Job Discussion Forums

Tamil_Tiger

Has anybody worked for Songhua River middle school in Jilin?

I'm in the process of finalizing a few job leads and want to know if this is a reputable organization to work for.
Their contract seems decent and fair. All the things mentioned in the Contract survival tips are there except for the particulars of what is included in the accomodation (The contract just says foreign teacher apartment). Also they said they would throw in Chinese classes, but I'm wondering if I should ask them to put that in the contract also.

cj750 · Joined: 27 Apr 2004 Posts: 3081 Location: Beijing

Make sure that the school you work for in Jilin is the one giving you the visa. Jilian has few schools that can actually offer you the visa and often they will go out side the school to get another school to issue the visa.
Also ask where the apartment is as it may be on campus and may be a shared building with students...bad choice in my opinion.
Chinese lessons are often taught by staff with little or no experience in teaching. Also, check out if they will send you to other schools to teach which sometimes happen. This can take additonal time to commute between the schools. The usually questions incl class size, materials and office hours as well as "are you expected to be involved in promotions" When I worked at Raffles, they would often plan, at the last moment, additonal classes given free to public school systems after five.

Gray000 · Joined: 14 Apr 2003 Posts: 183 Location: A better place

Is the school in Jilin city?

Tamil_Tiger · Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2004 11:24 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the list of questions. I sent a message to the school this afternoon asking them about those issues. Hopefully the result will be positive. The school is indeed located in Jilin City.

Tamil_Tiger · Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2004 7:01 pm Post subject: Good Info: Thanks

Thanks for the heads up CJ750. Your initial skepticism over if the visa was being issued by them was indeed valid. I found out that it is a recruiting agency that recruits for multiple schools around China. They are called teachcn.com. Do any of you know anything about this agency and if they are reputable?

Ludwig · Posted: Thu Jul 15, 2004 2:34 am Post subject: Re: Good Info: Thanks

cj750 · Joined: 27 Apr 2004 Posts: 3081 Location: Beijing

I had a friend in Jilin check into this agency and his advice is to stay away...you are much better off taking a foreing language school or a university at first and dont worry if your education is not enough as even Jilin University doesnt care about this...
But be careful as even a good deall can bring problems..I was offered 12500RMB by a school in Beijing recently but they have no ability to give me a greenbook...residence papers...they worked under a group called CEIC at a school called Haidain School...they wanted me to live on campus but may not have the paperwork to have a foreign teacher...