I'm never happy to read about anyone's misfortune or misery in China, or anywhere, but personally, I'm pleased to see more and more people speaking out about the reality of teaching in China. As Shaun Goeldner and other posters have offered recently, China is fraught with greedy, unethical, and unscruptulous employers -- quite often found in (but certainly not limited to) training schools.

I've tried for years to "get the word out" regarding the perils and pitfalls of employment in China, and many times I've received quite a few harsh replies.

China has lots of wonderful things to offer, but sadly, solid and ethical employment (terms and conditions) is rarely one of them! I sincerely urge people considering coming and working in China to look elsewhere.

Now, let me offer an example of a potentially nightmare work situation... Just today a job posting came up here. To many unsuspecting readers, this job ad might seem perfectly sound and reasonable, but a closer look will reveal a number of traps. It reads as follows, but "the devil is in the details," as they say...

Native ESL Teachers Needed in Suzhou and Shanghai
By:Shanghai CHINATOP Education
Date: 30 November 2007

Shanghai CHINATOP Training Center SCTC is a leading training company established in 1992 with 20 branch campuses all around the downtown of Shanghai and Suzhou city.
Our tested company philosophy gives priority to first class customer service, and combines the pursuit of commercial success with a deep respect for human values. We are currently seeking talented and qualified candidates to join our rapidly developing team.
- To conduct classroom lessons according to the Mars English syllabus and methodology.
- To provide high quality professional teaching at all times.
- To give assistance in Coffee Time as required.
- To help students reach the level of English established in their learning objective.
- To provide advice and assistance to students, in and out of the classroom.
- To take an interest in and give advice on individual student's progress in English.
- To prepare new materials as requested.
- To promote and preserve a pleasant and courteous atmosphere in the Centre.
Requirements:
- Native English speaker only
-Bachelor degree or above
-Certificate in TEFL/CELTA or equivalent
-At least of 2 -year of TEFL experience, focusing on business people(Adults) English training in China
-Honest, Reliable, sociable, inspiring, energetic
- Culturally adaptable and sensitive
-Both FULLTIME AND PARTTIME positions ARE AVAILABLE
-20-25 teaching hours per week for Full timers, salary 8-12k per month based on one-month contract
-ESL teaching openning in Shanghai and Suzhou
If you are intersted in working with our team, please send your full and updated cv with your recent photo,salary expectation, preferred city,scanned passport,2 recommendation letters with contacts to us: XXXXXXX and we will reply to request an interview soon.

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Ok, so let's examine the entries I've highlighted in red:
First, the ad states there are 20-25 teaching hours per week. Very likely, the teacher will be required to provide 25 classes a week -- that's 5 classes a day.

Not a light load by any means, but the real trouble is all the "add-ons," such as: "give assistance in Coffee Time, as required."

In short, what this means is that when the teacher is lucky enough to have an hour break between classes (only about twice in a working day), there is no chance to relax and re-energize for the next class, review the upcoming lesson, etc. - NO! You must go and chat with students who are eagerly waiting for a foreign teacher to "socialize" with them (as promised by one of a multitude of sales people who have made all sorts of promises to the client to obtain a signed contract and their commission). Everything the sales people promise to the customer is in turn, dumped on the shoulders of the foreign teacher.

You can't imagine the range of wild and unreasonable pledges sales and marketing people will make in order to get a client to sign up.

The ad goes on to state that the foreign teacher must provide assistance "in and out of the classroom." Remember, training school students have paid a lot of money for these classes and so their expectations and demands are high (fueled by exaggerated promises from the Chinese sales staff).

In other words, the students will spot a teacher who has just finished a class and will snag them for help with numerous problems (writing, vocabulary, upcoming job interviews -- the possible scenarios are endless...). Therefore, the teacher never gets a quiet moment to relax and prepare for the next round of classes.

How do students know the foreign teacher is "free" and "available" to them? Because ALL training schools I've worked in or visited have completely glass walls. Everything is glass (offices, classrooms) and therefore visible. This is no accident. Foreign teachers are usually holed up in one collective "office," which often contains 4-5 computers (usually with poor internet connections/service) to be used by dozens of teachers.

There are usually no workstations that are for the exclusive use of any teacher. Therefore, there is no place to safely and securely keep materials/preps, etc. from one day to the next. It's "every man for himself" in such establishments.

Potential clients (often young students and their parents) are paraded past the "foreign teachers" office as if it were the main showcase animal cage at a zoo. "Here's the Canadian, there's the American..." We are sold for our faces. The sales "tour" has little to do with actual education, but rather grandiose promises of rapid English proficiency (they always fail to mention that the student must work hard) for a simple, one-time fee. The foreign teacher is viewed/sold as part of the decorative package.

The ad entry that states: [the foreign teacher is] "To take an interest in and give advice on individual student's progress in English" could mean a myriad of possibilities and situations...

In other words, anything that his beem pronmised to the student (and their parents) is suddenly the responsibility of the foreign teacher; even though the foreign teacher was not involved or included in the sales discussion/deal.

It means that you will be required to write reports and offer various assessments of the student's "progress" and "goals," but you have little knowledge as to what the agreed upon goal actually is -- or if it is at all reasonable. And when is the teacher supposed to do this? Most of the working day is spent IN the classroom, and the precious few hours when the teacher is not actually teaching needs to be used for class preparation -- what a concept!

Unfortunately, to training school owner and managers, a teacher's prep time is not honored or valued because it is not profit-making activity.

Finally, one of my favorite entries in typical training center job ads (also high schools, universties, etc.): "To prepare new materials as requested" What this often means is that the school does not have the teaching materials that they claim to have (or the material is very boring and/or obsolete, and students are complaining, which they often do)/ The training cehter expects the foreign teacher to not only write and prepare their own materials, but they also expect the teacher to hand over the lessons/work to the school for them to use (and often sell to other schools) again and again -- long after the teacher has left -- or fled.

There is no respect toward "intellectual property," or the time and energy that a teacher invests in writing English lessons.

As is 20-25 teaching hours is not enough, the additional requirements (and believe me, there will be other requirements that cannot possibly be imagined or anticipated -- like sending the teacher to remote locations, etc.) are what will converge to make the job a mammoth and unjust undertaking.

I urge people to listen to Shaun and the other posters who are trying to sincerely warn others about the potential (and likely) troubles of working in China, especially training schools.

In conclusion I must say that the company whose ad I have used an example is not one with whom I have much direct experience. I am NOT singling out CHINATOP for ridicule. They just happened to provide the most recent -- but very sterling -- example of typical training center job posts.

If you keep looking you will notice that most training schools ads offer and "require" very similar terms.