That is so fucked up. Chinese (at work at least) dont seem to have a conscience or any morals. If it was me that would want to make sure the boiler door was locked or i would throw them in it first chance i got. Regards

Michael

Exactly what it is intended to mean. He was locked in dark, hot room with rats for company, until he complied with their behaviour. As he wanted to get out, and get his salary, he soon apologized.

First mistake: Getting involved with the teaching of Chinese teachers. Mind your business unless you like bouncing from school to school or program to program. You're trying to make policy with downtrodden fools and you will always come out the loser. Put the blinders on and collect your check. Second mistake: You weren't "dancing monkey" enough. You're not a teacher you're an "edutainer". 90% of teaching positions in China for foreigners are "carrot-on-a-stick" positions. "Hey look at us we have a foreign teacher and he/she is really popular with the students". It's: demoralizing, insulting, depressing, and horrendously abusive. You're not there to teach you're there to get Chinese parents to spend money on sending their kids to that school. Third: Your position was "bait and switch". The salary you were drawing was high for Chinese schools. They probably couldn't get anyone so they made a deal with you to get you in and then replace you later with a cheaper teacher. That's all that was. Everything you were told served this purpose. They only want to pay 9000 to 11000 RMB. Legitimate schools will send you the contract back signed and stamped before you go. My strategy is to get four or five contracts in front of me and then see who is trying to play me. Call it what you want but you'll be surprised how well you can sift through the B.S. Bad contracts or offers become blindingly obvious. Always be suspicious of schools who give themselves cute western sounding handles like: sino Canadian, maple leaf, or Cambridge. In China they can get away with using these tags because no one can enforce the licensing or name scamming. Always ask to speak to a western teacher on staff. If they refuse or balk; WALK. Fourth: make friends with the male staff, find out who the faux leader is and when is drinking night. The male teachers run the "pig-pen" at the schools and drink together at least once a week. Go and drink "one-by-one". Get puking drunk with these guys once and you'll be golden. Do it once a month and you'll be virtually untouchable. Hug, shake hands, yell greetings in Chinese every time you see them and it's heaven. I know of one foreign teacher (and this is sickening, vile behavior) who can literally physically molest the women in the school and the headmaster just laughs it off. Make money or be poor. When in Rome. Peace.

Working at CIE Yinghua a.k.a. The sixth floor. A list for those considering from a survivor of 2015: (Western and foreign are used throughout as the same)

Pros - There are some decent human beings to be found there as colleagues and some switched on students.

- If you enjoy teaching your subject then you will find willing and able learners on the sixth floor.

- Working there probably makes you count your blessings and will spur you on to greater things.

- Teaching here is stress free - working here and being in the office here is highly stressful.

Cons - Opinion: The school is in Wu Qing - arguably the biggest hole between Beijing and Tianjin. Langfang is arguably better. WuQing: A no man's land of barren culture and polluted scars. This is not a place to raise young children. You will need gas masks and 'hepa' filters throughout your stay - you might as well live in Beijing or Tianjin and enjoy your time here as you will spend all your time wishing you lived there!

- Fact: This is not a place to work for those who enjoy team work and collaboration - it isn't fostered from above and attempts at teacher or student trips are quelled often in the name of 'The Tianjin Education Department's Rules.' As a foreigner you have no comeback to this.

- Fact: Non existent management is non communicative and so nothing is organised or expressed to foreign teachers until the eleventh hour.

- Fact: Yes there is a principal called Lin, yes there is a UCAS man called Yun, yes there is a Student Affairs officer Jane, yes there is a HR representative called Jia Ru, yes there was a Western teachers manager called Rose but not one of these people has/had the power to see through their visions. It was and is a ship without a rudder, captain, compass or map.

- Fact: Contracts are not always honored: health insurance wasn't purchased nor comprehensive until all teachers threatened a walk out and one teacher was hospitalised.

- Fact/Opinion: Medical care in Wu Qing is third world quality and completely substandard to anyone with basic medical knowledge.

- Fact: Students always know what is happening before Western teachers and Western teachers have no guaranteed termly calendar - working days are added and deleted at a whim.

- Fact: The swimming pool and gym do not exist. Rather, the swimming pool has not had water in since 2003 according to the website photos.

- Fact: It could be so much better and oh my the students do want it to be! It is very frustrating to become so powerless in this establishment and to be at the whims of such incompetence.

Objective review? Probably not. The usual chirpy office banter and joshing among foreign teachers made the year survivable for most and no doubt all those who felt jaded will in time forgive and forget. But to those who are going to continue to be a part of this establishment's short term, high labour turnover and corner cutting model of education you should know what you're looking at or being sold.

Would any of those with options stay? No. Should you go there? You decide. Hope this helped.

What do you mean by future dates? ya lost me. Oh and if there are any mistakes let me know. My post is less of a review/reply and more of a short essay. however i wanted to lay down as much detail as i can.

On level 1 I had to yell at one of the female Chinese English teacher’s for slapping one of the male students across the face.

Here is where you slipped up in the eyes of the Chinese. I would say you are lucky to still have a visa, and not have been deported! FT's have been booted out for lesser transgressions.

No GW, but what is Chinese, stays Chinese.You did the noble thing....but the Chinese won't see it that way.Imagine if some of the male Chinese teachers had locked you in a boiler room until they demand you not interfere again.....an FT actually endured that once, on relation to me by an American friend. If you don't like it, save the cash, and leave and never come back. You wan't change the Chinese, no way jose!!!

Good luck whereever you are now though man.

TIANJIN YINGHUA INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL. DON’T EVER WORK THERE. THEY REPLACED ME WITH 1 DAY’S NOTICE AND THEY TOLERATE TEACHERS WHO PHYSICALLY PUNISH STUDENTS. Avoid anyone there called Rose, Jane (they are on Level 6, Cambridge Department) and Lin (head principal).

I started teaching Biology for AS and IGSCE level in the Cambridge Department on level 6. I was there from late August 2015 till October 20th 2015 when I was replaced with 1 day’s notice.

On a Sunday I got a text message from Rose (one of the department heads on level 6) to come to the office. She wanted to talk to me and me to clean out my desk. After repeatedly asking why she eventually told me I had been replaced. When I refused to come to the office till I talked to Principal Lin (he is the head principal of the school) first I found out on the Monday that my desk was cleaned out without permission and my stuff put into a box. I spent the following week chasing up Principal Lin (who I felt was avoiding me) and talking to Rose and Jane (another department head) to get some answers. Eventually I found out that they had complaints about my teaching (forgetting names, appearing disorganised etc.). I tried to explain to them that if there were complaints I should’ve been given some feedback so I could improve. Jane said that wouldn’t have done any good. They seemed to have trouble understanding that replacing someone with one day’s notice is wrong and unprofessional. Rose and Jane also told me that the decision to replace me was sudden. The new biology teacher who replaced me came to work 1 day later, on the Monday (the other teacher’s in the department didn’t even know this till he arrived) so I didn’t believe them.

When I talked to Principal Lin about this he too didn’t understand why what they were doing to me was wrong. When I reminded him that we had a contract he told me that he didn’t sign the contract so therefore he didn’t break it nor did he need to follow it. He also told me he wasn’t going to sign it till after 2 months (the impression I got was there was a 2 month probation period but it was not clearly defined in the contract). Finally when I tried to chase up the school for my August salary (my contract started mid August) the school’s position was that they would only pay me from the beginning of September when class started. Eventually Principal Lin gave me 2000y to make me go a way. I was not happy, I was owed more, but felt that it was better than nothing at the time. Now to be honest some of this was my fault. I should’ve chased up the principal for a signed copy of the contract but at the time I trusted him and thought I would get it later.
I can understand a teacher being replaced with one day’s notice for gross misconduct but I made no secret of being new to biology teaching (I am studying a teaching degree right now) and I have been told by several other teachers that even if I did make mistakes I should’ve been given appropriate feedback and time to fix up any mistakes before being replaced. With my visa running out they sent me to work as an English teacher on level 1 (under a new contract and reduced salary from 15000y after tax to 9500y after tax). I wish my trouble had ended on level 6 but it did not.

On level 1 I had to yell at one of the female Chinese English teacher’s for slapping one of the male students across the face. After yelling at her I thought that the rest of the teacher’s understood that what she did was wrong and that would be the end of it (its illegal to do this in China). However, on April 10 2015 I saw one of the male Chinese teacher’s (the department head no less!) physically punishing one of the male students with a block of wood (looked like a door stop) and using it on the students upper thigh. I wont go into the specific details of what I said but I got very, very angry and threatened to hurt the teacher and told him to try it to me. He didn’t understand English but he got the message. I sent a formal email and several text messages to Principal Lin but he didn’t reply back. I also tried to meet him but he was too busy to meet. I found out later from him that because I got very angry at the teacher that the impression I gave was not good and so he didn’t believe my email. I got the feeling that someone complained about my outburst in the office which discredited me. I admitted to him that was I said and getting angry the way did at school was wrong. However I also told him that because there are no rules or policies to dictate what a teacher should do when they see something like this, that my reaction was appropriate at the time. I like to think this has been fixed up but after him not deliberately signing my Cambridge contract, being cheated of most of my August 2015 salary and replaced with one day’s notice, I don’t trust him or the school. Rumour also has it that at least one other foreigner has been cheated of some salary, the school skims the salaries of the Chinese teachers and there are stories about some foreigners not being paid social security.

Finally while my experience at this school has been mostly bad most of the foreigners at the school were very supportive and sympathetic and the Teaching Assistant I worked with on level 1 was also a VERY good teacher and great to work with.

If you would like more information please email me at 1400899306@qq.com . Regards, Michael

All very strange, is someone joking about?

Perhaps the forum thought you had relocated to Italy, hahahaha

Hahaha! No no, no mistaken ID on my part! It is good to see you are still here in spirit. When does that upstart SB get his comeuppance then?

Renewing your contract and visa at an institution that you recognize is corrupt makes you morally complicit.

Maybe you don't want to run out on students whom are not to blame for the school owners. Maybe one feels morally bound to sacrifice ones own peace of mind. 'Fraid things are not always black and white. I understand you have skedaddled from a few schools in China and had precious little consideration for the welfare of the students!?? Is that true or do I confuse you with another?

Good Morning Beth, to update, the owners of the school just got out of prison, and recently visited, making claims of wanting to invest to update the school campus,(some labs have no been used in 10 years), of course, no one really believes this nonsense, but boastful talks need to be made to keep up appearance. Most all the A-level teachers are finding new homes FAST, as things are going from bad to worse. The school has totally screwed up all the foreign teachers visa's, by simply not applying for proper visa, a breach of contract, so many of us are scrambling to get proper visa's outside the school. Luckily we do have a good visa professionals that can help in converting the visas, but need to go from Z to T back to Z, because of the school's screw up's. My friend is still in the school and we don't wish to make too many waves, as when we were there, we were both relentlessly harassed and don't wish to bring the wrath of HR harassment upon my friend. Once she is out, we'll file legal charges against Lim for criminal activities; breach of contract, blackmail, intimidation, and a few other violations, against HR for harassment, and aiding in breach of contract, against Jane Wang for blackmail and intimidation. I'm fully aware this will be totally worthless, less the fact I can notify potential students, teachers, and others that these charges are files, and participation in this school could be considered aiding and abetting in criminal activities. Too we will notify the owners, whom might be a little concerned over more legal activities against their holding school, as they just spent 5 years in jail. With the court case in hand, we can do mass media blasting and really raise the awareness of corruption in the schools, to the point we're now writing an article titled; "When criminals run China schools", should get some mileage in foreign media, as they always love to show China in a poor light.

As for my friend, she has published many papers and is known by many higher education professionals in China and UK, and one of the few that can teach higher A-level math. As for self, I've held the position of Head Master and Head of Academics at Cambridge, and have worked over 2 years now to open our own school to offer a more complete education to our students.

So again, who are you suggesting they take action against?

If the school is not part of a parent franchise and is a privately owned school that gained Cambridge accreditation, who else but the owners of the school and the management thereof would you hold responsible in order to take action against?

If there are criminal charges then that would relate directly to the individuals who had committed a crime, so it would be the local teachers and/or management team. I suspect the op meant to say civil charges in which case there would be responsibility on the part of the parent company unless proof was obtained showing they were complicit to any criminal activity.

You are correct that more details from the op would be useful.

You are suggesting legal action against whom, then?

We've worked on the 6th floor and it's been hellish, the stress and targeted harassment has been extreme. My friend, ranked the top teacher in Tianjin, said, by far, this was the worse school ever worked in over 20 years teaching. We're starting legal criminal actions against the staff and management of this school, if any teachers had similar experiences please write, as we're pushing this issue.