Job Discussion Forums

[Neilhrd]

Has anyone out there had any dealings with Rebecca Tao. She has recently become Regional Academic Manager for GAC Education Solutions in Shanghai and therefore my boss. I have no idea what she was doing previously except that she claims to have studied some kind of TESOL course at the University of Nottingham.

Usually I can spot Chinese bullshit a mile off but this woman I find difficult to read. Someone is lying to me and I am not sure if it is her or somebody else in the organisation which is complex and obscure as usual in China. I am not sure if Rebecca Tao knows what she is talking about and whether she is trustworthy or not. as we have some pretty important issues to deal with in the near future I would appreciate any feedback.

You can pm if you information is sensitive but if it is merely abusive or libellous don't bother. It is facts I need.

Thanks

[brsmith15]

Neil,

Sorry that I don't have any facts for you, but if you suspect you're being lied to.........you are.

Is there a way you can put her to a test by asking something to which you already know the answer?

[englishgibson]

[arioch36]

Strange, I know Emily got promoted elsewhere, but as I know, the job is someone elses, I will ask
If I forget, PM me

[arioch36]

Bessy Tao, sounds like that would be Rebecca Tao, Yes shehas or is taking over, so brand new at the job, may be good at quoting whatever her manual says

[englishgibson]

amazing that both emily or rebeca are chinese and've been chinese for a very long time...lil western experience, but lots of directions for fts on what to do or how to do it. i just hope that rebeca can read that manual well enough to moderate fts assessments that often require a real academic depth to assess correctly. emily could not see a difference in between a GAC role-play assessment and an IELTS exam and then had no idea how to reason with her moderations at all. worse than that she failed to disclose her changes (moderations) to either students or teachers (hoping she'd get away with it)...is that a chinese tradition

by the way, what's emily's promotion i thought she was in xi'an...working in a museum

cheers and beers to western educational products with chinese marketing them to rich parents under the illusion that it's gona really help their kids

how is rebeca going to explain to the parents that she is the foreign teachers' (facilitators) big boss..or maybe, she'll never have to

[arioch36]

I am curious, to the point of actually asking, what the Syndey connection is. Having never talked to them in person, do they care less if standards are maintained in China, or if everyone is cheating?

[arioch36]

On the positive side, all the students of GAC, almost all agreed that taking an IELTS class was a waste, that the GAC program does more to improve their english and teaching them HOW to speak English. At the school's, or probablably rally at the parents insistence, many "had to" attend an IELTS course.

A main shortcoming of GAC is that for English, the overall objective is good, but many of the topics are not what best suits them. We threw away one of the topics, and talked yesterday about whether a certain student should be kicked out, and whether a certain teacher should have been dismissed (uh, fired) it was a great discussion, summarization of arguments, supporting different opinions. And I am expecting to catch grief for it. We were suposed to discuss the British monarchy, pros and cons

[englishgibson]

with regards to emily, yes, she's promoted somewhere, and aside her fine soap operas, the mentioned GAC ass essements with her moderations and IELTS might have something to do with it too (used a blender to moderate)


back to the topic and rebecca that's got no blender, my fine teaching skills were recently observed by her. she sat quietly back in my classroom writing notes that i might never get a chance to see. however, she gave me a really beautiful feedback then...professional in a chinese sort of way.


having said all that and keeping on topic, it's quite worrying that an allegedly western company with an allegedly western product would choose a chinese academic leader of all chinese centers teachers. this young fairly attractive woman clearly has been born and raised in china and 'cause i have met her i wonder about her academic depth that she will need to especially moderate foreign teachers assessments. since the company does not keep us posted on the number of centers in china, i'd wonder further how many centers and foreign teachers this person will have to manage


a question raises out of all this; HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE FOR THE PAYING PARENTS OF GAC STUDENTS TO REALIZE THAT WESTERN IS ONLY THE PACKAGE AND TOFU IS INSIDE OF IT?


one more thing that i am wondering about is whether the man signed as JOFF ALLEN on the centers' franchise license as the general manager is really JOFF and whether he knows what goes on around.


no cheers or beers to those attempts of chinese to keep us on the leash

[Neilhrd]

Some very interesting and useful posts here. Thanks guys. Arioch has raised the question of the relationship between GAC in Shanghai and the head office in Sydney. This is the main area which I am looking for information about. Is GAC in China really under the control of the Sydney HQ and if so are standards in China the same as in other countries? Or is GAC Shanghai really under the thumb of the Chinese governemnt. I strongly suspect the latter but I need proof.

For example has anybody out there worked for GAC in othe rcountries or have any information about the textbooks used in different centres? Pictures of the covers or pages would be useful which I can compare with what I have. Or does anyone know who wrote the books which have innumerable proof reading errors and appear to be a cut and paste job? Has anyone actually seen any evidence that academic standards are moderated globally in Sydney as they claim? Has anyone working in other GAC centres experienced interferance with the syllabus, teaching methods or marking by Chinese officials?

Just because I am raising these issues here does not mean that I am rubbishing GAC. Actually I agree with the posters who have argued that it is far better preparation for western academic study than IELTS mainly because it trains students in thinking and research skills as well as just language.

However if they would just tell the foreign teachers the truth about what is really going on, who makes the decisions and what the academic standards are supposed to be then we could work with them to make it a whole lot better.

[arioch36]

[Robin53]

I've seen the GAC student books and teacher's books. They are well designed, and were obviously written by experienced high-school teachers familiar with a western curriculum. If any readers have worked as high-school teachers in their own countries they will know what I mean. Also, GAC invite criticism of the books as regards proof-reading, and advice about improving the book .

There is still a Wendy from Shanghai involved in visiting schools where the GAC program is taught to check up on the teachers' marking and other things.

Whether or not the GAC program is taught in a school, I don't think you can expect any difference in the way it is administered compared to a normal school. There is an old post early on in the topics on the China page about what to expect in schools. FTs are completely alone and out of the management loop. Unlike high-schools in western countries, we are not part of teacher meetings, other teacher duties, ongoing professional development, relationships with parents etc. All of this is normal for a teacher in a western high-school but for a FT in a Chinese high-school it is not. I think the main reason is lack of fluency in Chinese. For a FT to survive in this teaching environment, it is necessary to try and fit in, to go with the flow, and to not purposely cause Chinese colleagues to loose face out of sheer frustration at not being in the loop. This is difficult, but possible. Yes, with GAC programs, management of it is completely Chinese, but the pay is good, and so are the books and curriculum.

[arioch36]

Robin

[Neilhrd]

Thanks for your contribution Robin. I have been in China for 4 years so I am well aware of the Chinese loop. I don't speak Chinese but I don't think that is the real reason. The standard of English among our Chinese staff is pretty good and interpretation wouldn't be a problem. It is really all about power. The Chinese in every school I have worked in feel they have to show the laowai that they are the bosses and we are the guests. In state schools where we are following the Chinese curriculum I can accept this to some extent because they know more about the Chinese education system than I do. But GAC is a different matter because it is supposed to be following a western curriculum and academic practices.

Regarding your comments about the design and content of the books I have to disagree. That is not intended as any disrespect to you but because I believe that the books we have are not the same as those used in GAC Centres in Australia and maybe other countries.

I am aware of the proceedure for suggesting improvements to the books laid down in the GAC manual. What I am curious about is whether you have actually tried to get any changes made? If so what was the result?

Arioch has hit the nail on the head. I also believe that the paper standards are being flouted and that some centres and some students are more equal than others.

I have recently become DOS in Nanning and I have been told to downgrade a student as part of the moderation process. It is arguable, although not clear cut, that she has been over marked. But what sticks in my gullet is a strong suspision of unfairness.

This student has worked her butt off and obeyed all the rules in a hopeless class. But she doesn't have big mponey. Her parents have scrimped and saved to give her a chance to go abroad and she doesn't have connections. I think she is being made a sacrifical victim to satisfy Shanghai's need to prove to Australia that moderation is taking place according to the rules.

However they seem willing to ignore the fact that time wasters and complete deadheads in previous classes have had their graduation faked. In some cases they are even being advertised by the school in promotional material as success stories. Needless to say their families have serious money and connections within the CPC within which our owner is a big wheel.

I have refused to downgrade the latest student until I am satisfied that the standards I am being ordered to impose on her are the same for everyone else. I await developments.

[YankeeDoodleDandy]

Hello Neilhrd, I admire you for your honesty and integrity. I work at a university in Xi'an and I have a few part time jobs teaching Cambridge English to Chinese students. I work two weekends out of the month and I average16 classes a month. The pay is 100 RMB for a 40 minute class. I have an Introduction to learning another language for Movers and Flyers and I have also given the same talk to students who are studying New Concepts, now there is a boring book if I ever saw one, yet it will give these students one leg up on their classmates to enter a key junior middle school or senior middle school. New Oriental wanted me to teach a film/speaking class for one hour on a Friday night and i told them that I woudn't do it for 100 RMB as my minimum pay per class for two hours is 150 per class. Incidentally, they wanted me to show a film for 20 to 25 minutes and then have the students discuss what they saw and have them speak about it, for 35 to 40 minutes. No break at all. Someone at NBO has read Orwell's Animal Farm. Gao Xin district is a good 30 minutes away from where I live and I sure wasn't going to take a bus and be gone for three hours. New Beijing Oriental will be the new business model for language centers. " Show me the money." Cheers and beers to echo the words of EG and if you can afford it , make it a Guiness or at least a Harp.