Job Discussion Forums

[Jeremyr6BC]

Hi board! This is my first post here..

I am looking into teaching ESL in China, and have a couple questions. First, is anyone familair with DD Dragon ESL school? I found their ad here: http://www.eslcafe.com/jobs/china/index.cgi?read=20357 . I am interested in applying, just curious if anyone has personal experience with this company. Secondly, I notice that most job postings have a september start date..I would prefer to go to china in late fall or even January if possible. Are there any decent jobs that have late starts like this?

Oh, I just thought of another question. DD Dragon offers 8000RMB for 25 hours, and 14,000 for 35 hours per week. 8000 seems low on the pay scale..I would prefer to 14000 of course, but 35 hours seems like ALOT. Is there anyone here that teaches this many hours? If so, how do you find it?

Thanks so much,

-Jeremy

[kev7161]

25/35 hours of what? Teaching? Teaching and office hours? Teaching and office hours and English "corners"? 8000 for 25 hours of work is different than 25 hours of teaching + little extras here and there where the hours could build up but your pay does not. 14000 for 35 hours is the same story. For example, you could go in at 9:00 AM and teach until 10:30, then not have another class until 4:00 PM (or something). What do you get to do in between? Do you have to stay at the school and do some lesson planning or student interviewing but it's not considered part of your 25 hours or is 25 hours all inclusive?

Also, most language schools hire year 'round and public schools and universities and so on mostly hire before the beginning of the school year and again before the mid-term Chinese New Year Spring Festival (so hiring would probably be late December to mid-January).

[samhouston]

I wrote a review of my experience with them here:
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=70333

8,000/mo isn't too bad, especially if you're sent to a craphole city where there's not much enticing the money out of your pocket. This 14k business I'm not sure about. I make that much now in a fairly relaxed (for a kindergarten) atmosphere, but at DD Dragon, I'd have no will to live after a few weeks of full time. It's easy and already laid out for you, but unless you have boundless energy, I'd stick to 25 hours. There's no office hours or English corners or any of that. When I was there, the rules were to show up 20 minutes before class.

DD Dragon wasn't that bad in retrospect, but I'd never go back, personally. The two biggies that you have no way of knowing beforehand are 1. management at the franchise where you are sent to work and 2. the apartment they give you. I was very lucky on both counts. The boss was really nice and even cooked food for me sometimes (and oh my God was she hot...even at 49), and I had a large decent apartment all to myself, ten minute walk from the school.

The chances are higher that you could end up with a typical $$$ boss who treats the Chinese staff like crap and creates an awful working environment in a hundred different possible ways, and you could be stuck in some bottom of the barrel slum with a lunatic roommate that goes through your stuff and stares at you while you sleep. If you ask Steven Molteno, Mr. DD Dragon himself, he'll assure you that the local boss is great, your stinking hole of a destination city is where he'd move to in a heartbeat if he could, and that any possible roommates will be top notch because he doesn't hire anyone but the best.

And I'm sure you can get a job with them later in the year or whenever you want, as they seem to always be hiring. Somehow, though, I don't think they're expanding quite that fast...

[TexasHighway]

No matter how you slice it, 25 or 35 hours is way too many for the pittance they pay. 12 to 16 class hours (45 min periods, not real hours) is the norm for every school i've taught at in the past eight years in China. I'd run like hell from this offer.