Job Discussion Forums

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

How can I blacklist a school for their dishonesty and how horribly they treated their teachers?

lily · Joined: 02 Aug 2004 Posts: 200

How about starting by naming it here, and then PM'ing Dave to bring it to his attention. If he gets enough complaints, he may then be able to do an official warning to all.

Other than that, I have no idea.

Cheers,

Lily

Atlas · Joined: 09 Jun 2003 Posts: 662 Location: By-the-Sea PRC

Dave's Job Information Journal on this site.

http://www.eslcafe.com/jobinfo/

Sorry to hear about your dissatisfaction, best of luck
in your new search!

Ger · Joined: 25 Feb 2004 Posts: 334

http://www.englishschoolwatch.org

notebook

If you want to contact a mainland lawyer to get your salary from the school, email David Chen - [email protected].

I know what it's like when a school just refuses to pay salary or bonuses or flight money for no apparent reason other that greed.

nolefan · Joined: 14 Jan 2004 Posts: 1458 Location: on the run

Nate runs a most excellent site with school reviews at:

http://www.chinaschoolreview.com

you can always start there.

Roger · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 9138

On Dave's home page you will find a Job Information board; click on it, then click on CHINA, then submit your own story.
My only proviso is: you will be judged too! The more you complain the less we take you seriously!

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

They didn't pay me for my last month of work, made me pay 200 dollars for phone calls I didn't make, and quit getting work visas for their teachers.
Beware of Excel World Kindergarten in CHangchun. They wre very good, but then the head teacher left in May and that�s when it started going down the drain.

Guest · Posted: Fri Nov 05, 2004 7:14 pm Post subject:

I sympathise with Nature Girl and her problem with the School, however I think that we have to be careful about Blacklisting Schools.

In the case of my School, three teachers did a runner on the grounds that they felt they were not getting a fair deal, and yet all the other teachers here before and after them are very happy with the School.

In the case of Nature Girl, I suppose the School should be blacklisted if they did not pay her for the last month and charged her for phone calls that she did not make, but all I am trying to do is to point out that in the majority of cases there are two sides to every story and we only here the Teachers side here on this Forum.

Captain Yossarian · Joined: 05 May 2004 Posts: 385 Location: Dongbei

Hi Naturegirl,

I'm in Changchun now and don't know too much about Excel World but am going to make some enquiries.

I think that blacklisting schools can be dangerous. More often than not those who complain are those who have been unreasonable and take out their anguish on former employers (I don't mean you Naturegirl!). Many of those blacklisted on Nate's site are clearly written by people with an axe to grind and are not representative of the true situation. Bad employers should be reported though - and if there is a lot of information about a school it becomes possible to avoid working for them in the first place.

CC is covered in snow right now - only 5 months until it thaws!

NateM · Joined: 19 Apr 2004 Posts: 358

As a wise old sage once said: "Not all axes are unearned." That being said, I do make a point to be very clear that people should not take what's written in those posts as Gospel. Nevertheless, there still needs to be tools in place to ensure that schools that DO rip off teachers, (and there are plenty of them in this neck of the woods), don't get to do so with impunity, and schools that treat their teachers well are rewarded. Otherwise, this sort of thing is just going to keep on happening.

Dragon Lover · Joined: 14 Mar 2004 Posts: 64

No. I am not going to post a school for blacklisting.

I just happened to browse an agency hiring ESL teachers in Shijiazhuang. I was about to fill up the Online Application Form when I stumbled on a question marked with a red asterisk (really required) that almost made me puke.

http://www.englishteachersinchina.com/AP.asp

Dalaoer · Joined: 15 Oct 2004 Posts: 24 Location: The Lost World

Norman Bethune · Joined: 19 Apr 2004 Posts: 731

denver · Joined: 26 Jul 2004 Posts: 76 Location: PANAMA

Ger

You seem to have been where I am now!!!

I've been happy teaching in my school until the administrators tapped into a source of volunteer teachers (eg. the kind that work for free) !!!!!!!!!! Well, it just happens to be that the school has decided to get rid of qualified labor (the one that you pay for)!!!!!

Before my school found out about volunteer teachers, I would get compliments from my leaders and the principal, telling me how happy they were with me and praising the quality of my classes. They would even mention how disciplined my kids were. Well, that was PRE-VOLUNTEERS.... Today I was informed that I should not show up for work starting 1 December because the school is unhappy with the quality of my classes and it now turns out that out of the blue my students are "undisciplined" and "taking over the school". It's all NEWS to me!!!!

They are undergoing financial difficulties and have asked themselves, why pay for qualified and experienced labor when they can get VOLUNTEERS !!!

Any suggestions?

I am going to demand severance pay and a ticket back home.

denver

sojourner · Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2004 1:09 am Post subject:

Denver,

I have already commented on the 'volunteer' phenomenon in a posting to the thread, 'Alternatives to Peace Corps', at Dave's General Asia Forum (last posting, around 8th November).

Are you actually working in Shanghai ? Also, are you working at a 'for profit' school, college, or what exactly ? If you are working at a school that caters for v.poor (non-paying) students, having volunteer teachers could be justified. But certainly NOT for typical private language schools - especially in Shanghai, of all places !

I wonder if the 'volunteer' organisations, that supply people for those schools that can well afford to pay market salaries, are really legit ? Apart from having a black list for dodgy schools, there should also be one for shonky 'volunteer' organisations. We could then contact newspaper journalists we know back in our own countries - and, hopefully, articles would be written exposing those BS organisations that exploit both compassion and naivety (sp?).

It's quite possible that a lot of the volunteers coming to China are not genuine humanitarians (who, if really genuine, would be involved with reputable organisations, and be working in the most remote and poorest areas) but, rather, are those who have some ulterior motive, eg to push some religious dogma. Of course, there may also be those who are simply ignorant of conditions in China - and, of course, of the nature of the ESL industry in this country.

Peter