New Learning Academy Reviews

Please think twice about working at New Learning Academy. This school is a not what they claim to be. First off, let’s start with the fact that how they “employ” their teachers is illegal based on Costa Rican law. In Costa Rica, if a foreigner wants to establish employment, they must find a company willing to sponsor their work visa as soon as they start working. New Learning Academy sends teachers “contracts” which state they will help sponsor the work visa, but the reality is that this is a lie. Upon arriving at the school, they will train you and then expect you to start working on your tourist visa. This is illegal. Foreigners cannot legally work in Costa Rica on a tourist visa. The school will not tell you this. If you get caught working on a tourist visa you risk deportation. They’ll also make you sign a document which states you are working for them as a “volunteer.” This is also a lie and the document is written in Spanish with no translation provided. So, as you begin illegally working on your tourist visa, you’ll soon realize that your 90-day time limit is about to expire. At this point, the school will require you to do a “border run” at your own expense. This means booking a flight or bus ticket and crossing the border of a nearby country and then returning to Costa Rica to obtain another 90-day tourist visa to gain access to the country and continue working for the school, illegally. The school also requires that you obtain a tax ID number through the Ministerio de Hacienda. You are supposed to do this BEFORE you start working, but the school won’t give you time to do this. Instead, you’ll have already worked a few weeks before going to the Ministerio. The school will tell you to lie and say that you have not been working but are actively looking for work. You’re basically told to lie to a government agency. If this hasn’t scared you yet, there’s more. The “training program” is lackluster to say the least. My training group was trained by a staff member who had never even taught an English class before. I should have known to run for the hills at this point. I was in training for about 30 hours total (training, observations, demos) and was paid only $50USD for this time. Also, in training, we were told we would be emailed important documents such as the pay scale for classes and the teacher Google drive, but this never happened. Luckily other teachers were nice enough to help us newbies and supply this information otherwise we would have never gotten it from management. Totally not worth the effort or headache. Then there’s housing. They will tell you that they will help you find housing, but this is not completely true. They will help you find a host family to live with, but if you want to find your own independent accommodation you’ll be on your own. I was lucky enough to find something, but it was not easy. Once I started teaching, I began to realize how much of a mess the school was in. There are no copy machines. The receptionists are unprofessional and are usually on Facebook or texting on their phones when you are trying to ask for help. There is no communication between management and teachers. They think that they “own” your time. You’ll be expected to pick up classes with less than a days’ notice so if you have personal plans you can kiss them goodbye. Also, be expected to work 14-hour days. You may have to teach from 9am-12pm then go between schools which takes about an hour and then teach again from 2-5pm and 6-9pm. There’s not much time to breathe, let alone eat. In sum, the school will rush you to help them in every way possible which includes starting your contract early, going to the Hacienda, opening your bank account, but when the tables are turned and you need help, you’ll wait for weeks, if not months. All the websites they use (Hacienda, Factura Professional, the bank) are in Spanish, so it can be annoying and frustrating just to figure out how to get paid. And after all the work you are expected to do, the school should at least make the payment process a piece of cake. You’ve been warned. Do your homework before you come. There are so many amazing schools in Costa Rica and around the globe. Don’t choose this one.

Administration is dishonest and unethical. The former administrator sent us WhatsApp audios once asking us to lie to labor/immigration officials who were visiting the school and not mention our contracts. We were told to tell them we were part of a language immersion program and we were teaching for free, but we got a stipend for living and eating. Not true. More on dishonesty.. on several different occasions, I was told I was making a certain rate or that I would be reimbursed for something. Then, of course, the rate was significantly lower or they declined to reimburse me. When I objected, the response was more or less “We never said that.” I can count at least 6 other teachers (out of around 10-12) that had similar situations with their pay. All info about visas are a lie and a sham. No teacher that worked at NLA ever had a work visa. The owner and English administrator had begun to talk to people about getting visas for around $800US (plus cost of documentation and postage) and they would pay $250US. Based on how untrustworthy they had been in the past with paychecks, I didn’t believe they would really end up covering the $250 and decided not to get a work visa. I heard immigration visited the school in March and I think the school is getting more serious about making teachers buy work visas. It’s not an academy, it’s a business. The owner is tica and does not speak English. In general, I never got the vibe that she even likes school or languages. She never, ever talks to teachers about classes, students, curriculum, anything education related. Her two daughters both have administrative/leadership positions and, to be entirely honest, are the source of a lot of the miscommunication and misunderstandings between teachers and administration. When they make a major error that messes up your class schedule or paycheck, sharing feedback about them will literally go nowhere. On multiple occasions, I was publicly confronted by a family member in a hostile manner only for it to revealed that they were the one who made the mistake. The family-run nature of the business is not an advantage, it’s toxic. The pay is demeaning. Towards the end of my time at NLA, the owner and English coordinator sat me down and told me that I was their best teacher on staff, a role model for others, and they appreciated how much I helped new teachers. They asked me to be the assistant for the English program. Then, they offered to pay me... 2,000 colones an hour. I was appalled to be honest. It was the most disrespected I’ve ever felt in a job, in Costa Rica or anywhere. In general, the owner seems to think the English teachers are desperate, have no self-respect and that they will work for anything. Many teachers leave because they simply can’t pay their rent, or eat well, pay for their mandatory border runs, or save enough money to take weekend trips. The payscale is incredibly confusing and you never really know what you will make (I’ll include it if I can add photos). I have experience at other schools and know other teachers around the Central Valley of San Jose. While no school is famous for paying teachers extravagantly, NLA definitely has the lowest pay I’ve experienced or heard of. Finally, now that I’ve left NLA and I’m in the job search process, let me tell you this... New Learning Academy does not have a good reputation in San Jose. I read some of the reviews here and the responses from management that boast about 15-20 years in the community. Years of business do not equal a good reputation. Several schools I have spoken to or visited have not taken me seriously because the main experience in CR on my resume is with NLA. I started asking more English speaking ticos what they knew about NLA and not a single person has heard anything positive, only that it’s the school with the blonde girl signs all around San Jose. It got to the point where I’ve decided to delete NLA from my resume and start over. That’s the only reason I’m comfortable enough to write this review as candidly and honestly as I’m doing now. As I’m writing this and reflecting, what embarrasses me the most is that I did not leave New Learning Academy sooner. I didn’t have the backbone to stand up and quit the first time they lied to me or any of the times they put me in a dangerous commute situation. I’m sorry to any teachers that I spoke to during your orientation or first days. I should have told you then to leave and find a new job immediately, but I didn’t have the nerve to be that honest when teachers were so excited to begin a new job in beautiful Costa Rica. I should have left, on principle, when administration sent out a mass email humiliating a teacher about their body odor and the owner defended it. I’m ashamed that I stayed there as long as I did and I’m sorry to any English teachers that I did not immediately tell the truth to.