Hi Ian,

Thanks for the info re Linfen IELTS.I had a hunch that a former Chinese employee
of Yuncheng IELTS had some involvement with Linfen IELTS.
As it happens,I know Felix - he used to work for Mr River.His main duties included assessing the teaching of foreign teachers in the field and checking teaching assistants' records of what had been taught by foreign teachers.
I knew that he had left Yuncheng IELTS,but I had no idea he had started up Linfen IELTS.Obviously he is trying to put to good use what he had previously learned from Mr River.
Maybe Linfen IELTS has sent me that e-mail in the hope that I'll apply for a teaching post with them.If they had offered me a position out of the blue,like Yuncheng IELTS recently did,they would have lost face if I turned it down.They had realised this was a possibility,so they took an indirect route of making their existence known to me.But I'll not be applying to them for a job.

Ian said in his last post in this thread:
"p.s. what has this topic have to do with me being an excellent teacher?"

My reply:because you are an excellent teacher,you get job offers out of the blue.That's the connection!

A mystery that I'd like to solve.I received this strange e-mail this morning.I don't know from whom or why as I don't know Alice.But it seems that a jobseeker called Kevin had applied to linfenielts,whom I'd never heard of until then.

Could they be an offshoot of Yuncheng IELTS?I say this because Linfen isn't far from Yuncheng.

I don't think it's ethical of Alice to have sent me personal info about a job applicant whom I don't know from Adam.I 'm not at all impressed with the 3500 Yuan minimum salary offered with strings attached for bonuses.Seems like a rubbishy outfit.A basic salary of 4500 Yuan/month is about the lowest salary that any self-respecting foreign teacher would accept these days in North China.I shouldn't forget to mention that no contract was attached to the e-mail I received.

Can anyone out there help me clear up this mystery?

""---------- 转发邮件信息 ----------
发件人："linfenielts [email]"
发送日期：2008-09-28 08:58:40
[email],,,,"(to Foxy's e-mail address from sb who knows me because she has used my first name immediately before my e-mail address.)

主题： Re:HIE!

hello Kevin,
at first , i will tell you that you are right about the cross rate of the RMB to the US dollar.
we only provide 3500RMB as your salary at the beginnig and will add money according to your teaching ,students' reaction and the length of your contract.
i wonder when you can arrive in China
here attached is our contract.
best wishes.

Alice

在2008-09-27 17:18:56，"kevin" [email] 写道：

Hello Alice,

I am sorry for my long absence from the "cyber" world. Well, to tell the truth , as much as I would have liked to be over there, I was quite disappointed with the cross rates of the RMB to the US dollar.

If I am not mistaken, you have offered to pay me 400 US dollars per month? - when 3500 RMB is converted to US dollars . Well I have a problem with that as I would have spent at least 1000 US dollars to be there.

Is there a more attractive package we can agree upon? Is it also possible to work on a contract letter and such I can use this side to get a Working Visa?

Kind Regards

Kevin