Job Discussion Forums

[sumaarmont]

I'm interested in teaching at the Bond Institute in Zhongshan for 3 months in January. I've been looking through a sample contract and it seems reasonable...but I know appearances are deceiving in China! Does anyone have anything (positive or negative) to say about this school??
Many thanks!!
- Summer

[englishgibson]

this might not be as helpful, but i know that this employer has been around for a while...to my knowledge, bond institute has been working really hard on recruiting their teachers for past 6 years..i've seen many adverts on this one lots of times...so, i believe there're gona be some teachers/former teachers of this one to come up here and say something

peace to bond
and
cheers and beers to all hard working FTs in china

[Carry Ann]

I taught with Bond Feb to July 2005. Bond is a private language centre that also supplies teachers on contract to local kindergartens, primary and secondary schools in Zhongshan and surrounding towns. My experience was a mostly positive one though I know others� have been less so. Conditions were generally pretty good- I was always paid on time, visa and residence permit all above board. I stipulated in my contract that I wanted two consecutive days off and school and accommodation in Zhongshan city proper, not out in the boonies somewhere. On arrival I was taken direct to a school and accom in the boonies. I persisted with �No� and after three nights sleeping in the school owner�s apartment a senior school gig in town and a reasonable (shared)apartment not too far from the main drag materialised. Accommodation for teachers ranged from almost luxurious to downright awful. I�d recommend that you be firm and clear about what arrangements you want before you arrive and be prepared to be assertive about this when you get there. After this initial experience I had no real problems and enjoyed teaching at the school to which I was contracted.

Zhongshan is a modern Chinese town; pleasant enough though very humid, very green, lots of flowers but it's nothing really to write home about. Western restaurants, big supermarkets - everything you need is there. The advantage, and the reason I chose to teach there, is that it is 60 minutes by bus to Zhuhai (coast) and Macau and 90 minutes by ferry to Hong Kong

[jwbhomer]

Did you try using the search function? A search for "Bond Institute" would get you 2286 returns -- 46 pages worth.

[clark.w.griswald]

[william wallace]

nil

[sumaarmont]

Great, thanks for all your advice. I figured out how to filter the search and found plenty of stuff about Bond. Seems to be some positive but mostly negative things...hopefully it has been improving with time. I�ll definitely be looking at other schools before making a final decision! Thanks