Tom
- 2011-02-24
Huijia is nothing compare to my previous school, it's korean owned, and hell is like break lose in there. Huijia is not a perfect school either but we see it that's on the process of improving itself. You can't change it overnight...hello... this is China! things are ran differently in here. PPL should know and understand that. If they can't be flexible then why venture here in the 1st place.
I don't expect a honeymoon in here, but it's a great place to wind up and getting ready for another venture.
I don't see much correlation as to why were you not accepted in the INtl schools you applied for just for the reason of being @ Huijia. That would make the ppl whom you had an interview with illogical. Did they check how good or authentic (my bad) your credentials are? are they too good to be true?...maybe you're overqualified to the position you applied for, you should have kept your PhD. Again, it doesn't make any sense, simply non-contingent.
Here we have two paragraphs taken from two separate postings by the same author- Not really much correlation going on here-The first it would seem is written by a Chinese with a little help from an English speaker. The second is largely written by a native born English speaker.
Wot's going on?
Lip Stick
- 2011-02-24
As per the letter that I have from the school signed by their headmaster and again counter signed by their hiring manager, they specifically do not hire former Huijia employees in order to save face, and to protect their image, their brand, and their reputation, as some of the schools wealthy children left Huijjia and proclaimed it to be a horrible school that took their money and gave them nothing in return other than a sub-standard education. Moreover, Huijia has in fact been repeatedly sued by Chinese workers. I would suggest that rather than take my word for it that you simply place a call to the Changping courts and ask them in Chinese if the Beijing Huijjia Private School is, or ever was, party to lawsuits in their courts. I was interviewed twice and I was initially offered the job contingent upon some form of an arrangement being made concerning my prior work experience at Huijia. A few weeks later I was declined based solely on prior work history at Huijia. One school put that in writing and the other one did not. Nonetheless, both schools declined me based on work experience and exposure to Huijia which in some sectors of the Beijing market is like having the plague. Some schools also list their teaching personnel online. They post a photo, degree information, and a short bio. The last thing that many of these schools want is any form of tie to Huijia. It becomes a liability issue and a potentially damaging reputation problem.
Jane Doe
Degree in basket weaving
American
Formerly with Huijia....
I am working in Beijing now and my current employer also has deep reservations about hiring anyone from Huijia. I was still hired because all of my prior employment refs are good and I am experienced. It is worth mention though that I was told my by moss not to mention that I worked at Huijia to other teachers, staff, and certainly not with students. My current employer recently updated their staff Web site directory. They have me listed but they do not mention Huijia online. They do list my other schools where I worked.
So Vanilla Ice, you keep rapping with the ice ice baby crew, chill, pimp, and word to y-all.
Yours,
Lipstick Sista
Ice Ice Bebe
- 2011-02-23
I don't see much correlation as to why were you not accepted in the INtl schools you applied for just for the reason of being @ Huijia. That would make the ppl whom you had an interview with illogical. Did they check how good or authentic (my bad) your credentials are? are they too good to be true?...maybe you're overqualified to the position you applied for, you should have kept your PhD. Again, it doesn't make any sense, simply non-contingent.
Like you, I'm a certified subject teacher too in the US and been teaching for 15 years and also @ different international schools. My worst was in beijing central (all out in advertisements rite now) sometimes 12 years ago(I even filed a complaint before I left for the US to teach). Like any other schools, they have ups and downs, nothing is perfect. My Huijia exp are not as what I wish to be, but generally I say, it's fine. It's a good break from the stress I developed from teaching in one of the "AT RISK" public school in the US, guarded by police and doors with metal detectors(soon xrays like the TWA). No dull moments during my stay there, two teacher deaths-one was shot by a gang inside the school and the other one by heart attack. For me Huijia is a breather, I dont care if i earned a lot less than that I was used too, I just need a break and I'm happy I have great students who listens and never rough-house, talk-back and nver threat you with a lawsuit.
Finally, if you think you been aggrieved like some in here, why you all don't sue the school? try settling your arguments in the bar of law, your's could be a precedence and could be a landmark case in china on "night flight schools". My -jiao.
pleb
- 2011-02-18
I read with great curiosity the defense of the Beijing fly trap, roach trap, or whatever you want to call it.
Not much of a defence has been put up by THEKING re said school, and quite rightly so! It seems by all accounts to be among the lower echelons of Chinese private schools, but that said, it''s still miles better than many training centres as a workplace. I am also of the opinion that those two international schools in Beijing you applied to are naive to think that any foreigner who has taught at Huijia of Beijing is a dodgy employment prospect. But of course, many Beijingers are far too conceited,, including those in the education sector there. It's a good thing that China is vast compared to Beijing, as this means there are many openings for foreign teachers throughout the country, in addition to those in Beijing.
If you really want to teach at an international school in Beijing, you'd be well advised not to mention Beijing Huijia in your cv the next time you apply, given that having taught there has ruined your chances of getting a job at an international school in Beijing on two occasions to date.
Arnold
- 2011-02-18
Jeez, **** Man, are you trying to mess with my head,why are you blaming me dude? Sounds like a lunatic asylums, glad i did not go there,Big J must have sent Drac Tom to stop me going there, **** man!
Lipstick
- 2011-02-18
I read with great curiosity the defense of the Beijing fly trap, roach trap, or whatever you want to call it. Anytime someone uses a handle such as THEKING they must see themselves as some higher power, Elvis, or as is most likely the case, they are being paid to log online and run to the defense of a sinking ship. It is interesting and sad that the poster somehow dismissed or pardoned the apparent fact that someone in the school's chain of leadership ran off to Thailand with the payroll. How many times have foreigners seen that kind of behavior in Asia? I do hope sincerely that there is an ample gathering at his/her welcoming party upon their return.
I have personally worked at Huijia although not recently, and I can clearly tell you point blank that it is in my own humble opinion the absolute worst school that I ever worked for. I was not an ESL teacher when I worked there. I was and still am a licensed subjects teacher. I am licensed in the USA. I recently completed a DELTA and I am considering some work in the ESL field and even if I don't enter the ESL market, I have the DELTA in my back pocket for a rainy day. I just stumbled onto these Huijia postings and as one writer said they were thankful that people were talking about the school because it saved them from ending up there. I wished I would have known about this Web site a few years ago.
As a direct result of my employment at the Beijing Huijia Private School I have been refused two positions in Beijing at two international schools. I even have that in writing on official school paper from one international school. Working for the Beijing Huijia Private School has cost me a lot of money in China because after working there, some other international schools will not hire you. There is such a bad stigma associated with that school that once you are branded with the Huijia mark of the beast in China, at least in Beijing, your career is going to slide based on their bad reputation. The statement that was made to me in writing and verbally is that many schools just won't take the risk of hiring someone that has been trained, programed, or otherwise associated with the Beijing Huijia Private School. Looking past the fact that I have a valid teaching license from the states, a B.Ed, and a Master's in Library Sciences, 9-years as a licensed teacher in American public schools before coming to China, good references from the USA, and three good references in China, did nothing for me with the Beijing Huijia Private School's 666 painted on my head.
THEKING
- 2011-02-17
First time I've used this forum so hopefully this will appear as normal in the thread.
Lot of hate against current Huijia foreign teachers (nothing negative to say about our committed and honest Chinese counterparts?) on here. Weird, because usually these Huijia threads are usually just casual criticism of the school with every now and then someone coming along and saying "ehhh, it's a bit rubbish sometimes but not that bad really" (a sensible interpretation of working here, given that most of the staff are former ESL teachers). Maybe a debate about Huijia's laowais is overdue and a casual comment just became a catalyst.
Firstly, those of you complaining about the drinking, please shut up before you embarrass yourselves further, you [very clever and biting insult deleted]. Drinking and smoking are (fully legal) subsets of a group of activities called Enjoying Yourself. You should try it, sometime. Wanna know a famous non-drinker, non-smoker? That's right, ten points for you: Hitler. I hold that a cigarette and a drink from time to time is emotionally healthy rather than constant suppression of emotion in the name of some old book. Hitler didn't mind tolerating that book too, come to think of it. How now, you oblivious fascists? It'd be great if everyone just shut up and did what you think they should do, wouldn't it?
And as long as the teachers are doing their job OK, then so what if he had seven bottles of Tsingtao the night before? Some of us can handle hangovers. We're not exactly being rewarded with the wealth of Midas, or even the basic respect of the administration here are we? Grow up, babies.
None of you hatesayers are talking about the hours these alcoholic drug using smokers give up in their evenings to help the kids 1-to-1 or in small groups for no extra money are you? None of you are talking about the enthusiasm with which these alcoholic drug using smokers talk up their good kids. None of you are talking about how these alcoholic drug using smokers are regularly tested by clever kids - and rise to the challenge. None of you are talking about how these alcoholic drug using smokers are often one of the few trusted adults in the lives of these kids with whom they occasionally talk about their problems and life choices. None of you are talking about the occasional, spontaneous, happy laughter coming from the classrooms of these alcoholic drug using smokers. And none of you are talking about how these alcoholic drug using smokers deal calmly and adultly with the many, shall we say, less-than-attentive kids in the school and are possibly the only semi-discipline they have in their lives, surrounded by submissive Chinese teachers and fellow students and a school out to appease their parents. Get a life.
The most serious allegation here (in fact, the only serious one to a grown-up) was made by Hello Kitty. I'm suspicious of you, Hello Kitty, because there are obviously more than a single decent teacher at this place, although obviously we have our fair share of weirdos. Ask any of the best students and they will always mention a few teachers they like and respect. As for that allegation you made about one of the colleagues and a student, well I've never heard about that and I can't really see any of the guys here with the charm to pick up a rich Chinese girl being stupid enough to think they'd get away with that given the fact that gossip travels freely between Chinese students and teachers here (many students tell me about Chinese teachers casually tossing off opinions about the foreigners) and that fact that it is happening is fairly obvious to the dullest of observers, anyway. Inscrutable, they are definitely not! So, anyway, Hello Kitty, you just look like you're grinding an ax and you should really think a bit more before you make potentially damaging allegations on the Internet as well as blanket generalizations about your teachers. If you are who you say you are, you've had maybe ten to fifteen foreign teachers while at Huijia. Which is about a third of those in the IB, I think. So you aren't really in a position to make that judgement anyway, kiddo
Huijia isn't all bad. It's a launch pad, or a place to just take it easy for a while.
If you've been teaching ESL in Asia and have a degree in science/humanities or something but no legit teaching quals, this is a great place to work - don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Far more interesting than ESL. And after a few years of cutting teeth and learning syllabuses (syllabi?!), many of teachers move on to things closer to "real" schools. The money is better than many ESL gigs. The management, for all their faults, are basically standard for training schools around China, except for the fact that they do always pay on time. (The fact we didn't get paid for our October Holiday before the holiday this year is due to that guy running off to Thailand with his monies.)
I don't understand how people from hagwons in Korea, poorly paid universities in China and sex tourism in South-East Asia manage to sound so vitriolic about this place. Our old ESL gigs weren't that great either, guys!
If you're a qualified teacher with experience of school teaching in the West, then unless you can get a head of department and the backing of the school to shake up the Chinese teachers (unlikely), then you're not going to like it. Unless you just want to coast - or the idea of a big challenge gets you excited. If you're a smart guy who is bored of ESL, but not wanting to go to reality just yet then this is a good idea.
Amanda and Joy will try to get you to work for as little as possible. True, but Chinese companies do that to their Chinese employees too. They make a lot less than we do (one of the ways in which the school keeps us divided). So much so that now it seems migrant workers are on average making about the same as entry level graduates in this crazy country (more when you discount university fees, lost income and the need to maintain your appearance). Ahhh, well that's what happens when you devalue your currency and repress freedom of speech. As foreigners mixed up in this weirdness, we come out ahead. Oh, and remember to talk to one of the foreign teachers, not the foreign affairs office, about your problems.
Changping is boring, BUT Beijing is not. We go there at the weekends (most normal people only get to party at weekends, remember). Holidays are plentiful. The administration is unhelpful and often rude but there is a good group here that, on some level at least, looks out for each other - maybe only due to the fact we are a group of laowais on a campus of literally thousands of Chinese people who are very interested in us and feeling comfortable enough to gawk at us outside the building in which they know we live. Out of all the groups within which I've worked, we are easily the ones who are most tolerant of eccentricities and differences.
The toy soldiers at the gate are horrible to have to walk past, though. They are there for at least a semi-rational reason (China freaked out after three school stabbings were reported a year or two back), and to be fair they leave you alone if you look them in the eye and let them know that you won't take any guff from those swine from them. But we shouldn't have to do that, I agree. And the security cameras are too much. So yeah, I'm leaving, but only 'cause of the stuff in this final paragraph, and for the most part I've actually really enjoyed it here.
bullring
- 2011-02-17
You British are generous
We are actually...are you? You want to be a gentleman don't you?!
Arnold
- 2011-02-17
Thailand Drac did not appear any less dysfunctional as Drac movie scary dude,he have the same color eyes but think that was the bourbon. You British are generous so I left him with only one to drive a hard bargain with. Wow Huijia is a pretty scary place too,glad read ypur reports beforehand. I will not be going there but Drac has got me in his university, he should be back by the time my train gets there.
NeaRLY FORGOT, you are to say something to your pal Bullring, ALLVITISANEPET, do not ask me.