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Open Thread: GEOS Discussion

Since there are more than 300 comments in the GEOS Rumours thread, I've decided to close the thread and start a fresh one here.

Japan: 
geos

Comments

Still not the end of the day in NA. ;-)

Is this the same person who co-signed a letter that "nothing was wrong" in Australia, only to see those schools go bankrupt? Same person who denies anything is wrong, only to have Europe fail now? Given his track record, GEOS NA will definitely collapse sooner than later..

Once again, let me remind you. I am not in any way connected to GEOS NA or any other GEOS entity. I have no affinity for GEOS, nor do I care if it dies a painful death this very day. I am here only by chance as I came upon this site through a Google search. I came hoping to find some actual, verifiable news regarding GEOS. I have found precious little of that. Instead, I have found legions of whiny, disenchanted people clinging to every rumor that surfaces here. I am here to hear the facts. However, all too many come here and litter the site with unsubstantiated statements, rumors and wishful thinking. Troll? No more than you or anyone else who comes to this site. If you have facts, state them. But if all you have are preposterous suppositions, spare us those and get on with your life.

Who said we were talking about you? And why so excited to see no announcement for NA (but ignore the Europe big announcement), if you are not a troll? Can't imagine anyone else on here being so quick to react before the end of the workday to prove "how wrong the NA big announcement was"?

If you know so much, why did you fail to call out the GEOS Europe announcement? Heck, why did you conveniently ignore that the GEOS Europe decision was spot on today? The poster earlier was right, even if I was skeptical. The only thing is that the person mixed up were the dates (Europe was supposed to be by the end of the month with NA today). Things change all the time, especially at disorganized GEOS. If anything, this makes me believe there is a lot going on at GEOS NA, whether the final doom is pending.

There IS a troll on here...He crawled out of his whole for a bit to write on here...Canada, anyone?

4L57 You seem to double talk a lot. Just "happened upon this site while searching Google", "do not care about GEOS or what happens:, etc., etc. BUT you seem to be on here A LOT (NA work time, eh?) and you try to "prove" it is all just speculation and hype. Hmm, GEOS Australia no more...GEOS NZ no more...GEOS Europe, gone...GEOS student enrolment is dropping drastically...Agents angry...This has all been PROVEN on her. Your incessant denials have not.

One has to ask, if it is just a bunch of speculation, lies, unfounded rumour, then why is only directed at GEOS? I do not see this problem with other schools on message boards. Why has GEOS seem to get this wrath laid upon them? Maybe because they earned it? Maybe because GEOS Australia is no more and the teachers are out jobs, pay and self-respect? Maybe because so many students lost their tuition and other, ethical schools had to pick up the pieces?

4:57 You smell like a manager. "Wishful thinking"? What are we wishing for? Our jobs back? To be paid on time or at all? To not have our students scammed of tuition for Special Ks whore tab? To not deal with a corrupt company that has always been in denial?

Sorry, but you are too obvious.

You guys forget that GEOS Canada is offering ludicrous discounts on tuition lately. Nah, nothing is wrong at all. Geez.

Am I the only one here who isn't convinced by these letters?

No, I am not either. Heard through the GEOS Canada grapevine (no, I am not giving away my contact) that a certain school manager was infuriated about all the exposed GEOS bs on here. So he was looking for a little revenge. One of the ways was through disinformation - providing a lot of garbage to confuse the truth. I heard, but cannot verify, that this sounds like something he would do. Such as saying there will be a "big announcement" on a certain day, but then making excited comments on here when it "did not come true" on the stated day (like today?) While this seems absurd, my contact is VERY reliable and would not even consider making something up like this. And given GEOS corrupt track record, well...

Anybody seen any confirmation anywhere else re GEOS Europe sale? Had a good look around but zip anywhere else.
In Brighton, where GEOS UK operates a college, the local paper has recently reported:

"Visa rules threaten Brighton and Hove language school industry
9:13am Tuesday 9th February 2010

By Sam Thomson, Business Editor »

TOUGH new rules on student visas could cripple Brighton and Hove’s multimillion-pound language school industry, it has been claimed.

Home Secretary Alan Johnson is aiming to slash the 240,000 student visas currently issued each year in the UK and one option being considered is to ban people who cannot speak English up to GCSE level.

This could lead to the closure of many language schools in Brighton and Hove, which specialise in teaching basic English.

Tens of thousands of students attend one of the 40-plus schools in the city each year, generating £115 million for the economy in the past year alone. "

Brave operator diving into that market!

We hear that Toronto Uri has been a bit short with his staff about LJ in the past week or two.

Very few employees of the language school arms of universities are tenured. Most of them need good reviews in order to get their contracts renewed, and they wouldn't get away with employing a lecture style for very long. This is one of the ways in which responsiveness to complaints is actually more real than apparent in the long run. Typically, in private schools, where there is a complaint, there will be a lot of superficial attention to complaints with a search for an easy, but not necessarily effective short term remedy. Long term attention to substantive issues may not be made if it affects the bottom line whereas it is more likely to occur in universities.

Universities have anti harrassment policies, for example, in which there is a formalised means for both parites to address such problems. I would agree that this is formal and beaurocratic. However, it is a hell of a lot better than a private school that has no policy at all or only a very weak one. For example, at Nova in Japan, where I used to work, if a teacher was caught out (by complaint) engaging in any form of harassment or even advance, they would be very swiftly dealt with. However, if one student was harrassing another student, nothing and I mean nothing was done. The harassment was allowed to continue and the student who was being harassed had to either quit the school or move to another branch.

However, all too many come here and litter the site with unsubstantiated statements, rumors and wishful thinking. Troll? No more than you or anyone else who comes to this site. If you have facts, state them. But if all you have are preposterous suppositions, spare us those and get on with your life.

Many of the rumours thathave been posted here have proven to be true pal. A 'preposterous supposition' that Cape Town Manager took all the GEOS furniture and started up on his own? This was proven to be TRUE pal as were the rumours surrounding NZ. Why did the managers of Europe not purchase Dublin? Maybe a 'preposterous supposition' that Dublin is making such huge losses they would not touch it? How about the lies on the NA website, the GIEA website, the lies of your beloved Special K? Are these all 'preposterous suppositions?'

Here is another fact... Europe is gone, NZ gone, Cape Town gone! What about the debts that these two regions owe to Australia? Before I make a 'preposterous supposition' is there anyone who knows what happens in such cases? Do the sale of these companies wipe out the debts they owe?

And here is another outrageous statement. GEOS Cebu, GEOS Bangkok, GEOS Taiwan, GEOS Shanghai, GEOS Korea are also in their death throes. They are/were the worst 'scavengers of Australian/NZ and to an extent Europe money. With these regions gone, where are they going to turn to for money? NA? Ha, I'd like to see that! (but who knows, there has been some talk about the broom closet in Montreal....may hold a lot more than we know and perhaps it is a 'preposterous supposition' that this broom closet holds all the cash?)

The 'broom closet' has tried to hold the cash and control it for some time now. I think the last poster has a little knowledge from the inside like I. ;-)

Can anyone help? My boss requires me to drive to locations to teach and then back to teach at the base school. it adds up to about 20 plus driving hours per month unpaid. this is on top of the normal commuting costs. On top of this I am required to eat lunch with students, again unpaid. I couldnt find a thread to post this so I did it here. I really need to hear what people think about this.

Welcome to the language industry, pal.

Is this for GEOS? Where?

Otherwise, you might want to find another site or thread for this question. Make sure everyone stays on topic, as we all know there are people here trying to distract form the true GEOS problems at hand.

You could try .

—

Shawn

Interesting. What's your source? An internal memo? This would be good blurb to kick off an new thread seeing as this one is fast approaching 1,000 posts.

—

Shawn

8:12 That was funny. :-) Except he is in Montreal, not Toronto.

Just talked to my buddy/ GEOS contact at a school in Canada. While I will not give away his name or exact school, he did say that Uri is piping hot about this board. Sucks when GEOS managers have no control over their secrets getting out, doesn't it.

Anyone seen or heard from Ms. Rita Chen? My buddy also said the letter about the Aussie school closure under her name was actually written by Uri Carnat, Montreal school manager/ Regional Director for NA. He likes to micromanage from what I hear. Ultimately, she will also be responsible though.

Sorry, I was desperately trying to conceal the fact that I was a Montreal teaher :-)

Someone a little upset the joke was on them this time? ;-)

...or staff member.

Hello everyone,

I would like to know the situation with GEOS Japan, will they try to consolidate their resources and maintain their standing in Japan? I am curious because, I am considering working there for at least a few months to build up some money, while looking for a new job in the mean time. Would that be a wise choice? Thanks for any advice.

The 'modus operandi' that is emerging from NZ, Europe, and probably NA in the future is to divest to local managers. The advantages to GEOS are very clear. 1) Stop messy closures hitting the blogs, agent gossip and media. The clear picture emerging is of a lying,cheating company and this is not good for business. 2) Escape future rent liabilities, fees in advance liabilities and any loans payable.
What is not clear is why these local managers are so gullible. The agents have said in the past: Hey, study here - it is GEOS (Yes, you know the name) and it is cheap (And we make a killing) and the local GEOS person just brought in a whole bunch of brochures to us. Well the brochure deliveries (I really mean all the support of course) and the brand name recognition are gone. Any ANY school can walk in and do deals. Do the local managers think that their personal reputations will fly with the agents? It is possible, but a very very big ask. I hope they know what they are doing. History shows that brands and continuity of institutions outguns personal loyalties. The agents also know that the new operations are risky and will be cautious. This must dramatically affect numbers Despite that fact that Mr K has lost touch does not take away from the fact that GEOS set up GEOS, not the local managers. Any promises to send to affiliate schools are not to be relied on. Buying profitable schools where the fees in advance have been taken, and even if they haven't still makes no sense if number track down. I suspect that flattery and egos have paid a part in these very risky decisions

What about the debts that these two regions owe to Australia?

The sale of a company does not extinguish the debts. What we do not know are the terms and conditions of the sales so much would be 'speculation'. However, it was noted that the only Australian company NOT to be placed into voluntary administration was Australia Holdings. The E&Y reports mention that all the debts (or most) were consolidated to Australia Holdings. As this company is, in theory, still in existence, the Directors should be chasing the debts. Are they? What are they doing? Have they contemplated a course of action? If these new buyers have bought the assets they would assume the debts.

Once again, as we (I) do not know the terms of sale of these companies, much is just speculation as to who is responsible. However what remains fact is:

1. Debts are not extinguished through a sale
2. Australia Holdings, through its Directors should be recovering or demanding repayment of monies owing to the insolvent Australian Companies. Their books of account would show precisely who owes what and legal proceding to recover should be implemented.

Great post.

Any inside knowledge from GEOS NA would be greatly appreciated.

Start with GEOS Canada. They owe money to Australia. They need to pay.

NZ owner bought the company and the debts, but presumably debt to Australia is unenforceable. Normally you would just buy the assets of a company - not the shares to avoid complications, but in the case of NZ he needed to buy the shares to get regulatory approval. In less regulated countries, may work differently

Can anyone post a link of the GEOS Europe letter that was supposedly from Wendy? Haven't found it yet.

You have a lot of suppositions. What is supposed may or may not be fact now or in the future. If a brand name has lost so much equity as to create a liability for any would-be "local manager" who would buy into that proposition - either literally or figuratively. The so called "local managers", if you mean the current center managers in NA, are often just wet behind the ears kids. They are likely to have precious little business acumen let alone the capital to operate a business.

If you do not mean the current center managers, but rather, some arbitrary buyer who becomes the new manager, well again, diminished value of the name would be a red flag. The only reason to purchase such a floundering ESL school would be to inherit the right to afford the students visas. But if I owned a competing school, in position to facilitate visas, I'd be monitoring the situation closely and preparing to the students a transfer.

Just hold fire, folks, until we see more evidence of the alleged GEOS Europe sale. Deep web search shows nuffin 6 days out from posted letter. Similar case with GEOS Cape Town - zip on the net except for post here on LJ. Anyone on the ground who can provide some triangulation of claims about Europe or CT????

85 Schools closing in Japan. I'm out of a job but that's hardly a surprise so I'm decently well prepared. Sorry to those who aren't. Especially sorry for some japanese teachers who were nice enough people in the wrong company.

お疲れ様でーーーーーーーーーーす

Just hold fire, folks, until we see more evidence of the alleged GEOS Europe sale. Deep web search shows nuffin 6 days out from posted letter. Similar case with GEOS Cape Town - zip on the net except for post here on LJ. Anyone on the ground who can provide some triangulation of claims about Europe or CT????

I cannot offer anything more other than what I posted..this was an announcnemnt signed by the two new owners and addressed to agents. So unless someone fraudulently wrote this letter and signed it, then we can discard it. Further evidence?? Oh right, let's wait for Head Office to make an announcement....and on Cape Town too. Sorry guys, can't offer anything more than what was sent to me. There have been no denials from Europe unless they do not read the blogs on this site.

The email starts:

A Very Important Announcement from GEOS UK

Please read immediately

From Thursday April 1st 2010, the three GEOS UK schools in London, Brighton and Eastbourne plus ELS Paris are no longer part of the GEOS network. The four schools have been bought from GEOS Corporation in a management buy out by Wendy Teraoka (previously Regional Director, GEOS Europe) and Paul Clark (previously Principal of GEOS-LTC Eastbourne).

My God you lot are so dull. The end of Nova thread was much more fun. I will come back when you are all unemployed and have something interesting to talk about!

To All Teachers

There was an email sent out last night in Japanese about the future plans of GEOS.
Your managers and JETs may have already talked to you about it.

The basic details from the Japanese email below explains that in order to make GEOS in a better condition it will consist of 185 schools across Japan. This means the closing of 84 schools during the period of May thru November. The list of the closing schools was included in the Japanese email.

Teachers and managers will be re-assigned to other schools.

At this time, we do not have all the details but as we do we will let you know.

Please do not release this information to students. Our priority is to avoid causing problems for the students.
We hope to be able to transfer as many students as possible to the schools that we will keep.

We do ask that teachers make sure that all attendance sheets and time schedules are updated.

In the meantime, if you have any questions please contact me directly.
I will try to answers the questions that I can.

Thank you
Melanie

講師各位

以下、メールが本日ながれています。昨日の夜ながれているメールに関しての確認事項です。
ご確認下さい。（英語版はこの後メールされます）

以下にありますように、詳細に関しては、新勘定執行役員幹部よりご説明を頂く事になっております。
詳細は分かり次第、必ずご連絡させていただきます。
まずは、以下のご指示に従ってください。

又、細かい業務上のご質問など、業務を行いながらたくさん出てくると思います。
先生方からのご質問は、大変お手数ですが、飯嶋宛メールまたはお電話ください。
私がお答えできる場合はその場でご対応させていただきますし、そうでない場合は確認を取った上でお答えさせていただきます。

わからないまま対応をすることが、生徒様へは一番ご迷惑をおかけします。
遠慮はせずに、ご連絡下さい。
英語版はこの後メールされます。ネイティブの先生達にはそちらを直接ご確認頂きます様お願い致します。

教務　飯嶋

EAST　ＪＡＰＡＮ全スタッフ各位

お疲れ様です。
昨日、下記メールが全校配信されています。
詳細を確認している最中となりますが、
現段階において、下記内容が会社としての決定事項となります。
社員としてこの状況を冷静に受けとめ、業務を行うことが重要です。
一般においては、
営業存続校１８５校、閉鎖予定校（５月～１１月まで順次）８４校と分かれており
これからの業務内容も変わってくると思います。
本日、新勘定執行役員幹部より、メール内容に関して説明をしていただくことになっています。
詳細が分かり次第、必ず皆さんに伝達します。

本日の業務内容に関して、下記内容に従事していただきたいと思います。
①タイムスケジュールの整備
②全生徒様のアテンダンス管理
③学校環境改善
営業存続校に関しては、通常通りの営業を実施してください。
閉鎖予定校に関しては、上記内容の業務を完璧に行っていただくようお願い致します。

以上
谷川

A
1部門名
21-29釧路校
31-28旭川エスタ校
41-28苫小牧SC校
51-29岩見沢校
61-29新さっぽろ校
71-29北見校
81-30泉中央校
92-31新潟校
101-30北上校
111-30大曲校
122-31新発田校
132-43銚子校
142-32取手ボックスヒル校
152-43稲毛校
162-43津田沼校
172-34浦安校
182-43佐倉校
192-43東金校
202-35銀座校
212-35北千住校
222-34西葛西校
232-35新橋校
242-34瑞江校
252-34東雲SC校
262-34SEIYU行徳校
272-36明大前校
282-37南大沢パオレ校
292-38川口東校
302-39飯能校
312-39久米川校
322-39高島平校
332-39練馬校
342-36仙川校
352-37府中校
362-41蒲田校
372-37玉川学園前校
382-35田町駅前校
392-36目黒校
402-42上大岡校
412-40小田原校
422-40茅ケ崎校
432-42青葉台校
442-41自由が丘校
452-35水道橋校
462-42センター南校
472-41天王洲アイル校
485-46豊田校
495-47ザ・モール春日井校
505-46津校
515-60金沢校
525-46四日市校
535-48静岡校
545-46伊勢校
555-48伊東校
565-47江南校
575-48焼津校
585-47可児校
595-46有松校
605-46マイカル桑名校
616-49SEIYU亀岡校
626-51大和郡山校
636-52なんば校
646-51京橋校
656-51高槻センター街校
666-49京都河原町三条校
676-49北大路校
686-52和歌山駅前校
696-51八木校
706-51西大寺ならファミリー校
716-52堺東校
726-53ザ・モール姫路校
736-53岡山駅前校
748-56ゆめタウン長府校
758-56岩国駅前校
768-59国分校
778-59川内校
788-57西新校
798-57大分パルコ校
808-57博多校
818-58大牟田校
827-54FG松山（こども）
832-42仲町台校
846-53三田（こども）
856-51香芝（こども）

Very rude way to respond to a person who is asking for infromation. I did explain that I didnt know where to post and I think you have a real bad case of paranoia, and advise you to see a shrink ASAP.

OK, management buyout verified, GEOS UK announcement of 1/4/10 is available at

http://www.wegouk.co.kr/swboard/view.php?bcode=5&no=317

Relax, put your feet up, enjoy the posts, everythings jake!

Wow 84 schools in 7 months that is crazy!

An interesting story about the lovely Wendy.

http://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/news/SICK-WORKER-GETS-THE-SACK.1071544.jp

Good to see the deleating of post still happens, even when replying to a comment directly to @9.55.

Where are you, GEOS Manager who denies everything???

* GEOS Australia...Bankrupt and closed

* GEOS NZ gone...bought out.

* GEOS Cape Town...seems to be bought out, not GEOS, gone...

* GEOS in England, gone...bought out...not part of GEOS network anymore...Dublin toast.

* GEOS Paris in questions, and most likely separate company now

* GEOS Canada bleeding money...Calgary's survival in question...others too.

* 84 confirmed GEOS schools closing in Japan...

* Insert next GEOS school closing here _________________________________________________

WHERE ARE YOU, GEOS SCHOOL MANAGER WHO POSTED REPEATEDLY ON HERE THAT IS WAS ALL "RIDICULOUS SPECULATION AND WHINING"??? Conveniently disappeared, haven't you?

Best part of the UK letter:

What does this mean for me as an agent?

It means:

* The same schools with the same staff
* Improved services and closer relationships
* Increased investment in the schools
* Security and reliablility in all areas
* The opportunity to recruit students with confidence (***Is this foreshadowing anything? LOL***)

The "rumours" are TRUE! The "big announcement" came TRUE. So much for "speculation and lies". eh? UK gone...84 schools in Japan gone...

The saga continues...When do people think GEOS Canada will fall?

The silence is deafening from that troll that was on here yesterday claiming everything to be just rumour and bs, isn't it? Maybe we will hear from him at the end of the work day. Or maybe not...

Thanks to all the people who put up links to the letter from England and the Japanese school closures. Your work is much appreciated.

To the person who made the "big announcement", and for which some of us were a bit skeptical (and a GEOS manager seemed bent on denying it)...You were right. Congrats on the good inside work. However you a little off in that . Of course this is understandable given the sorry state GEOS is in worldwide and the constantly evolving. But could you offer any insight in regards to your statement and knowledge of an impending announcement at GEOS NA? Canada? US? WE really appreciate you input...And you were correct.

...little off in regards to whether it was GEOS England or GEOS Canada with the big news first. Seems England was first, but what about GEOS Canada? Sorry for the missing info in my last post.

Comments are closed here. Please continue the discussion here.

—

Shawn

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