Job Discussion Forums

[taughtinchina]

If you are offered a job in Chunlai primary or middle school in Shangqiu, Henan, DO NOT TAKE IT. No matter how desperate you are. If you have already agreed to a contract, tear it up.

Aside from all the usual China school problems (late pay, no curriculum, poor admin etc) Chunlai has major issues:

- The school doesn't have the correct license for its teachers, they will lie to you and tell you you, do, but they do not.
- We had the faeces of 80 children in the apartment above us running down our wall for a month and a half; the school refused to fix it.
- Power/water supply/internet went out every week, complaining about it did nothing. Sometimes any/all 3 would be gone for up to 2 full days.
- The classes have 80 - 100 children. Even by Chinese standards these are truly overcrowded classes.
- Bar 1 or 2 people no-one in the school speaks even conversational level English; their English department is a joke.
- The school is out in the middle of no-where. Your neighbours are farmers. You will be very isolated. I speak conversational Chinese and I was still badly isolated. You are at least a 40 minute bus ride (which stops running at 6pm) from the city.
- The ESL teachers apartments are next to a factory and underneath a smoke stack that runs 3 times a day to feed 11 000 people. You will get very sick for most of the year. The city itself is also horribly polluted. I have been all over China and I am yet to see a more polluted place.
- Shangqiu is a hole. It is absolutely filthy, not only in terms of air pollution, but also the sheer amount of rubbish and human excrement everywhere.
- Unless you do all of you own cooking (and I mean never, ever, ever eat out - and even then maybe) you will get a bad intenstinal parasite infection. I lost over 10 kilos in the year between parasite infection and constant sickness from the smog.
- The school is ridiculously noisy. You will be woken up at 5 am every single day, with either bells or military music, or works outside your apartment.

I can only urge anyone even thinking of going there to tear up the contracts. I can and will gladly provide photographs to prove everything I have written here.

[SarahL]

I was a teacher at this school in 2009-2010 and all of the above info is true. I'm happy to give further info to anyone with specific questions about the school/city.

[Mister Al]

Sounds great. How do I get there?

[GHammer]

What is the opposite of "If it sounds TOO GOOD to be true, it probably is ...?"

Sounds like a bunch of sour grapes to me, but I could be wrong.
--G

[chinesearmy]

Henan province is supposedly the boonies of China.

Wouldn't even think twice about staying there to teach!@

[bje]

I suspect the OP and SarahL are one and the same...

Anyway, sounds like an okay school...how do I apply?

[taughtinchina]

I would wonder how faeces running down my wall is sour grapes? And sarahL is my wife.. we taught there together. There were 3 FT's in the school.

[struelle]

Thanks for the warning, and I think we can consider more general points made in this post for others who are coming over. One thing I've found from experience is the mantra of 'location, location, location' couldn't hold more true in the China EFL world.

It's a good idea to be somewhat familiar with how the geography of China works, and where these schools might be located. If being close to an urban area matters greatly to you as it does for me, then pay close attention to what the school says about their locations, and whether this may in fact be out in the sticks.

Rural life in China may appeal to some, and I even thought the idea was neat about 5 years ago, as something to try. But after having experienced such 'country life' -- no thanks! The isolation factor can be severe, and influences everything from your living conditions, who you socialize with, the transport, and the behavior of the employers.

Let's be honest about something -- if they run a school way out in some hicktown in an already dubious province like Henan, then you can't expect much good to come out of that school or from the employers.

Then again, you learn new things everyday. I was just about to snatch a job transfer to Chongqing at a former company I worked for (Maple Leaf), but decided to check the place out first. Chongqing is actually a fairly metro area with good shopping, services, built up areas, and a rather neat city to boot, with lots of hills, etc. They even just installed a monorail. But I searched all over the place and couldn't find this school. Finally I got wind of where it was, and that was about a 3 hour commute to the farmland areas in a district called 'Yongchuan'. Yikes!

They could get away with saying the school was in Chongqing because the "city" is actually a municipality that is larger than some provinces. But in reality, it was miles from the city center, and so I turned the job right down.

So definitely get out a map, see where the "cities" are of these schools, and ask the employer if they are in fact located in the city center of such "cities" or else in the suburbs.

[taughtinchina]

A solid point struelle.

Part of the problem with schools in China is that if there are no reviews about a given school it's very hard to judge its merits.

Frankly we all know recruiters can be some of the biggest liars on earth. Without a written review of the school by a current or ex FT you never know how much or little of what the school's recruiting officer tells you is true.

[bminnaar]

Wow looks like there are already a lot of replies to my friends post and by the way they are husband and wife. I was the third english teacher at Chunlai and this is what I thought of the school.

I would first like to say I have traveled quite extensively and this was the first time I have been treated in a very negative way. The school and the administration showed me no respect and sometimes were outright insulting. They have no idea how to deal with people from other countries. I felt like they only saw me as a walking advertisement so they could get more kids stuffed into their already overcrowded classes. Furthermore, a lot of the Chinese teachers did not enjoy working at the school (teachers actually would quit during the semester). Which I feel says a lot about the school.

In addition, don�t expect to have a personal life because everyone will treat the friends you meet outside of the school with contempt and will be out right rude to them and you. Also as a guest in another country I have always tried to get along with people and be as polite possible, but Chunlai thought they were far more superior and acted like I knew nothing.

Also you will have to teach 80 kids oral English which is very difficult because they give you no materials. In addition, many of the kids in the class will not listen and the school will not help you discipline the students.

I would also like to explain where the school is located. The city of Shangqiu is 40 minutes away from the school with little to do socially and is very dirty. The school is in Yucheng which is a very small town with even less to do. Also a lot of the teachers you will meet will be working for two weeks straight including weekends and then go back to their hometowns when they are free. So when you are free no one will be around.

I just wanted to warn anybody who was interested in going to Chun Lai to try to think about it. I will be glad to answer any more questions about the school if anybody is interested.

[rogerwilco]

Thanks for the information.

Why did you stay at the school if the conditions are so very bad ????

[Mdog]

Hello all,

I'm considering a position at a university in Shangqiu which, I think, is part of the Chunlai group, but not sure. The university goes by the name of Huayu. What do you think of the conditions of that university? Or have you met any teachers that taught there?

Thanks.

[Non Sequitur]

[kev7161]

[therock]

Run toto run, the school is in Henan province - enough said!