TO
Silverboy Date 2008-08-22
Re: EF Fuzhou

Maybe I should give you the benefit of the doubt. If you really are making some progress in turning around what was a previously crap franchise, then obviously that is a good thing. I would suggest however that the teachers there be given plenty of latitude to try out different methods and strategies. Believe me, this "one size fits all" approach that is adopted by most franchise schools is a recipe for disaster. Also, do not take any notice of owners, those stupid goons don't know what they're doing. Tell them what you think they want to hear, and then just do your own thing.

You have hit the nail on the head here, My current boss (well the owner) (she is a great woman) doesn't know anything about teaching, she employed me and had the school principal get a list of what i will be teaching to what classes. after the basic "first week, words ...bla bla bla. sentence ... bla bla bla. second week, rods ..bla bla bla... ect ect.
I am given complete control of how to teach it and am given free rule on if it is appropriate to teach it, if its not. delete and fill in what i want to teach.

unfortunately i left that job for another kindergarten in Nanjing, that kindergarten turned out to be shockingly bad, some rules for some teachers, other rules for the new staff (ie me). I left after one week. I had spend around 10,000 rmb getting there and renting a house. only to decide to leave, so i left with 1 week left on my old Z visa, went straight back to my old boss who had filled my position. but she found a space for me in a different city in one of her schools. only a shame i left in the first place, as i went from 12.5 hours a week with no office time to 20 hours a week with no office time. 8k flight. 8k a month. paid summer holiday as normal working hours. ect ect.

BUT she has now brought in a manager who is making life difficult, the manager has ZERO experience in teaching and only got the job as she is related to the boss (as it goes in china).
So what was a beautiful set up with fantastic classes and a massive demand for places, has been destroyed by a profiteering manager. Now im trying to deiced if i can stay for the years contract or move to my wife's home town and try and get funding to open up our own school.

what a shame.

In a previous job near Beijing, our DOS was bloody annoying, when will they learn we want 3 things.
1) freedom in our jobs.
2) no sitting around /sleeping in the office because our contract says we must be there.. we want to go home.
3) STOP pushing us. we do what we do, we enjoy it, we bring in new students, we have fun while teaching, we know what we do and how to do it. so bugger off.
(although to be honest, she did leave and that made our job so much easier, the management counted their cash and apart from periodically giving us new objectives for us to break and give excuses for not achieving, they left us alone.