Job Discussion Forums

[shatov]

I was just wondering if anybody knows anything about Language Link in Beijing.

Seen an ad, and might apply if I don't get the job I just had an interview for.

[chengdude]

Language Link is a London-based outfit, I believe. I took the CELTA course at LL in Beijing. At that point, it was the first time they had offered it, but I believe they have continued to offer the course with some degree of regularity. Of course, the CELTA program is given by trainers flown in for the purpose, so other than logistical support, materials, and student guinea pigs, it has little to do with the daily operations of the school.

Having said that, I did observe a bit of what makes the school tick and, overall, it seemed like a typical language mill to me. In some of the young learners' classes, the kids were nearly swinging from the proverbial rafters...and one or two were swinging from some of the larger potted plants. As part of the CELTA, I had to observe some of their teachers in action and found little to no evidence of any of the principles we were learning. I frankly wasn't too impressed, but I reserve judgement as it was just a few lessons, we all have our bad days, and I'm certainly not the Lord's Gift to EFL.

At that time, they touted placement upon successful completion of the CELTA program; being a British school, they chose a couple of graduates from the UK. In fact, at that time, all the teachers were from the UK, so I suppose they had some sort of official or unofficial policy. The front office Chinese staff were endearingly disorganized as is the norm, but they were nice and they tried. My impression was that the school as a whole constantly teetered on utter disorganization. To be fair, it seemed that they were going through some management/DOS issues at the time, so all of what I have just said may have changed in the interim.

They had two locations at the time: one in the Haidian area and the other, where the CELTA was given, across the street from Guomao. They tout that prestigious Guomao location, but the school is in a well-worn building down an alley and across a courtyard from what I remember is a middle school. The school itself was a bit tattered, but given the location and daily wear-and-tear, that's pretty understandable. They had a relatively large library from which to pick and choose for lesson planning and use a variety of general textbooks (the usual suspects from Oxford, Cambridge, et al). They certainly make full use of China's weak IPR enforcement: every student book -as well as the different reference materials for the teachers- was a professional copy from one of the copy mills out in the university district. Cassettes, too, were all duplicates.

Anyway, there's a reasonable chance that much has changed as this information is circa the beginning of 2004.

[shatov]

Thanks for the info. It doesn't sound too bad - typical language mill you say. At least you've told me they are legit. No big problems you were aware of?