Job Discussion Forums

alice4 · Joined: 27 Sep 2007 Posts: 19 Location: Thailand

Can anyone tell me if this school is reliable or not? I've personally never been to Suzhou. I actually wanted to work at Shanghai but this school from Suzhou is interested in me to teach there. Any suggestions or anyone knows who've been there teaching? So that I could get some reference about the school? At the moment, the dean of the school is waiting for my response. I wanted to get some feedback from you guys before I decide whether it is worth of going there or not. Hope you guys could help. Wink

This is the link about the school in Suzhou

http://www.anesl.com/schools/view.asp?id=683

been_there · Joined: 28 Oct 2003 Posts: 284 Location: 127.0.0.1

Looks shady. 5000 a month isn't much, and 1000 medical a year.... what happens if you need more than that?

And are you being recruited by the school or by Angela's ESL cafe (familiar name.... hmmm...)? Recruiters just want the warm bodies.

Investigate more. Ask to speak with a teacher there. Ask about the "Free apartment with the necessary facilities".. what is necessary, really?

Ask them why in their picture of the "Govenor of Ontario and his wife" picture, there is no wife....

Ask ask ask

Vo Rogue · Joined: 27 Jul 2007 Posts: 31

alice4 · Joined: 27 Sep 2007 Posts: 19 Location: Thailand

thanx for the suggestions.... i will surely ask the dean for reference of the other foreign teachers in their school.

in the other hand, i was wondering if i went to shanghai and do walk-ins to different schools, do you think there's any chance of being hired?

jwbhomer · Joined: 14 Dec 2003 Posts: 876 Location: CANADA

tatterdemalion · Joined: 02 Aug 2007 Posts: 78 Location: Yangzhou, China

kev7161 · Joined: 06 Feb 2004 Posts: 5880 Location: Suzhou, China

Suzhou? Suzhou? The "Venice of China" Suzhou? Yes of course there are some "slummy" areas just like in any big Chinese city. However, most of Suzhou (esp. in the Suzhou New District and Suzhou Industrial Park) is clean and tidy (except for the ghetto I live in. See "I live in a ghetto!" thread). Actually pretty modern and lots and lots of conveniences. I think our school is looking for a teacher - - PM me if you want more details.

tatterdemalion · Joined: 02 Aug 2007 Posts: 78 Location: Yangzhou, China

I think I may have been confusing the place the other teacher was talking about: I think he may have been speaking of *Zhuzhou*, and I went through Suzhou on a bad day.

That is a guess based on tidbits I've been picking up here. But I always like to admit when I'm wrong -- or even just might be wrong -- for the record.

Carry Ann · Joined: 03 Dec 2004 Posts: 3 Location: South China

I taught at this school July-Dec 2005. It is in the old part of Suzhou. Location is great for access to everything � it�s one block back from a street full of restaurants, bars, shops hotels and one of Suzhou's most famous gardens. The neighbourhood was old Suzhou - very picturesque and full of old folks sitting out in the lane, mah-jong clubs, etc, - but that was two years ago. A really fantastic place to live. The original parts of the senior school building (there are two campuses in the same neighbourhood) have a long and significant history as an administration centre in one of the dynasties. Accommodation is a 5 minute walk from the campus in a former hotel which also housed students. �Apartment� was really two adjoining rooms of the hotel and access to a large (two fridges, two cookers, two sinks) kitchen shared by the 4 foreign teachers. The rooms were good � western hotel standard bathrooms (2), aircon, well furnished. Downside was that foreign teacher accommodation was one floor of the five stories with a few Chinese teachers. The remaining four floors were student dorms.

The school was well-equipped and was considered "bilingual". I was always paid on time, got the airfare reimbursement as promised (actual ticket cost one way � as only 6 months gig), good timetabling- 14 x 45 minutes classes, no weekend classes, once a month 1.5 hours session for teachers conversation club. The FAO was alternately frustrating and helpful (no better or worse than any other I�ve experienced). The same issues encountered elsewhere � late notice re scheduling changes, there was a long delay in getting internet connected as promised and I had to really push for an office and computer, but all in all a pretty good experience. It was considered one of the better schools in Suzhou and the students reflected this academically. I taught Senior 1 and 3 classes which ranged in size from 18 to 45. You could do a lot worse.