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Q: My good deed this year. Can we make a list of good schools for new China comers?
I was surfing the web last night and read countless pages of horror stories from foreign teachers. Granted, some maybe deserved what happened, but still. It is enough to scare possible new comers from coming to China. We have all read those never ending lists of schools to avoid, but I have never read a list of schools that should be considered. I think that would help potential new comers much more than "avoid at all costs" lists. Schools where we have had good relations with the leaders, students, and faculty. Where we were not cheated and forced to fight for what was promised in a contract. I'll start. I've worked at a few schools here, including, privates, middle schools, government companies that train their employees in English, and universities. I have two good experiences. 1. The "Advanced Training Center for Oil Workers" in Daqing, also called Gao Pei. Pay was on time, great staff, eager learners, never had an issue. 2. "Heilongjiang Agriculture University", also called BaYi University in Daqing. Wonderful staff, never a hassle with pay. Everything that was promised in my contract has been delivered and then some. Great working hours, and long winter and summer vacations paid..
Great idea you got there.
University of Science & Technology of China (USTC), Hefei Campus
Good experience : I was very free in the way I wanted to teach, I was even encouraged to introduce Western teaching approach (open exams, interactive class). Students were good by Chinese standard, 33% good & motivated, 33% good & work-shy, 33% tourists, 1% astounding. I always been paid on time, no trust problems. Accommodation fairly basic by Chinese standard, always something that didn't work ^^ Great stadium and nice folks there.
Suzhou School of Software Engineering
Same as above, but accommodation is good by Chinese standard. Week-end classes, evening classes are routine. Students for night classes and week-end class were WTF, ie. huge holes in their training and bad attitude. Regular students were like in Hefei.
In both case, pay is standard pay for a Chinese lecturer, but you can negotiate perks.
I concur with above post, however I'll be short with recommendations:
Primary School No. 1, Fukang, Xinjiang. (how do you highlight the title?)
School follows the Contract to the letter. I assume School was warned, I'll resign after 2nd Contract disrespect. High pay with low working hours, but slim chances for 'moonlighting'.
mike695ca:
In your type box you should see a capital B I U in the top left. B= Bold
. Paulberger:
i read about this school before. how is living in xinjiang? that is one of the few places i must see soon. i was thinking kashgar.
juanisaac:
Hey icnif77 do you have any contact information for this school? I will go to XInjiang this Spring Festival and I can swing by the school to meet the teachers.
I want to find a job in Xinjiang next year. Thanks
I think its a wonderful idea. Good Job!
I know most will probably disagree with me as I know many teachers feel its not the best place, But I have never been a public school kinda guy. My favourite place was
Web International English in Guangzhou.
Not for everyone as there was a steady cycle of teachers coming and going, but if you fit in, you stayed for years. High pay by chinese teaching standards, fair hours. Once you learned how to teach their particular classes you had zero prep time. Can make lots of friends as your teaching people your age. Good inroads to companies and further development. They didnt screw around with teachers, what was said in your contract is what you will get. Most importantly, in my opinion they were incredibly fair. If you were good and helped them, they would bend over backwards to help you. If you werent as good, then you couldnt expect special privileges.
My favorite time ever to teach in China. Id go back in a second if I were to teach again.
Be aware that WEB has centers in most cities and they are not all the same, so you could be treated differently, although I had worked very shortly with the WEB in Chongqing and had a wonderful experience with them as well.
I worked with Websters in Liuzhou and Beihai on a number of contracts over the years and they treated me well. Hearing some of the horror stories on here I think i've been very lucky. After them I tried EF and it was ok, then Better English which sucked elephant balls.
donnie3857:
Are you talking about the cities in Guangxi? I would like to teach in either one of them.
To date I am still convinced Beihai the best place to live in China.Only my opinion.
Owen Foreign Language School Kunming
Good salary, paid on time. laid back atmosphere, great facilities. The only drawback is you'll be working weekends...
Paulberger:
i think one thing we should point out to potential new comers is if they do choose a private school, they are expected to work weekends. but the pay is higher.
royceH:
I'm in a govt middle school and my salary is greater than my last job which was a private language jobby.
Paulberger:
@royceH. yea me too. but i think must new comers want have the ability to negotiate salaries as high since they have no prior experience.
icnif77:
My salary in Public Primary School is double, comparable to Jordan Language (Training) School in Dalian before that.
Great idea, I hope it will be done in an organized way, not only as a post on this forum. Definitely, future teachers and the veterans will be very much help with positive references.
Paulberger:
definitely. when there are a significant amount of replies, i will organize it and post it on a few websites.
JacobJohn:
@mike695I wish I could add a good one, but there is none for now.
@Paulberger. yes, a website would be great.
DrMonkey:
If any website is made, it should have some sort of voting system, and request a well-written critic for each vote. I can imagine some school giving some bad reputation to an other, just for business purpose :p
mike695ca:
That super sucks man. Not that you couldnt add, but that youve never had a good experience. Keep going, they are out there
Paulberger:
geez! nothing you can add! maybe you can apply at one of the schools people add here.
JacobJohn:
@mike685ca. Yes, unfortunately I cannot recommend the school I worked to. In the future and as per my friends' reviews I will be able to suggest.
@paulberger That's why I want to wait and see what are the schools recommended by people with great experience and positive reviews. Thanks for the idea and make it happen. There will be plenty of people cross referring such data base prior to any decision. This it may simply push away the schools that are not on such who's who in the field of English, languages and any teaching field.
Gov Public School are great AND SAFER
Paulberger:
much much safer! as long as you aren't under a recruiter.
ironman510:
No low salaries Big Cities Rin, the starting is 13000 to 14700 and more..
Yibin Vocational and Technical College in Sichuan. I was sent to this school by a recruiter. I think your goal is splendid. Much better than trying to list the bad ones. I have noticed that sometimes it may be the new FTs that set themselves up for a problem. We have learned much about the culture here. I have also learned that each school presents a different set of problems for different reasons. Public schools are good because the highest pay per hour comes from these schools. On the other hand you must be very good with your leadership skills as well as being in front of 50 to 80 students whose primary goals may not include English.
Ningbo Foreign Language School - far from the city and accommodation is on campus...but no other complaints whatsoever! 
Paul, this is a good thought and I would like to contribute based upon my years of experience around here.
I am going to start with Southern China.
Guangzhou
Sun Yat-Sen University, the School of Engineering and the School of Medicine. Sun Yat-Sen University is probably the best university in GZ and one of the best in the country. The students are bright, innovative; you will be paid on time, the campus is great; the apartments are large if not a little old and the FAO's take care of the FT's.
You will be expected to prepare syllabi and lesson plans and submit them and they will be returned with corrections and changes.
Pay is standard university rates but there is oogles of extra work in the faculties, i.e., editing, private tutorials as well as outside work.
They only hire from the Big 5 countries and a master's degree is preferred. Also discounts on study at the university.
Beijing
This is not one that commonly shows up on the radar but if you have a science background, and a Master's degree,as I do, it's a great place to hang for a few years:
The Chinese Academy of Sciences
They recruit intermittently as the FT's that they hire tend to remain with them for years and years.
There is no campus, just the huge Academy of Sciences building. Housing is off-campus and the Academy provides a subsidy that allows for a proper but not grand apartment in Beijing.
You will be most likely assigned one-to-one to some of the junior academicians. I did everything from correcting research papers, to doing mock question-and-answer series, to giving private English lessons on direct topics.
You only work in the later afternoons Mondays-to-Fridays but the connections / relations that I made there have carried me through to this very day. I was assigned a team of junior molecular biologists.
Be warned, however -- there is considerable prep and it is not backpack dress. I wore a two piece blue suit, black pumps, and a string of pearls, hair drawn back, etc., etc.
The jump-off point is also a Master's degree, Big 5 citizenship and verifiable references.
It was one of the most professional jobs that I had in China.
nicholasba:
sure a busy nightwalker with a huge imagination..do you really believe in all the bs you write, huh
expatlife26:
why are you calling her a streetwalker? nothing there sounds unreasonable.
nicholasba:
' cause she/he is not what she said she is. She/he is Mattaya, a user who got banned earlier, and who knows who else...
icnif77:
nicholasba:
@belle ,please ignore me as well. Your character is really just a bad joke to me...
regads,
Two thumbs up for Starbugs English Academy in Shanghai. You can sign on as part or full time, lessons already planned. No lying or such bullshit (as I've been victim to in Korea many years past, and I hear happens here as well).
Paulberger:
i think falling victim to scrupulous schools happen in just about any country. thats why we should put something together to help those out there looking to come here!
Does anyone know of any good schools / centres in shenzhen?
Paulberger:
i got a buddy working down there right now. he worked for a number of schools and had a lot of bad experiences. but he is now at a school there that he loves. i'll email him and get back to you with the name!
