Monday, October 19, 2009

Daves ESL Cafe Reviewer

Comments from teachers, recruiters, schools, institutions, agencies reflecting Daves ESL Cafe

18 comments:

  1. I agree that the eslcafe website could use some big upgrades

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  2. Has anyone noticed that its always the same old employers on the international job list and that jobs are only a few a day now? Maybe he has peaked.

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  3. Dave Sperling started out with good intentions, but he's created an empire that is now being run by underlings, PR puppets who smugly moderate the forums with the primary purpose of protecting their CEO's money-making machine. Job postings are big business and any greedy corporation puts profits before principles. The biggest problem with the site is the way the forums are managed, where totalitarian censorship and snobby pecking orders rule the day. As Chuck Heston said, "It's a mad house!"

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  4. Dave's ESL is the classic story of good intentions gone bad. Mr. Sperling is now the CEO of a money-making machine. It's big business, running on profits rather than principles. The moderators are smug, ass-wiping puppets, but Sperling is pulling all the strings!

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  5. The only traffic he has is his forum which is filled with the same people that are addicted to gossiping on the site and not offering any credible opinions. Everything is negative, all companies and programs are "shady" or "dodgy" Nothing is legit with them. Totalling misleading new teachers. They write out of jealousy and often after years of being on there they get kicked out and begin their own blogger bashing Daves, after years of praising him. Very ironic.

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  6. Very disgruntled forum members

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  7. Does Dave Post Anonymously on his Cafe?

    I don't know about any of you other experienced eslcafe watchers but I've long had a suspicion that Dave posts under other names. The temptation would surely be irresistible. It would of course be very simple to create any old name if you are in the driving seat. Anyone out there care to name anyone who could be Saint Dave himself posting secretly under another name.
    I've one name which I'll reveal if nobody else has spotted it but there may well be others I haven't spotted.
    This is the place to expose him.
    He'll then have to find another rock to hide under or maybe he'll have to delete himself. Could be painful

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  8. Hi there.
    We are with you . Sometimes we feel the same as you do.
    It's so sad we would have to use that service .
    We have asked Dave to change some of things need to be improved but ,,,,,
    Thanks for your concern

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  9. What I can't understand is why his advertisers stick up for him so much? I mean they pay money to him and don't they expect a better service? For example perhaps a system in which they do not have to post an ad everyday which is completely monotonous especially on the Korean board. What is with those ads over and over and over....and over again. I have asked the recruiters and they say...well we have to do it that way to stay on top? What? They are totally getting ripped off.

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  10. This is an interesting blog.
    http://www.tefllogue.com/resources/a-new-hangout-for-cafe-regulars.html

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  11. What I can't understand is why Dave has not put a login on his site. All those emails of schools open is so outdated and I am sure they receive spam.

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  12. You don't know why Shawn? I can answer that for you. In 1997 Dave learned the few available tools for being a webmaster and was ahead of his time then but has not taken the time to learn anything since. It seems he is even too cheap to hire a webmaster to do it for him. It is unbelievable that schools do not see the potential harm in having their emails open like that.

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  13. Here is another article.
    http://www.usingenglish.com/articles/daves-esl-cafe.html

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  14. The following are schools that you should NEVER as a teacher apply to because they advertise over and over and over again...meaning they can't keep teachers obviously. Think about it logically, why would anyone pay $75 everyday when their same ad was on the list the day before? Either these schools or recruiters are not credible or Dave is really and I mean really screwing them BAD.
    Westgate Recruiters
    ILA Vietnam
    DFL Recruitment Agency
    Teach Me English
    JJ Recruitment
    English Work
    Hot Job Korea
    I Love Korea
    Think Outside Recruiting
    Yonsei ELP
    In The World
    Korea Global Connections
    Aclipse
    I Love ESL Ltd
    EDUCATION ADVENTURE
    Korea Connections
    ESL Elite Recruiting
    WorknPlay Consulting
    People Recruit
    ESL Job Network
    DFL Recruitment Agency
    LiveEnglishRecruit
    YBM Education
    Kim & Joe
    Korea Education Network
    RBI
    ESL SEOUL
    OK Recruiting
    Hot Job Korea
    ATC Avail Teachers Consulting
    Reach To Teach
    CDI Busan
    MnJ Consulting

    Make sure that you never apply to any of these.

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  15. Wow thank you. I am new to the ESL world of teaching and I can see exactly what you are saying. I will stay away from those for sure.

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  16. I am amazed at all the blogs around stating that Dave does not do any vetting and that the companies which pay him the most and advertise the most frequently are being bashed everywhere and those recruiters and schools such as listed above know nothing about it obviously because they keep advertising on Daves. I think we need to bring their attention to this. How could they be so ignorant to the damage they are doing even if lets say for example they are legit. The daily ads some of these schools put are very dodgy.

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  17. Well some teachers have brought this to the attention of the schools and recruiters and they not only don't believe it but they back Dave up, which means they are all in something together. But they need to see all the links to MANY MANY sites, not just this one that are complaining about Dave and his practices.

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  18. I will definitely make sure I do not apply to those schools or recruiters. I understand that a Facebook page has also sprung up informing teachers to stay away from Daves site and in particular these postings.

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