Job Discussion Forums

[jg]

I never felt like a Monkey while I was there. What's more, I would probably have gone to McD's or KFC to do a demo (they never asked) at that time it would have been something farout to do. I know that makes me ridiculous in the eyes of some, but oh well. Lots of young, eager, or unjaded people show up here and might find such to be a hoot.



My time in the classroom was cool: teaching long hours, sure, but my co-teachers were fairly helpful and it was ordinary teaching, no dancing or singing at all. The co-teachers did that!

I know that makes me ridiculous in the eyes of some, but oh well. Lots of young, eager, or not-yet-jaded people show up here and might find such to be a hoot.

[vikuk]

no probs jg - nice to see folk like you helping set those fine China FT standards - helping the bosses get a better idea of what they can expect from their monkeys

[clark.w.griswald]

[OGFT]

Clark, have you becomes this boards commentator now?

[vikuk]

Jg worked in a summer camp in 2003. Another poster � Nemesis � worked for Aston for 6 months � he wrote �

[jg]

Vikuk, what's your experience with Aston? Fine, you think certain kinds of "edutainment" renders one a monkey. I clearly stated my experiences were standard issue teaching, not entertaining - I know the difference, I'm a teacher everywhere I go, not just in China. Maybe I wasn't clear about the difference between what I did and what I would have been willing to do? Isn't it possible that there could be a variety of experiences with Aston, dependent on location, bosses, etc?

I suspect all the above is in vain, but I have a moment while the water for my tea heats up.

[vikuk]

Dear jg I�m a qualified kindergarten teacher who is going into his fifth year with the same Chinese employer. I love living in China � and I also love my profession. To make the these two factors meet up with each other I have spent a great deal of time and effort making sure that the standards in my workplace are ones that are related to professional educational quality and are not just another set of tricks to lure more customers (the students and their parents) into yet another business related �bring on the monkeys� EFL project.

So in answer to your first question - do I have experience with Aston � well yes I have experience with the Aston type of operation every day. After all it�s these type of companies that are setting standards for FT�s here in China �
.low hourly pay
.focus on appearance rather than qualification
.paying so much attention to profit margin that already poor working conditions may suffer further.
.exploit the Ft as a marketing tool

Those staff of my employers who are primarily employed with the balance sheets are greatly influenced by the likes of Aston � they would love to implement some of the Aston standards into my workplace for the sake of economy � but luckily at this outpost of educational common sense we can still hold white monkey fever at bay

[Sonnibarger]

i have heard good things about the school in Wuhan. I have 1 friend works there fultime but usualy works 5 hours less then the contract and still get paid full. the housing i hear is a bit shity but she is trying to get it changed and it looks like it will happen. Also i had a buddy who worked part time for them. the were good about it paid 100rmb an hour which isnt bad in Wuhan. Also gave him only adult classes which he asked for. You maybe able to do better but you can sure as hell do worse.

[Nemesis]

[vikuk]

[OGFT]

[djisok]

As a Past-City-Director in Aston's organisation, I can respond with perspectives from both sides: Teachers & Management:

Most blog responses are accurate: Aston is about "middle of the road", your experience will be critically affected by whether the school is 'Aston-Corp' (little better) or a Franchise (Highly questionalble).

Aston's CEO: Dave Wisner (American from NJ) has no background in the Education sector (pre-Aston) and little daily 'hands-on' in the operations of the schools... this is left to his Chinese Ops in Dalian. FT recruiting is done mostly out of the UK, so Americans can find a bit of prejudice within Aston.

Mr. Wisner started Aston a decade ago with a few friends. The 'Gang of Four' have established an organsation which serves Aston (Them) well... if not the FTs or students.

Wisner is a 'hands-off' Manager and is currently and agressively preparing for the upcoming Public Stock float (IPO) scheduled for 2008.
Francise schools are being contracted and opened across china at the speed of light ! 15 have been opened in the past 6 months. and there's no stopping the focus: 'More Schools', before the IPO launch...

Franchise 'Partners' are selected for their bank accounts and also often have No educational background and are simply looking to 'cash-in' on the EFL frenzy or worse: get a business operational in China, so they can leverage their 1st commercial interest, thru it.

Given the mindset of Aston's pre-IPO preparations, FTs will continue to used as 'point' for Aston schools, throughout the IPO prep. process.

Aston 'tries' to recruit quality, but will happily accept 'anyone' to teach, if the staff allocations are not sufficient. (Thick accents were accepted) I inherited one FT with NO TEFL experience or credentials, because he was 'available locally' and cheaply.

Curriculum is better than most, but English fluency amoungst staff is not a priority, so expect to be frustrated in your daily routines. You will likely get paid but 4 week delays have occured in some Franchised areas.

Pay regularity depends on the Franchisee; some do / some don't and Dalian doesn't seem to care or get involved if there is a problem.

The primary question with Aston is what will happen 'after' the IPO float ?

It's highly likely the principal players will 'cash-out' and disappear from the Radar... leaving the troops in the trenches to battle it alone.

If I were looking to make a teaching commitment to a school in China, I'd want an organisation who weren't packing their bags to leave China... soon.

As a Director, eventualy I had enough and left. I'm much happier now with a smaller, more responsive organisation, actually committed to the students.. not the stockholders.

Good Luck.

[vikuk]

djisok - that was a very interesting post - and it seems to confirm much of what many seasoned FT's realise with regard to much of China EFL educational and employment quality standards

But what interests me is whether firms like Aston ever take any interest in the kind of things we write in these threads - do they fear that negative news on the net will affect their employer image - or cause new recruits to ask for too much in wages etc etc????

[SocratesSon2]

I also wonder this. Do schools actually give a damn what we say about them on these boards?

I think from what I have seen the answer is no. I mean yeah, maybe they care in the short term, i.e it ticks them off. I don't actually think they give one hoot in the long term though. They are always able to find teachers, clearly. What do they care if we say they stink. Some rube from America or Canada will fly here on his own dime to take the job. This person ain't done any research and doesn't know they stink. Thats why things don't improve and wages suck, at least in part.

Now if everyone who came here researched jobs, and checked out sites like Dave's for information about schools, then I think the school owners would sit up and take notice. As it is that is a pipe dream at this point. Too many suckers out there who get lured in with empty promises, and by then it's too late.

Maybe they care, but not enough, and why should they?

[djisok]

RE: Do 'they' (schools Mgrs) care?

My experience with Aston was that Yes.. they care, somewhat.

Clearly Aston's 1st concern is the commercial viability of the IPO float. Second is revenue China-wide, then success of the Franchise Program, then everything else, then FTs and lastly: Students.

My feeling is there will always be a steady supply of 'Newbies' to fill entry FT positions in China, as they DON'T do enough research on Blogs like this. (They just listen to the 'hype' from Aston, etc)

But those FTs who have done a stint, are seasoned and looking for another posting DO their research, read these posts and likely do benefit from the info reported. There are many FTs who've done multiple terms... know the truth.

Regarding the Aston IPO: Researchers for the various Venture Capital Orgs, WILL research these Blogs before they consider the Prospectus offers... possibly raising issues during submissions.

Realistically however, the TESL business in China is a 'growth' industry and like any 'gold-rush' has its cowboys. Aston's original stakeholders: (Wisner et al) will cash-up, eventually from the IPO, leaving the new operations to sort out the shortcomings and make the program more quality / service orientated.

The Managers at Aston (and elsewhere) know that they are second-rate and doing the wrong thing... they will live with their inferiority for the rest of their lives and eventually it will 'come back around'... and they'll end-up in Hohot or somewhere else obscure, the world is interesing that way.

If someone really wanted to bring the point directly to Aston and others, simply printing out sections of the Blog and mailing them to the Gen Mgr in Dalian, would be most effective.

Personally, I've decided to attempt to correct the things I can, (in this industry) one person at a a time...

Carefully worded (sane) accountings of what is going on will convince others more quickly than rants (Surpurlatives included), when read by the uniniated FT considering his 1st position... I think.

Sometimes in life it is not neccessary to win the war, but enough to know you've contributed towards the objective, insuring that the truth is known and future 'innocents' are possibly being warned.

Life is a 'trip' folks... you're in China ! It could be worse: you could be bored !