Job Discussion Forums

[china]

Has anyone worked at the Shane English School in Dalian? Any info about the school would be appreciated!

[tw]

Have you done a search? Check out the thread www.eslcafe.com/forums/job/viewtopic.php?t=26689

[Ben H Nevis Jnr.]

I haven't worked there but I know a few FTs who currently do, including the director of studies. They're all in their 20s and 30s with at least a degree plus TEFL/CELTA. In fact I'm going to meet a few of them in half an hour for a game of football. As far as I am aware, no-one has done a runner.

The building that houses the school is fairly new. I think the school only opened around this time last year. It's ideally located between Olympic square and Renmin (people's) square, not right in the central business district but still in the relatively built up and "developed" downtown area with decent bars and restaurants as opposed to the far flung industrial suburbs. Two teachers I know have a newish flat about 5 minutes walk away that the school found for them. I think there may be new branch out at HeiShiJiao in the south-west of the city. It's 20 minutes further out by bus but quite a nice area - near the beach and with a lot of universities. I think they do move teachers between these and sometimes "farm" their talents out to businesses.

I thought about working there myself, but I opted for a middle school this year, only really because I didn't want to teach really young kids and wanted more freedom in developing materials and a curriculum. That and the fact that at Shane they have to work full days Saturday and Sunday and take their days off mid-week. I don't want to put words in the mouth of people who aren't here to verify, but these points seem to be the only gripes I hear from my friends who work there too. I suppose it comes down to whether you want to live in Dalian and teach mainly young kids, mainly at weekends, not necessarily in the same place.