Job Discussion Forums

[dean_a_jones]

Yeah I wouldn't be worrying, I would be celebrating the fact that if they did manage to get you a visa, you would be working for those [insert choice term].

See it as a lucky break, keep looking for better work and find a school that is willing to get you a legitimate visa rather than try to bully you into coming over on the wrong paperwork for who knows what kind of treatment.

[LanGuTou]

[Zimmer]

I agree with what everybody said. They say they want to have you blacklisted for refusing to break the law ?!

Assuming there is such a thing as this blacklist, and that they would actually deal with a matter as petty as this which let's face it, must happen dozens of times a week here, wouldn't the school need to be legal and legit itself before going to this organization?

I'd counter by telling the school that if they don't stop harassing you, you'll be putting their name and your story on every major ESL website. If they had trouble finding teachers before, it'll be a lot harder after their name pops up on a google search.

[whitehouse]

The same situation applied to me last September. The same tourist and not Z visa after 2 months,the same threats not only to me but aimed at the slowness of my then previous, and actually very helpful, employer to deliver the documents and a lot of playing around with the contents of a contract.
I have not been back to China since as I got fed up with China after many years. Anyway I am writing this as I am sure that this sort of behaviour by employers is far from rare in China and , most probably, is all bs.

[vikeologist]

The harsh reality is that we as teachers have a lot more power to 'blacklist' them, than they do us. It's called a search engine.

I'm not suggesting that teachers should take notice of every negative thing said about a school by an ex-teacher. The best schools may well get bad reviews if they are make the mistake of hiring a total waste of space.

However detailed and repeated douchebag-ness by schools does not go unpunished. Anybody who applies to the likes of Gallop International School in Xian, certain Rockies or Kidcastles or applies through Hangzhou Helen the recruiter will certainly have some food for thought if they do a bit of research.

In this case I feel a bit sorry for the person who wrote the email to you. She's probably being pressurised from above to push you into breaking the law; and let's be honest, though there are some excellent English teachers in China, statistically most of us are the mediocre dregs, which is why we're here in China. I mean she was rude, but she wasn't actually wrong.

[Shroob]

[vikeologist]

I'm sorry if you were seriously offended. It was partly tongue in cheek, (I was including myself in the dregs though to be honest that was false modesty. I think I'm ace) but the standard of ESL teachers here in China is hardly the same as in other countries.

Do you think the majority of ESl teachers in this country could secure and keep teaching jobs in Europe, South America, the Middle East, Japan, never mind in native speaking countries. Perhaps there are countries where the requirements (both in skills and qualifications) are lower than in China, but I don't know where they are.

I wasn't suggesting the good teachers here are a tiny minority, but when I worked in South America my colleagues were really good teachers. Ssome of them had 'learned the ropes' in China, and obviously there are some schools in China where only top grade teachers need apply. Equally I once had the misfortune to briefly work for a school in Buenos Aires that would offer work to a teenage crack head with spittle drooling from their tongue pierced mouth if said person was in possession of a passport from the right country. (Nothing wrong with tongue piercings. I was just painting a picture).

Basically I was calling the incompetent teachers the dregs. I'm always sorry if people say I offend them. It obviously wasn't targeted at any individual, never mind you, and I hope I've made my support for the OP, who I hope will soon get a job with a good school, clear in what I posted.

[johntpartee]

[Opiate]

[vikeologist]

It is a pity that more teachers don't write reviews.

I wrote a generally favourable review of a school a couple of years ago, and I find the power of that review a bit scary. If you google the name of the school, it will come up at the top, but

a) It's now a year and a half old

b) It's pretty much the only review of the school

So, while you may be right that not many teachers do research their school, the ones that do will be making a decision based largely on my opinions, and, as can be glabed from the way that I have ruffled people's feathers even on this thread, I like to express opinions starkly.

I know that in the intervening year and a half, teachers have left my old school early. Sometimes they've jumped, sometimes they've been encouraged to take a jump. From what I've heard, good riddance. My opinion of the school, and the DOS, remains very positive, but I wouldn't have written the review if I knew how powerful it would be, and it has been read a lot of times, not all of them by me admiring the eternal beauty of my prose.

On the other hand, that was on another site. Reviews for ESL Cafe arent going to trouble Google results too much, so I'd hope that people would be prepared to share information about schools here; particularly those such as the one in this thread who lie to potential teachers about visas.