I must admit to having been more than a little surprised when a poster named John said you were Welsh.
That was because your name is not the kind of name that a Welshman would have.
The poster called John seems to be a bit of a clown who doesn't like Welshmen.
Thanks for rectifying John's misinformation.

"You said you had attended an end of year party where some 30 other ft's were grinning and happy."
Some of Alex's words in his post of October 5th in the 'Ian is an excellent teacher' thread. Alex is quoting you.That led to me quoting you.
But if Alex has misquoted you, why didn't you point it out , as you've chosen to do in my case?
Maybe you hadn't come across his earlier misquote until now.That would explain it.

I have no cerificates of higher education schools. But that does not mean I am a bad teacher in China. Foreigners are needed to teach in back-waters like Yuncheng in China .And a low pay in respective term is not a put-of for me.It give me a better living level than back in my nation waitering.So I find my nish teaching class there.And can make a good life from my pay.Don't think to take away a mans' dayly bread.Every-body likes to have a good work.I am deserve of my work.Back-packers all-round China teached good for year by year.Chinas students very like foriegn look and liking back-packer.So China is developing quik and good.

Thanks, Ian, for writing a thoughtful post. It's refreshing to see someone say what many among us quiet majority of readers consider to be obvious.

I hold that if a Chinese training centre offers IELTS-relevant classes then they are above the masses of English language training centres. Needless to say that such training centres do not always stoop so low as to hire backpacker FTs with no credentials.

As in any other country of the world, language mills are businesses that have conflicting goals; bottomline is profit. I think some of the best training centres also have sound cashflow and profit margins. Some FTs come to China expecting to find cushy jobs at companies that function as charities. How immature!

There aren't too many solid and honest language training centres in business in China, so it is imperative that the beacons of sound business practice be highlighted.

Those who can only rip into Chinese businesses probably aren't genuine teachers themselves; they don't deserve an employer who hires professional instructors at salaries below western, but well above local, standards.

Ian,I agree with almost everything you've said.Further to this,I'd say that you're more patient than most.As for this thread being redundant,I think there's no doubt about that.
The troubles you've encountered in this thread,in my opinion,have mostly stemmed from others distrusting you and looking for hidden agendas due to you having praised the company to the hilt on a previous occasion.
So far,excepting you and I,those who have worked there or are working there at present plus those who think it's a rubbishy operation have joined forces to make the company appear like a very bad recruiter.
Now I personally think that the name of the company has been put in place by its operator so as not to dissuade jobseekers from applying in the first place.The reason the good doctor had to do so is that many FT's distrust recruiters because many of the former have had bad experiences working for the latter in the past.But not all recruiters are bad.As for me,I think that the company is at best an average recruiter,and I have already given my reasons in a previous posting of mine on the ESL board.I know that you regard it as the best thing since sliced bread.Fair enough,we are entitled to have our own opinions aren't we?We're supposed to be enlightened Westerners,aren't we?We can have different views without clashing with one another,can't we?But it is clear that some of us can't.
The important thing for viewers of this thread to bear in mind is that relatively speaking only a small proportion of the company's former employees have taken the trouble to berate it.But don't forget there's a large silent majority of former employees out there who as yet haven't felt it necessary to join the witch hunt against the company,which incidentally has been going on now for far too long imo.
So,let's close this thread from now on with the proviso that it can only be re-started on the basis of an employee there having a specific grievance or grievances that he requires advice re how to proceed.Phew,I'm done!