Job Discussion Forums

[Luvinlife]

The program fee is $1,290. You will receive a China entry visa, Beijing tuition and housing, tours in Beijing, train ticket to Shenzhen, work permit/residence card,

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
Three-week intensive courses during August 2005 in Beijing, in Chinese language (4 levels; the beginning course requires no prior study of Chinese) and in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (with supervised practice classroom teaching), taught by American faculty at Beijing University, China�s premier liberal arts university.

Housing at Beijing University is included, as are tours of the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Summer Palace, and Temple of Heaven in Beijing, and first-class train ticket for group travel from Beijing to Shenzhen.
Teach English speaking and listening, 15 classes (45-minutes each) per week, in a Shenzhen junior/senior high school where you will be a faculty member.

Continue your study of Mandarin Chinese with courses in Shenzhen. Shenzhen, like Beijing, is a Mandarin-speaking city and therefore is particularly well suited for Chinese language study.


WHAT YOU RECEIVE
Comfortable monthly salary 4,000 RMB per month
Free faculty housing in Shenzhen, individual apartment with air conditioning, bathroom, telephone, television, and utilities.
Some meals are provided.
Internet access in Shenzhen in your apartment or at your school
Paid 3-week vacation during Chinese New Year, January/February, plus usually one week in October and one week in May
Vacation travel bonus of 4,000 RMB at end of contract
Airline ticket to China (reimbursed) & return airline ticket (free)
Beijing University foreign student tuition in August for the courses in Chinese language and Teaching English as a Foreign Language
Housing at Beijing University in August (air-conditioned, double-occupancy), payment of Beijing University foreign student tuition, and tours to the Great Wall and in Beijing
First-class train ticket for group travel from Beijing to Shenzhen
China entry visa and work permit/residency card with unlimited access between Shenzhen and Hong Kong
Continuing support from an American On-Site Coordinator in Shenzhen

Organization: Center for Teaching & Learning in China, LLC

Has anyone ever heard of this Org.

[SimonM]

When do you pay the "program entry fee"? What country is the program incorporated in? Is there a signed contract? I'd be cautious before spending $1,300.

[echo2004sierra]

It sounds like free advertising for the organisation!

Have you got a website?

I think that to work in Shenzhen you need to earn RMB8,500 per month plus extras.

[Luvinlife]

The location is Shenzhen ,China. And during my phone interview I told the gentleman that I was leary of sending money to someone I never met. He then sent me a list of contacts, past students and future. So the way it stands I would send the money. He said that he would e-mail me a copy of the contract.

[Luvinlife]

The web address is http://www.chinaprogram.org. Along with the salary there is also a free apt.

[brsmith15]

Obviously the decision is yours, but there's just something about it that strikes me as devious and it's the fee business. They did seem to be forthcoming about giving you refs. Check them out, but do this: Ask any ref they give you for another ref that person knows. Obviously if I give you a list of refs, they're only going to be ones that will give me a glowing report. You need to find a ref they DIDN'T give you.

[tw]

Sounds like a scam, smells like a scam.

[SimonM]

My initial instinct is scam; you can find job postings for free of equal quality on DavesESLCafe. Or is this a TESL certification course? There are good ones in Canada and the USA, you don't have to get your credentials in China in order to teach in China.

[Roger]

It's not a scam but it is BUSINESS, and I fear you are paying for something that should be yours for free (or for the time you give your Chinese employers as their teacher).

A TEFL cert never costs even one third of that money!
Mandarin should be free (but seldom is offered by our employers). Anyway, if you want to pay for that, you won't have to pay that much either.
Sightseeing? We all get sightseeing tours for free.
And salaries in Shenzhen should be set considerably higher! Dining out, bar-hopping, shopping, even TRAVELLING around is a lot more expensive in Shenzhen! I lived there for 3 years, and I felt I needed 3 times the amount of money I need in Guangzhou! Just take a train to Guangzhou and see - 70 kuai for a one-hour trip over 140 kms; the same 70 kuai pays for a hard-sleeper over maybe 400 kms north of Guangzhou! Buses are hardly any cheaper (55 kuai to Guangzhou, 3 hours). On the other side is Hong Kong - you can't go there on a 4'000 a month! Besides: do they offer you a multiple-entry visa???

[SimonM]

Roger is correct. Some parts of China are cheaper than others. I have heard that the part of China that I (provided they get my bloody work permit to me) will be going to is dirt cheap to live in. That is one of the attractions of it.