Program Reviews

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with the argument that (1) the particular program has been discontinued and (2) the content is now considered out of date, is misleading. again, the last intake was april - august of 2015, hardly out of date.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

I spent 3 months with ABCi in Austria and it was the most incredible experience!
As a nearly qualified Primary School teacher, I had had plenty of experience of teaching children from 5-12. The experience gain at ABCi has been invaluable and I have been highly commended during my university course for taking part in such a program.
I arrived late as I had to finish my dissertation, and the program leaders were very accommodating about this and were able to support me whilst I was 'catching up' with the rest of the group.
Teaching a different class every day/week requires a massive degree of flexibility and can be challenging, however this is a skill which particularly as a teacher needs to be developed and my time in Austria has been a huge support to my teaching back in England.
The children taught were generally lovely- a big change from children in England- this is the main difference which I found. They were so eager to please, friendly and helpful!
The program was very different to what I've previously taught, ABCi pride themselves on using an active teaching approach which requires alot of energy and enthusiasm (there's no room for bad moods!) This active method means that you can have heaps of fun with your class- just make sure they dont push it!.
We were regularly observed, which I was super nervous about- but actually the feedback gained is an integral aspect of the program- and all senior teachers are very friendly and deliver criticism in a positive and constructive manner.
As part of the qualification gained each teacher was asked to create a game to trial with the children and present to their peers- this was a great way to incorporate your own thoughts and ideas into the program and feedback gained from peers and senior teachers was very useful.

All of my weekends were free and most evenings, Austrian schools finish around 1.30 (ish) so despite the sometimes very early mornings (some as early as 5am) the afternoon was generally free.
We were asked to act out the activities as a group, which I found very useful and as we were all friends, this did not seem like a chore!
There is an interactive classroom where we were asked to 'run' 1 session a month (roughly 2 hours) where we were able to talk to the children which had bought into the program- again, not really much to ask, and not a chore!
We did have reading and grammar exercises to complete each week which we would feedback to the rest of the group with the support of the senior teacher. I found these sessions very useful and motivational do actually complete the reading (this is for the test at the end).

Austria is a very beautiful country and somewhere were I would like to visit again- the nature of ABCi meant that I was able to see alot of the country!

It almost seemed to good to be true when I read the advert. If youre down for a bit of hard work, loads of fun and great teaching experience this is the place to go!
I was able to expand my teaching skills, gain a qualification and more importantly I have made some life-long friends through ABCi. So thank you!

I spent three wonderful months with ABCi and, honestly, it was one of the best experiences I've had. I learned so much as a teacher and, although I found the initial training pretty overwhelming, it was totally worth it.

The first month or so, I admit that I was not the best teacher. With the support and help of the senior teachers as well as the reading booklets, my progress over the course of my time with ABCi got better and better. I was even awarded a "most improved teacher" certificate which I was, and still am, thrilled about. I can't thank the senior teachers enough for being so patient, calming and always approachable.

The children I taught were just incredible. Obviously, like every school, there were some menaces. Looking back, though, I say thanks to those little menaces because I learned how to improve my behaviour management - a wonderful tool you learn with ABCi. Each week (excuse me if I get this wrong - I don't remember correctly) I was instructed to think of a new game or a new song which could be played or sung in the classrooms with the children. I often found this tricky but applying the game or song to the kids was great fun. The funny thing was finding out if it worked or not. At one point, one of the games I tried out kind of completely failed - the kids were BORED. But when it works, the feeling is almost as good as victory.
My favourite part of the week in school was the performance on the Friday of the project week. Everyone is super excited, there are lots of songs to be sung and danced to, and some of the kids' dramas which they make up are fantastic. All staff at each school was sociable, kind and always made sure everything was going good. It was very emotional leaving the children and teachers behind after each week, or sometimes each day if it's a project day.

Throughout my three months in Austria, I stayed with other volunteers. I became very close to my group and they are truly some of the greatest people I've ever met. I can safely say that you definitely make friends whilst volunteering with ABCi. You almost always have weekends off to do whatever. I think out of all weekends, there were two Saturdays or so when I had to do something work-related such as a First Aid course and teacher training. Also, after school there is often scheduled time to go over games and songs to make sure you understand what to do/what to sing. The time spent doing this can be exhausting and all you can think about is bed but it's the best time to ask questions if you're unsure of anything or to really pay attention if you have no clue how a game goes. You always have some free time though.
Most mornings are early - some as early as 5am if your accommodation is located far from the school. This was tough at the start of the course but it got easier and I rather enjoyed some fresh super early morning air.

Austria is such a beautiful country and being able to teach here was just brilliant. I got to see SO many parts of Austria: Gmunden (beautiful little town where the headquarters are based), Windischgarsten, Leonding, Linz, Vienna, Liebenau, Spittal, Salzburg (standing right where Maria Van Der Trapp sang was an incredible feeling), Zell am Moos, Sankt Pantaleon, Tulln, Krems, Grunberg, Attnang Puccheim, Hallein - where we WALKED to Germany - and so many more. Before volunteering with ABCi, I never thought Austria would be a country I would love as much as I do. So much that I now live in Vienna!

To sum up, I strongly recommend volunteering with ABCi. The senior teachers are awesome, the children are so precious, you meet fabulous people and the memories are definitely worth making. If you're prepared for early mornings, working hard, ups and downs, but also so much fun, laughter and enjoyment then I definitely suggest signing up to volunteer with ABCi.

Massive thank you to ABCi! :)

Luckily Austria is a beautiful, friendly country and the school children are for the most part a pleasure to teach, because volunteering with the Austrian Bilingual Classrooms Initiative is not something I would recommend.

For a start, the program revolves around games ('Active learning', which means children running around) and songs. Expect to do a lot of this, and very little real English teaching. There are a few games which have useful grammar and language content, but they are minimal. If you do not enjoy being in the role of cheerleader, this program is unlikely to provide you with much teaching satisfaction. It will also pay to dispel any ideas of Not-for-Profit goodness early on, as this program charges the children a fee for participation, while being well funded from other sources besides.

Secondly, constructive criticism is not welcome, nor are complaints. The managers are either rude or temperamental (the director, did not introduce himself and I did not meet him until I accidentally bumped into him a week and a half into the program). We were provided with very limited food supplies for the first week, and when I complained about this I was told that I raised the matter at an inappropriate time, that disciplinary action was needed; that all ABCI's crushing force would be applied to such dissidence in the ranks.

Expect to be working flat out and FULL time. Getting up at 5 o'clock in the morning is not unusual (despite what they will tell you). The schools are usually a long commute from wherever you are staying, and even in Vienna it is often necessary to take public transport for an hour+ to reach schools on time. When you get back late in the afternoon, there is usually something to prevent you from relaxing too much (meetings, the Virtual Classroom, or practicing new classroom content in front of colleagues when they decide you need to learn a whole new program). In short, all of this means that this program is more stressful than any paid position I've been in-- there is no time or place to talk to anyone or discuss grievances, and you end up feeling exhausted and unmotivated.

They will tell you that all of the above is to be expected, because it is a training program for which a qualification is awarded. Don't be fooled by this-- you will get a piece of paper which is worth very little in real terms. Unless you happen to be an 18 year old school leaver with no qualifications, it is unlikely to be of much use to anyone.

Also, don't expect anything to happen efficiently unless it is of benefit or consequence to the organization. As a trainee you are expected to be punctual and well organized (fair enough), but they will not return this favor where it is your time or resources at stake. Expect long waits for people to turn up, don't expect prompt reimbursement of your monies (my flight reimbursement arrived 2 months after I left; the certificate took even longer). Disorganization is the norm, so from time to time you may have no internet access, or no washing machine for a couple of weeks. Similarly, safety of participants is taken rather lightly-- there was a seat belt missing in a vehicle, which I mentioned early on. Nothing was done about it, despite high-speed travel on the auto bahn being a regular phenomenon.

The academic side of the program is equally sloppy. You will be asked to create new content (preferably original) for which no reference is included in any of the program booklets. As anyone with any academic background will know, this effectively constitutes plagiarism.

And finally, the staff predominantly consists of young males, particularly amongst the teachers. Some may not mind, but I believe it does influence the outlook and attitude of the organization to some extent. On the plus side, the senior teachers are for the most part a great bunch-- it is the managers that bring it down.

If you are young, unqualified and willing to tolerate all of the above, this may be the place to develop your cheerleader skills. If you are not, then I'd recommend trying another program.

I volunteered for ABCi for three months and had an incredible experience. I was able to travel all over Austria and live in Vienna, Graz and up in the Austrian countryside, surrounded by breathtaking scenery. The programme is run by a small and friendly team who are extremely hard working and passionate about their programme which creates a motivating work atmosphere and you feel an integral part of that process during your stay. The programme is not for the work-shy; the mornings are early and you are expected to teach for at least 6 hours a day plus tefl training. However, this all pays off and the teaching experience you receive is invaluable. You will come out with a good grounding in core teaching skills and experience in teaching a variety of different age ranges and abilities (not forgetting a tefl certificate to prove all this!) progress is monitered closely by a senior teacher during the whole programme and they will give you regular constructive feedback on your lessons which is a huge help to your development as a teacher. The kids in general are well behaved with some interesting characters and you will have a lot of fun with them! The programme looks after its volunteers well and all food, accommodation and travel expenses are all paid for . There is always someone available to contact if you have any issues or complaints during your stay. The social scene is awesome, the abci team are a friendly bunch and organise team building activities regularly for their volunteers. you need to have an open mind and expect to live in close quarters to fellow volunteers, you may need to share rooms regularly but you become very close, very quickly to your colleagues as a result, and make life long friends. In short , the experience I had with abci was incredible. I met some wonderful people, I felt I was working towards something meaningful and it was a challenging but very rewarding experience that I would highly reccomend.