Monday 23 January 2017

Philip Crabb

Hi EFL teachers,

A lot of you may be wondering exactly who Philip Crabb is, so here's a brief synopsis of his recent history relative to world of EFL teaching.

Philip Crabb used to go under the name of Philip Dunne, and his first forays in the EFL world were as a teacher in a Bangkok school. However, he never actually established himself as a proper professional and certainly never gained any formal EFL qualifications. In fact, he quickly gained a reputation for womanising and coming into class drunk, and is even reputed to have been fired by one school for precisely this.

Later, in around 2010, he bought a school called Island TEFL, which now seems to have been completely superseded by English For Fun and Camp Thailand. Island TEFL was an extremely poorly managed school, with messy unaccredited courses ran by anyone who was available and with no permanent premises anywhere. His main earner was his Placement Program R, where he gave a five day orientation course to teachers prior to their getting a placement in a school. In fact, he still seems to be doing this with EFF. However, it's important that prospective trainees note that all Thai placement agents give the same course completely for free. This is because they get a direct cut from the school you get sent to.

Philip Dunne also used to sell franchises to people interested in getting involved in the business side of things. A typical amount was $20,000. However, not a single one of these relationships lasted more than a few months. In fact, I personally know one teacher who got scammed like this. He paid $20,000 for a franchise and actually successfully organised and delivered a course, but because he fell out with Philip Dunne, he not only lost his $20,000 but also didn't get paid a single penny for all his hard work. That plus a whole load of verbal abuse. It takes a certain type of person to do that to another man. However, this kind of ruthlessness is one of Philip Crabb's trademark characteristics.

I actually met him myself personally in Bangkok a couple of years back when he was giving one of his courses at the American Bar & Grill in Soi 8 off Sukhumwit Road. Great restaurant, by the way. They have "teacher" evenings on Friday nights, when the whole evening's a Happy Hour. At first, Philip Crabb can seem a reasonable enough person, and  may indeed stay so, provided you play ball. It's if you fall out with him in any way that you'll see the unpleasant side of his nature. He doesn't look for solutions or try to work things out, but goes for 100% victory, usually using a variety of threats to achieve that end. His philosophy is law of the jungle, survival of the fittest. If you're dumb enough to fall victim to him, that's your problem, not his. That's how he justifies his behaviour. Compassion and empathy certainly aren't part of his repertoire.

So our advice is not to sign up for a course run by him in the first place. His courses are completely unaccredited and you have a full guarantee of no refund if you're not satisfied.

By the way, do check out our other site http://teflteacherthailand.blogspot.com/

EFL Greg

Monday 17 October 2016

English Camps Thailand

EFL Greg here!

It's important that people know that English For Fun (EFF) is a reincarnation of Island TEFL, which now seems to be defunct. It includes English Camps Thailand. It's the same person, Philip Crabb, formerly Philip Dunne, the same unaccredited courses, and the same rip-off prices.

English Camps Thailand seems to be an attempt by Mr Crabb to split off from Americamp and go it alone. However, at present he's still using the Camp Thailand logo. http://www.englishcampsthailand.com/

Think twice before signing up.

EFL Greg