of the job. ABCi really focus on the use of Active Learning in the classroom and they promote immersion environments for students. This can be both challenging and rewarding, especially when you see students speaking English more confidently by Friday afternoon of a project week.There are lots of songs and excellent activities to use with the students, and once you know the activities you can then really focus on improving your teaching skills. The training continued after the first month and lasted the entire duration of our placement. We had training in the afternoons which was helpful as we were working with our peers to improve how activities were run in the classroom as well as discussing grammar topics, activity creation and carefully chosen readings applicable to the TESOL classroom.

Another great aspect was the fact our accomodation and food was paid for. Having said that quite often I needed to supplement the allowance to buy other things such as meat or fresh vegetables.

I would definitely recommend the placement to others but be aware of the early starts and the energy the placement requires. It is such an incredible opportunity which I have not found anywhere else.