The name 'Eden English' should be enough to tell people that it's a training centre and not a school.
The behaviour that you described is typical of most, if not all, training centres in China.

The underlying message is simple....

STAY AWAY FROM TRAINING CENTRES UNLESS YOU HAVE A DEEP DESIRE TO BE SCREWED!

This sounds very much like a TC to me, therefore, not even gonna bovva as the aussie says. Watcha!

Wow, where do I begin. First, I was stating my perspective as a person who has been there. YOU ARE OBVIOUSLY NOT SUCH A PERSON. Second, stop being a hater. I have traveled to more countries than I can count and I have Masters of Education Degree. The school operates like any other English Cram School in China or Taiwan. In my experience, since I HAVE SPENT TIME teaching at multiple school in China and Taiwan among other places, is that they are a good school to work for.

I taught at Eden English for 6 months (2011-2012) and loved every minute I was there.

THE PEOPLE: The chinese staff was very helpful and never complained about doing anything I asked. Believe me when I say I asked for a lot and they did it all. I am very thankful for all they did because I have worked for other schools where asking them to even help me order gas or water was met with grumbles or the eternal "maybe later" response. The foreign staff is a lot of fun. Bunch of Brits and Scots mostly. They are easy going and everyone stuck together. Almost all the foreigners in the city know each other through someone in that office. It seemed like to me that they try to hire a wide array of personalities, maybe this is so they can try and fit teachers and VIP student better. There were some of us that liked to go for a drink a couple nights of the week and there was another bunch of us that threw dinner parties and watched the latest movie on DVD. (China doesn't care about copyright much so you can pretty much get what every you want for less than a dollar US. It's better than Redbox.

THE CURRICULUM: There are two types of classes VIP (VIP and V2P) and group class. The curriculum is mostly structured around the books they provide. There are lesson plans and a lot of teaching materials available. This school is perfect if you are interested in perfecting your teaching style because they leave it pretty open. Some of the VIP (one-on-one) and V2P(one-on-two) classes are specifically designed to focus on the students needs and wants. This school specializes in VIP type classes. If the school didn't have something you needed and it was within reason they were more than happy to have it picked up for you. The school's students ranged form almost 3 years old to adult.

THE CITY: Nanning is much nicer than other cities I had been too. It is known as the green city and the people are very friendly. In Northern China it is much different. I think that Southern China is a much nicer place to live and Nanning allows for teachers to easily go to Hong Kong or Vietnam on the weekends or vacation.

Yes, I would go again in a heartbeat.

I'm not one to reply to these sort of things nor have I even read the thread. Truth is I worked at Eden School in Nanning for almost a year and really have nothing bad to say about them. I thouroughly enjoyed my experience in Nanning and at the school. They have a very laid back but professional attitude towards teaching and if you're willing to embrace the experience they were very helpful with all the tough stuff with living in China like accomodation and especially the visa and have very helpful and friendly staff at hand for all the stuff like socialising and actually fitting in to where you are. The cc's (or course consultants) are super helpful and very nice when it comes to the admin side of stuff and I really felt like part of a team who were there to help the school and students as a whole. It really is tough to say negative stuff about these guys but I really did have a great year when I was there. Not sure if this is what you do on one of these sites but if you did have any specific questions let me know... my email is tommyatat@hotmail.com.

Cheers Tom

I was asking for a letter for you stating I got the job so I could apply for the proper working visa, which you took a few days to reply to, then saying you sent the letter and never did!

Eden Gardens - which visa were you supporting Claire to apply for?

Claire - which visa did Eden Gardens tell you to apply for?

If it was the 'z' visa then you'll have needed an official letter of invitation & foreign expert certificate.

18 days certainly is a long time and as the email revealed the school had jumped through certain bureaucratic hoops to the extent to her a letter of invitation so I can see why they would be frustrated. That being said the tone of the email that they've sent is very unprofessional.

I too have recruited for a school in China and I know it takes a lot of work to separate the wheat from the chaff (and there is a lot of chaff out there!). But the work doesn't stop once you've found the right teacher. From my own experience, i can look back at the chain of emails sent to incoming teachers each of which is between 50-70 emails long! They'll ask all manner of questions about the school, academic content, the classes they'll teach, the area, the visa process, etc., etc. Accepting a job in a country 1000s of miles away after only having a skype interview can be quite a daunting prospect particularly if the school then isn't on the ball in replying to you about any queries you have. This is what Claire seems to allude to in the first part of her post and it would probably be just a useful to know what communication there was (or wasn't) between her and the school that prompted her to make the decision not to come after all.

Finally, Claire's decision not to go because she had doubts is far better than justing closing your eyes, crossing your fingers and jumping feet first into the minefield that is ESL. Most of the problems that teachers report on this board are probably the result of just that kind of thinking or lack there of. The school itself has admitted in the email that they think Claire accepted too quickly and without giving the position due consideration. But If that were the case then the school is as much to blame for the situation as Claire is - why rely on someone you believe to be unreliable in a given situation?

I know I'm late in replying here but this is more for the benefit of others looking for reviews of Eden English School in Nanning, China and are considering taking a job with them! I accepted a job with them but after the content of the contact I had with them after accepting, I begin to have a bad feeling about them and decided not to take the job! Boy, am I glad I turned them down!!! Take a look at their response to my decline of their offer!

Dear Claire

Sorry for not getting back to you yesterday but I was busy explaining to one of the staff why they will have to cancel the holiday they booked last week due to your unexpected late change of mind (once you told me you were applying for your visa I said it was ok to book as normally that's a sure sign of commitment). That makes two of you feeling sick now!

Tom did make a good point, though, and I think it's worth passing on: what if you had bought your visa and tickets (as he had, but only a small penalty for cancelling so don't worry about that) , and then we sent you an email saying we had actually thought about it and decided to withdraw our offer? I think he does have an interesting point. 18 days is a long time to leave it, isn't it? it's the longest in my memory, that's for sure.

I told him you'd probably agreed too quickly, plus you'd only given it thought and consideration after accepting, rather than doing that before, as is the norm. Everyone has their own ways, I told him, and that's what makes it interesting.

Anyway, we've cancelled the letter of invitation, so no need to worry about what to do with it, but best to rip it up in case anyone else tries to use it, as they will be in for nasty shock at the airport. I think you would have liked the flat we had found for you. I know our property staff had put a lot of effort into it and were glad to have arranged a good deal for everyone. Here's hoping the landlord takes your news better than Tom!

Right, I'd better get back to looking for a teacher again.

Hope you're feeling better now, and that you get your energy back to go and do something. Better weather soon, so best to enjoy it.

Belated Happy St Patrick's Day!

ed
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I have no experience with them but did a Google search. Saw no reviews but did see the latest ad from them over at Dave's Chez Fasciste.

They make it sound good but that salary they offer is awfully low, even for Nanning.

They also use a tactic I really hate: they justify their salary by claiming that the "average local salary" is only 800 RMB per month.

What they DON'T tell you is the lifestyle/standard of living enjoyed by a person making 800 per in Nanning...a dreary, dull gray life of boredom, routine, discomfort, rice-and-vegetables... It will take YOU many times the "average local salary" to achieve a life that won't send you screaming for the nearest airport and a ticket back home.

I also like to point out that you probably aren't coming to China just to work and exist...you're coming here for some travel, some fun, and some adventure. It takes MONEY to make these things happen- please make damn sure you're getting paid well enough to meet some of your goals...not just all of theirs.