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[Frank_Castle]

I would just like to give an in depth review of this University, as when I first considered working there, I could not find any solid information about it so I "took the plunge" and began my ESL career at Geely University. This is not a rant, or bash the school thread, I intend it to give anyone coming to Geely a heads up.

Geely University for those of you who are not familiar with it is a large Private University in the Country side of Beijing, it is in the Changping district of Beijing, about a 15 minute bus ride to the Changping city, or a 45 minute - 2 hour bus ride depending upon the traffic, to Longze Subway.

Pro's about Geely - They usually pay on time, there was a few times they were late, but they never tried to cheat me out of my salary, not even once.

They will hire completely green teachers I.E. if you just graduated from college, they will hire you, and give you a work permit. Last year there were at least two teachers that I know of that didnt even have a degree.

The starting salary is alright, and you can negotiate the salary. They offered me 7k to start, and I negotiated my salary up with no previous teaching experience. The administration usually leaves you alone to do whatever you want to a point.

They put up with alcholism and drug use - one teacher would chronicly come in wasted, higher than a kite each morning, while another one comes in smelling like a brewery from being outside in the small village drinking all night.

They will also put up with you talking about taiwan and trash talking China, there was an older guy last year who didnt even really try to teach, he just talked alot of trash about china during his classes, some of the students even tried to attack him because his anti-china remarks made them angry.

The administration doesent care about you having a 2nd job, and the hours are usually light for your actual teaching duties, you will usually have 1-2 days off during the week, in addition to having the weekend off, they will often overhire teachers, and that leaves some teachers with a very very light schedule.

They cast a blind eye on teacher-student relationships, at least 3 other teachers had students living with them in their university supplied apartments. This was very common knowledge, everyone knew this, and no-one cared.

Con's about Geely - It is very far from the city center, making it very difficult to maintain a 2nd job in the city during the weekdays, or even just getting away to visit the city is quite a hassle.

The adminstration listens to the students more than the teachers. If your students complain about something, expect to hear about it from your boss. The students can give annoymous complaints, any complaints you have about these "angels" will fall upon deaf ears.

The adminstration is woefully inept - but from what I gather this is the norm for China, so I wont go into too much detail here. In the foreign language department you have an in the closet gay dean, Mr. Xue (Forget his English name). In the Euro-American College you have the head Dragon lady Wendy Lee, she is the dean. You will also have her lacky, Perry Lee who is the asistant dean. If you work in the OUMEI, you will not communicate with Wendy much, you will just talk with the lacky.

In the Euro-American college you have the typical rich-spoiled beyond belief kids who will study in China for 2 years, then study abroad for 2 years. At the moment they are sending all the students to the U.K. The students in the foreign language department are actually alright students, and not the richy-rich type, from what I was told.

If you work for the Euro-American College you wil be expected to somehow cram a Business English subject down the throats of these kids, and majority of them cannot understand what you are talking about.

Many of them cant even have a simple conversation in English, How are you ? What is your name ? Is a challenge for alot of these students.

The adminstration will manipulate any grades you give the students, they will also accept bribes from parents. One student told me she didnt go to school at all during the 1st year of the 2 year program, and that her father gave my boss a 20k Yuan bribe to allow her to pass the first year.

There are two guy's who stand outside your classroom and watch you/the students, they will come in and yell at students who are sleeping in class, or just burst into your classroom to make announcements about this or that, while you are still teaching.

They change FAO's often, so at the end of the contract when you are trying to get your flight money, it's a hassle. They want proof of a return ticket to your country, even if you are planning on staying in China,, otherwise no ticket, no money. They were doing this to several other teachers as well. A combo of bribes, fake tickets, and a bottle of Baiju got us our flight re-imbursements.

The countryside location can drive one crazy sometimes. At the end of the year last year, a teacher got drunk & destroyed his apartment, in part due to the isolation driving him mad, and another part taking the University too seriously & getting upset that they changed his students grades.

Well that is about all I can think of about this place. Overall it's an ok school as long you dont have high expectations. My comments and observations are limited to the Euro-American College. It's a good place to get your feet wet in China.