SCHOOLS AND RECRUITERS REVIEWS
Return to Index › Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!
#1 Parent Mick - 2018-03-29
Re Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

If a woman decides to sleep around because she likes it, even if she "doesn't keep track" (whatever that means) why does that affect their job. What about the teacher **** from Aus who was slaying it regularly over WeChat, or K who ploughed his way through most of the TAs? Are they causing the same problems to this illustrious educational establishment?

Seems to me that you're just jealous you didn't get to enjoy her company ;) . Do you know the difference between a slut and a bitch? A slut sleeps with everyone at a party (or Shane), and a bitch sleeps with everyone except you (because you're a saddo who simply doesn't comprehend the futility of what you do on this messageboard, or the irony of posting such a message deploring another's professionalism while being unable to use your/you're correctly).

#2 Parent CAJMK - 2018-03-29
Re Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

The point I was trying to make is that when a person blames everyone and everything else for their problems generally they play some part in that problem. It does matter what TA's do in their spare time if or when it affects them during business hours. Especially when your job is teaching children, you are a guest in another country and they don't owe you anything except what is included in the contract you sign. I'm guessing that contract doesn't include bringing drama and BS into the situation. Im also guessing you know this person and that's fine to come to their defense, but it's hard to empathize with you when I'm just speaking the truth. I'm not trying to make anyone empathize with me because I could care less what anyone thinks. I'm just passing on some parts of the truth that were left out for other people who are looking into teaching with Shane in Dongying. I'm also not saying there is anything wrong with getting out after you have worked all day. I am saying that if you do be responsible and do what you are there to do. Finish your lesson plans, be there on time, actually put effort into those lesson plans not just some recycled slop that you came up with during a hangover. Missing class or work because your "sick" when your actually just hungover all of the time. Maybe don't show up to school drunk or smoke around the children, complain about your salary when your not even doing your job or sleep around so much you can't even keep track and then get mad when they dump you. Then in turn argue with these people around other TA's, that in fact does matter and it does affect your job. I'm not saying that the school doesn't have its own problems either, but just because you have issues with one or two people doesn't give you the right to trash the entire school. Obviously is some issues with this person if I'm not the only one saying that there are two sides to this story and I can't feel bad for this person when I know the truth. Skipping out on all of the things this person did so they don't look bad. Just keep it to yourself if most of it is lies or false information it makes you look bad not the school. I don't have pity for petty liars or people that treat others like dirt, then when they don't get what they want turn around and play the victim game.

#3 Parent Taffy - 2018-03-29
Re Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

Taffy, I take no offence. Frankly, I don't consider myself a genuine English teacher.

I didn't question any English you wrote.

As for who is and who is not an English teacher. The only way to be a superb ESL teacher is to train up for that teaching area and give yourself over to ESL completely. Of course an English teach from Exeter can fill such a post if he takes his TEFL etceteras and generally re-trains.

I still am of the opinion that an ex urinal cleaning operative can teach The Chinese good oral English and writing skill as long as he is a natural English speaker. He shouldn't expect to earn as much as a qualified teacher like yourself though.

#4 Parent FTinPRC - 2018-03-29
Re Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

You're.

You raise an interesting point. Prescriptively, I agree with you. Descriptively, in American English usage 'style' is frequently combined with 'faux pas'. I suspect this is a variation on fashion faux pas, a phrase which does qualify as a compound noun in contemporary American English. Googling the phrase 'style faux pas', I see it used often, but by second tier publications, Huffington, Toronto Star, ...

Stylistic faux pas strikes me as overly pedantic, a flaw that I already possess, in spades.

#5 Parent FTinPRC - 2018-03-29
Re Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

Taffy, I take no offence. Frankly, I don't consider myself a genuine English teacher.

#6 Parent Taffy - 2018-03-29
Re Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

a style faux pas.

Stylistic.

"Style" can be a noun or a verb but never an adjective.

Your welcome.

I don't know- why should it carry an adjective? I thought it was a compound noun! The whole beast.

You're also welcome. But I wish I'd never posted yesterday.

#7 Parent A-noi - 2018-03-29
Re Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

a style faux pas.

Stylistic.

"Style" can be a noun or a verb but never an adjective.

Your welcome.

#8 Parent taffy - 2018-03-29
Re Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

I didnt mean to suggest you had made any errors, Trumpsey- I certainly didnt see or look for any. I am sorry about that. I seem to have come unstuck by a coincidence. Have a good weekend. I like your writing a lot.

#9 Parent Taffy - 2018-03-29
Re Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

No mean feat, Trumpsey.

But, and I'll think you'll agree, one can avoid mentioning some difficult stuff. If your average Joe want to have a crack at teaching writing (especially in Shandong) well, a meek heart never won a fair lady! Your Shandong uni will give you a book and if you don't understand 'inverted commas' or editors bracket from parentheses, then just google it before putting together your lesson plan for the coming week. When you get into the classroom you can appear quite cocky, hahaha! Even bang your head on the blackboard if you think them students is a bit slow on catching on. Mind, only native speakers should attempt this as it can spread confusion if you yourself don't understand the definitions/meanings- with words like brackets and braces, the mind boggles if them foreigners get hold of them.

The above was in no way meant to critisise the other poster but ended up a freak misunderstanding. No, it was about me giving my own slant on the possibilities for unofficial teachers like yours truly to teach in China. Best I stay quiet for a bit.

#10 Parent FTinPRC - 2018-03-29
Re Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

I feel that FTs should not teach writing in China, but twice I was asked to do so.

The fact that the vast majority of students don't understand what the FT is saying about grammar, format and style is probably a good thing.

I found knowing some grammatical vocabulary in Chinese to be valuable, but my knowledge of written Chinese grammar is nil, so I was unable to do contrastive instruction, which is how written language is best learned by second language learners.

As you suggest, my use of 'single quotation marks' is a style faux pas.

#11 Parent Taffy - 2018-03-29
Re Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

My grammar knowledge is excellent and my Mandarin oral language ability is intermediate. I have explained to students, in both English and Mandarin, the use of modality in 'like' and 'love' in their use of gerunds and infinitives

No mean feat, Trumpsey.

But, and I'll think you'll agree, one can avoid mentioning some difficult stuff. If your average Joe want to have a crack at teaching writing (especially in Shandong) well, a meek heart never won a fair lady! Your Shandong uni will give you a book and if you don't understand 'inverted commas' or editors bracket from parentheses, then just google it before putting together your lesson plan for the coming week. When you get into the classroom you can appear quite cocky, hahaha! Even bang your head on the blackboard if you think them students is a bit slow on catching on. Mind, only native speakers should attempt this as it can spread confusion if you yourself don't understand the definitions/meanings- with words like brackets and braces, the mind boggles if them foreigners get hold of them.

#12 Parent FTinPRC - 2017-07-13
Re Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

There should be no reason why an ESL
teacher should have to use Chinese to teach English

I assume you are referring to a FT teaching Oral English. In an EFL environment, use of the native language is critical in teaching English grammar and writing. On the university level all students, including English majors, receive instruction from Chinese English instructors.

My grammar knowledge is excellent and my Mandarin oral language ability is intermediate. I have explained to students, in both English and Mandarin, the use of modality in 'like' and 'love' in their use of gerunds and infinitives. But I am confident an Chinese English professor does a better job in contrastive instruction in Mandarin, which is precisely what the students need. Imagine studying Chinese grammar completely in Chinese from a person who does not speak English.

In an actual ESL environment, say learning English in London, there is much debate about the use of the '1st' language in the classroom. During my time at Columbia during the last century, it was dismissed as counter productive for teaching adults. I'm not up to date on language acquisition pedagogy.

#13 Parent Mick - 2017-07-13
Re Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

I'm very confident (having worked at Shane for over 2 years) that Shane prides itself on lying about being a 100% English environment. There should be no reason why an ESL teacher should have to use Chinese to teach English, that's what the TAs are there for.

The fact that most of Shane's TAs can't speak English at an acceptable (i.e. conversational, or even classroom requirements) level should be neither here nor there. Alas, it is, but that's what you'll get somewhere like Shane.

As for the OP sleeping with people, I'm pretty confident that as a foreign teacher it's not really your job to judge others on their 'extra-curricular' activities. I can understand why you do, but I can't understand why you think it will make others empathise with you and your viewpoint. When did the OP pretend it "was a big surprise"? I don't recall seeing that in their post. As for coming into school drunk, did the school chastise, reprimand, or fire the OP or simply not care because all they want is a dancing white monkey?

As for your argument: "that you are complaining about a citizen in china not speaking the best English is pathetic and ridiculous, that would be like you at home in England going up to some random teacher and expecting them to have perfect Chinese". What utter nonsense. First of all, none of the teachers expect "the best English", however it's reasonable to assume they can speak 'adequate' English, ensuring that they teach their students correctly (I lost count of how many times I heard TAs doing telephone teaching saying "Americ" instead of "America"). Secondly, why would you expect anyone in your own country to speak any foreign language perfectly? That's just plain idiotic.

#14 Parent CAJMK - 2017-06-27
Re Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

I'm probably way late to type this and maybe it won't be read. But it's pretty funny how your bashing all of these people pretending you are so innocent. Have you thought that your "bad" experience is maybe karma for you, I don't think sleeping around with people including a married teacher did you any favors. You knew he was married so don't pretend like it's some big surprise to you, especially after posting pictures online of you touching and sitting all over him. He's probably not the first and won't be the last, the whole point of going to other countries to teach IS TO TEACH. Not going out every night, getting drunk, coming into school drunk/hungover and messing around with other teachers. You should probably learn to keep your legs closed who knows what your passing around. If you cared so much about your students then you would have preferred to post pictures of them or comment on their progress in learning English. Instead you were posing in pictures of you, half naked, drunk, drinking or hanging all over different men. Or maybe you should have spent some of your free time actually learing and understanding chinese a little better, you are a guest in their country after all. The fact that you are complaining about a citizen in china not speaking the best English is pathetic and ridiculous, that would be like you at home in England going up to some random teacher and expecting them to have perfect Chinese. Your in their country working, learn the language plain and simple. I'd think you would want to anyway since you care about the students so much, wouldn't you want to be able to speak both languages to the children. In case they don't understand you can describe it better in their native language, or to be able to communicate with the parents and school better. This might sound rude or mean but in this whole long story about your experience there isn't really a single that you did wrong. You can blame everyone else all you want, but you not taking responsibility for anything is wrong and petty especially when obviously you don't have the best moral values or care that other people might be affected in a negative way because of your decisions. Reading this bothered me just like it did for Wayne because that isn't the whole truth, your going to come out trashing other people while your moral compas is pinging on empty. Hopefully somehow you will read over this a few years later realize the part you played, P.S. it's not the victim.

#15 Parent Mr. Silver Spoon - 2014-02-01
Re: Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

Hey Wayne!

I was expecting you to be totally biased in your reply.

I also know "your" school quite well and it definitely OVER qualifies as another...

CRAPPY RUN OF THE MILL SHITTY LANGUAGE CENTER IN CHINA!!!!

#16 Parent Mohammed - 2013-11-30
Re: Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

Hello Everyone

Hope you are all well, I couldnt help but notice this post and I have experience with Shane english school. I would relate my story to you as facts and facts only.the rest you can judge for yourself. I am A SOUTH AFRICAN, who is 23 years of age and arrived in dongying east city last week monday.I have a signed a 1 year contract back home with shane english and begun my training on friday as i was waiting for a foreign teacher to arrive from the US. when i arrived at dongying bus station adam and kimmy picked me up and took me to a hotel,on friday i began training with wayne and it was good an in formative,especially help full for understanding how to teach at this school.on wednesday i finished training and thought a demo lesson,which i thought wasnt too bad,but before that i already picked up that the school over recruited and had space for only one teacher, so the other teacher was chosen instead of me, i was taken into an office with adam,kimmy and megan and fed some punny excuse about my accent and no1 understands me,but i could tell that wasnt the issue,i asked them to speak staright and tell me the real reason,but they stuck to there guns,any how i dont want to go into why the other teacher was chosen over me as he is a nice innocent guy,but it certainly wasnt because of qualifications,because i am more qualified,they then further explained that i dont say things like them, they say " leeev" and i say "live", so oviously im correct, any how there plan after was just to hang me out in the cold.with 3 weeks left on my visa, they were not going to give me a residence permit,nor do i have any money to return home,so i would basically be here illegally,

on my way out however i met wayne and told him what had happened and he sad he would speak to them,adam contacted me after and told me i could stay in the hotel and they would renew my visa and assist me in finding another post,so i guess waynes chat helped.

non the less what they are doing is unjust,they should of just sad we over recruited and sorry and been straight,since seeing they sent me an invitation letter and i signed a contract,if my accent was the real problem they would of picked it up in the 1st place while doing the interview.and strange how they understood everything i was saying. any how i feel discriminated against in other way,but my object is not to get racial or religious.

On the whole i can honestly say there are teachers at shane who are working and getting paid on time and the school is sticking to the contract and then there are the stories ive heard about things goin wrong,so its a very mixed bowl of soup, and then theres me.

I just feel its unfair that i went through a long process of applying using money to get here.signing a contract and then been hung out to dry.

I WOULD STRONGLY ADVISE ANYONE TO ABSTAIN FROM "SHANE ENGLISH SCHOOL IN EAST CITY DONGYING"

I CAME HERE WITH A PASSION TO TEACH AND EARN,BUT NOW IM JUST USING UP MY MONEY,NO ASSISTANCE FROM THE SCHOOL, SO RATHER REFRAIN FROM THAT WHICH IS DOUBTFULL.

Mohammed

#17 Parent Mr. Perfect English - 2013-08-16
Re: Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

The reason why Wayne posted his looooongest message again is because he wants to gain more exposure within this thread of site. He is afraid that people thinking about going to Shane school won't want to apply after reading everything that's bad and true about it.

#18 Parent Wayne - 2013-08-14
Re: Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

[originally posted on Aug 3rd but removed and reposted for clarity]

Wow.

I'm not even sure where to start with this. For those wondering, this is Wayne (Smithers who abuses other foreigner teachers Wayne to you) and as amusing as your BS is and as much as I'd like to ignore this, I can't. This is because I know which parts of this essay are genuine concerns or problems, which parts you have fudged to make yourself look better or make the school look worse and which parts are complete nonsense (not to mention the parts that make you look bad which you conveniently skipped over).

Starting with things skipped out, I notice how you're very quick to name everyone around you who doesn't get on with you (and failed at that – their names are Kimi and Xuan and have been on the contacts list for months) but somehow managed to omit your name. But you picked a modest, unassuming pseudonym ... more nodding dog than daring politician, it has to be said. The essay was dense enough that I'm only going to highlight the really obnoxiously misleading stuff. Let's begin, shall we?

Yes this man does not give a flying fig about the quality of teaching, the adequate abilities of his managers, the usefulness of his recruitment team or the reliability of his welfare officers because, lets face it none of these people "have" to have any people skills or do they "need" to speak or understand much English..... if they have a qualification in being dishonest, insensitive or able to suddenly want to screw you over at all costs ...
Of course, the problems you've had with this one manager mean that every manager hired by the school across all the different branches conforms to your comic book villain construction. Naturally there are some who are more and some who are less competent but from within this group of people I can easily think of a dozen people who are far smarter, kinder, more compassionate and better qualified than you. Speaking of English, I love the comment you passed in the office a few weeks ago complaining about how the Chinese staff “don't speak good English.”

employees in "responsible" positions who not only treated myself badly
Looking after your dog and visiting you when you were sick, helping you through the rough patch you had when you first got here with that other teacher, dealing with every petty issue you had and lacked the wherewithal to deal with ... You treat people (and I'm thinking of one Chinese teacher in particular) like dirt unless you need/want something and you expect people to continue to be at your beck and call despite this. Some day you'll find you've burned one too many bridges and I fear that despite all the signs it will still come as a shock to you.

two (places to socialise) to enjoy in East City

Jin Chen pool halls, whiskey bar, top floor pool hall by ming jian, silver plaza, food street, qing feng lake artificial beach, qing feng north pedestrian street, countless BBQs, other teachers' homes ...

I felt and feel even more so now, that foreigners are brought to this school under false pretenses.

I concede the Chinese HR struggle to communicate with foreigners effectively, speaking a second language over the phone to a new teacher who is in a position they have never experienced, coming from a culture the HR guys don't know. Following the meeting (where we completely ignored everything the teachers said and made things worse of course) we added an interview with a foreigner to make sure that there were no misunderstandings and that new teachers could talk to somebody they feel comfortable asking honest questions. An expression springs to mind about mountains and molehills ...

my contract stated I would be working 20 hours a week, this was not illustrated that infact I would be at school 40 hours every week and that 20 hours would be spent in the classroom,

For clarity, you have two full days of work (Sat and Sun totaling 12 hrs) which leaves two days completely free and three full days to do 8 hrs of classes at most. For a salary that is terrible for the UK but exceptional for the country and region (it's four times what the Chinese teachers get) that seems reasonable to me.

whilst the remaining 20 would be wasted confined to the teachers office as a reminder that the school "owns" us

Let's not drag all the teachers under the bus as wasting the one week of the month where you do office hours (which was provided as an option for more money and which you agreed to) as they for the most part made use of the time actually preparing classes (and not just recycling the same activities - how many times in your classes did you play 21 questions in exactly the same way?). That you chose to spend time in the office surrounded by other teachers both Chinese and foreign with a wealth of experience, a large collection of resource and training books and a mountain of digital resources you could use in the classroom sitting at your desk watching TV on your tablet speaks more about you as an individual than anything else. The school owns you? Christ the school just wanted you to put some bloody effort into your classes.

WAYNE'S ( foreign teacher / department manager/ sits in the foreign office defending the school abusing fellow foreigners and sprints vigorously back to MAGGIE to relay anything that is said) ..... all of these people are as much use as a chocolate teapot and should be ashamed of the way I witnessed them treating fellow teachers, aswell as myself.

Thanks for that. Abusing fellow foreigners? I'm just a malicious kind of person I guess. I particularly enjoy scrawling disparaging comments on peoples' desks and throwing things at them when they make eye contact.
Coming from somebody like you I find this particularly galling.

This woman will not only lie to your parents and tell them bad things about you,

The greedy, school which only cares about looking good and making money tells the parents negative things about you before asking them to pay money to keep their child in your class? What possible benefit could there be to putting down a teacher in front of parents?

she will also try to play you off against the other foreign teachers, discuss personal matters that she'd had with other teachers with yourself and then ask for your opinion

She tried to be friendly and get your advice on how to better communicate with other teachers? How dare she! As far as personal matters go I have to say that you loudly discussing your own very personal matters in the middle of the shared office with anybody who would talk to you tends to make me think you have a double standard in this regard.

try to bribe the Chinese staff and TA's with extra money for spying on the foreign teachings in the office and outside of work,

No. Just ... no.

Being taken ill anywhere in the world is unpleasant, imagine being admitted to hospital because you were hit by a car and nearly murdered for defending friends and your boss is more concerned on when you will return to work.

What happened was tragic but that's an outright lie. Every single teacher that was involved in that was given as much time as they needed and no pressure to come back until they were ready and I'm offended you would use their suffering like this.

After finishing two IV drips

In China they use IVs extensively – most pharmacies will do them in situ and they administer them for everything from having a bad cold up.

quiz me about the whereabouts of the teacher who had been nearly killed, did I know anything and she protested that she knew I knew something.

If you had a friend who had been seriously injured and was suffering physically and emotionally – was depressed and withdrawn and then suddenly disappeared and couldn't be contacted wouldn't you be concerned? Wouldn't you want to find out where he is and make sure he's ok? And for the record, you did know: you were with him arguing the night before he left. Also, it's Xuan, not Scwarn and she isn't in our school as she moved to another branch to be with her husband who works there.

After experiencing all of this and seeing how childish and ridiculous the school had become, I had made my mind up that under no circumstances or offers was I either staying or resigning another contract at that school.

Is this before or after being rejected when you applied to take on HR responsibilities for a new contract with a higher salary?

I could not let this happen to my students

Who you cared about so much that you didn't leave your lesson plans and what handover notes you did complete were poorly and lazily filled out ...

An American, married couple were hired a few months ago at the school ... They were also informed that they would not be separated.

They weren't.

When they arrive they have a schedule awaiting them which doesn't involve training but includes teaching the 2nd year teacher's weekend classes who had gone back to his home country to see family.

BS – they observed classes and had training in West city then came to East and went through further training here specific to this branch and the classes they were going to be taking.

Naturally they both felt inadequate and intimidated by the situation.

They came and signed on to full time contracts straight away which resulted in them having a heavier class load than they should have. This is something we learned from (again following the 'pointless' meeting after they left) and we make an effort now to be clearer on the pace at which classes are added and the option available when they first arrive of starting on a more flexible part time contract for the first few weeks then switching to a full time contract or starting straight off with a full time contract. I notice you failed to mention that somebody lied to them about their schedules when they were out with the other foreigners and landed them in trouble on their first day. Also, before they even had a chance to meet Maggie somebody who has a personal disagreement with her told them just how awful, mean and unfair she was which lead to a minor problem which should have resulted in a five minute conversation and fix being yet more proof of how evil the school is. It's one thing for you to have disagreements and complain about the school but quite another to dump all your personal stuff on others when they're at their most vulnerable and struggling to deal with a new job, home and culture. You say the school makes new teachers feel stressed when they arrive? Step outside your glass house.

WAYNE was doing his best to convince her she had done nothing wrong, like Smithers comforts Mr Burns.

Like Smithers comforts Mr Burns. Beautiful – almost poetic. Kudos.
Aside from anything else – we spoke in Chinese which despite being here a year you don't understand and can't speak, so your guesses as to what I said to her are interesting. Maggie is human. She makes mistakes, but the way these foreigners left wasn't one of them and if the foreigners who stressed this couple out don't feel guilty about ruining this experience for the couple and for how much it cost them financially and emotionally then I have nothing more to say.

Following this event MAGGIE decided to hold a manager's meeting to which all teachers must attend. This was her opportunity to try to bad mouth the couple to us and state that they had called her a liar

The school was genuinely gutted by two teachers we thought would do really well leaving and wanted to understand why yet you still think this is about Maggie?

All of us gave constructive and relevant advice which at first was immediately defended by WAYNE which just illustrated that we were wasting our time because nothing was going to change.

Everything that was said was taken down (a typed summary was posted in the office if you remember and we crossed them off as we addressed the issues) and as I've already mentioned has resulted in changes.

MAGGIE has now decided that new teachers will not arrive until the previous teacher has left.

WTF? Again, your situation where the teacher replacing YOU arrives late is not representative of the school policy or of other teachers. You remember the teacher who left just before you? His replacement didn't have personal issues before he came to China and they had a full week of observed classes and a week to plan classes together on top of the full training schedule for new teachers. It's not always about you.

it is more beneficial for the new teacher to go into their classes completely blind without any helpful information to prepare them for the class

Again, the resources you could have left behind for the next teacher but didn't speak volumes.

I knew during my last week at Shane that MAGGIE would try to pull some stunt on me

I'm tired of reading through your rant and honestly, I've seen enough teachers with common sense and more manners leave without incident, regardless of their opinions of the school so I'm going to cut past all the zany antics that ensue following everybody involved reaching the maturity of a toddler.

I truly wish you the best in your next job and beyond. I hope you find all you felt was missing here and that the problems (which were actually problems) you had here don't surface. Be careful though – people respond to honesty and being treated the same way you would want to be treated. It sounds simple but it's important.

I've said my peace and I'm not going to reply to this any more – you know how to get in touch with me if you have anything else to say but to be frank the reason I didn't sign your farewell diary when you were asking people to is because I have nothing to say to you.

Goodbye mystery nodding dog.

China can be a good place to work
#19 Parent Mr. Perfect English - 2013-08-08
Re: Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

I have read this post and I do not think the poster would have gone to such great lengths if he/she wasn't TRULY pissed off at this private school within the Shandong province of China. And it was no surprise to me that representatives from the school interjected. It's very hard to get qualified foreigners to teach at a school in a less foreign friendly city at times and this bad publicity can deter many especially if the content is on a popular website such as this. I don't blame this individual from posting about this school as I know it has a bad track record. It's a fact that most private schools in China just care about money, while tricking and lying to foreigners who need to make a REAL personal commitment to live and work in a foreign land. So if you're thinking of coming to teach in China and are concerned about which school to choose... mine and others option?

Stay clear of Shane schools!

#20 Parent Beelzebub - 2013-08-06
Re: Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

No, I definitely meant boulder. It comes from the Cantonese 'si tsing waak yi mou, tou sou nang goek nga.'
In nature, [poetic] grace in many cultures is often accredited to trees, leaves, hills, grass, water, and so on; anything that flows or sways - rarely, if ever, a boulder. The expression conveys that the style of speech used, while somewhat able to be followed, lacks in rhythm, flow and general idyllic appeal.

That's as maybe; however, since you were grumbling about the other blokes bad English, I'd say that that 'si tsing waaky boulder' looked a bit incongruous and should not have been cluttering up the English landscape...........unless of course you were sarcastically implying that the pretend native English speaker was as intrusive as the si sing waaky boulder- then we could find a place for that rock. Am I right or am I right?

#21 Parent Jerry L'épeire - 2013-08-06
Re: Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

No, I definitely meant boulder. It comes from the Cantonese 'si tsing waak yi mou, tou sou nang goek nga.'
In nature, [poetic] grace in many cultures is often accredited to trees, leaves, hills, grass, water, and so on; anything that flows or sways - rarely, if ever, a boulder. The expression conveys that the style of speech used, while somewhat able to be followed, lacks in rhythm, flow and general idyllic appeal.

#22 Parent San Migs - 2013-08-05
Re: Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

I never mentioned letting it off, merely stating differences. I've seen Shandong, would not want to go back thanks very much. Each to their own!!!!

#23 Parent Beelzebub - 2013-08-05
Re: Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

Sit down. You speak with the grace of a boulder

Not trying to cast shade over your good post but it's a bit of a stretch of the imagination to expect a bolder to have any views let alone give voice to them. I think you meant to say 'the grace of a fool' or many other nouns will fit? 我们扯平了 wo shi dui de, wo shi dui de ma- hahaha all jolly good fun

#24 Parent Jerry L'épeire - 2013-08-05
Re: Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

If you're going to rail on a native English speaker about something in English, the least you could've done was spared the individual the facepalm reaction of trudging through this response. The only reason I say that is because I get the feeling this school, like many others in China, "prides" itself in have a Chinese staff that "speaks excellent English."

Sit down. You speak with the grace of a boulder.

I'm sure if this were another other forum, your response would be in 2 or 3 different fonts from all the cutting and pasting you've done. Your total disregard for consistent English verb tenses, English sentence syntax and mechanics reeks of Chinglish.

You might want to go get that checked out.

(By the way, one thing, if you will, as my teacher instincts have been tingling...)

"you were dishonored discharged by the school"

(Why didn't you consult a native English speaker before embarrassing yourself in an ESL teacher forum? Online translator any?) What you're wanting to use is "dishonorable discharge." This is a noun clause more commonly used in military affairs and cannot function as a verb unless one were to be "dishonorably discharged." Even in such case, the following preposition would be "from," not "by". Otherwise, the meaning would convey that the school was dishonorable in discharging whomever. Hmm...
#25 Parent Jerry L'épeire - 2013-08-05
Re: Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

I wouldn't be so quick to let Guangdong province off the handle that easily. Regardless of its proximity to HK, it still identifies with [pretty much the rest of] mainland China in regards to its reaction and disposition toward and around foreigners.

I suppose the only difference between places like Shandong and Guangdong is that while more northern, less-exposed-to-the-world-outside-of-China areas may not understand the wants and needs of foreigners and may pose as xenophobic environments, places like Guangdong that do indeed have a noticeable population of foreigners are actually just as in the dark, but will pride themselves pretending to be "in-the-know" as they screech out a "helloooooooooooooooooo!!!" (and nothing else) from at anyone who doesn't readily look Han Chinese, afterwards turning to each other discussing how there's no other place you'd rather be than McDonald's because you're obviously a foreigner.

With my experiences, managers in Guangdong, meanwhile, put on an attitude that deprioritises, if not totally ignores, the wants and needs of foreigners working and living in China, as they're well aware that if a foreign faces walks out the door, the systems and networks southern Chinese companies are notorious for that take full advantage of the population of foreigners in southern China will bring in a new foreign face soon enough. In either situation, the foreign fear and suspicion usually doesn't come around in the South until their language comes out of your mouth with a straight face.

#26 Parent John O'Shei - 2013-08-04
Re: Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

Re: Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!
By:Wiil Moore
Date: 3 August 2013
In Response To: Re: Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!! (Onica)

First of all, yourself, your dear sister and your so called "boy friend" were dishonored discharged by the school. You lied to poor S[edited] M[edited] and borrow thousands of RMB before you run away and of course you never showed again. You and your dear sister smoking in fronts of the students and you guys went to school drunk. I do not wanna say more about your behaviours and maybe you should think about your life again.

The fact you can not even spell the name 'Will' correctly, makes you a contender for the worst attempt by some bellend at a Chinese training centre pretending to be a foreigner yet.
Not to mention the fair bit of Chinglish that we get as standard from posters like you. The rhetoric is typical Chinese boss crap too.

#27 Parent John O'Shei - 2013-08-04
Re: Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

Jacob Meg? I think you tried to sell me Viagra in a spam e-mail a few years back, how's it going? Long time no see!

Got to love these fake names and fake posts from the Chinese con merchants. Not only can trick you into spending money on fake Viagra that doesn't arrive, but they can also trick you into taking a job at a crap school. They are no limits to these people's powers!

#28 Parent Dragonized - 2013-08-04
Re: Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

Are you a "qualified" teacher? If you are, you're not doing yourself any favors by working abroad. If you're not, it's the teapot calling the kettle at best for you.

Foreign teachers, whether they are qualified by western standards or whether they are not qualified by western standards are not always the best people to meet. Skeletons can be in anybody's closet including the ones with the proper qualifications. If you have been working abroad for a very long time, it would stand that things back home aren't exactly peachy. As it is, the fact that you would come on here and try to act like you know better suggests you've been doing this for quite some time now.

#29 Parent Davyhulme Sewage Tank Cleaner - 2013-08-04
Re: Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

A rubbish pretend school that employs rubbish pretend DEECHERS from the west with no degree and no work ethic. Crap attracts crap in my view, and this is just a drinking and smoking place for 20 somethings from the west imho!!!!

#30 Parent San Migs - 2013-08-04
Re: Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

We all know the reason why you were in the hospital was you and your pretty friends were totally drunk, even you have classes next few days, and had a "small" argument. You should be lucky that you did not killed by angry peoole around you because we are not in a county filled of juvenile delinquency. And you know exactly why you have felt that almost everyone were against all the time. I do not wanna say something bad and my suggestion would be go check your own facebook and ask yourself: are you a qualified teacher?

The truth comes out, just a crap school not qualified to employ real degree holding teachers, but 20 something gap year types from the west who get drunk, then when things do not go their way, go back to their parents nice house in England and just grumble about the crap school they worked at, even though they went there. Due dilligence and maturity totally lacking! Yes it sounds he and the other teachers were lucky they were not beaten to death by a worked up mob!!!

#31 Parent San Migs - 2013-08-04
Re: Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

Aside from anything else – we spoke in Chinese which despite being here a year you don't understand and can't speak.

How can that possibly matter, or be considered a reflection on wc's teaching methods? Yes, it is useful to learn the language and use it, but not everyone can or has to do so in one year. I personally preferred to take my time and only really got to speak it well around 2 years after, not everyone is hugely gifted at languages, nor can I see how it relates to teaching little spoiled horrors at somewhere in the backwoods of shandong? You sound like a grovelling weasel who grovels at the temple of Chinese groveldom, but I hope you can prove everyone wrong.

#32 Parent Dragonized - 2013-08-04
Re: Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

You lied to poor S[edited] M[edited] and borrow thousands of RMB before you run away and of course you never showed again.

The "borrowed" money could in fact be the teacher's salary that he had already worked for. I know for a fact that training centers usually pay the ESL teachers their first month's salary towards the middle of the 2nd month. Why would he "show again" if he didn't like working for you guys and he had already gotten his money?

#33 Parent Wiil Moore - 2013-08-04
Re: Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

We all know the reason why you were in the hospital was you and your pretty friends were totally drunk, even you have classes next few days, and had a "small" argument. You should be lucky that you did not killed by angry peoole around you because we are not in a county filled of juvenile delinquency. And you know exactly why you have felt that almost everyone were against all the time. I do not wanna say something bad and my suggestion would be go check your own facebook and ask yourself: are you a qualified teacher? You are here for teaching and what have you done?

#34 Parent Wiil Moore - 2013-08-04
Re: Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

First of all, yourself, your dear sister and your so called "boy friend" were dishonored discharged by the school. You lied to poor S[edited] M[edited] and borrow thousands of RMB before you run away and of course you never showed again. You and your dear sister smoking in fronts of the students and you guys went to school drunk. I do not wanna say more about your behaviours and maybe you should think about your life again.

#35 Parent Jacob Meg - 2013-08-04
Re: Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

Hi,dear [edited],

How are you?Here comes some lovely lovely pics of your daily life when you work as a "teacher".

Hope you nice employer as sl[edited]t as you are.

Follow your spirit, and upon this charge Cry God for Harry, England, and Saint George

[7 PHOTOS DELETED BY THE ADMIN OF THIS SITE]

#36 Parent Wayne - 2013-08-03
(Message Deleted by Poster)
#37 Parent Beelzebub - 2013-08-03
Re: Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

John Wayne, no it is not, lol. Don't know anyone called Wayne, and I hope you respect my intent not to reveal my real name here!

Whereas I- I have nowt to to hide- my real name is...Wrrr....Wrrr....Wrrr...No better not- Hahahahaha. only joking- all good fun.

#38 Parent San Migs - 2013-08-03
Re: Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

John Wayne, no it is not, lol. Don't know anyone called Wayne, and I hope you respect my intent not to reveal my real name here!

#39 Parent Onica - 2013-08-02
Re: Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

For anybody that thinks this post is utter nonsense, it isn’t. As ridicules and absurd as it sounds none of this surprises me. I worked for the same school in Hekou and there all 3 of us chose to walk away after similar nonsense. The school “manager” that made it impossible for us was Ann. Maggie and Chris the regional manager did absolutely nothing to improve of help the teachers. Guys Stay away from this school seriously it’s not worth the shit. They lie about everything; they are dishonest in every way. They will play the victim and I just hope nobody ells fall for their lies.

#40 Parent William Shatner - 2013-08-02
Re: Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

Hello Mr. San Migs, is this Wayne, by any chance? Just curious. Cheers, mate.

#41 Parent foxy - 2013-08-02
Re: Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

Secondly, shandong being a more remote northern province means outsiders, incl. foreigners, are often viewed with fright or suspicion. Unlike say Guangdong.......

Yup, too true, unfortunately - too BACKWARD there!

#42 Parent San Migs - 2013-08-02
Re: Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

Despite the city being mundane and the locals reacting to you like an UFO

Your experiences there sound like hell firstly.

Secondly, shandong being a more remote northern province means outsiders, incl. foreigners, are often viewed with fright or suspicion. Unlike say Guangdong which has been in close contact with the west for a few hundred years more than the rest of China, and also due to it's proximity to HK and Macau, Shandong only really had contact with the germans in qingdao. The mindset of managers where you were is very typical of not understanding the foreigners neeeds or wants.

Winston Churchill - 2013-08-01
Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!

When I think about a school, I think of a nurturing, fun, educational, organized environment to pleasantly work in! What I got when I arrived at Shane School was the complete opposite. I find it ludicrous that the company is even allowed to portray and name itself a school, the owner Mr Szhu reminds me of a pirate; obsessively motivated and driven by greed to hunt for more "treasure", done so gracefully despite the webs of deceit spun and causalities incurred to his own crew. Yes this man does not give a flying fig about the quality of teaching, the adequate abilities of his managers, the usefulness of his recruitment team or the reliability of his welfare officers because, lets face it none of these people "have" to have any people skills or do they "need" to speak or understand much English..... if they have a qualification in being dishonest, insensitive or able to suddenly want to screw you over at all costs (over nothing you've asked for within your rights) ... then B-I-N-G-O they're hired instantly. Like any private school in China, their whole objective is to make money. I was aware of that, I understood that this company and school was run like a business and I thought ok, I'll still give it a try. Never in my life have I used the word hate and actually meant it but after enduring 14 months at that school I now hate the manager "MAGGIE", I hate the company and everything that it stands for and most of all I hate all of the employees in "responsible" positions who not only treated myself badly but, harassed and drove other teachers away. I am not exaggerating any of these points or the following events that I witnessed regarding myself and other foreign teachers whilst working for Shane English School, East City, Dongying , Shandong Province. I feel that everyone should be warned about this pitiful excuse for a school!

Dongying is a very small city with a handful of places to socialize at in West City and only two to enjoy in East City. Despite the city being mundane and the locals reacting to you like an UFO, the foreign teachers that I worked with made the city seem more alive and the bulls#it at work more bearable. The first obstacle I had to face once I arrived in China were my living arrangements. Of course I was eager to get started and settled in, I had just left my friends and loved ones the other side of the world, I wanted to make the most of my time here.. which anyone would understand right?! No, I was there for a month before I moved into my apartment. The apartment that I had chosen was still being occupied by a teacher who was leaving and was in dispute with the school. Unbeknownst to me at the time the school were trying to screw him over in regards to his salary, visa, paperwork .... the usual things that are rightfully ours ... before he left. The welfare officer at the time Tony told me that the foreigner was trouble and not to listen to him and it was his fault why I couldn't move in. Therefore I was taken to a "temporary" apartment to stay in, bearing in mind I had already been staying in a hotel for a week in West City ( a 25 minute cab drive away) despite working in East City. I would not have allowed stray animals to shelter in that place. It was disgusting, the oven didn't work which was caked in layers of mold and grime, the sofa was green leather but it looked like a tiger had been unleashed on it and it was shredded to bits, when you opened the kitchen cupboard doors you were greeted with a herd of cockroaches running over moldy food and dirty crockery towards you. The beds were covered in unthinkable stains and the entire place had a unique but gut wrenching stench. I pleaded with Tony that they was no way I could stay here, but he reassured and promised me it would be for a few days. A few days turned into a week and then an expected further week to which I thought, " What have I come to?" It took an experienced teacher at the time to call Tony and demand that I was put into a hotel. So I was put into a different hotel in East City, this time for a few days, which surprisingly turned into 2 weeks.

I felt and feel even more so now, that foreigners are brought to this school under false pretenses. The contract lies, my contract stated I would be working 20 hours a week, this was not illustrated that infact I would be at school 40 hours every week and that 20 hours would be spent in the classroom, whilst the remaining 20 would be wasted confined to the teachers office as a reminder that the school "owns" us and if we disagreed with any office hours or holidays... we would be fined. One teacher was promised a free apartment, when he arrived here he was told, " No that was the contract that we had changed a few weeks ago but we have gone back to the original one now." So no free apartment, there's one lie. Being branded or accused of being a liar was always the most insulting thing you could suggest to MAGGIE the boss of East City, also nothing was ever her fault it was either WAYNE'S ( foreign teacher / department manager/ sits in the foreign office defending the school abusing fellow foreigners and sprints vigorously back to MAGGIE to relay anything that is said), CHEMIE's ( an officer of some sort, general dog's body of MAGGIE'S), CHRIS'S ( recruiter for the school, the communication between these two must be banned seeing as MAGGIE never knows what CHRIS has promised or informed newcomers), ADAMS'S ( welfare officer to the new foreigner teachers, e.g does well at being unorganized and informative) , all of these people are as much use as a chocolate teapot and should be ashamed of the way I witnessed them treating fellow teachers, aswell as myself.

Just to shed an insight on how misleading the contract is for new teachers, since Christmas of 2013 excluding the West City school, we had had 13 teachers leave. Some stayed for a month, a week, a few days, one girl even stayed for an hour. Alas, the school will still continue to claim that these people were bad and that they had done nothing wrong, especially MAGGIE. The most common denominator with this school are the incapabilities and treacherous, calculated methods of MAGGIE. This is a manager who is a complete sociopath and takes pleasure in trying to threaten foreign teachers, especially when they want to leave. I had heard and witnessed various horror stories from fellow teachers regarding MAGGIE and the things she had done and said to them because they wanted to leave the school. This woman will not only lie to your parents and tell them bad things about you, she will also try to play you off against the other foreign teachers, discuss personal matters that she'd had with other teachers with yourself and then ask for your opinion, try to bribe the Chinese staff and TA's with extra money for spying on the foreign teachings in the office and outside of work, try to withhold you're Foreign Experts Certificate aswell as your reference and release letter, keep your retention bonus for herself, fine you at even given opportunity despite in the contract stating that verbal and written warnings will be given first before being issued with a fine, intrude and try to violate your personal life and try to break relationships up by cancelling visas and calling the Chinese parents of your spouse to poison them against you. Have I made myself clear by this point that this woman and this company should be avoided at all costs.... you still unsure and think, " HMMM maybe it will be ok for me?" ... read on my friend there's more to come.

Being taken ill anywhere in the world is unpleasant, imagine being admitted to hospital because you were hit by a car and nearly murdered for defending friends and your boss is more concerned on when you will return to work. Unfortunately some fellow teachers were attacked one night by a mass of Chinese men, which was spectated and encouraged by by-standing locals. Luckily nobody was killed, however some people's injuries were more major than others. One teacher got stabbed in the leg, but recovered fairly well which sounds bad enough but in relation to the teacher who was nearly killed and how MAGGIE treated him seems minor. Not only had the Chinese men beat him constantly with a baseball bat to his skull and body, so much so that his cranium had a hole and was indented and had to be stitched, they also hit him with bottles and then allowed him to stagger and find his feet to be then ran over from behind by their friend revving and waiting in a car, the mental impact that this had on him was understandable but scary. All the teachers visited him and tried their best to support him, these efforts were squashed by MAGGIE's insensitive, barbaric nature. Following a CT scan the Chinese staff member who was with him at the time was SCWARN. SCWARN was told that a piece of the teacher's skull was fractured above his ear, she obviously informed him of this. MAGGIE later scolded her for this and banned her from dealing with us " foreigners" and that she should think that she is Chinese and that he would now want more time off work! She then decided to visit the teacher and showed no regard for his mental or physical state and proceeded to inform him of her criticism that had resulted from a lesson she had observed of his the previous week! The woman has no brain! I happened to be there when she made the following remark, " Why you so hurt, some of the others are not so bad, maybe because they can run faster than you." I couldn't believe what I was hearing I told her that she couldn't say things like that and she just responded with her usual fake laugh and shrugged it off. CHEMIE also informed us that MAGGIE had asked for the hospital bill to be paid for by the school and for it to be approved by MRS SAI ( like a regional manager), MAGGIE informed the teacher that the school could do nothing and that he would have to pay and would lose his salary for time spent recovering and not in class. However it was later bought to our attention that she kept the money and that when SCWARN had told her the seriousness of this matter following the CT scan results, that MAGGIE had spoken to the teacher's doctor and tried to " bargain" his recovery rate, e.g reduce the amount of days he had stated that the teacher must rest at home. Naturally when able to barely walk this teacher went back home but, again he was a bad person and I quote MAGGIE to myself, " Why he leave, he just want make me look bad, I tried to help him, why he doing this to me?"

Unfortunately I myself ended up having to endure a hospital stay and MAGGIE'S humanity levels had neither increased nor faltered. After finishing two IV drips and still being in crippling pain the doctors decided that I needed to be admitted and stay in for tests and treatment. My TA at the time rang MAGGIE to inform her of this, MAGGIE was not aware that she was on speakerphone and when my TA relaid what the doctor had instructed and that I had to stay in hospital she erupted in Chinese, " What, why? Stupid doctor they don't know anything, has she drank hot water? When can she come to work?" Naturally the doctor sitting opposite from myself and my TA heard this comment made against them, so the doctor shouted that MAGGIE was an idiot and she didn't know anything. I then spent 4 nights in hospital and a week resting at home. MAGGIE'S visit was as always not in the least sincere she was there to quiz me about the whereabouts of the teacher who had been nearly killed, did I know anything and she protested that she knew I knew something. This relentless intrusion of questions continued for fifteen minutes until I told her I was in pain and this wasn't fair. The teachers who had got injured by the Chinese men were told that they couldn't receive any financial help from the school because the insurance for the school did not cover them. MAGGIE told them that because it wasn't an "accident or an illness" that they couldn't be helped. Well I suddenly became ill, surely I could be assisted in some way? NO! Due to me being responsible and taking insurance out before arriving in China ( which is what I was instructed to do by TONY because it was "mandatory") , I wasn't entitled to anything and in essence lost 7000 juan / rmb. MAGGIE coyly explained to me that I had taken my own insurance out therefore the school hadn't put me on theirs. SCWARN told me that the school doesn't fully explain somethings to foreigners to get out of having to lose expenses or assisting in payments....shortly after this SCWARN was no longer an employee at our school.

After experiencing all of this and seeing how childish and ridiculous the school had become, I had made my mind up that under no circumstances or offers was I either staying or resigning another contract at that school. My contract finished June 30th 2013, I made MAGGIE aware at the end of April that I would not be staying and I started to ask questions about my replacement. The response I got back from her body language and bitter expressions, was that she didn't care how hard I had worked or what the classes had achieved, she was just focused on getting "any" foreigner in to teach them. I could not let this happen to my students, therefore I offered to stay in Shane until July 28th and we both agreed that my replacement would be here for July1st and I would have 4 weeks to work with him or her. I was really pleased with this because then I thought I could leave and know in my heart I helped them even if the new teacher was sh#t ... which wouldn't be their fault but the schools for employing him/her. Unfortunately I had a family loss in my home country on JUNE 9th, I had spoken to my family who are very supportive and I spoke with MAGGIE and made the statement, " Despite whats happened I have spoken to my family and they understand and I gave you my word that I would help and stay an extra month." Today is the 1st August and my replacement still hasn't arrived !!! MAGGIE doesn't want the new teachers to hear bad stories about the school, incase they run away. Well I think its about time that this devil and the hell hole are exposed really for what they are.

An American, married couple were hired a few months ago at the school, they had TEFLS but no degree or experience and they were told, " Oh its ok, we will train you." They were also informed that they would not be separated. When they arrive they have a schedule awaiting them which doesn't involve training but includes teaching the 2nd year teacher's weekend classes who had gone back to his home country to see family. Naturally they both felt inadequate and intimidated by the situation. The school didn't really help or prepare them. Following this fiasco they had to have a meeting with MAGGIE whereby, she informed them that the husband would be sent to HEKOU ( 50 minutes away) and that the wife would stay here. They were confused and reminded MAGGIE that she had told them that this wouldn't happen, MAGGIE did her favourite response and denied this, " What you must misunderstanding me , I never said that." The following afternoon MAGGIE was in our office crying on the sofa talking in Chinese to WAYNE as to why they had ran away and that they had called her a liar and she isn't a liar. WAYNE was doing his best to convince her she had done nothing wrong, like Smithers comforts Mr Burns. The American couple were lovely and the ordeal that endured was disgusting. MAGGIE was suspicious when they both rang in sick so she went to their apartment to find them packing, she was asking them why are they doing this and they told her because she lied to them, everything they had previously been told was all a lie and they had received no guidance from the school for the classes they were covering, least of all to mention that they should have been " trained" first. MAGGIE instructed CHEMIE and ADAM to follow them and prevent them from leaving CHEMIE and ADAM harassed the couple at the bus station constantly. They told the ticket officer not to sell them a ticket. They tried standing infront of them so they couldn't walk, they told the ticket inspectors not to let them on the bus, then finally they protested that the husband had assaulted them and that they both needed to be stopped and the police should be called. Luckily they both managed to get home safe apart from being extremely shook up.

Following this event MAGGIE decided to hold a manager's meeting to which all teachers must attend. This was her opportunity to try to bad mouth the couple to us and state that they had called her a liar and the reason they left was because they had been told something from another teacher and it wasn't her fault ....again! Her and WAYNE then asked us to give our opinions on how the school could avoid this from happening as they were the 12th and 13th teacher to have just ran away. All of us gave constructive and relevant advice which at first was immediately defended by WAYNE which just illustrated that we were wasting our time because nothing was going to change. The school would still continue to hold the TAs school certificate as a blackmail that they could never leave because the school had their original copies, they would still employ TA's with little English, lie to new teachers, not do research or background checks on new teachers and not inform new teachers of everything in relation to the job, hour, salary, housing, vacation, bonuses... BEFORE they had even booked their flights to China. No none of this was going to happen, infact the meeting had the reverse effect which will make it even harder for a new teacher, MAGGIE has now decided that new teachers will not arrive until the previous teacher has left. Clearly observing the previous teacher's style with their classes, seeing how the children behave, meeting the parents and just getting a general feel for the class is not important, it is more beneficial for the new teacher to go into their classes completely blind without any helpful information to prepare them for the class because, this way nothing bad about the school can be said to them from the previous teacher. This just shows how ridiculous and petty MAGGIE really is she thinks this will stop teachers running away, not to mention the other 9 teachers that the new teacher would be sharing an office with, who are all able to speak and voice their own experiences. During my final meeting with Maggie I told her that to eradicate this she simply had to stop doing bad things to people, " If you don't want bad things to be said, then just stop doing them."

I knew during my last week at Shane that MAGGIE would try to pull some stunt on me, I had to receive my salary and paperwork because the following day I flew to England and she knew that. I questioned her a few times as the end of the week approached just for reassurance that everything would be ready for me on Sunday and her attitude with me had become very cold and bitter. There have been some teachers and there are some that are aware of MAGGIES nature but they "entertain" her when they are sat alone with her in the office, what they don't realise is that when they want to leave she will try to do something to them too! Throughout my 14 months at Shane School MAGGIE has inappropriately changed the topic of conversation from a school issue to a personal matter or asked personal questions about the other foreign teachers. I have always bluntly told her that I was there to discuss myself, nobody else. I also made her aware that I would have no patience for any games that she tried to play with me on my final day, I just wanted what I was owed and I would leave.. simple right? No, I am still in shock as to her actions that day. She told me to see her at 12:00 and she would pay me, and I approach her office she is leaving and then she screams at me infront of parents and students that I'm a liar and that she had said 15:10. At 15:10 I go to her office, I have my final class to teach at 15:50 and surprise she isn't there. So I tell the receptionist JESSICA that I won't move until she arrives and gives me my things like she had said. By this point I was done with this woman and her lies and power games. She walked in at 15:40 and dangled my paperwork infront of my face and pointed to where my money was, like I should beg and plead for what I had earned. She then told me what a bad person I was and that all the teachers had told her things about me and the TAS, this was her delusional attempt at trying to enrage or hurt me but her attempts were wasted because I just insisted she stopped and handed over my things. She then said get your handover notes for the new teacher and you can have your things, to which I said no because I didn't trust her. I knew that she was trying to make things difficult for me and that she was enjoying doing so. Therefore I knew I needed a Chinese member of staff that I trusted and who wasn't brainwashed or terrified of MAGGIE. They bought my handover notes up to me which enticed MAGGIE to throw my money at me and reluctantly shove my paperwork infront of me. She then said something bad about me in Chinese and that I was late to class to which I understood, so I told her it was her fault I was late. She stood up and grabbed both my money and my paperwork back and told me to shut up or I would get nothing and that she would give me trouble. This sorry excuse for a human being was not getting the better of me or ruining my plans to fly home the next day, so I grabbed them back and went back to class and informed my students the truth as to why I was late and apologized to them.

By now you are clear on the vindictive and malicious behavior that this "manager" has. Also her actions are encouraged by the owner of the company , don't forget that because aslong as the school is making money.... he isn't bothered, MAGGIE can do what she desires. You should also be made aware that the threats this school makes against your visa and salary are visible. The school has strong connections with both the visa office and the government. This is how the illegal teachers working at our school go unnoticed. Now I commend anybody for wanting to better themselves but it was frustrating taking over classes from the previous teacher who had no experience or degree and having alot of work to do. If you don't have a degree the school just makes one for you, which the government accepts. If you decide you want to leave without telling the school, once your new school start to process details over to a new visa, the visa office instantly contact Shane. Usually when you leave a job in China and you go to another job your visa and foreign experts number is all transferred to your new employer to be cancelled and changed, simple process. Well, a simple process for anybody who doesn't have the maturity levels of a 5 year old. Due to me staying an extra month, my visa needed extending. MAGGIE asked me", We do your visa today. Can we give you L visa?" I instantly replied, "NO!" I had paid for a Z visa, I was a professional. MAGGIE proceeded to ask why this was an issue and I told her that I understood the procedures and that if I was put on a L visa it meant I would
be working illegally in China because it is a tourist visa. The ironic thing is that weeks later when my new employer contacted her asking her to transfer my documents she wouldn't. She made up a lot of excuses as to why she couldn't help, when the real reason was that I wasn't receiving any help because I was leaving. My new school had asked her to cancel my FEC and visa 4 days before my last day. Maggie simultaneously shook her had and waved her hands around, " Oh no can't, I get in trouble with police, big police
man get me." I suddenly remembering her wanting me to work illegally for a month, but she wasn't willing to do it for 4 days because it didnt involve her or the school. After explaining this to her she angrily said," Ok tell them I want 6000 juan/rmb and I will help them." Thankfully my new job seem very professional and they refused to negotiate my information and declared that they weren't the kind of school to operate like that.

China can be a good place to work just avoid SHANE school or AILE if you see either of them don't sign up!!!!

Return to Index › Save yourself from HELL!!!!= STAY AWAY from Shane English Schools (AILE), Dongying, Shandong !!!





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