Yes, I would agree with parts of the previous posts. I worked for Irene in 2006-2007. She really tried to get the most out of you in a very obvious way, and she would send us teachers to a variety of places for work, sometimes an hour away. Guanghan was the worst. But she ended up losing that contract, from what I remember. The commute was so long that a few times we were actually late due to accidents and weather, and they didn't like that. On the upside it was interesting to see what it was like in smalltown China (it sucks).

Anyways, at first it was really annoying, but after some soft persuasion on Irene and crappy teaching I was able to get out of the less desirable gigs and into a consistent job teaching at Shude for most of the week. Oh, I should say how I got out of teaching little kids too... the factory-owning nouveau-riche parents don't like it when a foreigner disciplines their brat kids, it seems. So the parents complained and I was replaced haha. That was unplanned, to be sure, but it is helpful advice.

That being said, I usually worked 15 hours a week, and I don't think I ever went past 24 or below 8. Irene just didn't have enough work for us. I would say it would be around 60-70 RMB an hour of work that I was doing. I made sure to keep tabs on that stuff. Given the commute times, I would say that I spent 20 hours on average doing school related travel or work. One complaint was that it was spread out over six days (I had one day off). And during the Moto training session we spent more time commuting and working (going up to 30 hours a week spent doing work and travel), but that was only two months, I believe. I remember this in particular because it took time away from my application prep for grad school... spent typing up essays in smoky wangbas haha. Also, someone claimed that you don't get breaks... this isn't true. We got off the national holidays, just like all the nongmin in the country.

Don't forget too, that it isn't hard at all to do private tutoring on the side. I did this and made some easy money. The tradeoff with doing freelance work, as my friend at New Times started doing when he and Irene got into a spat and he quit (or was fired) is that it can be inconsistent in coming. Having the steady income was good (Irene didn't gip me), as I observed when my friend was a little dry on cashflow at times. Plus, he was teaching at random places in a manner just like we did at New Times, of course for more. And he did get some golden eggs too, but these were few and far in between. I don't know exactly how the other ESL schools were, except for a few people that taught at the Golden Apple preschool (They were paid more, but they have to deal with little kids all the time).

I was worried about what to expect when I first arrived, but I was happy to meet a few long term expats from the US and Canada that would have helped me out if I was being cheated by Irene. They had good relations with her, it seemed. I was also warned by a "true Christian" teacher who was leaving New Times about Irene's pushy ways. I say true Christian because he was one of the few missionaries I met that actually represented what I consider true Christian values (modest and friendly, didn't drink, had a family with his American wife), and wasn't their explicitly to convert to get bonus points with the man upstairs. He led by example, is what I want to say... Just my 2 cents.

Irene did send me, on my agreement, to some places in other provinces to do some work for an agricultural business. It was an interesting opportunity to travel. I think some of my coworkers were even a bit jealous. Haha.

Another thing I want to say is that I broke my contract and left about 3 weeks before I was supposed to... I was worried she was going to renege on paying my security holdings of 1000 RMB per month that was being held to prevent teachers from leaving and going to other ESL schools. She did pay me in the end, after some tense conversation, so I have to say she honored her end of the bargain.

She is a business person, so you have to be firm and know your bargaining position. I think the bottom-of-the-barrel teachers that are in China know how the game works, so they don't give a shit about professionalism or showing up hungover as long as they are in class on time. They also know they can easily jump to another province and get another teaching job with no problem. As an ESL teacher you are an asset, and you must know that she makes money off of you, and has invested some effort and money with the visa process, and in turn doesn't want you to quit. Unless you plan on staying in the province (since Irene most likely did the paperwork for the work visa in Sichuan) you are in a decent position to get concessions from her. If you plan on staying in the province she may be able to prevent you from easily working at a local school, especially one where you worked under New Times, by throwing a wrench in your visa renewal process.

Perhaps some people here will know who I am, and I hope they agree with my assessment. The grass is always greener on the other side. I hope any potential ESL teachers will learn from this.

In the end I still wouldn't endorse New Times, but I'm not sure if there are better options in Chengdu.