Job Discussion Forums

Scott 1955 · Joined: 18 Jun 2011 Posts: 51

Like /unlike Japan ? Embarassed

Cheers,
Scott

Trinley · Joined: 29 Apr 2010 Posts: 144

My first ESL job was at Delter in Nanjing. I'm not here to defend them but just to relate my experience.

As far as housing and payment, they were always fair with me. I was paid on time, I had a huge apartment, and my airfare was paid in full. The staff took care of my needs and even stayed overnight in the hospital with me when I got pretty sick on arrival. They paid for all my medical stuff, even when I broke the rules by bringing in receipts for a medical visit that wasn't accompanied by staff. So I'm grateful to them for that. They took us to banquets, gave nice gifts on holidays, invited us to staff weddings.

That was the good stuff. The bad -- the classes were put together pretty haphazardly. Students were passed on even if they weren't learning, which obviously resulted in classes of widely mixed levels that were difficult to teach to. Sometimes we taught with your typical ESL books, but Delter also issued these horrendously awful books they made themselves in order to cut costs. It was very hard to teach with them, and students were bored and confused. It was pretty much a language mill -- get their money, throw some English at them, get them out. There was very little involvement from the directors. They just wanted to see students using English with foreigners, and they seemed satisfied. Most of the teachers, myself included, had very little experience. I believe they made a fake university degree for me in order to get my foreign expert's certificate, as I only had an associates degree at the time.

I remember thinking how awful it was at the time. But then I went back to university in Canada to get my BA. There are plenty of highly respected, tenured professors who teach the same way. I felt like I was in a mill there too. In comparison with my experience going back to school after teaching, Delter didn't seem all that bad, although I'm not saying it's good.

I'm just saying -- I was at Delter in Nanjing for a year, and I was treated well. It's not an awesome school, but that shouldn't come as a shock. I can only speak for Delter in Nanjing though. I don't doubt that other branches are screwed up.

I've heard the same about Canilx. I worked for them in Nanjing and had a decent experience. I read on the forums that Canilx in Shanghai was terrible and closed down. I think when doing research on schools, it's a good idea to be specific about which branch of the school, because they may vary widely.

Scott 1955 · Joined: 18 Jun 2011 Posts: 51

nothing to say.

peewee1979 · Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 1:43 am Post subject:

peewee1979 · Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 12:45 am Post subject:

Hello to the person who contacted me about working at Delter / Telfort. My advice still stands - DON'T DO IT.

Please learn from the input of those that made this mistake and spare yourself the agony that will follow this foolish decision.

Regardless WHAT they promise you, you will get burned.

And you wrote they asked you to come on a tourist visa! READ the posts from those that did this and see that many got cheated.

The combination of Delter / Telfore and tourist visa should be a warning sign.