Well Paul, Even the infamous Turnoi knows Kevin works for SFLS so I think that your friend may be misleading you. Possibly this so called list, if it truly does exist, is from the other school, SIFLS.

First, Turnoi, thank very, very much for your astute observations. Thank you for offering to share with us what you know. I have long been a reader on this board, albeit "in silencio" and I appreciate your insight and your comments.

As for Mr. Cushman, it is indeed exceptionally strange but the colleague, a lady, with whom I work, who was also employed in that school at about the same time that you claim to have been there, has no recollection of you, nor of your son, at all. She very politely challenges your claim (a) that you were there at all and (b) that you left of your own accord if indeed you were there. The teacher roster of that year, which she has in her possession, lists neither a Thomas Cushman nor a "K" person. All of that nonetheless is of little consequence for the overall issues at hand except it does touch directly upon the issue of PROBITY.

As for the "K" person, my colleague maintains that if he were there AT ALL in 2003, and she strongly believes that the "K" person was not there at all that year, and if one reads the "K" person's postings on another site, one can see that the "K" persons claims to have been at the school six years "now", i.e., 2010, then 2010 - 6 = 2004 at the earliest, then the "K" would have only been a debutante teacher that year and not the senior teacher as Mr. Cushman writes. I refer to all and any to those postings on another site. Therefore, obviously, someone is straying from the truth here considerably.

In any case, according to my colleague, Mr. Cushman could have hardly known the "K" person as a senior teacher in 2003, because at that point in time, the "K" person would have only been a newbie in the school, as until that point, according to my colleague, the "K" person had been teaching in another school in Hangzhou, and all things considered, as the "K" person is mere mortal, like all of us, it is difficult for a mere mortal to be in two places at the same moment in time.

In any case, as Turnoi so correctly points out, we are dealing with the reputation of the school and not of one of its very lessor managers. I personally have never had any direct dealings with the school nor with this "K" person at all and I can only regret and deplore that its ill fame has been so groused about.

Now, as Churchill would have said, "Mr. Cushman, exactly who are you"?

Paul Weiss

Buggs, Steve, whatever your name is, glad to hear that you're happy with where you're at.

I just hope you're actually sincere about these things. Because if you're not you're only doing yourself a disservice. Lying to yourself is the worst thing that can happen.

Sir Dragonized, I have, on occasion, when I had nothing important to do, read these interesting comments. I am sure that many of the people posting are expressing their true feeling, but there are some that use this medium to degrade and harass only because they could not stand up to the job.

As for SFLS, yes there were several individuals claiming to be teachers that were not. I do not think it would be appropriate to give names, but I can say from personal contact and knowledge that those individuals were not accredited in any way. I knew of two who had not even finished high school and created their documents on the internet, one of which was wanted by the Canadian authorities and had been on the lamb for a while in China. He was floating from one ESL job to another before he was either found out or fired for something else. He created many problems for the school and Kevin, writing numerous derogatory threads on this forum and another.

Another teacher, wanted by the Chinese police, who had gotten a job at SFLS actually got into a fist fight with one of the women supervisors. He was arrested and eventually deported to England where, I was told at the time, was wanted by the authorities there.

I am sure there are bad recruiter, bad supervisors and bad schools, but there are also pretenders that are bad teachers and through this very forum try to justify themselves by creating animosity towards the schools and supervisors for which they had worked.

I knew Kevin personally, we didnt always see eye to eye, but he was a good teacher, the kids loved him and he did his best to help the new hires even though he was not always understood or appreciated. I have nothing bad to say about him!

You're right about that bloke Kevin working for SFLS, not SIFLS. Turnoi has made mistakes like this in his postings before now, and I've not the slightest doubt he will continue to do so.
SFLS is an ok workplace for certain kinds of folk, those who want to do real jobs as foreign teachers in China. Backpackers and slackers should refrain from applying for a teaching position to either SFLS or SIFLS.

I believe you may have things mixed up. I did work for SFLS not SIFLS. And yes, there was a man by the name of Kevin there. He was the senior teacher and more or less in charge of the international classes.

Personally I got off to a rocky start, but after a few weeks I was able to fit in a little better and by the time I left things were getting much better. I enjoyed my time there although it was only a short five months. I made many friends and the kids were great and I would probably be willing to return if it didnt get so damn cold. The reason I left had nothing to do with Kevin, but rather the cold weather and problems with allowing my son to attend the school. (He was not with me while I was there)

I will admit that there were problems with several other teachers at the time I was there, but now that I look back on those situations I am convinced they brought those problems upon themselves.

Please be careful not to confuse the schools.