I just wanted to clarify my story re Best Time International, as there seems to have been some confusion.

I did not hit anybody - child or adult. I was accused of having hit/grabbed one of the teachers round the head, but not one of the students. However, the story was evolving so rapidly that they probably would have accused me of this given enough time. As for the child in question (a young boy of about 10), i simply asked for him to be moved to another class, as he was about 3 years younger than all the rest, his English was non-existent and i thought that he would benefit from being moved to a lower grade class ( i had also asked the day before). The argument started because the Chinese teacher of the class concerned wasn't very happy about this (the English teacher was quite happy) and started shouting at me. I don't particularly appreciate being shouted at at any time, so i shouted back at her. Maybe with hindsight i shouldn't have done, but after 4 days of Best Time International i had pretty much stopped caring. If Chuck thinks that was unprofessional of me, then fair enough.

As for the rest of the post, though it wasn't a balanced representation of events, it was fair (i sent a weblink of the post to a guy who did the course with me and he didn't think it was inaccuarate). Chuck made a number of objections to what i had to say, which i don't have the time to respond to in detail. However, if he could have put up with all that i described for what i was being paid, then good luck to him. I don't think that my expectations for the course were unreasonable, but again, if anybody can teach for 8 hours a day with basically no facilities and only being able to eat cold mantou, then they are either truly dedicated or desperate.

As far as i am concerned, Best Time International were only in Chaotou to make as much money as possible, with little or no regard to how the course was actually to be run. Consequently, i think that i am perfectly entitled to criticise them. I cannot understand why this makes me a "jerk or how it would affect other foreigners teaching in China, but Chuck is entitled to his opinion, even though i think it's completely wrong. Incidentally, Chuck, i think the fact that they weren't paying the Chinese teachers was disgraceful. I wasn't surprised that they were unhelpful, but that didn't exactly help me.

As i said, i've been in China for 2 years and i've had to put up with some bizarre stuff. Now, i'm sure there are some pretty awful foreign teachers out there, but there are an awful lot of bad colleges and schools. In the case of the vast majority of postings on this website, i tend to believe the poster, as i know what China can be like. In my view, China is a place you come to for a short time to do a bit of travelling and then leave after 1 or 2 years: it is not a place to have a serious career (unless you work for an international school). The only reason that i've stayed as long as i have is because: a) i don't have the money to get home at the moment, and b) i have a Chinese girlfriend. Once i have the money, i will be leaving.