Job Discussion Forums

[sonicliz]

I would love to hear feedback about experiences with AES in general and Dalian in particular.

Also, any information about your experiences with the city of Dalian would be appreciated?

I've worked abroad before, but with the Peace Corps. I'm wondering how much cultural/language prepartion I should make before I go?

Thanks for any and all feedback. Please respond to sonicliz @ yahoo.com
(when responding, notice the spaces around @)

Thanks,

Liz

[NateM]

This has already been mentioned a few times before, but AES seems to attract very polarized opinions. They have their share of supporters, but also more than a few detractors, as well.
http://p092.ezboard.com/fteachingenglishinchinafrm50.showMessage?topicID=6.topic
http://p092.ezboard.com/fteachingenglishinchinafrm50.showMessage?topicID=5.topic

[Roger]

AES has a solid reputation and is given the thumbs-up by some who came here with zero teaching experience. Some locations are better than others, and Daliang would seem to be one of the best.

Daliang in general is well-liked: tolerable climate, reasonably clean and modern city, open-minded local populace. Pay also is a certain attraction.

[TESOLman]

I worked for AES in 2002. The worst part was the Chinese staff. They treated the foreign teachers like we were completely dispensable, and lied to us about where we could live because they person who found accommodations was getting a kickback from the real estate people. However, that was corrected, I think. Also, the formula for calculating your hours made it almost impossible to ever receive your full pay. This may have chabged in 3 years.

Dalian, as a city is awesome. I have travel extensively in China and Dalian is without a doubt the cleaniest, most beautiful city I've seen. Very cold in the winter but the rest of the year is absolutley wonderful.

[Daphne]

A very telling aspect of this notorious organization's reputation is the fact that any search will prove that despite the fact that they have had thousands of native speakers as employees, the only person who defends them everytime their name is mentioned is someone who claims to never have worked for them: Roger.

I hope he realizes that this makes him out to be either a very odd fellow or one with no life

Another telling aspect is that their former director of operations (MT,) who is well-known to all who served till last year with AES/Aston, seems to refrain from defending his past employers now that he is no longer under the thumb of the W brothers.

I must admit that it must be quite a treat for any person who has just barely reached the legal drinking age in their native land to be given "managerial" or "curriculum development" positions in China, and by golly; AES/Aston is the place to make that kind of dream come true!

[Madmaxola]

Dave's bar!

[gmat]

Use the search function, this subject -AES/Dalian - has been beat to death.

I have met/talked with more than 10 AES teachers here in Dalian (current and past). Not one positive recommendation.

Not sure what Roger is talking about

[M3tt]

I don't post very often now that I'm out of the ESL field but I come back every now and then to read up on what's happening and figured I'd drop a note here. I am the "former director of operations (MT,) " mentioned above.
My name is Mike Threatt and I did work for AES for quite a while until last year when I left for another job in Dalian.

In response to Daphne's post, I posted earlier that I have always been willing to answer any direct questions about living or working here and talk to anyone regarding what schools or cities are like if someone asks, if I have firsthand objective information, and the questioner will use their real name.

I do not defend AES because my personal opinion is just that - personal. What I think of the company, schools, management, or any person with AES is my own business and you should not base your decision on what I think unless you know me personally and agree with my philosophy and sense of ethics.
Several people have commented about the reasons I left AES and so far every one has been wrong. Why I left and what I think is my business, not yours.

The thing I do find strange about this is that Daphne says, "....(MT)seems to refrain from defending his past employers now that he is no longer under the thumb of the W brothers."
If I had anything bad to say about AES, wouldn't I be MORE likely to say it if I was not "under the thumb" of the company? You can't have it both ways.

What I will personally comment on is that I really dislike people who look at the actions of another without knowing the whole story and twist the reasoning to suit their own needs. If you want to post your own opinion of something then by all means do so, that's what this board is for. But please don't use my decision to post or not post my personal opinions to justify your vendetta.

Mike Threatt
Dalian

[Roger]

Daphne, what's YOUR beef with AES? Or is your beef with me alone? Do you happen to have INSIDER KNOWLEDGE that you have failed to share with this forum?

I stand by what I said; the reason why I offer my advice is that I helped a Canadian guy get a job in China, and his first and only job was with AES; from a very early time on he was and remained happy at AES. What's wrong with me telling the audience about him and them?

I am honest enough to let you know that I have no AES experience.

[jg]

[Daphne]

I want to inform Roger that if he had read my post correctly he would know that in my opinion he actually does more to hurt the organization in question than all the vehement anti-AES posters!.

I just think there are better ways to use this forum or one's free time than to repeatedly post about a school that you have no experience with as an employee.


I also think that MT's post is a rather telling one, not because of what is written, but rather for the glaring lack of bathetic statements regarding his Dalian days.

It seems the links given in an earlier post on this thread pretty much lays out the general beefs against this organization by various former employees. Do you really want me to predicate mine one by one ?

[Roger]

And, Daphne, I don't care whether I do harm or good to a school so long as I am posting what has been erstablished as a fact. Your post started out with a belligerent adjective - "notorious" - which I tend to interpret to mean they have a deservedly bad reputation. Who is giving them that? Not the school itself but certain posters; are these posters reliable? Are you?

They DO NOT have the reputation you were trying to give them; there are people that have a low opinion on them, and no doubt in some cases a deservedly low one. I even know a guy in Shanghai that thinks some of their branches are rotten. But that is his side of the story, and perhaps he was getting a raw deal for no reason whatsoever. The human factor works in mysterious ways. Have you ever worked at a school where all FTs were of uniform opinion? Neither have I .

[Daphne]

"erstablished"?....hmmmm.......you actually seem like the perfect person to be a long-term Aston employee and "curriculum developer"!. You may have even been the real author of those embarassing textbooks we had to use in class.....now it's starting to make sense

[zoopeda]

to teach english for a private school in china is to perpetuate the wake of imperialist tides. i think this is undisputable. so if you're willing to accept all that goes along with the fact that china is potentially the biggest hotbed for the most brutally cut-throat form of capitalism this world has ever known, then you must be person who can accept responsibility for the consequences of teaching at a private english school in china. i am one of these people, and am consequently 'happy as a clam' living in dalian, working for an AES future school. the city is clean and beautiful (if you like little green mountains and a BLUE ocean), trash cans abound, more 'progressive' thinking people (ie- there's a little less line cutting and more people use toilet paper) than many other parts of china, and AES actually honors their contracts, which is a rarity in china, i've found. AES has provided me with my own apartment, countless free meals including drink and karyoke, various bags of fruit left at my doorstep, helpful maps, books, and phone cards for dalian area, and super helpful teaching assistants. in short, i like it, and after previous terrible experiences teaching in china (ie- being deported for quitting), dalian was a welcomed breath of fresh air, both metaphorically and literally. for what it's worth...

[Madmaxola]

bgawk bgawk bgawk***