Job Discussion Forums

[mr.nick]

This is a warning for a school called Kid Castle in Nanchang, capital of Jiangxi province China.

I worked for this company for one year.

The reason I am writing this is because I feel I have a responsibility to warn others (especially the new ones to China) about the problems I experienced there.

#1 Contract was broken repeatedly, was over worked and openly lied to be made to do more work that am contracted to and to give me less pay then it owed.

#2 This school will sell you to other schools, working at this school means working at whatever school they sell you to for as long as they say, with punishement of being fired if refuse.

#3 Violence, verbal abuse and more from manangement.
In my year I have had to deal with a woman named Alice who is the headmaster of Kc in Nanchang. In my time I have seen many arguments and worse between her and foreign teachers, the most notable offense is throwing office supplies at foreign teacher for trying to argue some missing pay.

#4 The day I was supposed to finish my contract I was not giving my final salary. Further more I was told to leave my apartment the next day.

So there I was floating on air when I was denied my pay and kicked out of my house. There I was in the middle of China without money and without a place to stay. I luckely had some good friends that took me in but others might not be so lucky.

I strongly suggest anyone to avoid this school. There has not been a single successful foreign teacher there yet. All have been manipulated, refused pay (well earned) and have been forced to break Chinese lay (working at schools other than the one contracted to, Cannot supply proper visa and more)

Thanks you for your time and be careful out there

If you have any trouble just send an email and I would be happy to help someone in need

Nick
[email protected]

[Roger]

zSounds abysmally bad. But how can they get away with it with several FTs?
Did any of these foreign natiolnals work LEGALLY for them? Did they have a work visa and a legal address as per residence permit?

[Ra_Head]

An old post with new info.

I have also had the same experiences with this school before. I know Mr_Nick from the local bar here and know him not to be of the lying type.
Everything he has said is true.

Kid Castle Nanchang branch is an absoltuely poorly managed school with a ridiculous manager.

As nick said before, not one single foreigner has been happy there and has been stooged at one time or another which is true. I've had one too many arguments with 'Alice' about owing of money, illegal working (schools not related to the contract in any way whatsoever), house maintenance, teaching materials etc etc etc i could go on for quite a long time...

I also strongly, STRONGLY advise no foreign teacher (new or old) to apply for work in this school full time. Part time is really no problem, but full time really will give you a run for your money... or should i say, really make you run for your money.

And also to answer Roger's question, YES the foreign teachers working there full time were, to the best of my knowledge, qualified, experienced, good hardworking citizens merely treated unfairly by a dodgy mismanaged school. I really am surprised this school is still running.

[Malsol]

Schools like this are typical and continue to run so long as there are naive newbies to take the jobs.

I also know this school and it is REALLY BAD but no worse than others I have seen.

Jiangxi Province, home of the commencement of Mao's long march, is still very much Neanderthall in every way.

[7969]

i'm glad i dont need the money from these jobs too badly. if this situation above had happened to me, i would have walked out the door at some point. others need to do the same. if we dont put up with this nonsense, maybe it wont be perpetrated on us.

7969

[bearcanada]

Mr. Nick;

I can't comment on Kid Castle in Nanchang, but I can comment on your English. Your post is full of grammatical and sentence construction mistakes that only Chinese people make.

I don't know why you made your post, but you are not an English teacher; you are Chinese. Of that, I am certain.
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[Super Mario]

[bearcanada]

People from all nationalities make mistakes (sorry, errors) in English, but they make different ones.

FYI, Merriam-Webster defines 'mistake' as:
(1) to blunder in the choice of;
(2) to misunderstand the meaning

It further defines the 'error' as:
(1) something produced by mistake

I was referring to the 'mistakes' that produced the 'errors'.

I made a recent post on this board that listed most of the common areas of difficulty that Chinese people have with English. If you haven't read it, you might find it informative.

Typically, and referring to the post above, English-speaking people, of almost all levels of literacy, almost never make mistakes with articles. That is one thing that even a Grade 8 student will almost always get right. But the concept doesn't exist in Chinese, and even the most accomplished will trip up if you give them enough room. They almost never get it right.

Of all other nationalities, only people from a Cyrillic language background - Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian - have the same kind of trouble with articles, but they have other difficulties that identify them - ones which the Chinese do not have.

The second is the confusion of verbs and tenses. Because Chinese verbs express only a simple action meaning and contain no concept of time, the Chinese have much difficulty in keeping their verbs straight. The kinds of mistakes (and errors) they make are easily identifiable because people from other language backgrounds do not make the same kinds.

Another is what I call 'small words' - the prepositions, conjunctions, etc. Chinese has almost no use for small words like this, and the Chinese make easily identifiable errors.

The above post is replete with examples of these three things, and more. The person who made that post is not a native English speaker, and is clearly insufficiently literate to be a teacher. I didn't count, but there must be at least 40 errors in that post, maybe 50+

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[bearcanada]

Lest you think I'm avoiding specifics, here are a few:

'This is a warning for a school...
No, the warning is for the teachers. It is about the school... Typical.

(The) contract was broken repeatedly, over worked and lied to .....
Really? The contract was lied to? No article. The subject shifted but the verb form remained the same. 'Overworked' is one word. In the same sentence, second clause, the subject is missing and the verb has the wrong form: '... made to do more work than am contracted to .... '... and to give me less pay than it owed.' Subject-verb agreement non-existent, wrong subject form for the verb.

'... with punishment of being fired if refuse.' Typical confusion and mixing of verb form and tense.

'... throwing supplies at foreign teacher...' Either the article or the singular/plural is incorrect. Typical.

'The day I was supposed to finish my contract I was not giving my salary...' Typical Chinese; mixing past and present indiscriminately when describing the same event. Subject-verb agreement incorrect. Typical.

'I strongly suggest anyone to avoid this school.' This is a classic Chinese misuse of prepositions.

And so on.


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[Super Mario]

To put it simply, a "mistake" occurs when a person knows the rules, but gets it wrong. I make mistakes.
An "error" happens when that person doesn't know the rules. I rarely make errors.
This is just basic L2 acquisition stuff. Using your criteria, many of my native English speaking 15 year olds would be classed as ESL learners.
What is your pedagogical background?

[bearcanada]

Mario, you have it exactly backwards.

Here is Webster:
Mistake: To take wrongly; to conceive or understand erroneously; to misunderstand or misapprehend.

A 'mistake' occurs when you DO NOT understand the rules.

The 'error' is what is produced when you make a mistake. A mistake made in writing or other performance

What is your 'pedagogical' background?


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[Henry_Cowell]

I see that the "Canadian Bear" is once again attempting to correct the grammar of posters who haven't requested such help. However, our Bear has proven on other threads that he has only a tenuous grasp of English grammar. His reading comprehension is also severely impaired.

I guess that winter is over and the bears have come out of hibernation. Beware!

[bearcanada]

Henry, I've reported your flame-baiting foolishness to the moderator and asked if he would consider removing you from this board.

If you want to contribute to a thread, then by all means do so. But I really think it's time to either grow up or get lost.

.

[Henry_Cowell]

[Super Mario]

Bear, anyone who needs to cite Mr. Webster to support his argument is on thin ice, and clearly doesn't really know what he's on about. We are talking linguistic terms here, not lay.
My background is a B.Ed and post grad diploma in TESOL.
Yours is???
Mistake and error have different meanings, as I outlined previously.