Hello to everyone here. I wish to infirm the readers of another typical Chinese school in Yinchuan, Ningxia, China. It goes by the name of Yinchuan Cambridge English and it is owned by John Zhong. Like so many other schools that you read about, this school likes to play all the same head games that so many others do. Pay is late, you are over charged for taxes owed and I found out just before I left that my taxes were not being paid to the tax department. You are not given lesson plans for your classes that you are going to teach till the day before the class. In this school you teach different classes every week and your schedule changes every week. You are asked to teach extra classes; do promo work at the last minute and often on your days off with no extra pay. You have to pay for your own taxi fares as you go all over the city to teach at their different campuses. John will tell you all sorts of wonderful things. Such as how the school will pay for you medical, visa etc and then you are asked to pay for these things. This is always done when John is off on one of his many business trips and the head master or vice head masters tell you that they know nothing of the agreement you have with John or what is in your contract but you must pay now!
I was told that I would have my own apartment but when I went to see it I was told that the school could not find one and that I would have to live one of the vice head masters. I called a Chinese friend of mine and in a half hour we were looking at an apartment but the catch then was that I was to sign the lease. This is not the first time that this school has hired a foreign teacher and supplied an apartment but the vice head master that I was dealing with on this said that she had no idea that the school signed the lease.

The school when I left were hiring Filipinos teachers to teach and the school has continued to play its head games with them too. These teachers went 2 months without their pay, they were given more classes to teach than their contract stated, called in to work on their days off etc.

So add Yinchuan Cambridge to the master list of schools to avoid! It is a shame that these schools do this to everyone. This is a great gig teaching ESL and lets share the good times.

Keith