Job Discussion Forums

Funkymother · Joined: 27 Jul 2006 Posts: 16

Clarrie..

WOW what a lot things to say, er or at least to speak/lash/blurt out at least!

You are right in most things you have said but I AM NOT hitting te Senior teacher here as I explained here was only senior through a position and not in hiring/firing or having any influences in this matter. The Head office controls everything........ BADLY!!!!!!!!!!

They didn't forget my email, they just made a mistake, umumum so I was told!, with the address after one year of email communication. Convenient when you don't want someone to get something..

YOU also MUST understand te difference between, getting paid to do something, and help, volunteer to help others. Yes my primary employer BUT I gave them all this info BEFORE I even started working for them. YOU may be happy to thrive off the Chinese people but I'm not and as such I try to help schools who in my mind do something for teh community, poor or the minorities in China.

You seem to be involved here in some way but I'm not sure how. Are you ab IEN employee?

clarrie · Joined: 05 Apr 2005 Posts: 75

[quote]WOW what a lot things to say, er or at least to speak/lash/blurt out at least!

KES · Joined: 17 Nov 2004 Posts: 722

Hi, close your quotes by putting a forward slash (or oblique stroke as some call it) in front of the word quote. [/quote]

cj750 · Joined: 27 Apr 2004 Posts: 3081 Location: Beijing

Funkymother · Joined: 27 Jul 2006 Posts: 16

CJ750.

Thanks for the support and I will carry on trying to do the right thing. Sometimes the case seems useless but then when I get back to the children, of any age, I see how worthwhile the fight for fairness is...

I cannot change my ways so I will keep on teaching poorer children who have bigger hearts instead...

I agree with you about CHinese business practices but I thought as IEN was Australian it would be better NOT worse.. They are as greedy and unprofessional as any Chinese school or company that I have worked for. Incompetent to say the least and down right liars to stress a point.

The so called new teachers that have been hired have hit a low with teh student popuation. I'm quite lucky to be informed and to be out of there..

Just beware of ALL IEN promises or guarantees as they probably wont happen or be worth the paper they are written on...

MITCH · Joined: 18 Aug 2006 Posts: 58 Location: China

Hi All,

Here's some meat for the sandwich.

Listen Mate,

Anybody in their rightful mind who wants to try and support IEN in their �ethics� as we know it can only be an Australian, have attended one of those institutions, or be an employee of IEN.

Like many similar organizations, who recruit, run joint-programs, or consult, advertise in local media, IT�S LIES ALL LIES!

Topics:

1. IEN HO (Chinese, Russian, Australian, Shanghainese (their the ones you need to really watch out for). Most of them are Shanghainese there. So is their boss David Zhao. Some of their staff are bilingual, so I am surprised they have hired a Russian. More like a Xinjiangren who speaks Russian. Much better to hire staff wholesale.
2. Shanghai liaison. They have no idea. They just do their thing to recruit students; they have no time for liaison.
3. Language Center. Oh yes I�m not at all surprised they doctor results to pass rich kids of some of the biggest wheelers and dealers in China. 2 year 3 year program or whatever. It�s all about getting the kid to Australia, and the PR visa.
4. Advertising Methods: They use institution names like Monash and the group of 8 to bring in the crowds to seminars, and then get their sales staff to convince them to study in an IEN B-level institution.
5. History: IEN has a long history of misdealing. Since they were established with the help of former Prime Minister Paul Keating, and the all too familiar propaganda party. How can you expect an organization which is run by a Shanghai local to be anything else but deceitful, and corrupted? It�s all about values buddy.
6. Revenge: It was the same organization whose �disgruntled clients� or staff sent a parcel to the Aust. Embassy in Beijing (in an IEN envelope with the label on the envelope coming from IEN HO and the person who signed the envelope was a manager at IEN) containing white powder (possible anthrax). The Embassy was closed and the staffs were traumatized.

Honesty and getting the truth. It would help if OP�s who post complaints or rebuttals have actually worked or had dealings with the institutions mentioned.

I love the posts about this organization. Keep them coming they deserve to be exposed!

fraup · Posted: Mon Sep 11, 2006 9:41 pm Post subject:

I worked for IEN Shanghai a couple of years ago. My thoughts:

1) The pay was very good by Chinese standards. The only problem was that we never got the stamp that would allow us to change RMB to dollars legally. However, it was a simple matter to do it on the "gray market" once we got over being nervous. If the money-changer works inside the bank, how illegal can it be?

2) If you're a first year teacher, you don't get much support. I gave a lot of ideas, activity plans etc. to first year teachers. Luckily I had brought some supplemental texts and cassette tapes with me as there was no "teacher's library" to speak of...and no funds to buy anything.

3) The program at the university where I taught was pretty good for the first year students; we met 6x/week and the text, which focused on writing and listening, was decent. I felt sorry for the second years, however, as we only saw them twice a week, the text was totally unsuitable (had been chosen by a non-ESL Australian teacher) and the language lab materials were nonexistent. The lab itself was set up for 50 students, and I could show DVDs, play tapes and CDs, and show exercises as Word documents, but we didn't have Internet access from the language lab. The first year students used pirated versions of grammar software--possibly Rosetta Stone--in a separate computer lab.

4) The main problem, and this really irks me, is that my second year students were expected to attend content lectures in English (business courses) and most of them were woefully underprepared. The lectures were given either by Australians (or other native speakers) who flew in for a few weeks, or else by Chinese who had gotten a business degree overseas and were supposedly lecturing in English. Even more irritating to me was the knowledge that most of my students were bright, and hardworking, and could have done so much better had they been given the proper preparation and support.

5) Administration: The less contact I had with the administration, the happier I was, so I was fairly happy.

6) The commute was terrible--about an hour and a half each way, 5x/week. I didn't teach on Wed. or Fri. afternoons and would leave at noon one of those days, after explaining patiently that my contract called for 35 hours and thus 4.5 days fulfilled the contract. The Chinese side liked seeing the Western faces, though, whether we were actually doing anything at our desks or not.

Funkymother · Joined: 27 Jul 2006 Posts: 16

Fraup.

You sound like youe IEN set-up was pretty well half decent. We were lucky to have a computer running and internet even in the office. We didn't have labs or anything close. we had box standard ugly university classrooms and everything that goes with that. Windows that don't fully close, heating thats either too hot or too cold and just enough power supplies so I could play music sometimes to the students. They did their job but only just when you think the students are paying 16000 rmb each a year!

The ACL materials were completely useless and teaching IELTS to students who basically coulsn't always hold a simple conversation was a waste of time......... BUT that was a Management decision. Thats Management who never even came to see the state of the place or understand the needs of the students..... You might say normal, but....

The Mother has spoken again....

clarrie · Joined: 05 Apr 2005 Posts: 75

Funkymother · Joined: 27 Jul 2006 Posts: 16

Ok So you seem to be on the attack rather than listening to what is actually said here...

IEN surely does determine who it sets up business with. They search for so-called partners thus premises inspection, legal status and overseeing part of the complete procedure. Are you telling me that IEN does not care about the state of their classrooms? From a teacher point of viewits not so important but from a student view,.. well come on just think of all that money you are earning.. Could you just paint a wall? Make a room a little more inviting? NO so its up to the teachers and we did what we could...

Playing of music before a class to relax the atmosphere and make it more ambient is a simple gesture of good will to the stidents. Would you rather they enter into a stale, cold, featureless void thats as welcoming a rat filled well... Oh yeah I forgot they are not students to you, they are units of currency...

A half decent salary. um They paid the going rate for a teacher. Does this make it half decent? I suppose you are a cold and heartless person CLARRIE if you have never listened to music to relax, invigorate, party to of just enjoy.. um I think this Russian/Australian/Chinese imagery is coming to me now...

The materials. So would you give a blunt scalple to a surgeon? The materials were not relevant and basically a rip off from many other text books. Copies from New Interchange, which I'm sure you have the copyright for.. NOT.. Is just one example.

IELTS is great if you want to go abroad, but why teach an exam if you are not going to take the exam. Especially IELTS which is so method orientated rather than real English.. Its just a way to pass an exam.. And you wonder why the students didn't like this course?

So once again blame is returned somewhere else.. um Surely if IEN set up the program they should ensure that it is run correctly an implemented in teh best way for the students NOT for lining thei own pockets at others expense.

YOu said you WERE an IEN employee. Tell me why did they sack you? Were you inefficient? NOT IEN focused enough? Did you NOT have enough 'guangxi' with teh right people?,.. I seem to be on the students side here and you seem to be on the brown tongue side of IEN....

Come on tell me more.......

You are a sad person for sure and may have an anger problem or two... Embarassed

clarrie · Joined: 05 Apr 2005 Posts: 75

Funkymother · Joined: 27 Jul 2006 Posts: 16

I agree this should end as obviously all you want to do is cloud an issue here. Trying to run the IEN company line for sure, but then you you 'know my kind'.. um I think not.

Why don't you think of something new rather than the basic way of just teaching bad materials. So you know me huh!. I think not. NLP, ADT etc.. Brain learning. Read.

You don't seem to think about anything except yourself. So I will go on trying to actually help and teach my students and you can go back to "earning more money from Chinese students".

Lets go our different ways as you will never understand the word "help"...

Hendahu · Joined: 27 Apr 2006 Posts: 69

This is not uncommon in China. The use of education as a facade to make money. Even the university I work at does it with "special" classes for students looking to advance. These classes are little more than a way to get more hard earned money from these kid's parents, and I work at a top 10 unversity here. China is different, some might say criminal, but it seems to work for them. All we can do as teachers is decide what we will or won't be a party to.

Funkymother · Joined: 27 Jul 2006 Posts: 16

I just like to say thank you to ALL the people who PM'ed me in support of this topic. Working in China is an experience but we all want to act professionally and hopefully also be treated in a professional way. I will carry on my voluntary work while also making a living/life here.

Thanks

The Mother