Job Discussion Forums

[Scrabble King]

Just curious what you guys make of this "China Teacher Internship" program? http://www.lovetefl.com/internship/teach-in-china/

At first I thought it was just a shady way to circumvent the Z visa requirement - a front for some recruiter. But now I am not so sure. Do you think this is legit?

[kungfuman]

[rogerwilco]

"Price: Was $1299 Now $1049"

Worse than "working for peanuts", you actually pay them for working.

[Scrabble King]

How dumb can people possibly be to pay to work? There are probably student exchange programs that offer the same opportunity for free.

[Bud Powell]

People get sucked into these things because they don't do their homework.

[likwid_777]

This sort of set up may be acceptable if you're establishing fresh water infrastructure and creating sustainable food sources for impoverished communities in various countries.

An internship may also be a reasonable idea for a stepping stone for a graduate in certain fields. But even in these cases, surely to give your sweat and blood with no remuneration is enough. To pay is just ridiculous.

And to pay for a TEFL internship? It's liked bottled water, naive backwards. To be honest though, I was looking at one of these websites about internships in China a while ago, and all of their flashy language and imagery was pretty bloody good haha.

I believed the L visa conversion to Z visa tale a few moons ago, but at least they whacked up with my salary every month, even gave me the flight allowance.

[Bud Powell]

When I first considered teaching abroad, the internship/volunteer jobs were the most prominently advertised. I can see why someone would go for that arrangement: it seems safe. Though I've never been involved in such a program, the advertising pretty much tells the reader that the outfit will hold his hand the entire time. That's pretty much what a lot of newbies want/need. I'd probably have come over on such a deal if I hadn't continued researching the move to ESL.

Subsequent research let me to various discussion boards that opened my eyes to better routes.

I know a guy who came over on such a program. When he figured out what it was REALLY about, he bugged out. I asked him how he could be so stupid to agree to such a program. His answer was incredible: that's all he could find. (This wasn't fifteen years ago. This was last year!).

What likwid_777 describes would look nice on a resume if he gets a certificate or someone to issue a letter to verify his work. That's the kind of thing that grad schools like to see on student CVs.

[Listerine]

Someone's making cash off the thing. Only fair it filters down to the one who is doing the actual work which is bringing in the money.
I had a friend in Korea who did the whole bleeding hearts thing after being approached by a K-dude asking him to volunteer his time every week teaching English at an orphanage. "Oh yes, Mr Kim. Of course I'll help the poor children!!" only to find out months later that the government was allocating 200 bucks an hour to hire a foreign teacher which was going straight into Kim's pocket.
The poor suckers signing on for this internship crap are likely being met at the airport by some audi driving, iPhone 10 toting tuhao who is making an absolute killing off this rort.
When I first came to China in 1999 there was some saying about how Chinese can always fool a foreigner. It doesn't get bandied around much anymore, but quite clearly many people are still proving it to be correct.

[likwid_777]

[SearchingChina]

I don't see how anyone can fall for this really. Would you pay someone to work for them back home? Course you wouldn't.

The types of people who would sign on to this will get ripped off and taken advantage of everywhere, even Western Europe and America.