Ron

Reading your post, I have to say that this is one of the strangest complaints against BSK I've seen. And it also doesn't really add up. Looking around the internet, BSK has a few complaints against them, but almost all of them are from their first years (a few years ago now) when they were just "learning to walk" as a company. Your story seems incredibly one-sided, and is proved by your comments about Shanghai

I recently went to Shanghai to work for BSK. When I arrived they were not waiting for me at the airport like they promised. I had to find my own way to the temporary living quarters some 30 miles away.

A complaint like not picking you up at the airport, I could see happening. But there has to be more to this story. Generally in a situation like that, they would tell you to take a taxi, and they would reimburse you. But you make it sound like you had to trek across the desert. There seem to be some details missing here. How did you find the temporary living quarters? You must have had communication with someone when you arrived in Shanghai to tell you where you were going.

Then, nobody came to see me or called the next day.

Again, something is missing. So you're saying that from the moment you got to Shanghai you had no contact with the company what-so-ever?

So, after that I found the office in town.

The "temporary residence" is located very close to the office. This sounds like another trek across the desert.

It is only a temp agency, it doesn't appear to be a school at all.

BSK are an education service, neither a school nor a temp agency. They produce their own English program and have it taught by native English speakers. They do this by partnering up with schools. They are rated as the top English Education program in Shanghai. I want to, again, note the one-sided post. The way you've written it, you make it sound like some dingy little office in an old office building. The office is a three level building. The main floor is reception and workshop/classrooms. The second floor is management and conference rooms. The third floor is also management and coordinators.

The wonderful teaching technique they were proud of is only a primary book same as any you find at any asian school supply.

Argh! Again with the one-sided trickery! One book per semester, per grade. 7 grades (I believe, I don't do senior students). That's 14 books. Maybe, while you were searching the city for your living quarters and the office, you should have actually stuck your head in a bookstore and taken a look at the English materials available here. Anyone that has been, or is in, China, knows exactly what I'm talking about. The books were put together over the past five years, by both foreigner teachers, contracted education developers and Chinese staff. They're constantly being updated by our Teaching & Development Team. Five staff members consisting of two Chinese, one former Chinese teacher who has headed up this team, a native English speaker who is a developer and teacher, and lastly, another native English speaker and by far one of the most popular teachers in the company, who has received praise by the office, her schools, students, and parents, consistently for the last 6 years.

They would not even give me a ride to or from the living quarters to the office.

Again, the residence is not that far away from the office, and we have (this year) close to 100 teachers. I've been with this company for 6 years. I don't expect rides everywhere I go. If they need you to do a one off class somewhere, and it's out of the way, they'll arrange to give you a ride. But the rest is up to you.

The contract that says they will supply housing means nothing.

Your contract does not state housing is provided. If you agreed to work in outside areas of Shanghai (because most people want to be in the heart of the city) then usually housing is provided. But that's it. What sometimes happens, is people agree to teach these outside areas, then they arrive and take a look at how far away they are from the downtown and they don't have all the foreign amenities, and there's not a lot of English, and they tell the office they want to work the downtown. In which case, you have to provide for yourself.

They wanted 9,000.00 rmb for apartment rent up front, that's about $1,315.00 US.

That's a really odd number. Most apartments (well, living now in my 6th apartment, this has always been the case for me) ask for 3 months rent + 1 month deposit upfront. You don't pay monthly in Shanghai. It's quarterly. So, that means your rent was 2250 a month. Not a common amount (I mean the 50). Anyways, let's say that's correct. That's pretty good. That means (by your calculation of the 1315 USD) that you're paying $328.75 per month in a metropolis. When people arrive in Shanghai to teach, they're often a little broke. September can be a little financially dry for many teachers. Most landlords will agree to negotiate the first payment. I've always done it. So, you probably could have said to him, "I'll pay 4500 now and 4500 in October." Someone from the office would have accompanied you to a real estate agent (they do the rentals here too) in an area convenient to your teaching location. They would have translated the agent and the landlords of various places, and would have taken you around to see these places. This is usually done by one of our coordinators. Coordinators at BSK are mostly younger Chinese people (university grads) who can speak English (different levels) and are very pleasant and helpful. Since you forgot to mention it, I will.

Then, they wanted to take about half the salary for taxes and fees, their fees, leaving me with about enough to pay bills and survive.

Work anywhere in Shanghai, any job, and you're going to pay at least 10% taxes or more for a half decent salary. If you're not, then that is not legal. And trust me, of all the laws you DO NOT want to break in this country (read the papers) it's tax evasion! It states the taxes in the contract. And there are no other fees. You pay for your airfare and it's reimbursed at the completion of the contract.

*** I'm glad I previewed before I posted. I almost missed that. half your salary?!?! Please be more specific. I have never heard of this! 10% tax yes, half your salary no. This, to me, just seems like fiction.

The woman in charge was very rude and appears to hate foreign teachers. She railed on me in Chinese, but I got the drift of it.

There's a huge piece of this story missing. The woman in charge is very nice, and is quite protective of her company and employees, both foreigner and Chinese. She is a business woman, of course, to run such a large company. Let's just say this is true. She railed you out. Why? She's not crazy, I can vouch for that. She wouldn't just go insanely manic on you for no reason. What caused this? I've never seen her rail out anyone, and I'm not perfect, I've deserved a railing out once or twice, but she's always been (more or less) pleasant to me. I've certainly never been screamed at.

The people of Shanghai are very hateful toward foreign teachers and while I was there, I tried to get a room at 6 or 7 hotels that refused to rent to me. Sometimes the clerk would say yes and begin the paperwork and someone would come speak something to them, and they would just grin and say, no rooms.

Right. This just makes me laugh. The people of Shanghai are hateful to foreign teachers? Yes, they hate people teaching their kids. That's why BSK pays a pretty decent salary and has 100 foreign teachers teaching all over Shanghai. Because the people of Shanghai hate us. It's true! I was walking down this one street, and someone saw my textbook, and they all lit torches and started chasing me yelling "Die foreign teacher! Die!" When I finally escaped, I found that my name had been put on the "Enemy Foreign Teachers" list. Come on! Sounds more like you hate us! As for your hotel experience. There are two kinds of hotels in CHINA not just Shanghai. There are the foreigner approved hotels (safe and up to our codes) and the cheap cheap cheap Chinese hotels for not so wealthy Chinese travelers (there are a few). Some of them look nice, but for whatever reason, they're not licensed to hold anyone but Chinese.

Finally, I just got a cab back to the airport and came back to the states.

Can I get the movie rights?

I commented to this post because it was the funniest. There are a few posts on the internet about BSK, and some of them are even recent. When you see these posts, read them. Really read them, and ask questions. A lot of these posts are just simply not reality. There have been posts about specific staff members and management, and though I can't really vouch for every story out there. I can vouch that I've had my good and my bad with BSK. The difference is, the bad isn't that bad. Certainly not as bad as these stories I've seen popping up on the net. And even with my occasional bouts with management and other teachers, I'll state for the record, they're a good bunch of people.

Advice when looking for work in China. Read everything carefully. Read the company or school portfolio carefully. Read their feedback carefully. Read your contract carefully. Read about living in China carefully. What you'll see about BSK (from the feedback) is that on just about every site, when someone posts a rant about BSK, there are usually one or two teachers that respond positively. You don't see that very often from teachers in Shanghai. I can pretty much guarantee, if you come to Shanghai to work for BSK, you're not going to have the roller coaster adventure ride that Ron, here, did. Also, I'm just a teacher, absolutely nothing to do with management, hence my dry wit. This post does not reflect the actual management at BSK in any way. For those of you thinking about joining BSK and moving to Shanghai, it's an experience. There's a lot of adjustment, and in the beginning it's not easy, but it's doable and in the end it's really rewarding. And this is coming from someone just like Ron. 6 years ago I quit my job, abandoned my country, and decided to teach in Shanghai. What was going to be a year, turned into 6 years. It's been a ride, but mostly a good one.

Sincerely

Mr. I. Ron Butterfly

I recently went to Shanghai to work for BSK. When I arrived they were not waiting for me at the airport like they promised. I had to find my own way to the temporary living quarters some 30 miles away. Then, nobody came to see me or called the next day. So, after that I found the office in town. It is only a temp agency, it doesn't appear to be a school at all. The wonderful teaching technique they were proud of is only a primary book same as any you find at any asian school supply. They would not even give me a ride to or from the living quarters to the office. The contract that says they will supply housing means nothing. They wanted 9,000.00 rmb for apartment rent up front, that's about $1,315.00 US. Then, they wanted to take about half the salary for taxes and fees, their fees, leaving me with about enough to pay bills and survive. The woman in charge was very rude and appears to hate foreign teachers. She railed on me in Chinese, but I got the drift of it. The people of Shanghai are very hateful toward foreign teachers and while I was there, I tried to get a room at 6 or 7 hotels that refused to rent to me. Sometimes the clerk would say yes and begin the paperwork and someone would come speak something to them, and they would just grin and say, no rooms. Finally, I just got a cab back to the airport and came back to the states.

Ron