Yet another ex-MBS teacher has shared their story with us. We appreciate any and all teachers who have decided to do the same.

“When I was accepted into the Montessori British School I was extremely excited. I thought the interview was a little short and easy but I’m sure of my skills even though their presentation was impressive and I expected to be a teacher on the lower end of the spectrum, none the less I was excited.

I finally had my visa (which they said they would reimburse) and my plane ticket. I had been to Colombia in the past so I wasn’t worried about anything. I arrive at the airport and the bus is waiting for me. A bus driver holding my name on a board awaited me smiling. We chatted as I spoke some Spanish and we had another teacher to wait for.

When everyone arrived we were taken to a gated apartment. The apartment was large and nice. There were 5 people staying at that time. The driver helped me with my luggage was very respectful and kind.

Later I met one of the admin and she welcomed me. She seemed a bit cold but it could be because she wasn’t confident in her English. I didn’t mind. She told me she would give me a tour of the school.

The tour of the school was incredible. I thought I was in an educational Disney Land. Others said it looked like a museum. I did think that it could be distracting for students; nonetheless, I wished that I had gone to a school that looked like this when I grew up.

During the next week more teachers arrived and the apartment started to get cramped. During this time we were going to look for apartments. EVERYTIME we were given a time to be ready this woman would arrive anywhere from 1 to 2 hours late even if we decided to call her she would say “I’ll be there in 10.” Needless to say we didn’t like that. She made up excuses and we accepted them.

We were given forms based on how much we wanted to spend on an apartment and where, etc. However this form was ignored as EVERY apartment we went to visit was no less than 960,000 pesos. What I wanted to pay was much lower. We were sometimes going to places that cost over 2,000,000 pesos. How would we be able to afford that on a 3,000,000 a month check? I settled for the cheapest apartment they offered which was 960,000 pesos and I loved my place.

Then we went to look for furniture. This same lady always took us to the most expensive places. During this time I was getting to become friends with the driver who would go out and take some of us to check out some cheaper places but we couldn’t tell the lady because he would get in trouble. I found this odd that he would get in trouble as he was only helping us get set up.

He was eventually caught for helping us and ceased to be our driver and was given different work. I did not see him much after that.

It took a while to get into our apartments but finally after about 10 people living in the school apartment I finally set off to mine. As I didn’t buy much furniture because we always went to expensive places I had to get them on my own. The school did not help me with transport at all. Everything was done by myself. Another thing, and I think this is Colombians in general and not just MBS, is when you buy furniture and they give you a time say 11am, they may arrive at 7:30pm or the next day. Watch out for that.

So we were called in to sign the contract. The contract was in Spanish. We asked for an English contract but one wasn’t given. I speak Spanish fairly well but my reading especially a contract in Spanish was lacking. I didn’t understand many things and we were rushed and basically forced to sign the contract within 20 minutes of receiving it. We were also told that they would NOT reimburse our visa after saying they would. All of us had the emails and even the letters stating this. They did not care.

We were not happy, but were in a new country, were trying to be cool, so we let some things slide yet again.

The school year starts, I’m excited to be in the classroom and within a week I’m a little confused as these guides we need to use are really bad. I tell my coordinator that I want to use the green house to do a project on plants. She tells me that they’re only for primary. (I later was told that they were rarely used though I cannot personally confirm this.) I thought that odd considering it’s a Montessori school. She said to use the guides. Soon after I tell her these guides are not good. This is not Montessori style teaching. She responds by telling me that I needed to talk to the head of school because will listen to me because I’m an American. I find this odd. She’s supposed to be my coordinator and support me. Now don’t get me wrong, my coordinator did help me in certain things that did not pertain to work— Issues with my apartment, calling a doctor, that kind of thing. I didn’t talk to the head at this time as I felt it was my coordinator’s job to do it. She said she would finally. Did she? I don’t know. Nothing changed.

My grade level had to be with the children all day long so we didn’t have much free time to grade during the school day as we had to basically do all the arts and crafts work for the kids. I thought this was horrible as the children never got to cut, paste, draw, etc. as much as they should. Other teachers didn’t see a problem with this, though they thought it was time consuming. A Colombian teacher came to me and asked me if I could talk to our coordinator into find an art teacher for our level. She told me that I should suggest it because I was American and they would listen to me.

I go to my coordinator and she tells me the same thing. So, finally, with two other American teachers I confront the head of school and tell her we need an art teacher. With the little time we have to grade and do other oddities we don’t have time to spend all this time doing arts and crafts, besides the children should be doing it by themselves. She looked at me uninterested and said she would look into it.

I look at body language more than what a person says because words can lie, the body doesn’t. I knew she didn’t care and would do nothing. That offended me. Sure enough, nothing changed.

We continued to work extremely frustrated but somehow managed to get by though extremely bitter. I continued to question the methodology of the school and how it was not Montessori by talking out loud to other teachers in the hall, at lunch, outside of school. I also continued to try to talk about change or at least start to do what we say in our mission statement but to no avail.

I have never felt so unsupported in my life. I wasn’t allowed to follow the mission statement of the school which I so liked and I was never heard. I wasn’t given materials most of the time when I needed them. When I wrote in our SAPOS (complaints about each classroom for everyday which are mandatory, and they are read maybe 2 times a year) they were never heard. I was frustrated with having other teachers take up more time than they should which gave me less time to give a lesson and more time in the halls with my students sitting there waiting for class. I was frustrated when materials were not present or the guides missing and writing my SAPOS daily with nothing ever changing.

I finally wrote a paper that I wanted to explain and give to the head of school about recommendations and things we can do to improve the school and I would be more than happy to become the director of this change but the head was either practicing dance routines, a meeting, or some other country doing whatever it is she does so I could never find her.

The school had two grad classes that were offered which I jumped on and was lucky to get them both for free. I will not go into detail, but understand that these classes were not free because they wanted to be kind. They basically got screwed and it made more sense to offer them for free so that they can make it look like they were giving back. It had nothing to do with that.

Well the Head of school, the academic director of the school, and another higher up crony were in the class. I was super excited because I would be able to get all of their attention with these classes. Our final project was to discuss things we could improve about the school. The topics were education, parents, work environment, programs, and personnel.

I knew exactly what topic I would help present: education! There was a lack of it at school, but there’s basically a lack of everything at that school. I was hoping that our head, academic coordinator or other crony would choose academics. All three chose parents which is a good topic but I was highly disappointed and after we all chose our topics I made a comment in front of the class about my disappointment that none of the heads chose education.

My group of 4, one being a Colombian and the head of the primary English department refused to speak out during the presentation and finally agreed to present the other 3 speakers. How strange. Well, I choose to do my part on preschool as I was in that level and asked if anyone had any knowledge of early childhood education. Only one person raised her hand. She was the 3^rd in command. So I gave a semi decent speech about the education allowing for lots of debate in hopes that people would call out and I could have a friendly exchange as I love debating. When we finished NO ONE had any questions. I was looking right at the head and her two minions waiting but nothing.

At this point I pretty much gave up. This was in March but I wanted to leave back in November but to anyone who is a teacher especially working with young children the transition to a new teacher can be challenging for the students and also why should they suffer because of what I’m going through? They never did anything. I toughed it out.

A month later due to teachers not showing up to teach their classes or taking up to much time I blow up and do exactly what they have done to me all year. I get sent to the office and accept what I’ve done and tell them that these teachers have been doing this ALL YEAR LONG. (YES, there are some very bad teachers there as well.) A big investigation ensues and for about a week things are smooth.

For the first time the head of school wants to talk to me. I get excited because at last I have a chance to give her my paper and talk to her one and one. I come in and she asks me how I am and if the issue has been resolved. I said yes for now. Then she says “I never knew you were such a good dancer, would you be willing to do a solo and teach a routine to me and some of the other dancers for our show.” I say “ummm, sure.” So she goes into this whole thing about the show and I’m trying to talk about my paper and education. Too bad for me, I should have been more aggressive, before I knew it, it was time to go back to class. I spoke briefly about my paper and handed it to her. “Please read it,” I said, “I hope we can talk about the issues.”

Nothing. These were some of the major stories going on, but there are so many, some too small to mention, others I forget and this does not include the other teachers who went through similar situations crying on my shoulder literally and telling me how bad it is.

I don’t need to go to the end, as another teacher spoke on that. My experience was similar that teachers in terms of getting the liquidation money, etc.

I wish you all new teachers the best of luck. Who knows, maybe they might actually change.”

At the end of the year when you teach in Colombia, you are allotted a lump sum of money that you had paid into over the school year. Here is my story dealing with MBS and my attempt to obtain my legal right to my money.

First: MBS claimed that this process would take all of 2-4 days to receive into my Colombian back account, or as a check. Wow, how far from the truth this is.

The form that MBS gave me did not have an address to attempt to receive my money. When you try to call them, they give you numbers that are no longer working, or to lines where you get a busy signal.

The location they have you go to for retrieval of these funds is in an area of the city that is quite dangerous. This is the reflection of how they view their teachers. They have little respect for you; they will send you into the least flattering area of Bogota. When I did get to this location, the woman helping me already knew MBS and she laughed. She told me that MBS could have done this at the school, or even at a location that was quite close to the school, DAS (this is where you go for your documents), and the banks. Thanks MBS.

Second: This company that you must go through to receive your money (about $1,000 USD if you finish your contract) DOES NOT accept a contraseña (the temporary version of your official cédula, or you ID card) OR a passport as a form of identification. This can be quite a headache because you can live in Colombia for two years and STILL not receive your official cédula ID card. So…… No money.

Third: I made it through both one and two on my above list, somehow. This process almost took me a month by the way, not 2-4 days like MBS claimed. I am still currently waiting for my money. The company said that my money would be in my Colombian bank account in 8 business days. It has now been almost 20 days, and still no money. These mistakes happen a lot in Colombia, but the reality is I leave for the U.S. in 3 days. I do not have time to keep fighting for my money. I know many other teachers who have lost their money as well due to MBS telling us one thing rather than the reality of business.

Fourth: If you are unable to pick up your money within a specific time limit, your money goes back into the accounts of MBS. Do you think this could be why the “school” makes it so difficult for us to quickly receive our money we worked so hard for over the school year?  Just as other posts from other teachers have stated, this business will do what ever it can to take any amount of money from the teachers, parents, or the community.

This is just one teacher who is sharing their story to warn others. I am a very dedicated teacher who thought I was working for a school. I quickly found out that the only thing MBS cares about is money, through and through. I wish that when I was looking at MBS I had found a forum like this one. The stories people share on this blog are to inform other hardworking teachers what is behind the image machine that is MBS.

There are many amazing schools in Bogotá, this is not one of them.

I checked the website INTERNATIONAL CENTER OF MONTESSORI EDUCATION (http://www.montessori-icme.com/method.html). I’m assuming this website has validity in the Montessori field of teaching. I am going to bring up some key points from the page followed by commentary from my experiences.

 “The Montessori approach to education requires that children are placed in a well-planned and structured environment which will meet their individual educational and cultural needs. The children are free to follow their own interests within this planned environment, rather than being forced to learn something that is inappropriate to their developmental stage. The result is that children develop in a natural way and are highly motivated. They develop good discipline and master basic skills, and in many cases earlier than in a more traditional system of education. To bring about these results the teacher is trained in specific skills, the curriculum is carefully planned to reflect the children’s own culture and educational needs, the support materials for the curriculum are specifically Montessori and the outcomes for the children are unique.”

“The Structured Environment”

This is referred to as the ‘Prepared Environment’ and by this is meant the physical appearance and the arrangement of the learning materials adhering to certain principles which focus on meeting the needs of the ‘whole child.’ It is the teacher’s role to prepare and maintain this environment. These principles encompass:

• freedom of movement and freedom of choice for the children
• structure and order in the arrangement and sequence of the materials
• an atmosphere that is attractive, warm and inviting
• materials that provide active learning experiences
• vertical grouping (in the age ranges 2½ to 6 years)
• a closeness to nature and the natural world and activities and materials that reflect the reality of life, not fantasy”

Point 1: The classes are broken down into 35 minute sessions. There are 12 classes each day. Two group directions: one in the morning and one at the end of the day. These classes are mainly for the children to prepare for the day or to return home. Lunch time and outside playground time. There is no nap time.

If there are 12 structured classes like math, English, Logic Concepts, etc. and you rotate to different classrooms every 35 minutes, how is there freedom of movement and freedom of choice for the children?

Point 2: Structure and order in the arrangement and sequence of the materials? What materials? There are a few materials in the class, but you can’t use them unless the guides permit it.

Point 3: Yes, there are classrooms and areas that are attractive, warm and inviting. You get some points there, Montessori British School.

Point 4: As I said, what materials?

Point 5: There is no vertical grouping, not that this is bad. Preschool is broken into nursery, toddler, pre-kinder, kinder.

Point 6: This is a bit confusing. I wouldn’t say there’s a closeness to nature, but your 4 year old will be doing addition dittos and homework that is abstract for them so I guess they do activities that reflect the reality of life if you’re 7 years old.

“The classrooms are ‘open-plan’ with the learning materials arranged in areas and the children are given freedom to move around and to choose the activities that interest them. For the most part the materials themselves are self-correcting and this gives the children a sense of empowerment and helps them to become independent learners. This type of classroom is different from the traditional adult-centred classrooms where children often participate passively as teachers endeavour to impart knowledge and skills to be learned.”

This is not true at the Montessori British School. Classes are teacher lead and directed. There is no child with the freedom to move around and to choose the activities that interest them.

“For the most part the materials themselves are self-correcting and this gives the children a sense of empowerment and helps them to become independent learners.”

This might have been the most disturbing part of my working with the children at the school. Let me use math class as an example. Because all the children do the same work (dittos with addition or subtraction and other oddities) there was a right or wrong element to their learning. I have never heard this in a pre-school classroom, but I had children raising their hands or calling out that they needed an eraser because they made a mistake. I wasn’t taught in my college classes that preschoolers make mistakes therefore before coming here we had no need for erasers. Another disturbing part is I had two erasers for 18 students.

“In each Montessori area there are low level shelves which children can reach and where the learning materials are displayed in a sequential order. The children make choices about what they want to do and after the activity they are encouraged to put the materials back in the correct place in readiness for the next child. This external structure and order helps the child build his internal order.”

As I said the school was lacking in materials. The only two classes where the children had free choice are:

1. Interpersonal and role playing skills (35 minutes a week that includes clean up): This was a dramatic play style class where students were able to engage in fantasy play (doctors, princesses, construction worker, etc.)

2. Constructive and Spatial Skills ( 35 minutes a week that includes clean up): This was a building class. Blocks, legos, trucks, hard hats, and other manipulatives. The toy trucks were too high for some of the students and by the end of the year we could NOT use the trucks because they were getting damaged and they didn’t want to pay for new ones. Needless to say this disturbed me as well. I said “so there to be statues that decorate the shelves?” YUP!

“The outdoor environment is important. First and foremost the school should, by preference, be located in a natural environment, with trees, bushes, plants and animals to ensure that the children remain in touch with and close to nature. In addition there will be attractive and safe equipment to encourage the development of different physical skills, as well as to provide opportunities for children to socialise with each other”

The school does have lovely outdoor environments; however, we can’t use them. I asked to use the green houses to do a project on plants. This was at the beginning of the year when I thought this was a Montessori school. I was not allowed to do that. Once I realized that you have to use the guides and that’s it I slowly began losing faith until I became an almost empty putrid husk and almost broken.

There is a class called Body Expression. It was a class based on movement. ONE time the teacher did a lesson outside where we did a sort of safari and examined some of the bugs and plants within the school. Best class ever.

We get 35 minutes on the playground. The playground is real nice!!! There is no socializing at school except for lunch time where they are rushed to finish their food, playground time, I allowed my students to socialize during both group directions, interpersonal and role playing skills (35 minutes a week), and constructive and spatial skills (35 minutes a week). It was funny watching other teachers yell at their students. I always wondered if the other teachers actually knew anything about early childhood education. Do you think saying SHUT UP is going to stop a group of 4 year olds from talking more than a minute?

“The Montessori classrooms are always attractive, warm and inviting and there are plenty of materials which reflect the children’s own culture. However, the classrooms should not be over-stimulating but rather have a calming effect. The Montessori learning materials are the tools which provide the children with ‘hands on’ active learning experiences. Through this direct experience and the process of discovery and investigation the children gradually progress from the concrete to the abstract.”

Yes, the Montessori’ classrooms are usually always attractive, warm and inviting like the rest of the school. But there are not plenty of materials. PERIOD! We sort of skipped the concept of teaching concrete lessons and went straight to abstract. Needless to say, I had 4 year olds crying in class because they could not do the work. I finally decided what was most important was to try to keep the children happy and enjoy school and the little teaching I was able to provide.

The principle of reality, not fantasy, in the classroom is one of the distinguishing features of a Montessori pre-school classroom. Montessori’s idea was to teach the children all about how to live in the real world and the Exercises of Practical Life are the first activities that provide these experiences. Children learn how to look after themselves and the environment as well as how to behave socially. In a traditional pre-school classroom, there is usually a ‘home corner’ where the children play-out different aspects of living, but in the Montessori classroom they will actually engage in helping prepare the vegetables for lunch, they will really wash up after the meal and they will really dust and clean their classroom.

The principle of closeness to nature is another distinguishing feature of a Montessori setting. In the classroom, the children will have pets for which they are responsible and plants and flowers to water and tend. In the outdoor area there is a garden plot especially for the children to cultivate where they grow vegetables and flowers.

We did have a cooking class! Great idea! But the children never did any of the work. We had to explain it all to them. There were a few times I actually was able to let the children cut some veggies.

No pets, they did not tend and water plants and flowers. There are gardens, but we can’t use them.

You have read real testimonies from ex teachers of Montessori British School. You are all adults. You are free to make your own decisions. But really think about what you’re doing. I was fooled by their incredible presentation as well. If you choose to work here, especially after reading this website you brought this upon yourself. Who knows you may be posting on here real soon. Good luck, and I mean that.

PS: If Montessori British School changes their mission statement to match more of what they do and take out Montessori that’s fine. Just STOP lying to parents and teachers. These families pay a lot of money to go to that school and most of the teachers really want to come and teach. Stop ruining it for us!

Just like most teachers new to Montessori, I was overly impressed upon my arrival as I wandered through one of the most aesthetically beautiful institutions that I had ever seen. From the beginning, it was clear that this wasn’t one of your run-of-the-mill, cookie cutter schools from the US stamped out of concrete and cinder block. The amount of money that has been invested in the details at Montessori is unfathomable. And, honestly, when one thinks about such an investment in appearance, a sense of discouragement begins to set in as, in reality, Montessori represents nothing less than the antithesis of a prospering educational institution.

The looks alone of Montessori serve to give new teachers, especially in their initial days, a false sense of security. Just like everyone else, I was lured into believing that I had arrived at the apex of international education: the brightest students, the most capable faculty, and, of course, a competent and proficient administration. Therefore, when all new secondary-level teachers were asked to prepare a brief mini-lesson, I was concerned that my skills would not be up to par. The psychologists assured us that it was simply to get a feel for who we were as professionals.

What the psychologists failed to mention, however, was that the other secondary-level teachers were not there just to observe our lessons. Rather, their job was to act out as disobedient students by throwing paper, shouting, leaving the classroom, fighting, etc. The dynamic of this ‘exercise’ was much different than that of a traditional classroom setting. When one is meeting veteran colleagues for the first time, yelling at them to behave is generally out of the question. As I taught my mini-lesson, I thought that my new co-workers were simply being rude; I didn’t realize that they were ‘testing’ my classroom management abilities as an educator.

With the conclusion of the mini-lessons, the psychologists informed us that we would be gathering in a room with the desks arranged in a circle. The idea for this meeting was for the veteran teachers, as well as the psychologists and coordinators to critique our performance as teachers. Of course, we were ridiculed for not disciplining the students as per school policy, for not maintaining control of the classroom, etc. As I reflect upon this experience, I realize how poor of an ‘exercise’ this really is. Having your colleagues openly criticize your performance in a public forum is humiliating. It is even more so when the vast majority have less education and experience than you. Yet, this is typical behavior for the MBS psychologists who often organize such absurdities. To be honest, it’s not their fault; they just don’t know any better. They are not well-trained and generally have no experience in education. I went into Montessori with significant teaching experience, both an undergraduate and graduate degrees in education, as well as various teaching certifications in the US.

If nothing else, I hope that this entry serves as a warning to those who will begin working at MBS in the coming school year. Know what’s in store, know how to prepare. Better yet, stay away while you still have the chance.

As I was looking through old emails, I found an email I had written to my coordinator and to another teacher about a student I had major concerns regarding his health and well being in the school.