Re: Beijing New Oriental Foreign Language School-WARNING!!!

I was curious to see what other people are saying about BNOFLS after I came across a similar (same?) posting on another web-site. This has just caught my eye, so I'll respond to this one too...

I used to work at the BNOFLS in Yangzhou... or Camp X-Ray as I called it. This school disgusted me and I was sickened at what went on there. I was lucky enough, however, to negotiate an early termination of my contract that enabled me to begin the next job I had already lined-up. (I actually started job-hunting and secured a new post at another institution within several weeks of arriving at BNOFLS when I realised I'd been taken in by a sales pitch that did not mirror the realities of working there, let alone being able to deliver the goods).

This means I had to stomach this school for only one term while I formulated an exit strategy, but I made up for the distinct lack of job satisfaction during that one term by undertaking (non-paid volunteer) teaching jobs off-campus that were far more gratifying than anything BNOFLS was ever capable of producing. These include giving up most of my weekends to teach a student who entered (and won!) the regional English Speaking Competition, as well as having the pleasure to receive one-off invites from various not-so fortunate schools further afield to be a 'guest teacher', to which, I was more than happy to volunteer my services.

What I'm saying, is that only when I was away from BNOFLS did I regain a sense of direction to engage in what anyone can confidently call 'teaching'. When at last, I was mercifully free of BNOFLS I was surprised at how many more opportunities came my way to expand upon my existing activities without feeling like I'm stuck inside a glass box all the time. I had the chance to do cross-cultural seminars (an interesting departure from English teaching), participate in more energetic English clubs, help other schools with preparation and administering examinations, and even help out in classes teaching a language other than English. Being one of two foreign teachers from Yangzhou selected to meet a visiting delegation from the sister city programme was also an honour.

It was great experiences such as these mentioned above that made China such a wonderful country to live and work in and I would recommend it to anyone. Do not be put off by my bad experience of one institution that anyone reading this would probably now want to avoid. China is an amazing country with thousands other great schools!

But if you want to avoid feeling embarrassed every time someone asks you where you work, as I often did, it pays to do a bit of checking beforehand so as to avoid making these types of 'wrong turns'.

ST.
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Note: I have deliberately avoided the use of terms that may constitute slander against BNOFLS. Any opinions or impressions formed from reading this post belong entirely the reader. What is written here are my own thoughts based on actual experience.