Dear fellow TEFL teachers,
I accepted a position teaching English in China. I have arrived, signed the contract and been teaching for exactly one week. The problem is that the position is not what I had been hoping for, and I fear through my naivety I have committed myself to 5 months. My concerns can be outlined as follows:

-The advertisment suggested that the 'school' was situated in a large, tourist city. I subsequently looked up the city and found that it was a decent sized city, probably home to some other foreigners. I was picked up at the airport, travelled to the 'school' and found it was not as described but more of an intermediary, a recruiter body for schools. I had been treated very well by the institution thus far and was not particularly suspicious. I signed the contract, with its various onerous clauses and was then taken to a much smaller town. It is bereft of any form of entertainment and I am quite simply bored stiff. It is a very run down place with no foreigners, and noone speaks English. I am quite eager for cultural experiences, but accepted the position with the impression that I would be able to have a 'support group of foreign friends'.

-The contract seems to follow the standard chinese tefl contract. (I forget the acronym used) My contract finishes at the end of June. There is a clause stipulating 500 dollars is payable in the event of a breach. My question is this; is a simple tender of notice (one month) a breach? Surely, this would fall under the basic right of any employee under contract law and would therefore not provoke any breach penalty?

-I have read that in order for the contract to be valid it must contain a series of numbers in red ink at the top right hand corner of the page. Mine does contain numbers, but simply the date in series in black ink. Does the absence of this affect the validity of my contract? The contract advertises the provision of free Chinese lessons as one of the obligations of party A (the employer). However, I have not received these. It seems to be the case that my Chinese assistant will answer any questions I might have about Chinese rather than any structured form of lesson.

I still enjoy teaching my classes and do not want to leave China. However, I won't be able to tolerate this boredom for another 4 months! Any suggestions, please!

My apologies for my ambiguity re location and company. I am still working for them however.

G