Yulea,
If you and your partner are citizens of England, I suggest you contact universities directly as a couple. Many universities welcome and actively recruit couples.
If you are a citizen of India or Ceylon residing in England with a degree from an English university, the process will be more difficult. You will likely have more success directly contacting the chain English schools: New Oriental, EF, Wall Street, Meten, etc.
Under NO CONDITION contact recruiters directly. Beyond the lies, you will face rampant discrimination.

If you did not take the job, then how can you recommend them? You have no idea what the job was unless you actually worked for the company. In other words your recommendation is useless and smells fishy. Gold Star may or may not be a valid recruiting agency but your message does not give any indicator either way concerning that possibility. Furthermore, why would you give a recommendation for a recruiter from which you have not worked under, unless you have something to gain? In my experience there are plenty of bad recruiting agencies throughout asia. I have heard nightmare stories of teachers left in the middle of no where, passports being held, and various other nefarious activities. All of this leads me to believe that it would be naive to recommend any organization which you have never followed through with. Unless... you are getting something from them.

Don't forget who hires these people to teach them, the business owners who want a foreign face to make money. Also don't forget who sends these kids to these schools, the chinese parents who think their kids are getting a better education. We can blame the jerk foreigners for doing this, but when do we take a look at the host country and the ideaologies that the society builds itself on and wonder how much they are to blame for it?

There was some news back a couple of years ago about some government officials, doctors, and other people in positions of importance in southwestern china engaging in forced sex with teenage girls(they were 14 or 15 in some cases). The reason these married scumbags were doing it was "virgin hunting" for lack of a better description. Anyone who has worked/lived in china for a while and can read chinese will know about some habits of local men once they get rich or powerful to engage in extramarital affairs. Sometimes depending on the men's "educational" quality they may want a "pure" girl who hasn't engaged in sexual activity.

Now if I was one of these men would I really give a shyte about some foreign bloke who goes from city to city and engages in sexual activity with students? No I would probably laugh about it and look down on him only because he didn't own as many important material possessions and couldn't settle down. On the other hand the fact that the souls of the young females become tainted with amoral ideas which makes them ready for being cogs in an inherently corrupt system wouldn't bother me in the least.

So when we look at a problem, don't just look at the surface issues. Look at what forces allow these things to happen and think to yourself if you would risk your time being in certain places for too long of a time.

i happen to know of a few FT here that have gone through at least a dozen of their students. everyone knows about it yet nothing has ever happened to them, their contracts have been renewed multiple times. Others wait until they are no longer teaching the students which I believe is called grooming. they know full well that these women do no have the emotional maturity or life experience to help them cope with having a foreign lover and use that to their full advantage. The term afternoon delight comes into play on a regular basis.

As an FT, you'd have to be pretty irresponsible to think you'd get away with doing that.

i am in full agreement with that statement but sadly there are plenty of people here that will take advantage of their ability to freely move around. Once they get into trouble they merely move onto the next city and the cycle starts again.

by keeping silent about their activities we as a foreign community are silently encouraging and condoning this reprehensible behavior. Some might say that it is none of my business what people do but there are moral standards that we should be living by. If this was to happen in America or some other developed country those same people would either be jailed or never able to get a job working with young people.

Now if that sounds like i am preaching then so be it, I would rather be able to sleep at night then think i kept silent and through my silence allowed these people to harm others. i am sure that there are plenty of children in southern Asia that are glad someone did not allow Gary Glitter to run rampant through their city.

[Edited by Administrator (admin) Thu, 07 Jul 2011, 06:41 AM]

[edited] all these things you are saying about these women could apply to women worldwide. I am talking about the young university women that are tricked into the beds of their foreign teachers only to be cast aside after their usefulness becomes obsolete.

Oh well believe what you want , call me what you want but the point is that i do not suggest to everyone that comes here to drink, fornicate and be merry and anyone that comes here is wasting their time. If you read through older posts you will see advocates of that lifestyle choice deriding anyone else that has a different idea of being here.

some of these same characters will attack anyone who offers positive reviews of places which is why I originally posted here. I wish i was naive and did not have to deal with scumbags here or back home but sadly that has not been the case. First being called a preacher then naive leaves me to wonder what I will next be called by some anonymous internet toughguy.

[Edited by Administrator (admin) Wed, 06 Jul 2011, 09:30 PM]

[quote]I am sure you have met as I have degenerate FT that are here using their differences to take as much from this country and give back as little as they can. Many of them can be found at the bars complaining about everything Chinese then in the next breath ask where the girls are.[/quote]

I haven't, actually. But maybe that's because I do not visit bars. I drink in my apartment. Drinking in bars in China is an expensive pastime. Of course, alcohol tends to free one from one's inhibitions. Then what one really thinks will come out. I can imagine how boring it would be to listen to the rantings of foreigners in a Chinese bar. Bad enough in a western bar back home, too many drunken morons there too!

I remember running into a group of 50 year old who were behaving as if they were in their 20s. One fella in particular struck me as gross;y immature and I recall thinking to myself how sad it was that this guy acted the way he did and was a representative of Foreign people in this country.

Yes, we are role models for western society when we are here, though some of us don't want to be. But the Chinese are their own worst enemies. They shouldn't be so naive as to base their opinions of western society on the pathetic antics of just one or two western morons. You may blame that narrow-minded attitude on the failings of the Chinese education system, which doesn't focus on encouraging students to use their intelligence or learn anything of use about the world outside of China. However, I'm not here as an ambassador for the west. Plenty of faults there too. I try to behave responsibly wherever I am, but not because I wish to please others. I don't care about doing that. Behaving responsibly is being mature, that's the reason I behave reasonably well in public.

No wonder the Chinese have such a low opinion of foreigners when they see this guy as a typical example.

I don't give a damn what kind of opinion the Chinese have of me, or of foreigners as a whole, for that matter. I just want to do my job, take my pay, and enjoy myself by spending it on my favorite things. Of course I have a low opinion of certain social classes of Chinese here. You'll not be surprised to learn it's not of the lower classes.

Finally, it's true one or two posters have been saying it's okay for male foreign teachers to sleep with girl students whom they don't teach, but not in this thread. I agree with you that that's the behaviour of a degenerate. But some would say I'm old-fashioned! Surprisingly, nobody replied to those posts. Apathy, I guess!

[Edited by Administrator (admin) Wed, 06 Jul 2011, 07:01 PM]

I do not come on and say drink, bang naive young woman and generally make an arse out of yourself because that is not my goal in life,nor do I think that others have that same passion. Of course there are some that only want to do that and they are welcome to that kind of degenerate lifestyle if it so pleases them.

Nobody has posted saying others should drink, or 'bang' naive young women, or make an arse of themselves. That's what you are implying, and you come across just like a preacher. You don't seem to be aware of the cultural norms here as regards relationships between single men and single women. That's sure to irritate certain established posters, though it doesn't irritate me. Nothing wrong with drinking nor sex imo. And I doubt it's as easy for a foreigner to 'bang' a naive young woman here as you imply. Personally, I've found it impossible to do so. The Chinese tend to be cloners who are very nationalistic. And they aren't independently minded, like we are. They worry very much how they will be viewed and treated by the society if they are seen to deviate from the nationalistic and racist norms here. So, a western bloke who likes sex is gonna have a very tough time getting it here for free. By adopting the same strategies to get a close girlfriend that he had used successfully back home, he'll likely get nowhere. That's why he might well turn to prostitutes for sexual relief. If he didn't do so, he'd have to stay celebate during his time here. Why the hell should he, anyway? He's not a monk who has taken vows. And if he wasn't 'banging', as you say, there are plenty of rich Chinese males who would gladly occupy a young tart's time doing so. What you term 'degenerate' others here would consider fairly normal. The Chinese drink like fish, strong liquor rather than weak Chinese beer, mind you, and frequent red light districts if they have the money to do so. They can't get sex for free easily, but we foreigners have a far, far harder time than they would being able to achieve that goal. It's the culture here that causes this. But I'm not knocking it. Nowhere's perfect. I would say there are far more positives for a foreign teacher here than there are negatives. That's why I've been here since the early 90's. Generally speaking, foreign teachers here have bags more freedom than locals, and better-paying jobs for working much shorter hours. All the same, we shouldn't ignore posting as regards the pitfalls that can affect us adversely, for one another's mutual benefit. I know there's no substitute for (personal) experience, but the experiences of other foreigners here can guide those of us who are newbies or not long here, but sometimes only to a limited extent. That's the main reason for having the public forums on this board.

You seem to have missed the word naive which is something I doubt you would be able to call women of the evening as. There is a reason why it is the worlds oldest profession and I have absolutely no reason to dismiss it as something morally wrong. I do not have a problem either with drinking so if it sounds like i am coming off as a preacher it is possible that I have worded my views wrong.
My post was in response to a select few here that claim the only reason we should be in this country is to drink, screw and be merry. If you go through previous posts you will see that there are a few who strongly encourage using their university jobs as dating sites to bed young women. These same people are the ones who will attack any positive mentions of different places which is why i responded as such.
I am sure you have met as I have degenerate FT that are here using their differences to take as much from this country and give back as little as they can. Many of them can be found at the bars complaining about everything Chinese then in the next breath ask where the girls are. I remember running into a group of 50 year old who were behaving as if they were in their 20s. One fella in particular struck me as gross;y immature and I recall thinking to myself how sad it was that this guy acted the way he did and was a representative of Foreign people in this country. No wonder the Chinese have such a low opinion of foreigners when they see this guy as a typical example.
I strongly feel this site has plenty to offer as you seem to. I do think though that it is a shame to see a select group here running roughshod over anyone that tries sharing their positive experience. I have often witnessed people coming here to share their experiences only to be shouted down by a few less than morally upright citizens. That's pretty sad.

If some one has a legitimate problem, describes their experience in detail and is generally helpful I have no problem with that. i have met many a FT who has had a craptacular experience at a place and I have done my best while here in China to warn them away from that place.
i know there are so of you that do not like me coming on here because I do not drink your hate for China kool aid and suggest that there is a variety of experiences out there for different people.
I do not come on and say drink, bang naive young woman and generally make an arse out of yourself because that is not my goal in life,nor do I think that others have that same passion. Of course there are some that only want to do that and they are welcome to that kind of degenerate lifestyle if it so pleases them.
I do not have a hate on for the Chinese and claim that I am morally superior to all of them or that no one should come teach here because it is a waste of time.
I have have been cheated, exploited and lied to and i have learned from that experience and moved on always working towards a brighter future for myself. i refuse to give up because of a few isolated incidents unlike others on this site.
The person that said he had a good experience with the school may or may not be real, he may or may not have been telling the truth. To assume however as soon as someone relates a positive experience telling a load of hooey denies the fact that there are people who have had good times.
I have a friend who has been back to China 6 years in a row and each time he vows not to come back the next year. He still does though and when questioned he always tells me what it is he enjoys about this country. Sure there is often stupid, nonsensical bs that happens but there are also some great things going on.
I can only imagine that something truly bad happened to you while in China Dragonized to make you hate this place so much but I am curious if you will ever let it go and move on or have you made it your mission in life to constantly suck out any postivity in regards to China.