Re: Songyuan Foreign studies college - Bill Zhang (Bill Chang) now uses the name TEDA EDUCATION GROUP

Bill Zhang (Bill Chang) now uses the name TEDA EDUCATION GROUP in his latest advertisements. It seems the name SAGE stinks.

Re: Songyuan Foreign studies college - its real name is FOREIGN STUDIES ACADEMY OF SONGYUAN

yes, he is cheating by hiring the teachers using the name Sage , but he will use them in Songyuan, he hides his songyuan school name,because it is a rubbish.

Re: Foreign Studies Academy of Songyuan - SAGE/TEDA (Dave's advert, 22 Nov)

Sam Cong/Bill Chang/Bill Zhang Jiajun, you have been found a liar and liars cannot be trusted. Where do you need 400 ‘teachers‘ at this time？GreenSunshine is your grovelling weasel and cannot be trusted either.

Re: Songyuan Foreign studies college

I would just like to say that I work for Bill currently, for Sage Education Group/ Songyuan Foreign Studies (He has two names registered) and have been working in his school for a while now and he Is a fantastic employer and boss. I've only had a great experience here and Bill will bend over backwards to help foreign teachers to settle in and feel at home. The pay is very fair, the accommodation is great. Bill and his school has unfortunately ended up with some rather sour teachers over the last few years who are not really willing to try to understand the Chinese way of running things, yes it is not always like living in England/US/Canada etc.....but this is why we should try to understand the cultural differences rather than become negative and start to blame people. Also I see some of the complaints on here come from individuals who can barely string a coherent English sentence together. This one particular individual complained that his/her visa took long to receive, it is no simple process to get such a visa in China, even Korea or Japan, you will find the same processes which take a long time, especially if you come from specific countries. This is the norm, not the schools fault. I have never been 'cheated' as some people complain about. One thing I do know is that I've heard horror stories about foreign teachers here who have behaved really badly, don't take there job seriously and who have probably been over pampered in their home countries. Some teachers even came close to physically assaulting the Chinese assistants who are the sweetest girls. If you behave badly, surely this should reflect in the way you are treated in return in the form of your pay? I know that warnings are always issued first in such cases too. Anyways if anyone reads this and is considering applying for a position with Sage, please feel free to contact me and I will shed some light for you.

Re: Songyuan Foreign studies college - its real name is FOREIGN STUDIES ACADEMY OF SONGYUAN

Bill Zhang Jiajun (or Sam Cong, the name he uses on this forum) usually advertises under the name SAGE INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION GROUP, and does not reveal the name of his training centre in Songyuan, the Foreign Studies Academy of Songyuan.

You are right - he is a cheater. He knows no shame.

Re: Songyuan Foreign studies college

No cheat happen, all this is lies from foreigners who don't work well in our highly prestigious school; they are always drunk and never turn up in time for class. Many students complains about lessons from this foreigner teachers, they are so rude and arrogant to them. Our school is the best in our city, and many officials send their children to our highly prestigious school for English lesson. We now have 5,000 students and 450 teechers, and so you see we are well-known and respected school.

Stop telling lies!

Re: Songyuan Foreign studies college

SAGE INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION GROUP，it is the name to cheat us ,my visa is delayed to be got , Bill always try to cheat us.

Re: Songyuan Foreign studies college

Who is telling the lie? Bill is posting again. I have read the post by Al Colic who gives Bill’s full name as Bill Zhang Jiajun. Al Colic’s post is dated August 28, 2011, and why Bill, after so many months, suddenly mentions Al Colic’s post? Bill is suffering from guilt. The posters have called him, among other things, a “liar and manipulator,” and said he “cannot be trusted.” He is not ashamed of himself and so now and then posts in defense of himself or his school under various aliases such as Sam Cong, Dong Fanghong, and, now, tbill (he can be in different locations - the post under his name "Bill Zhang" gives the hint).

He says his school is changing its name to SEGE. An engine search gives me this information: Songyuan Foreign Studies ‘college’ is called Foreign Studies Academy of Songyuan. I have got a picture of the school from a website (see next post) and also a picture of Bill himself. He looks good and kind (it’s only an outward appearance) but the posters have shown him to be a liar, corrupt, ruthless etc. He is a terrible boss of that crap training school!

Re: Songyuan Foreign studies college

is it true ? or you tell a lie? now they are changing the name to SEGE, not using this name to recruit the foreign teachers.

Re: Songyuan Foreign studies college

The Songyuan Foreign Studies College is NOT, I repeat NOT a school where you will wish to work. The Headmaster, Zhang Jiajun, or more simplly Bill Zhang is a [edited] liar and a manipulator. He devotes all of his time to 'dividing' his employees, by pitting one against another one, so that no one will get along with each other and team up against him......it is his greatest fear that this will happen. So, instead of treating people decently in the first place, he exerts an enormous amount of time, energy and effort in playing games with people.

If you are from the US and require a Foreign Expert Certificate, he will obtain the certificate on your behalf, but then keep it and will not let the foreign teacher have it. So, when you leave at the end of your contract and you need the certificate, he can demand money from you in order to give the certificate to you. I guess he must be really hard up for cash.

The apartments that he provides have broken furniture in them and if you want to have something fixed, even if you did not break it, he will send his goon henchman Mr. Ding to look at the issue and then tell you if you want the problem fixed, it will cost YOU money to repair it. Again, I guess he does not have the money for decent furnishing or simple repairs to the flats he rents for his teachers.

He seldom gives the salary on time. In 12 month period, he paid the salary late EIGHT MONTHS. The pay date is the 10th, and sometimes, it would only be a day or two late, but one month, the salary was given out on the 17th of the month, and in another month, it was paid on the 23rd of the month. This was done because one foreign teacher that Bill did not like, was bugging the foreign teacher's supervisor about the salary and when this was shared with Bill, his response was "None of the teachers will be paid! They will all have to wait until after the holiday!" This is another of Bill's ploys to further divide teachers.

When some of the Chinese teachers would quit because they had other jobs, Bill would get angry and tell them that he was going to sue them.....FOR. GETTTING. ANOTHER. JOB.

So, if you like to be paid on time and treated with a modicum of decency and respect, I strongly suggest completely by-passing Songyuan Foreign Studies College and Zhang JiaJun, as he has no concept of what respect and deceny are, and I strongly suspect that his finances are in a complete mess and he has difficulty meeting his monthly payroll. If however, you don't care about these things, go ahead and apply to this place and you will no doubt be able to secure a post without haste.

Re: Songyuan Foreign studies college

Hi,

My name is Chris and I am from Belgium. I have been teaching English for Songyuan Foreign Studies College since September 2010 until nowadays. Chinese teachers and foreign teachers get on well with each other in a positive, friendly and pleasant atmosphere. At our school, there are also regular meetings to update things and to discuss things which still need improvement. There are many things to see and to do in and around Songyuan. Sometimes, we have some parties or activities to build up the relationships and the team spirit between each other. The accommodation provided for the foreign teachers is normally in good condition and if something needs to be repaired, then it will be fixed in a short time.

Kind regards,

Chris

Re: Songyuan Foreign studies college

What is your Christian name? And where are you from? Because I don't believe it happend. Because I know the teachers that have worked there. I am 99% shure that you are Bill's goons (can you smell it? It's smells of Billsh1t)

Re: Songyuan Foreign studies college

I thought I was unfortunate enough to end up working in Songyuan at one of the other schools. There is nothing to do in Songyuan except meeting with the few foreign teachers from the other schools for a drink, because there was nothing else to do in the city. The teachers from Songyuan Foreign Studies college did nothing but bitch and complain about everything and anything. After a while, we got around to talking about contracts, my school paid on average 2,000RMB for less hours then then their school, we also got two consecutive days off a week compared to their one day. We also taught managable class sizes, where they taught more then 100 students at a time, and we were not forced to do compulsory overtime with 30 minutes notice. They showed me their scheduels and were supposed to work seven days a week, and even teach two different lessons at a time and they explained this was the norm. We also had, our own apartments furnished to a decent living standard unlike our friends from SFSC, who had to share apartments with one or two other people with substandard fixtures and furnishings. They also told us about the school not caring about quality education, most of their English teachers being second language speakers. When asked, a teacher from Russia who told me, he had been instructed to say he was from Canada. One of the guys I used to drink with regular did a midnight runner (up and left at night without giving any notice)after finally getting his passport back after threats of phoning his respective Embassy. He left because his apartment had been robbed while he was away for a few days, it had not been broken into, it had been opened by a key, and could not take anymore.

Re: Songyuan Foreign studies college

Perhaps if you had read between the lines, you would realize that my scathing comments are based on my love for China rather than the reverse. Time to say it like it is, time to remove the rose colored glasses. Time to stop coddling China simply because we Westerners all want to get on the gravy chain that is the economic boom in China. Time for the government there to let some of that excess cash they're hoarding filter down to where it's actually needed.

I'm not particulary enamored with the idea of China's lovely, innocent, hopeful children being forced to breathe toxic fumes from burning garbage simply because the government can't spend a few bucks on garbage disposal. How 'bout you? Got any children? Want them growing up like that?

No, I don't hate China; however, you won't find me apologizing for it's unwarranted actions or lack of actions. I'm going to call it like it is. Moreover, I'm going to endeavor to make people realize that coming here to teach is a very bad idea in terms of their physical and mental well being. And I'm going to especially recommend that would be FTs do not bring their children into this environment. The real truth about China's environment is not widely known. I intend to make it known.

The mistreatment of FTs in China is only part of the issue. Foreigners wanting to teach in China should be given a clear picture of what's going on here. That's my agenda.

Re: Songyuan Foreign studies college

Well, I can see why you'd think it is one of the worse schools in China; however, there's lots of competition. It might make it into the top 500.

Come to exotic China, blah, blah, blah. It's the same old story. I taught there for six years. I heard lots of horror stories and encountered some mind boggling treatment at the hands of schools until I finally landed in a school that I could put up with. Ultimately, though, their greed and misguided concepts about what constituted quality English education drove me away.

These days it seems pretty easy for schools in China to hire foreigners as their class clowns. They're a dime a dozen. So, despite a constant turnover resulting from their mistreatment of FTs, they can hire replacements with little or no effort.

I'm never shocked anymore when I read about or find out about a school in China that mistreats its foreign teachers. I'm even less shocked when I find about one that gives little attention to quality education; that's not part of the scheme of things. I am shocked, though, when I hear about a school that's got all its ducks in a row. They are a rare breed, indeed.

In the coming months, I'll be initiating a campaign here in America that focuses on what China really has to offer. Not just in the way of their mistreatment of foreign teachers, but also the polluted environment. In the West, they get all the BS about "progressive China." What a joke. I love how easily you can find piles of burning garbage that spew intolerable chemicals into the very air that little children breathe. This is just one example. While the government rakes in the cash, the country is being destroyed. How China goes, so shall the rest of the planet. China should be subjected to extreme criticism by the United Nations. Instead, the whole world just keeps on kissing up to them due to their overflowing coffers.

Do your research before falling for the "exotic China" crap. China is destroying the rest of the planet and doing so under the umbrella of being a "developing country."

Songyuan Foreign studies college, China

So this is in regards to probably one of the worst schools in China. The headmaster at this school offers you good pay and all these benefits. You end up working for the guy and you get paid nothing if you are not attractive, white or from a top school in the states. He will treat you like one of the worst teachers. One minute he will promise you things and then turn it around and deny that he said it. He only cares about a foreign face. He preaches the bible when he knows how screwed up he is and he is doing this so people will think that he has justified reasons to do these things. If you want to leave his school when your contract is up, he will first beg you for a long period of time to stay and then if you still say no. He will keep your passport and then threaten to cancel your visa and make you get deported. You won't get your last pay even though you worked your full contract. His Chinese goons will come into your apartment with out calling. One goon has been accused of sexually assaulting the teachears after entering their apartments while they were in the shower, watching tv changing..etc. This headmaster told the staff to not mention it or talk about it to anyone. This goon still works for him. Things have been known to disappear out of your apartment. If you come from a better school by the headmasters standards (Harvard,Cornell, Yale, etc...) you will be given the best treatment. He will take nice furniture and other appliances from the "lower" standard teacher's home and provide them with old furniture and dodgy appliances. You can't have a private life. He knows everything. You go to the bar, have a relationship, want to make friends with people. He knows it all. He will lecture you and tell you how it's terrible. You are constantly watched and maybe I'm paranoid but sometimes I think there are cameras in the apartment because he knows things that happen in your apartment when you were alone. I could go on but I think I have said enough. Saying anymore would just upset me. I just want those out there applying should know this.