Job Discussion Forums

[richrich02]

Pros

Nancy has been quit responsive in terms of getting things repair when the laundry
machine broke.
Nancy quite friendly, organized a driver to pick me up and students to help you move in
Chinese local teachers are quit helpful with foreign teachers
The college is close to all the amenities.


Cons
Nancy who is the only person you will be dealing with throughout your employment with Baiyun College which is about 1 hour bus ride from GZ. She handles all the contract negotiations such as, salary, visa, and any related issues.

If you decide to take up this job, Nancy will ask you to goto HK to get an invitation visa to comeback to China to work. This only applies to people who holds a tourist visa (L). I find this ridiculous and troublesome because she can hire an agency to do all this for you when I asked the teller in HK.

In the contract there is 2 month probation period where you might get a raise (200-500rmb) depend on your evaluation from Bilingual Teachers n Boss. What I found out is even if you do get praise from teachers, boss, and students, Nancy will not budge on the raise at all. She will make some criticisms at the same time praise you for your work from your boss.

The internet is not free unlike all other schools in China, you�ll have to pay 200rmb for every term. The service is not so good in the evening and sometime down for maintenance. I don�t know why we are treated just like the students, pay for internet having to travel so many miles to work for a school and the only way to contact with the outside world such as: family, friends, lesson preparation, and research.

Upon arrival the teacher�s dorm looks like a cave dormitory, no escalator but stairs. Depend which dorm the school assigns for you; you can be walking a lot of stairs everyday. But if you have medical problem then request a lower floor.
The rails handle as you walk up the stairs are unsafe, look like a piece of concrete slapped together.

For the dormitory, the bird cage looks far better than the dorm assigned to me. Nothing was clean moles everywhere in the kitchen including the microwave and fridge, floor not mopped, chairs dusty as it was picked up from the rubbish bin. The bedroom furniture dusty as hell if you�re allergic to dust, make sure to bring medication�you�ll need it.
The doors of your dormitory look unsafe and insecure if you want to leave personal things in your dorm. There are couple of screws holding the door and latch together. A 10 year old kid can knock it down with one kick. The door paint is rolled up due to humidity and moisture in Guangdong province. Furthermore, the doors are not fully flush down to the floor, you will get a draft from outside, mosquitos and huge cockroaches (size of your pinky finger. Bathroom looks just like the kitchen that is all I can say. I�ll let your imagination do the thinking.


Nancy will not negotiate on the free internet which is 200RMB per term. The internet is not consistent in the evening and sometime cant login due to weather, maintenance (quite often). All other schools I have taught offer free internet. Do keep in mind we need the internet for lesson plans, resources and contact with friends and family members. The desktop computer they offered to us is nothing to brag about, old, dusty, monitor is old and blurry.

Furthermore, the school will ask you to work for half the month of July depend which department you�re in. The school will pro-rate the amount of hours work during those 2 weeks in July. This is the only school does that, no other school I have worked pro rate foreign teachers salary base on hours work in any month. Bilingual teacher who doesn�t need to work during the summer holiday still gets full pay. From my perspective this is not right, contract is contract, if you work in July you should be paid for that month no question about it.

Finally I spoke to many foreign teachers whether any foreign teachers have stayed for more than a year or will renew their contract. Neither one foreign teacher want to renew their contract, FAO (Nancy) will not work for you, or understand your problem and needs. That is pretty much what I wanna say about this school, nothing really good about this school at all. No wonder this school has 2 star rating far below the standard rating.

[jwbhomer]

This is "quit" a post.
If you took a job at GBI without reading the numerous posts on this site, then I would say that you are the author of your own misfortune.

[HunanForeignGuy]

[bearcanada]

This is most curious. I know nothing about the institution in question, and accept the comments made by those who do.

However, the post made by 'richrich02' is entirely and beyond doubt pure Chinglish. So why is a Chinese (who is not likely to be a teacher there) making such a post?

.

[tw]

[HunanForeignGuy]

Yes, indeed it is Chinglish -- I noticed it too.

But who cares -- maybe someone put him or her up to writing it.

Or then again maybe it speaks a great deal as to the quality of the teachers that are there.

When I interviewed there, I asked if there had ever been a FT who had renewed his or her contract. She couldn't remember if that had been the case.

She's a well-seasoned veteran at the bottom end of the scale here in GZ -- first at Alcanta and now at Baiyun.

Avoid this school at all costs.

[jwbhomer]

I don't think the original post is "Chinglish". There are no phrases like "I very like". It's just bad English, too typical of too many posters here who call themselves English teachers. Perhaps it's also typical of the quality of EFL teachers they get at GBI, and for good reason. "If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys."

[7969]

[jwbhomer]

Dead right, 7969. What really burns my ring is the so-called newsreaders who make errors in pronunciation (nu-cu-ler...grrr...like George Bush) and vocabulary. I know they're only "bingo callers", reading what others -- journalism graduates??? -- write, and that discourages me even more.