Job Discussion Forums

Austrian · Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2004 2:05 pm Post subject: Yantai, 3 months as a volunteer

I'll be in Yantai as a volunteer teacher for Global Volunteer Network (www.volunteer.org.nz/china) from March 1, 2005 for 3 months. I know there are biased opinions on volunteering in Yantai, China, but from my point of view it might be a good opportunity to get to know both the country respectively the region and what it's like being a teacher in China before looking for a paid job and a longer commitment.

From my visa application it looks that I might be working for the Yantai Kaifaqu Advanced Middle School?

Does anyone know the school resp. Yantai?
What should I expect? (I have never been to China. I have a CELTA and currently I'm teaching in Vienna, Austria)
I want to bring my 2 laptops - one is an ibook (Mac) I'm more used to and another one is an Acer PC - would that cause any problems?

Can I buy the necessary clothes in Yantai or should I better buy them here and bring them?

Will life be boring outside school - are there cinemas, maybe theatres, how about English speaking books?

Should I learn a few words of Chinese beforehand?

As I might be looking for a paid job after these 3 months - is Yantai a worthwhile place to do that or which other areas would you recommend - I'd rather try to escape cold weather - permanent spring weather + a cultural environment would be nice - larger city is fine, but I'd like to live near the place I'd teach in.

Thanks in advance for any help/guidance ...

Walter

laodeng · Joined: 07 Feb 2004 Posts: 481

This response rather veers from the thrust of your questions, but I must address the question of coming to China under the auspices of Global Volunteers. On my very first trip to China, about five years ago, I am ashamed to admit that I was suckered into the privilege of paying Global Volunteers in the U.S. (based in the upper Mid-West, as I recall) for the privilege of working at Bo'ai School outside of Xi'an. (Here I am presuming that we are talking about the same organization.)

I paid what were, as I look back on them, outrageous fees, part of which were supposedly earmarked as a contribution to the school itself.

I won't go into the details of how I found out (although I would be happy to document my discoveries if anyone is interested), but the bottom line is that Bo'ai is/was a proprietary (i.e., profit-making) private school charging healthy fees to a lot of students--including, strangely enough, a large contingent from Korea--who were not functioning very well in other schools.

Here's the kicker: the school's four-color brochures boasted that the school employed native speakers of English . . . all of whom turned out to be Global Volunteers volunteers rotating in three-week stints! To say that I felt used would be a gross understatement.

On my return to the States, I attempted to inform Global Volunteers about what was going on, but they were in a massive state of denial.

I'll be interested in hearing about your experiences on this venture.

Good luck.

laodeng · Joined: 07 Feb 2004 Posts: 481

Well, I went to the website you gave, and I really can't determine whether this organization is affiliated with the U.S. organization of (virtually) the same name.

But I would suggest that you run through the archives here on the subject of volunteering and make sure that you are not indirectly lining the pockets of some Chinese entrepreneur.

Again, good luck.

laodeng · Joined: 07 Feb 2004 Posts: 481

See in particular the excellent post by sojourner of Nov. 7, 2004.

Austrian · Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2004 3:16 pm Post subject:

This Global Volunteer Organization is located in New Zealand. Their charge is some 295 US $ as a sign-up fee, which is good for 2 years. The China Program in Yantai is 550 $ for 3 months including accomodation and meals. I know that I'm actually paying for working in China, but it doesn't seem outragious and as I said it might give me a better idea where to go from there. So far they have seemed fair and competent. They do run programs in different countries, but only this one in China.

I also have seen programs charging a couple of thousand dollars for a few weeks, which I wouldn't take as they seem much more like a money making enterprise ...

Many thanks for your comments!

Walter

Austrian · Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2004 3:56 pm Post subject:

Hi Laodeng,

I guess the organization you are talking about is called Global Volunteers (www.globalvolunteers.org) and they run programs in Xi'an/Bo-Ai costing well over 2K for 2-3 weeks. They also show a lot of elderly folks in their photos, so I assume they (mainly) target this audience???

Thanks again,
Walter

laodeng · Joined: 07 Feb 2004 Posts: 481

Hello, Walter . . .

Come to think of it, I was the youngest in the group.

Best of luck to you . . .

laodeng

ChinaEFLteacher · Joined: 08 Sep 2004 Posts: 104 Location: China

i have a better deal for you!
come and teach my classes for free! i'll even let you bunk at my apt.!
you'll definitely learn what it's like to live and teach here, but for free!
meanwhile, i'll collect my salary and go on vacation. how bout' it?

ChinaEFLteacher · Joined: 08 Sep 2004 Posts: 104 Location: China

http://www.volunteer.org.nz/china/diaries/elizabeth.php
i found this after a google search.
this school, and others in the program, don't sound poor enough to warrant a 'free foreigner'.
my opinion, which is open to criticism, is that this school can afford to employ a FT but chooses to find a free one. this practice is not helpful for the people who actually try to do this for a living here.
i believe you, Austrian, are getting taken for a ride.

Peaches En Regalia

deezy · Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2004 4:17 am Post subject:

Don't be such killjoys, folks. Yantai is a nice city by Chinese standards, more going on than where I am which is one hour down the coast. To 'Austrian", if you 'do' come, pm me and if you need to talk or meet up I'll give you my phone number.

However, I agree with the others...you sound like you're being 'had'. There's English language schools in Yantai, and they can afford to PAY you. It's not a poor area. Our school is opening a new English school in Yantai next March, (although it'll probably be an EF but at least you know what you're getting and when the EF is new you're not overloaded with work).

And there's electricity, I'm on adsl at my apartment, and you'll have no probs with your laptops. You won't find Carrefours and suchlike, but the stores and supermarkets are pretty good. pm me if you want more info.

Roger · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 9138

Let me as an old-timer put in a few words here...
I find it disturbing that Chinese PUBLIC schools (Middle School, as it said in that post!) are going out of their way to net native English speakers to do corvee labour for them. This annoys me to no small amount!

It annoys me because Chinese students thems - constitutionally entitled to FREE schooling, have to cough up every year a bit more for their so-called "education". Do they like to go to school? Not a bit!

As for volunteering, I must say this is charity for the wrong beneficiaries! It's not the students that care - it's the school who actually uses your face to drum up more custom. That, and no other reason, is behind their recruitment of foreign nationals!

Once inside a school, you will quickly see that you are not going to effect a lot of good results. Your classes will be crowded to the rafterls of the classroom. You will be the school's bellboy, doing their errands, for free. You will be troubled by the tallness of your job - using 45 minutes productively in classes with rowdy students that give a hoot.

Those middle schools that hired (in the past!) foreign teachers used to pay RMB 8000 or thereabout, for 20 or so periods a week. You want to do this for nothing at all, in fact, you want to even pay? Think about it more SERIOUSLY, mate!

I think, you can do the same kind of wo and get at least as much insight into how China ticks by applying for a normal, paid job. You won't get a lot, but at l;east you won't feel as badly exploited, or even taken for a ride!
Middle schools are no longer allowed to hire foreign nationals; that's why this outfit goes through the motions of having you pay another joyrider to bring you into the country. You can't volunteer in China for more than several weeks - legal restns! That's why they have people do three-month stints; now do tell me: is it in the interest of Chinese English learners to put up with a new face every few weeks???

Yantai is no doubt a pleasant enough place; it doesn't get as cold in January as Vienna does; and it too has vineyards in its backyard. That alone makes it attractive enough for me.
Yet I would never volunteer for those bloodsuckers!
I note that China never is short of generously-minded do-gooders from the U.S.A.; my university apartment was inhabited by one of them who did a summer camp at our university for free; she seemed to feel pissed off though, judgingn which I found my apartment in September. She had demolished some pretty vital kitchen equipment (microwave oven).

sojourner · Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2004 5:31 am Post subject:

Schools in Yantai may, or may not, be able to afford to pay for FTs. But the threat of the 'volunteer' to our livelihoods is definitely not confined to backwaters, such as Yantai.

If you scroll down a few places on this forum, you'll come to a thread entitled 'Blacklisting Schools'. A couple of the most recent postings were made by a FT who has just been advised that he will soon be replaced by an unpaid 'volunteer'. You may well ask, "what type of school ?" and "where is it located at ? ", thinking that the school is for the kids of impoverished peasants, somewhere in one of the more remote provinces. Well, the school happens to be a private language school, apparently catering for the kids of affluent parents, located, wait for it - in SHANGHAI !

Peter

goeastyoung(ish)man! · Joined: 09 Jun 2003 Posts: 139 Location: back in US

I think you are being taken advantage of also. Yantai is not exactly a backwater, it is a fairly important port city. There is money there. If they were sending volunteers to the wild west or parts of the interior such as Henan, that seems more plausable.

The main reason however, that they are scamming you is that you have to pay them! What do these fees cover? Volunteers often pay there own way to the destination, but the agency should be backed by donations or government grants. I think you are lining someone's pockets. Believe me three meals a day to a school is nothing. Expect anywhere from awful to pretty good cafeteria style food. Bring your own coffee if you drink it. It won't be there.

If it's not too late, don't pay them a cent.

badtyndale · Joined: 23 Jun 2004 Posts: 181 Location: In the tool shed

There does appear to be an increasing number of these volunteer positions advertised in China. However, there are few internationally recognised organisations that recruit for the sole purpose of teaching. The concept of volunteering (regardless of how well-intentioned that may be) should not go hand in hand with an obligation upon the part of the volunteer to pay anything in direct monetary terms. A volunteer 'pays through loss of income and donation of working time.

I find the whole thrust of this particular 'volunteering' idea most distasteful and would echo the concerns raised regarding the notion of beneficiaries. In addition, I'd suggest you abandon the idea of 'long-term commitment'. If you come to China with a 'regular' job you can always leave if you decide it's not for you - perhaps you'll lose your return airfare, that's all.