Job Discussion Forums

[Heifer]

I don't want to write this, and I have avoided writing it because my horrible, nightmare experience at KISB is so painful to think about. They just put up a want ad today, so I feel morally compelled to write a little bit. I have worked in ESL since 1997, and it is the only employer that I ever had problems like this with. They put out false advertising about their vacation time. I and other teachers would never had considered moving from the USA to China if they had told the truth. On the day I arrived, I was told that the schedule had been changed, but they advertised the vacation like it was true! They trapped me! I was there, had paid $300 for a tourist visa, and it would cost $1000 to get back home to the USA! I would lose so much money just because they were so unprofessional.

The woman in charge of the English Dept told me that I had to come in on a tourist visa and pretend to be a tourist because it was not possible to get a working"Z' visa without first coming to China. This is not true either. It just takes longer and requires mailing documents, and KISB was way to cheap to spend money on postage. They were just so lazy about the visas that they would only make one trip per semester to the visa office. They made a lot of teachers work illegally on tourist visas. They didn't get z visas for part-time workers. That woman came into my class and asked me to sign visa documents that had some serious promises without reading them. She had told me that she wanted to keep it a secret that I would just work one semester because of the false advertising, but the visa document agreements had penalties for not staying the whole year! After a few days of thought, I decided that I was in a horrible situation, was trapped, and could work for a year for a horrible school that recruited me with lies! I signed the visa documents and spent over $1000 to go to Hong Kong and try to get a legal working "Z" visa. Then, I got my Chinese physical. Then, the idiot woman that runs the English department refused to do what the school had to do to finsih getting my Z visa!

She came to my desk on the morning after the earthquake, and I was typing an E-mail to tell my scared family that I was OK. She was being very, very rude to me, and I was being polite. She refused to get my visa because she was so angry that I didn't just sign the document without reading it. I couldn't talk to the Principal because he didn't speak English. I had to leave China right away because my temporary Z visa was only good for a few days. I didn't get paid for my last month or any of the deferred compensation that would have been paid during vacation time. I had to pay over $1000 to go home.

The woman in charge of the English Dept. lied all the time even when the truth was better. I was afraid to speak to her because she always changed what I said to whatever she wanted it to be. I tried very hard to avoid speaking to her for that reason.

KISB was a NIGHTMARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They don't deserve any teachers or students!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I didn't want to think about this. I am only writing it as a public service because I don't want anybody else to make the same mistake I made to trust such an unprofessional, horrible excuse for a school! I thought I could trust Korean people. Now I don't trust want ads at all.

Proceed with a lot of caution!!!!

[Dan The Chainsawman]

The only upside about working on a tourist visa is being able to go find a better job. What's the school going to do? Certainly they can't go to immigration and complain about a teacher they have working on the sly with a tourist visa.


I hope you did just that and got yourself a Z-visa out of the deal.

[evaforsure]

r u talkin bout

http://www.kisb.org/

they have, in the past, had a good rep.. even taking in Nork refugees..

[Mr. Kalgukshi]

Please stay on topic. The topic concerns one school. The topic is not an opportunity to generalize as to all Koreans.

I just deleted an off-topic posting. Future ones will result in sanctions.

[dragon777]

Always get your Z visa before working in any school in China whether Chinese, Korean, British or American. If they cannot provide one(they most probably do not have a licence to recruit foreign teachers), try another. It is not a good practice to work on a tourist visa as you are not protected. If the authorities find out you can be heavily fined. Thanks for the post Heifer.

[Teatime of Soul]

[Hansen]

One thing that really made sense was Heifer's remark "She lied all the time, even when the truth was better." That is an observation that only someone with real experience in China could make.

I would take Heifer's counsel seriously.

[hrvoje4]

I was just about to apply to the history position until I read this.

So http://www.kisb.org is bad news?

Bummer...

[JoeKing]

Delete post.

[JoeKing]

Hey, this may be a dumb question, but other than the visa matter, how are the day to day working conditions? The OP does not really elaborate on other issues.

What if one was able to get them to cough up the Z visa? Would that make a difference?

The reason I ask is because the full time salary they are dangling in the ad does seem to be way higher than the average salary in China. Feel free to correct my naivete.

By the way, I am finishing my second year in Korea. This is my only experience in the ESL world. But I have always wanted to teach in China, if the pay was just a little bit better.

[JoeKing]

bump!!

[rudiger]

As best as I can recall, the OP's account is accurate. In fact, it neatly summarizes the general lack of professionalism or even common decency consistent of KISB.

Since the OP left KISB some names have changed but the nature of the beast remains the same. Though the supervisor she described has left things haven't improved much. If anything, they've gotten worse. In my case, just weeks after signing a new contract for the forthcoming school year I was let go after the school conveniently "lost" my newly minted contract. Just like that, after 3 years of service and no further explanation. I would never trust the supervisors at KISB, yet alone rely on them for my livelihood.

[Brita]

KISB is the one of the worst work experiences I have ever had. The "coordinator", or the "academic director" ....was nothing but a liar! And a very good one. She had no qualms of lying right into your eyes. There was ABSOLUTELY NO PROFESSIONALISM just ridiculous rules and orders. KISB IN BEIJING is a joke! It is a place where the stupidity of mankind shows in its fullest! I would rather sweep the streets of Beijing than work there!

[Brita]

...the "star" coordinator was...(wish it was ethical to leave names here)...

[kukiv]

Brita, please remove the names - otherwise this extremely valuable thread stands a good chance of being deleted by the mods.

Its okay to warn about malpractice - but giving out names takes a post into another dimension.