Job Discussion Forums

[MESL]

Last semester, one of the foreign teachers launched an internal, mass email, news service. Shopping, travel, and financial reconnaissance. Parties, concerts, shows, and celebrations. Races, matches, tournaments, and recreational excursions. Summer and winter break, part time, and tutoring jobs. Imported wine and cheese. Buy/sell/borrow. Lost & found. Book clubs. Surveys. Photos. Dirty jokes, cheap cutdowns, and sarcastic monologs. My Yahoo mass mail folder has 271 of these messages.

Plus messages from the EEC secretary, the FAO clerks, and the 2 foreign supervisors. At my last school, which had 30 foreign teachers, we got an email from the FAO every 2 or 3 weeks and a message from the Foreign Language Department once or twice a semester. By contrast, my Yahoo EEC/FAO folder has 364 messages.

Opening, reading, performing triage on, and routing 634 plus messages has been a part time job.

[puzzlebox]

There appears to be several diverse views of this school, as I am sure this is the case with many other schools. Certainly some misconceptions are posted here concerning this college and what goes on behind the veil of its rural scenery, yet there are also many truths in much of what has been mentioned in the many varied posts concerning this school. There is certainly much truth posted in other forums concerning the current FAO director and the kind of office that he runs. Any FT who works there, or has worked there, will surely have their complaints; many of which will concern the FAO office.

Yes! The FAO is poorly run, at best. Don't expect to be considered as a 'Foreign Expert' even though you have this status while working there. Thus, best to stay away from this office as much as possible. Try to find other ways to get your affairs in order as you live in China and work at this college. If you are told by the FAO that it can't be done, it usually means they don't want to do it and/or do not want to help you take care of the matter. The director is known for lying to your face and he will never truly answer any questions you may have concerning anything he doesn't care to deal with. Actually, there is so much more that be said of the FAO and its director/king. However, then this post would run on forever. Just remember, once the FAO director decides he doesn't like you (for whatever his reason), you are soon history.

Yes! Many of the students can be highly unmotivated, to say the least. However, many are good kids and trying their best to understand why they are there in the first place. Some are actually good students and work hard to get an education of some sort.

Yes! The FT faculty is truly a motley crew (the good, the bad, and the ugly). With anywhere between 70-80 FTs, there are surely bound to be personality conflicts, differences of opinions, and other problems. In regards to the school and their teaching duties; most just follow the rules imposed on them and don't cause any waves, in fear of losing their job. Many just do whatever they want in the classroom until they are warned or told to start teaching before the term ends. Others follow their own path and stand by their principals. Of course, they end up not lasting too long.

Yes! The administration has more than many faults. Enough said in that one statement. There is no need to expound any further.

And Yes! The water is filthy, the power is often turned off, and the living conditions are well below western standards. Newcomers should be made aware of what they are getting into here. Then on the other hand, the backpackers are in heaven here. If you think you can handle it, spending your first year teaching in China here would probably be OK if you are lucky. Veteran FTs would be best advised to seek a position elsewhere, unless they enjoy melodrama, senseless paperwork and more than enough chaos.

Since there is up to 80 FTs at this school at any given time, means many are really only foreigners and not necessarily teachers. Thus, the 'motley crew' I have mentioned early. Several foreigners and FTs, in the past, have shown up and then left before even starting teaching. This can be due to their decision or the FAO director's decision. There is always an element of chance here. And, there is no such thing as 'job security' regardless of what you may be told.

Maybe time will heal this wounded college and eventually there will be administrators who actually have experience in academic administration. And hopefully, someday there will be a new FAO director who actually cares about the well being of their FTs. There would probably be more respect shown to the FTs if the FAO actually knew how to hire FTs. Now there's an novel idea!

If you do end up at this school: Good Luck !! Most likely you will need it.

[MESL]

[MESL]

End of semester paperwork is a gauntlet. June absent form. Students not qualified to take the final exam because they missed too many lessons, otherwise known as the 30% form. Lesson notes, otherwise known as lesson planning journal. Final exam questions. Scores, submitted in Excel format. Last semester, we also submitted a leveling form designed to kick higher skilled students up and drop lower skilled students down so everyone in the same classroom would be at the same level. We also submitted exercise/exam scores to support the cumulative scores.

If you�re leaving the school, even more paperwork. A week before, I notified the FAO that my contract and visa expired the same day and therefore needed to get out of dodge as early as possible. But they waited til the day before I was scheduled to leave and sent me a checkout form that required running all over campus getting signatures and stamps. I told them I wasn�t sure I could get all this done on time and that I would get fined a large amount of money by the Chinese government if I overstayed my visa. So they let me check out of the dorm early. Next was the dorm checklist. I had to check every item on the list, write how many of each item, and make a note if anything was wrong. Then we went back the office to make copies of these 2 checkout forms. After I got on the elevator, they poked their head out the door - one more form. They withhold 1000 from your last paycheck for utilities, then deposit the remainder after they pay the bill. My utilities were seldom more than 400 and I certainly wanted that 600 back, so I signed without complaining.

[MESL]

For those teachers transferring to a school in Zhengzhou - and there are 2 private colleges in Zhengzhou, both with a large population of foreign teachers, doing a lot of advertising - it�s still not over. One of the foreign teachers here is transferring to one of those schools. After the FAO there submitted the recommendation letter from here, the Foreign Experts Bureau there told the FAO there, �This isn�t good enough. We need a letter from the other school stating he no longer works there.� And they wouldn�t accept a scanned copy, so the teacher had to express mail the original. According to the FAO there, this is a new regulation. When I worked in Zhengzhou only a couple of years ago, we didn�t have to do all this jumping through the hoop. So apparently officials in Zhengzhou are getting a lot pickier.

I�ve worked at one of these schools and received extensive information from a foreign teacher at the other. Namely Shengda and Chenggong. So I can tell you both schools are safe and both FAOs are competent. But the gauntlet is a lot longer now.

Another note about Zhengzhou. According to the FAO of yet a third private college in Zhengzhou, she checked with the Foreign Experts Bureau and was told, �Yes, a foreign teacher can get a work visa in Hong Kong.� This contradicts what the FAO here was told. Pei Zheng sent half a dozen teachers to Hong Kong at the beginning of this semester. The teachers were turned away and told, �You have to get your work visa in your home country.�

[xjgirl]

The teachers were turned away and told, �You have to get your work visa in your home country.�

Why didn't u post this at the start of the semester???????

nice one

[Happy Everyday]

[puzzlebox]

Pei Zheng is basically a microcosm of its climate. The rules change with the weather. What you are told one day may not be the rule for the next day. The FAO has been known to use more excuses than you can imagine; yet every time, it is more than obvious it is an only an excuse for the FAOs ineffectiveness and/or inability to resolve issues that arise. When it comes to work visas, (over the years) there have been plenty of false statements made and fictitious reasons given, to cover whatever is really happening behind the scenes. The FAO here is very good at clouding any issue it wishes to. So, in regards to 'work visas' at this college, one never really knows what is fact and what is fiction. The last thing you want to hear is "whoops... the rules were changed yesterday" when it comes to your getting a work visa at this school. Of course, it could be true... but then again, it could be completely false or it may not necessarily be the reason that they state. Unfortunately, you can never trust what they tell you here.

On the other hand, many have had no problems with obtaining their work visas here. But there is always an 'element of chance' at this college; as I have stated before.

[MESL]

The Magick Caf� is not closing, contrary to irresponsible rumor mongering on other message boards. I have spoken with the owner and the manager about their plans for the caf� and neither mentioned even considering going out of business. After moving out of the school dorm, the manager rented an apartment down the street from the caf� and plans to invest in remodeling it. Sound like the actions of someone who�s about to throw in the towel?

[MESL]

Ever watched the Men in Black movie? The first one, not the sequels. In one scene, Will Smith discovers a teacher from hell is an alien and suddenly it all makes sense. This website is about my second semester, mostly my runins with the program B foreign supervisor. If I discovered he�s an alien, suddenly it would all make sense. Even if he�s not an alien, he might as well be from another planet, because he certainly doesn�t belong on this planet. He was easy enough to get along with when he was a teacher. A bit quirky, but nothing alarming. But after he got into management, it�s like, bring in an exorcist.

http://www.webspawner.com/users/peizhengscandal/

[MESL]

[igorG]

Things seem to be slipping your mind and look at this thread. YOU ARE SLIPPING AND PROMOTING IT, AREN'T YOU?

The school changes management, approach to management and FTs, and then it discriminates. The poster above must be s*cking it up pretty well.

Really, if a local foooks you up..so be it..it's a local. But if one of us, it hurts a bit more. And, be aware that a foreign lie is more believable than a local one!

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

[MESL]

Teddi Bynum in the Foreign Language Department has been teaching English for 32 years and knows his stuff. He is the author of 2 books. Both have excellent curriculum and user friendly design, both have been distributed at the school, both are popular with the students. Both are everyday activities oriented, both favor variety over depth (no textbook can be all things to all students). The first one is �Around Here.� The second one is �Put It This Way.� I used several chapters of �Put It This Way� in my classroom. It got the students involved and they clearly enjoyed it.

http://www.peizheng.edu.cn/engpzweb/Article/ArticleShow.asp?ArticleID=59

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[igorG]

By now, judging by so many job postings of the college, i would have assumed they have filled in all the white faced positions. Has my assumption been wrong?