[HappyHuman]

Yes, I am. Absolutely satisfied as a mother who had her daughter 9 hears at the HD and my son who is now 6 and started at the age of 3 months and will attend the International School from Sept on.

My both kids are trilingual thanks to Helen Doron English because me and my husband gave them a language each but none of us a native speaker of English. My daughter speaks English fluently - never had problems with questions or negations to say the least; what she was short of in comparision with the children of the native speakers, however, was the vocabulary, till her command of English got so good that she could read thick books where she would expand her vocabulary so that she can match with the native speakers nowadays. But already at the age of 6-7, she could hold a conversation with my American friend on skype fluently. So she benefitted form the courses immensly.

I'm proud of her - she learnt since the age of 1 and at 6, when she started International School, she was the only kid without English speaking family that was assigned to the native speakers of english group in her class. She still is in the native English speakers group in the 5th grade and was better than the native speakers in spelling and grammar all these years long. She did HD till the last year and this year she was asked by three of her classmates to tutor them in English. I'm very proud of her and of myself to have taken the strain of regular visits at the English classes twice a week and then with two children - but it was - and still is with my son - absolutely worth it! In this way I'm giving them a better future.

We had a few teachers, as both kids attended classes once a week at the beginning and the last three years before starting school - twice a week. These teachers were all lovely and doing their best and seemed to have fun teachong which my kids felt - one was American, one British, two Austrian and one Hungarian. It doesn't matter where they come from because the kids take the accent from the CDs with the British English on which they listen to regularly. So some teachers have a slight accent which doesn't matter at all because they are excellent pedagogues and that's what counts. I have learnt that just being a native speaker does not make you automatically a good teacher, it doesn't enable you to teach your mother tongue without having learnt how to teach - teaching skills are vital and not self-understood and there are many native speakers who try to offer some classes with results that are far from glorious, if they have no longuistic background. A few downloads here and there don't make you a professional.

I am a business person and always go for clarity, especially in agreements, conditions, figures, and outlines, the remark of being badly paid seems quite funny to me. If what they offer to you is not enough, then why would you even start doing it? If that is enough or you got no other work being a native speaker not speaking a local language = no chances for another job, then why complain?
What I know is that HD is taught in many countries - and as we know Europe has different financial situation in each country. So I'd say before you start spreading bad vibes about the payment, check your local reality - go to watch some classes to see if that is for you (I have witnessed new potential teachers sit in and watch the groups where my kids were, so I know it's possible), get a work contract info, payment info and you'll know what is awaiting you. As the teachers look happy and no one seems to keep them there by force and they even work for many years (for instance my son is taught by a teacher who was there already when my daughter started, the most frequent reason for them to leave is when they have children themselves and go into materninty leave or move to another country/town), they seem to have a good life and don't starve, so I'd suggest to take responsibility for your decisions and check the conditions in your local area. I know they are demanding and I am happy - after all, I'm entrusting the future of my children with a teacher - so i want to know they have a solid background and should I have to move to another country, i want to have a guarantee that my child is able not only to continue in the same school system but also in the same language school system to build upon what they have learnt before, instead of taking chances with some teachers, not sure what level they will get my kid to, as they neither work by a recognized method, nor have European language standards, nor program, nor materials. And the HD has. So I felt it was a solid and good choice.

I always focus on the positive and if something doesn't work for me, I just leave it and move my focus to things that suit me and my standards. So I usually have hard time reading complaints - no matter what the subject - as it seems that some would rather spread bad words than take responsilibity and check what is out there in an effective way, as I could read some emotions in the comments above rather than clear facts.

Stay calm and spread peace ;-)

Yours,

Happy Human