Job Discussion Forums

[Daphne]

I'm usually not anal retentive enough to post anything about a weekend job (though come to think of it they are pretty rare on this site to begin with,) but felt like I should give some additional info about the Aston school in Qingdao which just posted such a position on the job board.

As most of you know this is part of the AES outfit, but it seems to be in quite a bit of trouble comapred to their other operating branches. In a city which has a population of at least 6,000,000; this school has not had 100 total students in years despite its excellent location and has only been taking teachers who had already started work at other Aston school around China.

The most alarming thing about Aston Qingdao is that it's supposedly managed now by the Jinan branch, which is not even in the same province

Those of you familiar with the Qingdao ESL scene know that there was another Aston branch a few miles away that went out of business a couple of years ago, which according to the juicy and highly reliable gossip I heard was due to such things as employee embezellment and excessive violence in the classroom involving both teachers and students.

The general felling in Qingdao is this branch is about to follow.....

[Roger]

So you allege that Qingdao is NOT IN THE SAME PROVINCE AS Ji'nan;

I am curious as to know where you would situate Ji'nan, assuming that you know that Qingdao is in Shandong province.

I spent 5 weeks in Ji'nan, at that time in Shandong province.

[Daphne]

It seems like your even more anal than I feared myself to be as you dwell on what is surely not the main point of my post .

I feel it's only fair to bust your cajones as far as the spelling of the city in question as you wrote both Yinan and Jinan --anyhow, can we at least agree it's quite far from Qingdao?

[lagerlout2006]

I noticed that job and was curious ---a high salary for 15 classes over 2 days. Thought there was a catch. All chains scare me anyway so...

Now for the anal part.. Jinan is not only in Shandong-it is the capital and the biggest city. Not as nice as Qingdao but bigger. And not THAT far away. 4 hours by train.

[NateM]

I have a couple of threads on AES schools over on my site.

http://p082.ezboard.com/fteachingenglishinchinafrm49.showMessage?topicID=61.topic
http://p082.ezboard.com/fteachingenglishinchinafrm49.showMessage?topicID=72.topic

The Dalian branch seems like it has more than a few problems, to put it nicely. However, people so far have said good things about the Jinan branch. Assuming they are genuine, (and not AES management-written-or-coerced), and assuming AES Jinan runs the Qingdao branch, it might be worth looking into. If you take it, let everyone know how it goes.

[skyline5k]

[Daphne]

I want to inform Mr.5K that the opening part of his post pretty much gives it alll away as far as AES Q-town; as when you say "Qingdao teacher" it's a clear statement that they have, or have had just one native speaker to teach there --I also want to inform you that I'm a teetotaler and have not had a beer in ages.



To me in such a chain the responsibility ultimately lies at the top in Dalian and the U.S.A and those names are very easy to find as is the location of the branch that went belly up in 2002.

If you read the 2 links given to Nate's site, then you'll notice an interesting point: that being the presence of an AES "net goon squad"--this is somewhat related to another point in the same site which is the large number of Westerners given not only jobs without the proper degrees, but even worse management and "curriculum development reponsibilities." The former group is largely composed of the latter group who are justly quite loyal to AES and they tend to write off all anti-AES sentiment on the web as being isolated, but if you search the proper sites and forums you can see it's an evergrowing consensus.

[Captain Yossarian]

The ESL market in Qingdao is very competitive - I don't know the names of any very successful school there. It is a funny town - the old German part makes a nice break from the monotony of most Chinese cities but the attractive area is very small. 'New Qingdao' in the east is developing at breakneck speed and it seems most of the schools/bars/supermarkets are relocating that way.

Qingdao used to have a reputation as the city that attracted the worst kind of expat (there are a lot of just-out-of-college types there - I was even called 'dude' at the Jazz Bar once) but it still has a nice feel about it. There are several summer parties on the beach in summer - harmless I suppose but not what the majority of us expected to see in China!

Jinan is very near Qingdao, well as close as two cities in China can be. I can't see the problem if the Qingdao outfit is controlled by AES Jinan - they are a great bunch of people - I have had dealings with them personally and professionally.

Captain John Yossarian

[skyline5k]

I'm not a part of any internet goon squad. You accused my friend of striking children. This has nothing to do with AES. I'm posting on behalf of myself. This is just you and me. You have nothing to base your claims on, and in the process, you're trying to damage the name of one of my friends.

Answer my question, who the hell are you to throw accusations around like that? Or are you just another banned member with a new log in and a grudge?

[Captain Yossarian]

[Daphne]

I advise 5k to take a thorough look at my postings and notice that there is not a name or even initials of any individuals mentioned, yet you stay on the defensive assuming that I'm mentioning your pal as the culprit of all that has gone wrong with the former twin branches of AES.

As I wrote before the main culprits are the the top level of the management for AES which are not even in the hotly-debated province of Shandong, followed by the kid just done with undergrad who was given managerial duties (who may or may not be your friend,) the Chinese fellow who took liberty with some of the school's cash, and last but not least the teacher who used extra-legal means of disciplining the usual assortment of brats (who also may or may not be your friend in question.)

To my seemingly Armenian Captain friend: As much an influence as AES has with Dave's as probably their top Chinese job poster I assure you that if the most important part of my information was even slightly off the mark, the Dalian execs would immediately swing into action and correct it, but so far they have maintained a deafening silence as the circumstances which has led them to go to Jinan in the first place are enough to prove all their negative policies--the Q-town branch not only was supposed to take care of itself, but also its twin across the water, but now has been reduced to basically a branch on life support.