Gap Odyssey Phuket

Hi Campers,

We've noticed that a new camp has started to emerge in recent weeks. It's Gap Odyssey Phuket. It also has branches in Buriram and Cha Am. It already has both a website http://www.gapodyssey.com/ and a Facebook page. Rest assured, this is simply another incarnation of Philip Crabb's Island TEFL or Camp Thailand. So be warned, you can expect exactly the same kind of standards as per those two schools.

It's currently asking for $1,499 for the camp, including a "free" TEFL course, normally valued at $495. In our opinion, this is a total rip-off, an absolutely ridiculous amount of money to pay. As mentioned in our previous posts, the English For Fun TEFL course is worth about $100 at most. It's fully unaccredited and is usually taught by any teacher who happens to be around at the time. They also seem to have teamed up with ITA in some way. The exact connection is unclear, but, in out opinion, it reflects badly on ITA and devalues their credibility in the market.

There may be excursions and teaching in a school, etc, but is it worth spending that kind of money on? Again, as mentioned before, you can do almost all the activities offered off your own bat at a mere fraction of the cost.

We're strongly recommending potential campers to avoid this outfit altogether.

Happy holidays,
EFL Greg

Invasion and Ethics

Hi Campers!

Following the events of August and September, I think Invasion really need to be doing some serious soul searching. First they need to establish what their core values are and then make sure they apply them with full integrity. Clearly they have been coming up short on the ethical front in recent months.

First of all, how did they get into bed with their previous TEFL providers (English For Fun) in the first place? EFF's track record was well known to all before they linked up. Did Invasion seriously believe there would be no problems ensuing from that liaison? Clearly, it was a deal based on expediency at the time rather than one that matched their core values.

Secondly, Invasion have failed miserably in their response to the complaints of campers taking part in the August camp in Chiang Mai. Rather than offer measly £250 vouchers, they should offer full refunds. Only this way can they realistically hope to keep customers and hold on to their market share. Word gets around quickly on social media these days.

At the very heart of all Invasion's venture must be ethicality towards the campers themselves. Most of the campers are youngsters who have never travelled to Asia before, and have anxious parents at home worrying about them. To cut corners and condone sub-standard behaviour at camps is simply not acceptable (see previous posts).

In the future, Invasion must make ethicality and the maintenance of high standards an absolute must, not just an optional extra. If they can do this, we wish them luck going forward with their new TEFL partners. If they can't, they must expect to see an inevitable decline in the number of participants on their camps, and deservedly so.

Let's hope there's some improvement in the future.

EFL Greg

Invasion and Camp Thailand

Hi Thailand Campers!

Following my last post I've received a lot of disturbing news. It seems there's been a real bust up between Invasion and Philip Crabb.  In fact, Invasion have dispensed with his services altogether and are now using Greenway China to provide the TEFL component of their Camp experience. I don't actually know anything about Greenway, so I can't honestly vouch for them. What I can say, though, is that Invasion should be applauded for parting company with Philip Crabb and his English For Fun farce. We have been pressing for this for a long time on this blog, so let's hope this move heralds a brighter future.

Meanwhile, Invasion is in quite a state of turmoil, in that there have been several complaints from campers and from parents about the messy way the August / September course turned out. Apparently, there was trouble about visas as well as the switch in hotels from Cha-Am to Hua Hin. It seems that Invasion had some genuine cash flow problems, probably as a result of overextending themselves with too many camps. This was compounded by the possibility that Philip Crabb was embezzling money sent to him by Invasion. At this stage, we have no proof of that. However, it seems the possibility alone was enough to make Invasion act.

Overall, it seems Invasion are trying to do their best in difficult circumstances. For example, they have offered dissatisfied campers vouchers for £250, etc. However, Invasion need to be much more open, honest and communicative in dealing with their camp participants. I'm getting reports of unanswered emails and robotic responses to phone calls. That's just no way to treat customers. They really need to work on their PR

Whatever happened to cause the bust up, Philip Crabb clearly has his own agenda, the main component being to claim Camp Thailand as his own. In fact, many of you may already have noticed that there are two Camp Thailands now, Summer Camp Thailand https://summercampthailand.com/ run by Americamp and Camp Thailand http://www.campthailand.org/ run by Philip Crabb. What it seems Mr. Crabb is trying to do now is to create as much of a stir as he can about Invasion in the hope that they go out of business, leaving him 100% control of Camp Thailand. He even tries to claim that he created the whole project. This is complete poppycock, he is merely a provider of sub-standard TEFL courses, nothing more. For future reference have no doubt that Invasion/Americamp's version of Camp Thailand is the original one.

I'll make more comments about developments in my next post. Meanwhile, please do post your comments or email me directly.

Keep camping!
EFL Greg

Invasion and Summer Camp C in Chiang Mai

Hi Everyone,

I have recently learnt that Americamp is owned by Invasion Ltd. I didn't actually know this. They have their head offices in the Manchester region too. Anyway, it seems they have just done the August Summer Camp Thailand Camp C in Chiang Mai, using Philip Crabb as their TEFL provider. Apparently, however, they had a falling out with Philip Crabb and told students that they were changing to another TEFL provider. If this is true, I must say hats off to Invasion/Americamp for removing Philip Crabb as one of their partners. Let's hope this will lead to a brighter future.

However, Invasion need to provide the TEFL certificates for this course pretty promptly, because I've heard from students who were on the course that Philip Crabb is trying to get them to spend a further £49 each to get their certificates from him. He claims that Invasion owe him a lot of money, which is why he needs to charge. However, this is something students have already paid for in the original course fees.  So we are strongly recommending anyone on that course not to pay Philip Crabb this extra amount. Philip Crabb needs to sort out his problems with Invasion privately, not pass them on to the students. Remember, the TEFL certificates are worthless anyway.

In addition to this, Invasion also changed the location of their packaged break in Cha-Am, changing it to inferior accommodation in Hua Hin, which caused a lot of discontent amongst campers. Why this was necessary is unclear, because one would imagine that a company as large as Invasion would always have plenty of cash available, particularly if you're paying £700 a head. I am told there were 67 students on the course. That's a total income of about £47,000!

Do watch out for this kind of thing and make sure providers keep to their promises and offer refunds when they don't.  As I've mentioned before, the TEFL world can be a shady place with low standards. The original hotel was Peerapa Place in Cha-Am, right near the beach and nightlife areas, whereas the "upgrade" was The Greenway Resort located about 40 km from Hua Hin itself.  Apparently, in the latter place, in addition to the poor location, the sheets were dirty, the food was poor and there was limited wifi. The place used in Chiang Mai was The Eco Resort and most comments were pretty positive.  Again, though, campers here were asked to pay extra for air-con, which is completely unacceptable. The hotel also confirmed that air-con was free anyway. Do Google them all.

Importantly, as per usual, the TEFL course itself was reported as being disorganised and incomplete. Otherwise, the camp that Invasion offered sounded quite good. But please do post your comments. What was your experience? Do you have anything to add to the above report? Any comments about facilities, arrangements, prices and people are all welcome.

Enjoy,
EFL Greg

Accreditation and Pricing

Hi Campers,

I was just looking at Americamp's Camp Thailand website and noticed that they've put up a whole load of blurb about TEFL certificates in relation to accreditation. I think it's been up a while actually. Click on TEFL  They're no longer claiming that their certificate is "internationally accredited", which is a major step forward. I congratulate them on their honesty. However, what they've put up instead is a pretty vague piece that really tells us nothing at all, just a series of generalities with nothing specific. Basically, it's a load of hogwash designed to pull the wool over your eyes, cloaked in that kind of formal language that makes it sound oh so credible.  "School and authorities"? Yes, the schools they give free lessons at.  "The Ministry of Education"? Take it from me, there's no way the ministry gets involved in farang run TEFL schools. Their concern is state schools and private schools running the proper national curriculum. EFL courses are not part of their domain. The point is that Camp Thailand's courses are completely unaccredited and it's pot luck how good any one course will be. Worst case scenario is if Philip Crabb himself gives the course.

While here, I'd like to remind all you potential campers that you'll be spending over £700 for only three weeks of "training" and activities. So are you really getting your money's worth? Remember that, while accommodation is included in the price, it is bunk beds in a dorm, and even then you have to pay extra if you want air-con. You can stay in a 3 star hotel in central Bangkok for just £20 a night.  So surely they could afford to give you something better than 5 in a room with no air-con for your £700? The TEFL course isn't worth more than £100 and the same goes for the excursions. Camp Thailand's expenses are simply the rent for the  premises and some low salaries for their workers.  Even the trainer won't get more than a $1,000 a month. So you can see just how much money is going directly into the pockets of Philip Crabb and Americamp. They're cutting costs any which way they can to maximise their own profit. Philip Crabb is interested in one thing only, and that's your money. You're being well and truly fleeced.  You really need to open your eyes to that.

So once again, we recommend that you avoid this kind of overpriced summer camp and set out independently. Do an online TEFL course, preferably not English For Fun's, and go direct to a Thai placement agency for a free placement and orientation course. Do the excursions at your own leisure during your year in Thailand. It's such a wonderful country. Just take that bold step to be independent. Thailand is a very safe country if you stick to common sense precautions. You should have a wail of a time.

Good luck, campers!

EFL Greg

Americamp and Camp Thailand

Hi EFL World!

Let's just have a quick look at Americamp's relationship with Camp Thailand.  Although Camp Thailand comes under Americamp's general umbrella, it is actually at least half owned and run by Philip Crabb. The CEO of Americamp is Lee McAteer, and for his operations in Thailand he has teamed up with Philip Crabb, who runs the show there. He also has a rep called Dean Hallworth there, but his power is limited.

Up to now, this blog has been pretty complimentary towards Americamp and the aspects of their camps that they organise directly. However, it is clear that there is something amiss with the way Philip Crabb is running operations at his end. Typical complaints so far against him are:

1.  He claims his TEFL certificate is "internationally accredited", but this is completely unfounded. It's not accredited in any meaningful sense of the word, and is basically a junk qualification.

2.  Most of the trainers for the courses are unqualified. Instead, they are often just random teachers are in the area at the time who happen to be looking for a job.

3.  Similarly, Philip Crabb himself has no formal EFL qualifications, and is best known in the EFL world for being fired by a school in Bangkok for coming in drunk.

4.  Even now Philip often attends sessions either drunk or clearly hung over.

5.  Philip usually fails and expels a student quickly in order to create fear and compliance among the other students. The student will invariably be someone who has caused some kind of problem or asked some awkward questions.

6.  Later, he often does the exact converse and passes students without even looking at their submissions. The "blank document" incident in 2016, when he passed a student who submitted a blank document, is well-known.

7.  He tries to extract extra money from students anyway he can, with all kinds of extra charges for towels, taxis, air-con, etc.

8.  Most importantly, in 2016 one of Thai staff pulled a gun on some girls students because they did not use Philip's own expensive taxi service. We now have this evidenced from three separate sources.

9.  His history with Island TEFL, which he ran as Philip Dunne before acquiring Camp Thailand, is truly shocking. Google and lots of results will come up. They can't all be lying.

10.  He charges as much as £500 for a five day orientation course before placement in a school by an agency. An identical orientation course can be obtained directly from the agency completely for free.

I will leave it to the reader to decide whether the above is merely sharp practice or outright criminality. The point is that Philip Crabb is clearly not a man you should be entrusting yourself to or giving your money to. It also reflects back on Americamp that they continue to work with him.  It shows that they themselves lack any real ethicality. Clearly it's just about money at the end of the day.

So we conclude that, even though there are some wonderful positives about the Camp Thailand experience, potential campers should boycott Camp Thailand, and use another provider until such time as Americamp disown Philip Crabb.

In my next post, I'll quote from some of the numerous emails I have received.

Stay wise!
EFL Greg

Camp Thailand Review (2)

Hi Everyone, EFL Greg here!

Due to the mysterious deletion of our original Camp Thailand Review post in the UK, we've re-posted here in its entirety for the benefit of our UK readers:

"We've had quite a few reviews of Camp Thailand now, with a mixed bag of reports. Everyone seems pretty agreed that the activity part of the camp, i.e. the excursions and elephant trips, as well as even the live teaching in the schools, is pretty well set up, and has been a positive experience for most campers. Most of this is directly under the control of Americamp, who seem to be providing a reasonably genuine service.

However, it's the TEFL side of Camp Thailand that is seriously suspect. This is run by Philip Crabb together with his Thai wife, and we've had several reports of unacceptable course standards and severe bias in the treatment of students. See the comments on the Camp Thailand post. In addition, it has now been conclusively proved that the TEFL certificate issued by EFF (English For Fun, formerly Island TEFL) is wholly unaccredited, and is basically a junk qualification.  

From the reviews we've received, Philip Crabb, formerly Philip Dunne, seems to be running the place like a dictator, ruling by fear. Anyone who causes him any kind of problem quickly gets removed from the Camp, whether it be a a student or an employee. There are no refunds incidentally. The most disturbing incident, however, occurred just recently when he or his wife actually had some of the Thai workers pull out a gun on some of the girl students just because they weren't using the camp's own taxi and were liaising with a former teacher and employee banned by Philip. We cannot verify this independently. However, we've heard about this incident from two separate sources. So it needs to be taken seriously.  It's possible Camp Thailand is even paying off the police. The incident was apparently quickly hushed up by both Americamp and Camp Thailand.

So because of the atmosphere of fear that Philip Crabb specialises in creating and the sub-standard courses he is fraudulently offering, we're recommending that prospective campers vote with their feet and boycott Camp Thailand until such time as Americamp have dealt properly with the situation and brought Philip Crabb to heel. Anyone who knows anything more about any of the above should come forward and post.

It's always important to remember that in developing countries like Thailand, and even more so Cambodia, law enforcement is weak. In fact, corruption is rampant, particularly within the police force. So don't expect that you will automatically get justice in the event of any criminal or illegal action inflicted upon you.  

Always be careful when committing yourself and putting yourself in the hands of people you don't know, particularly when travelling alone to a developing country.

Good luck with whatever camp you finally decide on."

Deleted Post - by Americamp !!

Hi Campers !!

We've just had a stunning experience on our blog! Our Camp Thailand Review post of October 2016 has been deleted in the UK. Also some comments on the Camp Thailand post of January 2016 have vanished. The stated reason on the blog post is that it is the result of a "legal request", presumably from Americamp. It seems this only applies to the UK, because elsewhere, including here in Thailand, the post is up and running as normal.

I can only assume that the reason is the mention of the incident in which a Thai worker at Camp Thailand is alleged to have pulled out a gun on some girl trainees for not using Philip Crabb's taxi. I would guess the legal reason would be that the incident is unproven. However, we clearly stated in the original post that we could not verify the incident independently. All journalists and news channels do this kind of thing. Just watch CNN, they're always saying that they are unable independently to confirm something when they rely on external sources. So I am genuinely surprised that a UK court of law has passed this order.

What's really surprising about this is that we've had absolutely no direct communication from anyone. You would have thought Google would have sent us an email explaining what had happened.  Or perhaps something from the lawyer involved. And hopefully something from Americamp themselves. But, no, absolutely nothing!

I'm particularly surprised that Americamp have at no stage tried to contact us directly. If you have a problem with someone, surely the first course of action is to speak candidly with that person and try and find a solution. Only if that doesn't work would you embark on the expensive and laborious task of legal action. The fact that Americamp have chosen such a roundabout route indicates to me just how morally bankrupt they are. They are clearly unsure of their position and so are clutching at legal straws to eradicate an inconvenient review. I think they would do much better to deal with the root of the problem, which is clearly the set up at Camp Thailand.

I hope my readers will read all the posts on my blog, which are actually pretty complimentary towards Americamp. It's primarily the TEFL side of the Camp Thailand that we consider suspect, because of its unsatisfactory course standards and trainer behaviour. We feel it is essential that in a democratic society that recognises free speech our comments and opinions be allowed unfettered.

Happy camping!

EFL Greg

Crime in Thailand

Hi EFL Teachers,

I was just googling around and I came across this really interesting website - click here. It's by a guy called Andrew Drummond. I don't actually know him personally, but he seems to be doing some great work on his site exposing all kinds of different scams, frauds and interesting criminal cases in Thailand. Interestingly, he mentions Philip Crabb. Do check it out.

Generally, the Thais are wonderful people, and you'll love them. Thailand's not called The Land of Smiles without reason. Nevertheless, because of the weakness of the law enforcement system, there are also a lot of cheap criminals there, getting away with all kinds of stuff, completely unchallenged.  So do keep your eyes open, particularly when it comes to any large financial transaction or any offer that looks too good to be true. Most crime in Thailand is done by stealth or fraud, rather than direct attack. For example, you're unlikely to get actually assaulted, even at night.  Mugging is a pretty rare crime.

Good luck everyone.

EFL Greg

Go Abroad

Hi Campers!

We've noticed that a lot of very good reviews for Camp Thailand have been posted on GoAbroad. That's good news and I'm sure most of them are completely genuine. However, there are a couple of things you need to be aware of.  A company can often get customers to review positively by offering an incentive. In this case it could be something like a discount or a good grade or a placement. The reason we think this might be the case here is because suddenly a whole bunch of reviews went up at the beginning of January. That plus Philip Crabb's reputation for threatening people he think might say something negative.

So let's quickly review the main positives and negatives of Camp Thailand.

Positives:
Terrific group experience and camp atmosphere.  Easy to make friends.
Interesting expeditions and activities, e.g. elephant sanctuary, etc.
Meaningful experience teaching to Thai children.
Helpful and creative Americamp reps, e.g. Dean.

Negatives:
Unaccredited TEFL certificate.  Basically a junk qualification. Placements should be free too.
Over-priced.  Most activities can be done independently at fraction of cost.
Rigid structure and subordination to the tyrannical Philip Crabb (formerly Philip Dunne of Island TEFL).

Also, remember that, although you may be working as a volunteer when you teach in the Thai schools, Americamp and Camp Thailand are making a mint out of the whole thing.  Just do the maths, work out how much you pay and how many campers there are.  You'll quickly get an idea of the kind of money involved.

Good luck.  Hope you make the choice that's right for you!

EFL Greg