Berlitz

Berlitz is definitely not a nice place to work for.

1. The hours that you work are "normal" but due to it being scheduled for different times of the day, it leads you to being at work or travelling between home and work 6am to 9pm on most days. That was terrible especially since you still have to prepare for the next morning when you get home at 10pm! And preparation for classes will take you up to 3 hours, especially when you are new to the programme.

2. They are strict about the smallest things and will give you official warnings for the smallest things. They gave an American warning an official warning after he arrived late to a place to give class that he has never been to in his life (got lost) and after having been in Bogota for only less than a month! This makes you feel very unwelcome and unsure about your future there, especially if you a non Colombian mentality of taking these warnings seriously.

3. The pay is less than average at best. You can earn much more teaching at most "real" children's schools and get fixed hours and much more holidays.

I definitely don't recommend them. They have a good name but in reality it is a really bad place to work for.

Berlitz has a long history in language learning so I assumed when I came to the company that they would treat their employees well. However, this is not the case. The country draws you in with intensive training, paid for flights, and decent pay for the country. They are clear about the type of hours that you can work, but as an American I assumed the hours listed were only to cover themselves if it was a difficult week. As a teacher you teach 40 hours a week Monday through Saturday from 6am to 9pm. The time does not include travel or preparation time. They might send you two hours away in a city you don't know with very little instruction and then expect you teach 10 more lessons in the same day...making it almost a 12 or 14 hour day. In addition to this the company expects you to have classes fully prepared but gives you little time to make preparations, sometimes you have to jump in the middle of the class without knowing what the previous teacher prepared. In addition to this, the company will violate the contract frequently and give you more classes than your contract allows or throw you into class types that you're not trained for. Honestly, I feel like the students are ripped off because the teachers don't actually get time to prepare for them.

You will not have any opportunities to explore the country or culture while working with Berlitz in Colombia. If I had known that prior to coming to the country I would have found other options. Colombia has a good relationship with the US so I recommend coming as a tourist first and then looking for a job after you arrive.