We are getting ready for those ever-growing number of In-Company classes and impending summer camps. WELCOME to Victoria Jones, Michelle McKenna, Nicole King, Joseph Bezark, James Deignan, Andrew Buck, David Grant, Sarah Whitehead and hello again to Sheila Ferguson. Write down your thoughts and experiences of life in Moscow, polish them up and send them in for May's issue. And send in your questions about work and life, your announcements, or what have you, to Unbound for publication. We hope that the information provided will entertain you long enough before and after the seminar!

Many thanks to all the contributors for this April edition of Unbound! And special thanks to Elena Rezinkova for putting it all together.

Editor

New Appointments

поздравляемпоздравляемпоздравляемпоздравляемпоздравляемпоздравляем

Andi Loizate - March 1, 2002 - ADOS Modern Languages

Irina Grekova - March 18, 2002, ADOS Satellite schools

Pavel Sukharev - March 25, 2002, Senior teacher Lingua.ru

congratulationscongratulationscongratulationscongratulationscongratulations

News from various departments

MBA Centre started on Tuesday, March 19, 2002 with their first TOEFL group. Contact Olesia Nazarova and Wayne Rimmer for more information. The new BKC-MBA Center has opened. The MBA Center will be offering:

- TOEFL: for entry into American Universities;
- IELTS: for immigration and academic studies in UK, Australia, New Zealand and other countries;
- TOEIC: for application of specific work involving international communication;
- GMAT: for advanced study in business and management;
- GRE: for post-graduate education.

These courses obviously can be used for other purposes but the above are the main areas that will be of immediate concern to our students.
The MBA Center supplies students with all the information they need about these exams, helps them to register at the relevant organizations and informs them how to enter colleges and high schools abroad.
If any teachers have queries concerning these courses, or if anyone would like to give some useful hints/tips + teaching advice, could they please get in touch with Olessya Nazarova. Address details: Tverskaya Street, 9a building 4, 2nd floor, rooms #206,207; telephone: 229-05-51, 737-52-25 ext 220.

In-Company Department is expanding and has announced a Senior teacher position. We'll keep everyone posted.

If you teach at Akademicheskaya, Prazhskaya, VDNKh, Kashirskaya, Sokolniki, Tsaritsino, Schukinskaya, Begovaya, Strogino, Novogireevo, novokosino, Khimki, Troitzk, Malakhova and Lubertsi, please see Claire Nichols for your educational issues. And if you teach in Timiryazevskaya, Proletarskaya, Rechnoy Vokzal, Dinamo, Ramenki, Zhulebino, Voronezh, Balashikha, Zheleznodorozhny, Reutov, Solnechnogorsk, Mendeleevo, Klin and Universitet, please look up Irina Grekova for things related to your classes.

A Quick Word

from Michael Bondarev
From on-line forum for BKC Russian personnel

Approximately half of BKC and Linguist's earnings go directly and indirectly to our teachers. According to our current position on the market, we spend between 40 to 60% of our profit on the educational part.

I think it's right, because if a school spends half of its income on the teachers and their support, it will be popular both with teachers and students. Generally English schools have to spend between 15 to 50% on teachers. The rest is spent on the rent of classrooms and offices, taxes, administrative staff, profits, advertising and marketing, licensing and others.

Unwilling to lose our leading position we decided to increase our expenses on the senior educational personnel last summer, and then on the teachers in winter. DOSes and ADOSes got additional funds for raising the level of their skills - trainings, participation in the seminars and conferences abroad. Teachers' salaries have been raised recently. If at the end of the year our profits increase again, for example, due to higher intake of groups or course fee raise, then EMT and teachers' salaries will be reconsidered again. However, as they say in the schools of foreign languages, don't count your chickens before they are hatched.

Usually the use of profit in a private company is a confidential matter, but I don't mind saying that almost all profit stays at BKC+ and it is spent on the development of the new fields, support of the employees, trainings, etc. Development of new areas is also very important. For the last year the most successful of our new projects were Linguist, Lingua.ru, Globus, camp.

However, it does not mean we are saving on the salary of our Russian personnel. As far as I know wages at BKC+ are higher than similar positions at our competitors'. It should not be different because we are the most successful company in the CIS and we have more opportunities to train our personnel, to provide them with a decent job.