Job Discussion Forums

[Voldermort]

Panzhihua is far from being poor.

As I have stated before, in the case of this school and these classes, the student's are the richest of the rich. They all come from wealthy families from all across Sichuan just to be a part of this particular class. Most of their families work within the government or the local Pangang ( steel refinary ) group.

As it happens, last year I taught the grade 2 students who old-timer was teaching and I honestly cannot remember if an English-Chinese dictionary was on their booklist. But I do know, the grade 1 students who I teach, are required to have this. Infact I often start a class with a "Somebody please give me a definition of... " where they get out their dictionaries and search for the word.

Like I stated in an earlier post, I am stuck between a rock and a hard place. So I am not going to defend nor stick up for the person in question at this time. But I will state, old-timer is one of the best FT's I have come across in China. He/She was dedicated to their work both in and out of classroom. He/She spent many hours each day preparing their lessons and helping students with out-of-class tasks. What has happened to Him/Her was unjust and downright idiotic.

[old-timer]

Thankyou Voldermort for your support.
I still defend my position. In our 4 classes they were promised by the FAO that on their wishlist was a dictionary. We had asked about this as soon as we arrived at the school and was told that if the kids could not affort one the FAO would get one for them. This never happened. Not all the kids were from families that worked in the Govt or were from rich families. Some of the kids got into the foreign classes because they were the top students in the school and did not have to pay any money to be in the class. One girl who was top of grade 2 just could not afford to have a proper dictionary and I in fact gave her one of ours that also had a thesaurus as she was very bright and I could see her going places in the future. These kids were put into the class to entice other students to join the class and pay the money. They were also promised the best teachers in the school and these teachers were to be paid a bit extra to teach these special classes.

[u24tc]

I have seen many of these types of posts floating about the web with ESL teachings warning others about certain schools.
First of all, I tend to believe them but there are certain things you have to take into account:

1. Is this teacher's problem unique and he/she is simply taking his or her frustration out on the school?

2. The teacher is telling the truth and the school 'representative' also hunts around the internet on known ESL links to search for such posts and replies to them for damage limitation?

General rule of thumb... if someone complains about a certain school, please please look through google or other sites to see if other individuals have complained or had similar problems with the school. If they have.. well.. we can tell who is lying.

[tofuman]

I understand that certain Chinese may be making a lot of money off of FTs. Understandable. I don't have any real complaints about that as long as they take care of me by providing the elements of the contract.

For example, a working internet connection. If the school LAN is too slow to be useful, the boss sits in his office with an ADSL connection, and their solution for the FT is to go to the wangba, that is totally unacceptable. If grinding an FTs face in the dirt to add a few kuai to the pocketbook is their solution, that is unacceptable. That is exploitation.

I also wonder about Frank's complaint about being made to teach extra classes without pay. How do they make you do that? Why do you do it?

[clark.w.griswald]

[patsy]

let's face it , the contract isn't worth much, there's just too much manipulation through guanxi, your choice being, as I have found out the hard way, you either stick with it on their terms or leave the school. It's very unlikely they are going to make exemptions or stick to the contract for you if it's just a dishonest school.

[Brian Caulfield]

Dictionaries are peanuts in China . I have a slew of them . You can get English Chinese and Chinese English dictionaries for as little as 10 quai . Often I take about ten dictionaries to my new classes . I know the students won't have them . Chinese don't like to spend money on books . You can get a very good dictionary for 100 quai .

[Mydnight]

One reason I am working for myself now is that I don't want to deal with anymore corrupt schools trying to control me and tell me what to do. Training centers are even worse. The downside is that there are no paid vacations and nobody to look after you. The bright side is that you are free...

Sometimes it's good and sometimes not so.

[frank d]

From a previous post in this thread by "Old Timer:"

"Many of you will recall seeing this posting re No 3 school Panzhihua. Some 12 months ago we entered into a contract with this school through a Mr David Luo. Just at the time Frank was making his posting. By then we had already arrived at the school and thought well now we are here, we might as well give it a go. Unfortunately we should have hightailed it out of town as soon as we read Frank's comments. We have taught in China for many years (since the mid 90's) and while we have been regular readers of Dave's esl site we have never been posters until now. We completed our 12 months at Panzhihua No 3 school but man o man it was the worst 12 months we have ever experienced in China. The FAO one David Luo or (whatever he is calling himself today) is probably the most unsavory character we have ever met in nearly 30 years of coming to China. So be warned if you ever get tempted to respond to a job offer by him in one word DON'T."

- - -

OK, here it is, July 4, 2009 and I am just now reading this 2007 post from old-timer. Not only did old-timer read my original post, I also sent old-timer and his wife a few PMs giving them more details as to why they should AVOID David Luo, Voldermort, and Panzhihua No. 3 school.

Finally, a bit of valdiation and redemption. I have better things to do than trash a school and its "headmaster" for no reason. This place was a nightmare and I personally blame Voldermort for luring me into a trap with loads of self-serving deceit. David Luo was always being hunted down by his angry wife (one can only imagine why) who was constantly on the rampage. Voldernort worked in cahoots with the person that Old Timer and I describe in various posts in this thread; helping him lure FTs to the place. He knew exactly what he was doing, and preys on foreigner's trust; knowing we'll discover the ugly truth AFTER we've arrived in Panzhihua.

In the short time I was there, Voldermort never carried his load in sharing outside-of-class teaching activities, especially evening ones. He was relaxing at his OFF-CAMPUS home with his local wife, having the last laugh. (Just learned that Voldermort has recently divorced.)

[Hansen]

frankd, Are you saying that Voldermort conspired with a local Chinese gangster type to rip off Westerners, preying on their trust and good will, to merely use and abuse them?

[80daze]

I have a friend who is currently looking for a job in this province I've emailed him this link to make sure he avoids these characters and this school!

[NeilBarker]

[Valkerie]

Just wondering if anyone is currently working at this school? Hard to imagine people change but I got a message from this school/ David L (my resume is on a website) and the conditions they clearly outline are NOTHING like the experiences here.

[frank d]

[Valkerie]

Resisting the appeal of writing a sarcastic reply.... largely because sarcasm obviously doesn't make itself obvious in the written word!

FYI I had come across this thread before so was intrigued to re-read it in the light of an obviously ridiculous offer.

It strikes me that anyone with any level of self interest would check out the reputation of any school they have job info on.

I was interested to see if anyone was currently working their/enduring this blatant bait and switch.

Clinically such people as DL are endlessly fascinating but would rather chew my own arm off than work for them.