Job Discussion Forums

[LongShiKong]

Anyone know about Longman Schools in Beijing for 3-10 yr olds? Owned by Pearson, the world's largest ed. publisher who took over Wall Street English in 2009, I'm assuming they'll quickly capture market share. I figure I won't have to worry about the quality of teaching resources if I work for them.

I find it strange that given the volume of postings on franchise schools, there's only one for Pearson (in Shanghai) here and the only one I could find about Longman Schools was this rant which reveals more about the poster than the school:
Longman Teach the English Language to China's Youth?
Longman and the Machiavellian Business of English Language Education in China
MOD EDIT

[mat chen]

I have found after twenty years in the business that Longman produce the best materials. But like everything in China there are no rules about using anyones names. Beijing is knock off country. "Ya wanta to buy a genuine immitation Rolex watch?" In Shanhai you have to fight your way onto the subway to get by all the people selling ripped off lap top computers.

[LongShiKong]

[sainthood]

Personally, I'd only trust it once I'd gotten the message direct from Longman in the US first...

What would happen if they tried to sue? Close down and disappear.

One email isn't going to hurt!

[LongShiKong]

I concede there is a legitimacy issue with the name. The American site is http://longmanschool.com/ and on http://pearson.com/global-websites/#PEARSONLANGSCH there's a direct link to Shanghai's legitimate Longman operation at http://www.longmanschools.com.cn/ (note the plural 's' in school) and the Wall St franchise they bought out. However, in searching for their Beijing schools, I located a Lianyungang 'franchise chain' cybersquatting at http://longmanschool.cn/. It goes by the name 'Lianyungang Longman English School' and claims it 'was authorized exclusively to use Longman Backpack textbook'. It won't surprise any of you to know there's a school with that name too. A recruitment ad states: 'Longman Backpack English is a famous franchise that is found all over China'.

I guess then if I want to work for the real McCoy, I'll need to stick to Shanghai. Their recruitment page is http://www.longmancareers.com/

[LongShiKong]

I clicked on the TEFL.com ad to 'visit the Longman Schools Beijing website' again and this time noticed the URL was not Longman's, but in fact: http://www.dellenglish.com/ However, the page makes no reference to Dell, only Longman, even copyright info. Had Longman bought Dell too I wondered as I Googled? Apparently so. Back in May 2008 they acquired a 50% stake in Dell English but I also found this:

Dell English Compensate �200,000 to Dell Inc. (for trademark infringement in 2006)
http://www.wptn.com/wptn-in/Mailing/Feb_2007_3/details/trademarks/dell.html

I worked for Dell briefly that same year after leaving New Oriental which it seems they strove to emulate. I guess �200,000 was peanuts for the prestige of being associated with... a computer manufacturer?

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

People do not usually post good reviews of schools unless they have some purpose unknown to readers. These could include recruiting for the school, finding a replacement for oneself, finding a worthy co-worker to join the team, being ordered to do so by the boss, the boss trying to do damage control on negative reviews, or even paid advertisement.

People who post negative reviews of schools also have a reason to do so. This could be sparked by unfair or abusive treatment. It could be because the school failed to follow the contract, it could be due to unpaid wages. It could be because the teacher was fired and he or she has an axe to grind, or it could be competition between other schools themselves.

That all said, the fact that there is not a lot about Longman suggests a positive thing, in my opinion.

[LongShiKong]

By the way, to verify a link between Dell and Longman, I came across an industry profile that might interest some of you:

Post-Olympic Foreign Language Training Sector in China
By Ivan Lee , Zero2IPO Research Center
Updated: 2009-08-13 14:00:43
http://www.pedaily.cn/Item/194118.aspx

[ExcaliburZ]

There are two Longman Schools on the mainland, Beijing and Shanghai. Pearson Longman bought controlling interests in two local Chinese schools (Learning in Shanghai) as well as Wall Street English. They are all owned by Pearson and not knock off or fly by night schools.

disclaimer- I world for Longman Schools Shanghai.