Job Discussion Forums

[fluff]

Does anybody out there have any information about this school that they can share with me. I'm a newbie teacher without much experience under my belt and they seem quite eager to hire me. I'm as suspicious as usual and any information would be appreciated. They also seem to use the name Crazy Kids. Thanks guys.

[Chris_Crossley]

When I was working for another school in Wuhan many moons ago, I was headhunted by DOS. A woman came to my office and asked me if I wanted to join the school. I told her that I was contracted for at least another six months, but this seemed to make no impact on her. She kept flattering me and saying that her boss wanted to "be your friend". Considering that I had never met the man, I considered this to be sheer arrogance, and still told her that I was not interested.

She left, but phoned me within an hour and still told me that her boss wanted to meet me and that I was "a great asset" to the school that I was currently working in, etc, etc. By this time, it was clear to me that this smacked of utter desperation, yet I reiterated my position regarding how much time there was left on my contract.

About a week later, an ex-employee of the school I was then working in called me and invited me to dinner. I had not seen her for some time, so I agreed, since we had been friends. Everything went well during the meal we had - until the boss of the DOS school "coincidentally" showed up. The penny dropped - this "friend" had deceived me. Inside, I was furious, but, out of politeness, I listened to what the man had to say and said that I would think about his "offer".

Needless to say, even as he was talking, I had no intention of accepting it, and I never did. As far as I was concerned, he simply wanted an experienced foreigner to parade in public like a circus monkey.

I should also add that two of the foreign teachers who had "worked" at DOS "defected" to my school some time before this incident, because they claimed that "the management" (i.e., the man) was "so unfriendly" as well as "so demanding".

As for the children's part - called Kids Happy BTW - I did visit them once, and was actually less than enthusiastic. Once again, they want foreign faces to convince gullible parents to part with their money. The school used its own materials, which were written by Chinese people with no intention of "teaching" anything; they were simply full of reading passages, some of which were totally inappropriate for the children's level of English (especially beginners), and all had simply been lifted from other sources, probably illegally, violating copyright laws. Not only that, but the Chinese staff seemed to ignore the foreigners totally, preferring to gabble away in Chinese to their peers.

This was my experience of DOS and its satellite school for young kids, but that was more than a year ago. Having said that, I have never worked - and will never work - for either of those schools - they are both "cowboy outfits" who exist with only one objective: money-making.

[fluff]

Pretty much as I suspected then, thanks for the information Chris.

[Ralf]

As I also had a bad experience here in Hangzhou with DOS, I definitely cannot recommend that organization.
Regards,
Ralf

[ChinaMovieMagic]

I was their 1st teacher in Wuhan...gave up a job offer at Qingdao U. to help out my friend, the boss you mentioned. They were by no means transparent....squeezing hours like blood...from FTs and local staff...low morale was the norm...the boss assured me he'd applied for my local residency...then the police came into the school, and brought us to the police station...No...they told me. No one had applied for my local residency. I had to pay for the penalty. Ambitious Boss-man didn't/wouldn't/shouldn't... He writes me now-and-then...still wants to be "friends"...

Charles Di' 'ckens reincarnations abound...

PLUS...Wuhan's air is NASTY!!! I had colds all the time. I just came back from Yangshuo/Buckland. Blue sky!!!Clean air!!! Green hills!!
Humane Boss!!!

[Chris_Crossley]

[marui]

DOS Hangzhou - Did some P/T work there for a while..turnover of full time staff was very high. They were busted by the PSB last year - all full time teachers were found to be working on F visas. However the school wasn't shut down nor the teachers punished - they either paid a large bribe or used their 'connections' to clam the situation. Also lots of unqualified German, Spanish and Nigerians were employed who had very very limited English (most were studying Chinese) and were forced to tell the students they were from USA/New Zealand etc.

Saying that though many of the points above apply to most chain language schools across China - so take your pick!