In regards Scottish accents I suggest that you read the book 'does accent matter?' written by John Honey in which he describes the educated Scottish accent as being a thing of beauty. This idea seems to be backed up by British call centres who in the past have generally located themselves in Scotland because research showed that customers preferred to speak with someone with a Scottish accent (that was of course before they moved all their operations to India). On an episode of QI I watched recently it was also suggested via research that airline passengers feel more confident in the ability of a pilot who has a Scottish or Geordie accent.

Of course on the other you can watch old episodes of Rab C Nesbitt in order to hear the cockney scotch or Glaswegian accent at its most extreme and incomprehensible.

Hello John

Are you returning to the forum, because we're all missing you? Actually, I think you have some interesting things to say.

Getting back to computers. Here is a screenshot-you can can see virtualbox and next to it is a Windows 7 loader, ready to be a guest of Linux. I'm not actually going to install it, just for demonstration, for all the FT's who may want an alternative to what you kindly suggested, but it works well. Of course, if you don't have at least 4 GB of RAM, because you must allocate memory to the virtual engine when it's running, easy enough to add some (usually)

First a supposedly 'current teacher' pops up with an email address that suggests he's part of the recruitment side of the business called Austin. Then Mr. Austin senior drops in to give his opinion on the situation. I think the only valid piece of info that he has provided is that you should use common sense to determine whether someone is telling the truth. That being the case I take what was written with a big pinch of salt as it seems this poster hasn't lived or worked in china and has a vested interest in presenting a certain, positive view of his son's business.

Actually, Chris, methinks the one in Obei was the owner who had death threaths out on the teachers who wanted to leave. But I'd have to doublecheck that with the ppl that are still here to verify.
I've been in Wenzhou a number of years and have heard both good and bad stories bout DD Dragon here. Not sure if they can provide Z visas here in Wenzhou. As far as I was told, only two schools last year got their licsences, the one I work for and another one, but I can't remember which one (darn auld age :P)

This bloke posting and speaking down to us like we're newbies. Really???

It is impossible for a school owner/operator to isolate a teacher in the manner described in an earlier post. Everyone has a cell phone and nobody should travel in China (or even leave the house) if they can't purchase a cell phone or use an Internet cafe.

Not really. There have been nightmare cases where schools have seized and withheld passports, salary pay, thus rendering a single and broke FT at the mercy of his merciless employer....plenty of such horror stories on these very boards.

I've read and reread this thread and I want to comment on the use of common sense to determine whether someone is telling the truth. The thread contains several stories that are quite 'creative'. Be advised that Wenzhou and LingXi are remote from 'mainstream' China and I remember that it was difficult for my son when he first arrived. That was several years ago. He is now fluent in Mandarin and is professionalizing one particular DD Dragon franchise. The purpose of 'going legit' is to become a better school and employ better teachers than the other fly-by-night schools. Those other schools have a vested interest in slagging this franchise because they can't compete based on the quality of the product. There is a reason that Hilton succeeded and "The Bates Motel" failed.

Some of the earlier posts sound like bad movies from the 1970's. The word weasel was used in a way suggesting a non-native English speaker. We'd call someone an assh*le not a weasel. You can also ignore criticism of the current teacher who would not publish contact information for his employees on the wide open Internet. Would you work for someone who would breach your privacy so easily?

It is impossible for a school owner/operator to isolate a teacher in the manner described in an earlier post. Everyone has a cell phone and nobody should travel in China (or even leave the house) if they can't purchase a cell phone or use an Internet cafe. Your family and embassy can protect you if you contact them (and how hard is that?). If you don't know how that works, stay home. You should also have a loss-of-contact procedure worked out in advance as there are lots of reasons that you can lose touch with your friends and family. Wenzhou is off the beaten track so there is some onus on westerners to learn some Mandarin. It isn't for everyone but you can freely discuss every issue at the interview stage. The school does not want dissatisfied teachers because of the time taken to hire teachers and the disruption of the schedule when someone leaves without notice.

There are also disgruntled former employees in this world but I will not go into it except to say that people have been dismissed for cause. It is rare but it does occur. It is inconvenient for the school because it disrupts the schedule and someone else winds up doing a major pile of extra work.

In closing, don 't leave home without a well developed b*llsh*t detector, a cell phone, skype, twitter, facebook and at least two working e-mail accounts (with secure and different passwords). Trust your instincts but don't get fooled.

Agreed. The recent case in Hangzhou, and it's subsequent mishandling, should further embolden this fact!!!!

Do NOT work for them, you are a fool and a gambit if you do so!!!!!!