In response to Guangzhou Worlda Cultural & Educational Consulting Services CO.LTD (Dan)

Looking at this forum, I see the OP is reveling in the fact that he's the only one who can actually say anything about Worlda. Well, I worked for Worlda as well. I'll let everyone know now, this is TL;DR. Read it when you have the time, or if you just enjoy reading stuff like this! :)

People don't go often online, find a companies [company's] message board, and rant about how great it is. People vent their frustrations online, rarely brag about happiness.

(Now that that's out of my system,) Well, people also go on message boards to expose half-truths and whole lies. So, how about I assist you, Dan, in enlightening our readers about the company, yeah?

(I've taught in other countries including my home country before coming to mainland China, and if there's anything I can say about other foreign teachers in China is that most of them take advantage of China's shoddily superficial standards for foreign teachers - coming here with nothing to offer yet demanding everything. Of course, this is already mentioned in the forum's ReadMe. I therefore digress.)

Granted, Worlda got me a decent apartment in a fair location (although, pretty darn far from the schools where I worked) with rent and utilities paid, in actually working WITH the company, many times I couldn't help but feel that I was being exploited (or "pimped" for lack of a better term) for the sake of giving the company a good name. My experience was basically a battle of not taking this company's approach to me as a teacher personally.

If I didn't like a school, I asked, and was granted a change.

*a-hem* Drop the comma after 'asked'; otherwise your sentence would suggest you were quoting yourself, and right after your conditional clause, instead of continuing with your main clause, you ending with a period thus making this a fragment. Local Chinese teachers are all over this. But, since I know better...

To be honest, I highly doubt it was because you asked. The contract already mentions that the foreign teacher will be bounced around at least once during a one-year contract and that the teachers aren't allowed to "complain about" or "refuse" the arrangement - "foreign teacher shall be understanding and cooperative" - lest they be subject to breach penalties. If it WERE because of you asking, chances are it was out of you already having a year or so under your belt with Worlda.

Both schools I worked at were extremely stressful experiences - An hour and a half to two hours commute one way both semesters plus being constantly heckled and harassed everyday by students and even some teachers for superficial reasons. At the first school, the moment I stepped into the office for the first time, two of local teachers labeled me as "another foreign jerk at our school that I have to share an office with" and thenceforth would drag their feet to even CONSIDER helping me if I needed it with something class related. Other times, they would have an exasperated attitude about it to the point where I'd just let them go and try to manage it myself. Company didn't change me despite my discomfort - wouldn't even help me at least get a new place closer to the school to at least shave off the stress of commuting through public transportation because it was apparently inconvenient for them and "a waste of time."

The other school had such a hostile environment towards me all around, it wasn't until I went against company regulation and actually complained to the leader of the curriculum department at the actual school that anything was even considered.

I would always mention these things to my Worlda supervisor - about how random students would purposely yell rude things through my classroom window at me, or bang on my windows and door and then run off or throw garbage into my classroom WHILE I WAS TEACHING - and at first, my supervisor would just blow me off with, "Ah, you don't have to worry about that because [that school] is our highest paying client. Forget about those guys. That's not important; just have a happy teaching at this school." Eventually, I was told that Mary Casey Wonderly (which, by the way, is NOT a translation of her Chinese name - not even if one were to consider English names with etymology equivalent to her Chinese name... just saying) was already aware and would handle it. ... Yeah, I finally got fed up and talked to Mary, and Mary acted like it was her first time ever hearing about the situations.

This was one of many instances of discomfort for me, and I'm more than sure that while there was some face-giving in this instance and others, there wasn't much of a regard for my situation. Just saying. Worlda's attitude about it was, "Well, you're just gonna have to deal with it. If you don't like, then I guess you'll just not get paid! Tell ya what, how about you just finish the rest of this semester out, and then afterwards you won't have to worry about it anymore... I 'promise.' Yeah? If you leave, you won't get paid. If you complain, you will be in breach of contract. If you try to handle this yourself, you might embarrass the company which will lead to you not only being in breach of contract, but you also won't get paid. You like that idea, huh?"

Their dragging their feet to at least call some kind of small meeting about it or something (which never happened) convinced me that the well-being and peace of mind of me, the teacher - or in this case, the product to be sold, if you will - was a distant third in Worlda's [Mary's] priorities to pleasing the school and ultimately getting that nice lump of private school cash.

So, I'd say that if you don't like a school, you'd better hope you're not at Worlda's top money-makers, or you're stuck there to truck it out unless you just up and leave. The clients are the company's priority - and you, foreign teacher, are NOT the client.

Recently I have been promoted to the International Human Resource Director, meaning that I will be in charge of finding, training, and keeping the foreign teachers happy.

Sounds like the job Mary usually pitched to guys who were either A.) on the verge of leaving/quitting or B.) totally sucked at the schools they worked. (Not to throw any shade at YOU, of course. I'm sure you're more of a C.) candidate: an individual of artistic talent, well versed in pedagogy, has expertise in handling people-to-people affairs in the professional realm and culturally diverse standards of management that would obviously make you quite the addition to the tour de force that is Worlda... I doubt you'd make this point if you were anything otherwise. Props to you, Dan.)

You will be placed at one or more of them. You might teach as young as kindergarten, or as old as university, depending on whats your preference and what's available.

I just got through bragging (maybe?) about you and already you're getting things arse-backwards. The company checks what's available FIRST, and after looking you up and down, will then put you into whichever one has the most digits flaring after it rather you like it or not. It's what Worlda calls a Survival Situation. Of course, this isn't necessarily the teacher's survival we're talking about. (And THIS is what we call e-x-p-l-o-i-t-a-t-i-o-n.) AFTER you've taught at the school they put you in, you're preferences might actually stand a chance at influencing the decision to change you again at the start of the next semester.

You will teach for under 20 hours a week. Maybe you'll get lucky and work 14, maybe 16, but never more then 20. If somehow you work over 20, you get a nice overtime pay. The hours are normal school hours, usually after 8AM and before 530PM.

Emphasis on TEACH. That means that on average, you'll have to teacher 30, 40 minute classes a week (6 classes a day average) plus maybe a weekend thing arranged from the company for overtime pay. This doesn't factor in the commuting, planning periods or weekend classes that were moved because of a holiday or event. And even though you may end up at a school that requires you to be there at 8am and not leave until 5pm, you will only get paid for teaching time in the classroom and penalised for anytime you set foot OFF campus otherwise, unless approved by a standing figure.

Following that stream, teachers may want to be aware that the gap between 16 class-clock hours and 20 class-clock hours is actually and entire extra full day of school. Two teachers could be making the exact same amount every month but working different hours.

From my experience, I needed some extra stamina to get through large classes (30-50 students) of 7-year-olds, 26 times a week along with living an hour or so away from the school. Meanwhile, another teacher would brag about living down the street from the school, only having 18 classes a week while still getting full pay for being "on call." Eh, what can you do...

My first semester, the company/contract told me that I'm subject to every arrangement made by the company, but no one actually told me that the arrangements had any specifics. I was under the impression that whatever I was told to do either by Worlda or by the school that has a contract with Worlda, I had to do it. Come to find out, I was doing things for the actual school that I didn't "have" to do because it wasn't "for the sake of the company." So, even though I did extra class hours at this Worlda-contracted school on top of the classes I was already teaching, I didn't get paid for it - (refer back to those priorities I mentioned earlier.)

But I can tell you, the growth and change in the last 3 years is tremendous (have you seen the new office?!)

Yeah, the contract is longer. There are more ways to penalise teachers to the point where the contract binds your hands and feet as the Chinese version demands maximum availability, maximum flexibility and maximum work effort lest you be subject to breach of contract. There are new local faces (with recycled English names - 'Locke' and 'Sophie', for example, were English names associated with Worlda staff, but have now taking on an entirely different physical form. Magic? Plastic surgery? Methinks not.)

New location, same mess.

And that office? You can walk into that new, fancy office and see nothing but the company showing its name to clients: advertisements to schools, brochures for clients and pictures from years ago - none of which show anyone from the past 3 years. Such a warm and inspiring environment for a foreign teacher, yes? No.

Think of it like this. If you're selling a product in Canada or America, and you wanted to find a factory in China, would you book a ticket to China, try to find a factory, and use your iphone translator to negotiate a contract? No, you'd probably hire someone to help you. That's Worlda, connecting China to foreigners.

Great, so I guess teachers ARE products in Worlda. That... explains everything. Just like a factory in China pumps out products to be sold to Canadian or American busy-folk, Occidental countries pump out white faces to be sold to Chinese schools to meet the needs of bourgeois local Chinese parents. That just made my day - thanks a heap, International HR Director Dan!

The hours taught are during the day, not nights, not weekends. Pay is always steady, and you get paid for holidays except for winter holiday and summer holiday.

And here you go again. You only get paid for "holidays" if the missed days due to the holiday are arranged elsewhere. That way, the foreign teacher can satisfy the required number of work days per month. And the company can easily require the teacher to work 28 days in a month that only has, say, 22 days available in the month with the holiday. I was told that this was part of Chinese Law; I guess I'll have to research that more. Of course, this rule (which by the way, is in the Chinese part of the may-or-may-not-be-even-90%-legal contract... maybe you read over it?) is highly bendable if the money-holders really like you or are intimidated by you (*cough* that is to say, if you're dating a local who doesn't work in the company *cough*).

O Guanxi, ye force that ne'er sleepeth nor slumbereth, nay for e'en a wink.

As part of ongoing training, sometimes Worlda employees (including myself,) will come to your school to watch you teach and give suggestions. We don't sit on the roof of the next building with binoculars.

The standards are so low for educators in China as it is, I thought about leaving this one alone altogether. But I will say that most of the training is the blind leading the blind. Teaching another language is a highly organic art and requires lateral thinking, an open understanding of culture and the ability to close the proper gaps between L1 and L2. Can't just assume that because you're an English teacher that your lesson will be perceived as though it were by Western, native English speaking students who are exposed to English even outside of class. That simply isn't the case in China.

Errrr... the last thing I need is some random "trainer" randomly waltzing into to my classroom, disrupting the environment I worked to orchestrate (no pun intended... especially if you knew what my "teaching job" was with Worlda), suggesting that I have my highly-competitive Junior 1 students play Simon Says instead of Sentence Racing because the students "maybe will think it is fun and interesting and you can teach them to dance well."

You may as well sit on the roof of the next video. There are many teachers with whom Worlda doesn't even have to come to your class. No one does. They just talk to the students and gauge your progress on the feedback of a 9 year old.

People talk about how Worlda posted their own positive reviews, but those are just a typed copy of what REAL Worlda teachers hand wrote, as you can see on their website.

Right, "10 years business leader experience" and "over 100 positions available"... and only 3 reviews. None of which, just noticing, were yours.

NEXT!