Job Discussion Forums

Sansibar1 · Joined: 16 Feb 2008 Posts: 43

Hi everyone,

Does anyone know about this place? Are they legit?

I have checked their website and the most recent updates are from 2005.
Sounds kind of strange to me.

Thanks for your help.

Anda · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 2199 Location: Jiangsu Province

Um, it would seem they are still in business. It sounds like they could be okay other than the place below.
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http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=New+Dynamic+Institute&btnG=Google+Search

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New Dynamic Institute Kunshan Recruitment Information - Cnhotjobs.comAs a leading English training group in China, New Dynamic Institute now has 10 schools in China and is expecting to have more in the next year. ...
www.cnhotjobs.com/Company_Detail.asp?cid=290 - 7k -

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http://www.nabble.com/(job)-New-Dynamic-Institute's-Dirty-Little-Trade-Secret-td19160949.html

by Jada Rufo Aug 26, 2008; 08:08pm ::

New Dynamic Institute (NDI) Gaoxin, Xi��an, is a private language
center with a great curriculum but it also has one of the worst
bosses I��ve ever had to work with.

Her name is Dingle Xu and she is very sneaky when it comes to
business matters. She pretends to be a friend, but in reality she
has lied to several foreign teachers as well as students. Here is a
laundry list of those lies:

1. Tells students that some teachers will continue to teach
next year when teachers clearly have other plans. This is in an
effort to get students to register for the next term.

2. Asks students to write ��letters of criticism�� against the
foreign teacher. Some criticisms are legitimate but most are not.
I guess having ten years of teaching middle school and university
students doesn��t qualify as being ��experienced��. Nor does
wearing a blouse and a skirt qualify as being ��neatly dressed��.

3. Betrays people's trust by showing what is supposed to be
confidential to others. My letter of "complaint" was shown to an
Australian colleague of mine for "proof reading".

4. Makes big promises but doesn��t deliver. This is in
relation to my birthday cake. She promises that the school will get
me a big cake. I said that I really didn��t need it but if they
wanted to do that it is up to them. I was expecting a cake but
nothing came of it. I did get a beautiful bouquet of flowers.

5. Twists other people��s words to distort the truth. Our
center director and Dingle were debating on whether to have classes
available for students on Wednesday mornings.. They told us of
their plans and we discussed amongst ourselves. My fellow American
colleague said that if the school can get students, great! Go for
it! BUT no student was going to sign up for a 11 o��clock class on
Wednesday because they have school or they have to work!

We were all called in one at a time and were told of this plan. I
decided to test Dingle. I asked her if my American colleague,
agreed with this idea. She said, ��yes, he agreed!�� I knew it was
an outright lie because Mohammed had told me his opinion several
days earlier. She failed my simple test MISERABLY!

All of my foreign colleagues believe that Dingle is NOT the best
person to be education department head since she just doesn��t have
very good communication skills especially when it comes to dealing
with foreigners. I sometimes feel like a chess pawn in a game I
have no idea is being played. I certainly avoid being in the office
as much as possible when she is around because it makes it a very
unpleasant working environment for me. As a result I haven't eaten
properly and my psoriasis has definitely flared up. The only people
I can trust to tell the truth are fellow foreigners. I do not trust
any Chinese anymore.

Please note that there is another NDI center in Xi��an that is run
by a more professional and more experienced education department
head and that is the one near Xi��an��s Bell Tower. Also, there are
several other branch schools in other cities throughout China that
you may want to concider. But as long as Dingle is head of the
education department at Gaoxin, she will continue to practice her
lying ways on unsuspecting foreign teachers. Until then, stay away
from the Gaoxin school like the plague!

Jada

Kathy Wong

(job) Re: New Dynamic Institute's Dirty Little Trade Secret by Jada Rufo Aug 29, 2008; 10:04pm :: Rate this Message: - Use ratings to moderate (?)

>
>
> Update:

I just got an e-mail from my supervisor saying that I "acted
unreasonable" because I refuse to talk with them. The last time
I "talked" with them we ended up arguing and I walked out of the office
in tears. How can they expect me to show my face and teach when I feel
like hell inside?

So today, my colleague agreed to switch campuses with me. I would be
at the Bell Tower and he would be in Gaoxin and we would all be happy.
Unfortunately because of bad weather conditions he was not able to find
a bus or a taxi to the school and therefore wasn't going to make it.
He did tell our supervisor his problem. But now I get this e-mail
saying that I refused to teach classes and that they will not schedule
any classes for me next week.

I will officially resign on Monday. I will NOT be patronized by a
impudent 26-year-old-pretend-to-know-it-all!

STAY AWAY FROM DINGLE!!!!! STAY AWAY FROM NDI!!!!!!!!

Jada

arioch36 · Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 3589

Do a search. About two months ago had a thread. One of the worst, stingiest contracts I have seen. They do not offer in the contract many things they should, so the initial salary offer sounds much better then it really is.
Consider when your time of would be, if you like weekends and nights off.

Also, as I remember their contract, they try to pull this breaks not included in the teaching time crap. Everyone teaching should know and insist that a teaching hour is a teaching hour. That is, one hour consists of 45 to 50 minutes of instruction and 10-15 minutes break time. This is how it is at all of our western unis, and also her in CHina. SOme of us allow the school to say ... oh you are only teaching 50 minutes, so they try to make people accept 26 hours of classes as being a "20 hour" teaching week.
Please don't fall for that crap. The school knows the scam they are trying to pull

Sansibar1 · Joined: 16 Feb 2008 Posts: 43

Thanks guys!

This sure is some great info for such a simple question.

Cheers!

tuvia · Joined: 29 Mar 2006 Posts: 34 Location: beijing

its probably wise to look elsewhere when there is some amount of displeasure being expressed about a school, but i am not so sure that i would put a lot of stock in the complainees views either.

number one was about students writing letters of critcism about their teachers, but then in number two she states that the school was trying to trick students into returning for another term by saying those (same?)teachers- whom they were encouraged to criticize- would be back. seems like peculiar marketing: 'we know the teachers are bad, you know the teachers are bad, sign up now for another term with the bad teachers'.

and of course, perhaps the deal killer, the promised birthday cake was not delivered; instead, only flowers.

probably might as well avoid the place, but i would be much more wary of unfairly withheld salary and/or other agreed upon benefits rather than cakes or letters or whatever.

Sansibar1 · Joined: 16 Feb 2008 Posts: 43

Good point.

I always try to stay objective with such critcism, but it does give you a basic idea of what awaits you.

I'll definitely try to collect some more information before I make my decision.

Thanks again.

Voldermort · Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Posts: 597

arioch36 · Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 3589

Voldermort made good points.

About students happy/ not happy ... a school tried pulling that on me to get out of paying some money. I went to the Province FAO. They sent a team to ask students and CHinese coteachers. My ratings were so good, that it has served me in good stead for the past five years. When any complaint comes up, they just refer back to that time.

This being said, at my current school, a private training school, I know that only very selective student feedback is written down... through the hand of one of the CHinese teachers. I was in the office with the Chinese "DOS", I have not yet signed my contract, and she tried to bargain me down saying how students did not have a good opinion of me. I asked to see this in writing .. answer??? she quickly changed the topic, saying it wasn't important, and how she was sure we could all do better in the future as we continue to work together.

Back on thread ... I don't know about these NDI gripes, but let me say again, their contract is extremely restrictive and doesn't offer many standard things (like full airfare) One of the worst contracts I have ever seen for a laowai.

The NDI I talked to claimed they couldn't change the contract terms, except salary, because it was a chain school out of ??? Wuhan?? Many SAFEA items were not on the contract. Even if the school raised the salary by 3000 yuan per month, wouldn't be worth it

Kirkpatrick · Joined: 27 Feb 2008 Posts: 205 Location: China

I used to work for NDI in Wuhan and they have the most B.S. contract under the planet. You must pay for all the visa costs, which are against the MOE(PSB) rules for hiring English teachers throughout China ... Also you must move into an apartment that they set up for you. You will shell out for this also, 3 months in advance all taken out of your check.. Which means if you do sign a contract with them you will only make 2,000 rmb per month for the first 3 months.

However, they do have a nice severence package, if you have enough cash to put forth and trust them. To the toon of 30,000 rmb. The big problem is trust.. Also,, the Chinese staff is as racist as all (can't say the word). In addition, the owner based out of Wuhan trains all HR staff, with the goal of controling foreigneers( keep them broke or they will leave).

The one positive they are known for (blanking over )the Foreigneeers, and the MOE knows and looks really down on them and you get to keep you Visa when you leave the shyte hole, like I did. This saves your new boss cash and give you room to play in China

Kirkpatrick · Joined: 27 Feb 2008 Posts: 205 Location: China

Well, more to add on NDI, They cancelled my Zvisa behind my back ..When I went to transfer my visa to my new school I found out I had in fact over stayed 2 months and had to pay PSB 5,000rmb... Luckly , my new boss was able to work out something with PSB so that I could stay in China and work... Definetely this is the worst of the worst in China... Stay far away from them.

YANKEE · Joined: 02 Nov 2008 Posts: 15 Location: China

Another story about NDI, similar to previous: BIG story before signing, then abuse afterwards. Chengdu, Sichuan is run by a Malaysian guy, Mr. Lee who's fresh from Toronto, who says he's a Phd, but in 'what'? I was put into a Corporate Training Program, which required I transport myself out to various company sites well outside the city CBD. Some were outside the 3rd-ring road: 15 kms away and CD taxis are non-existant. I had to organise this myself and was NOT paid for the time ! Somedays it took longer to get there and back than the 1.5 hour classes took !

The pay was late EVERY month and short EVERY month. Finally after 3 months of LIEs to my face and excuses for their non-performance, I left. Fortunately they didn't have my FEP / Visa so nothing happened afterwards.

The guy is the poster-boy for 'small-man-complex', be warned !

tanyujie · Joined: 19 Dec 2008 Posts: 9

I'm surprised to see this here. Or should I be? I was the one who wrote the original post on YahooGroups.

In response to the cake. True, I didn't want it but I got the impression that Dingle insisted on getting one. I also know that she has lied to other FTs on other occassions.

As for "bad case of culture shock" -- well I've lived in China from 1995 to 2005. Went back to the states for two years before returning to China. Let's just say it's Chinese business practice shock.

I will add one more thing. Most of my co-workers, both Chinese and foreign, who started out at about the same time I did, had left before I did. This place has a very high turn-over rate that is telling.

Jada

tanyujie · Joined: 19 Dec 2008 Posts: 9

[quote="Sansibar1"]Hi everyone,
Does anyone know about this place? Are they legit?

The one in Xi'an may be legit, meaning they may have a license to hire foreign teachers. When I was there, however, they didn't have a license to have foreign teachers. We were told that if the authorities came to visit the school and if they asked use questions, we were instructed to tell them that we were just "translators" or "interpreters". They said it would take 6 months to a year to get a license. Of course they told us this just after we signed our contracts. Had I known this I would have left earlier.

Jada

Sonnibarger · Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 320 Location: Wuhan

I would advise staying away from Wuhan NDI... there are countless horror stories about any number of things.. from Visa issues, not paying teachers, to refusing giving time off when a teachers father died.. they expected her to teach her class 20 minutes after she got the news... I have done some part-time work for them and seemed fine but I would never consider a full-time position.

GeminiTiger · Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 3:03 pm Post subject: ndi

NDI (WUHAN) IS GREAT.

You work 5 days a week. --er 5 NIGHTS a week. No air conditioning after 7pm! WOW! as a bonus, you will work FRI/SAT/SUN night! Wait.. we are not done yet.. you also get split shits! you can stay at the school all day 1pm to 10pm 5 nights a week without air conditioning! Woot!