SCHOOLS AND RECRUITERS REVIEWS
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#1 Parent FRinPRC - 2018-08-03
Re Avoid EtonHouse international school in Chengdu, China

Jenny,
Teach your students to do a find/replace: ',' with: '.'.


I have been working for EtonHouse for many years, EtonHouse is an amazing brand, their
teaching philosophy is very child centered, their package and everything is very decent
I feel

#2 Parent Jenny Lee - 2018-07-25
Re Avoid EtonHouse international school in Chengdu, China

I have been working for EtonHouse for many years, EtonHouse is an amazing brand, their teaching philosophy is very child centered, their package and everything is very decent I feel

#3 Parent Mark Royer - 2018-03-29
Another Take on Eton House

Dear Fellow Teacher Ms. Susan,

Firstly, let me say that for a teacher with ten years' experience, your control of English grammar is rather whimsical at best. There is a plethora of run-on sentences, misconjugated verbs, improper use of parallel structure and so forth and so on. I can only wonder if you were truly a teacher of the English language. Perhaps, on the other hand, you might have been an art teacher.

In any case, I feel terrible for you. The corporation that runs Eaton House also runs a series of many other schools throughout eastern China. Among these schools are such entities as the Suzhou Foreign Language School, the Nanjing Foreign Language School, the Anhui Foreign Language School, the Changshu Foreign Language School, the entirety of the Eaton House brand and another brand the name of which escapes me at the moment.

The senior administration is disgusting, truly disgusting. I was initially employed by them at Suzhou Foreign Language School under the auspices of the now infamous Kevin H., a 400 pound gorilla from Kansas City, a former Pizza Hut night shift manager, who had morphed into a Ph.D, while in China, and who chewed up and spat out foreign teachers on a regular basis, lest they see through him to his forgery. When my turn came, I was downgraded to Eton House Suzhou. I must say that I enjoyed my three years at the school. It was well run, it was extremely, extremely expensive even by Chinese private school standards, and the camaraderie among the foreign teachers was excellent. Almost all of the foreign teachers at Eton House Suzhou were refugees from Kevin the Pizza Hut Man at the Suzhou Foreign Language School. Given that we all had lived through hell at the Suzhou Foreign Language School, Eaton House was a downright paradise. Kevin H. used to enjoy throwing books at us, cursing at us in public, barging into our classrooms to berate us, writing the senior management midnight emails about us, ad infinitum. The turnover rate at Suzhou Foreign Language School was 300% every year. The turnover rate at Eton House was about 5-to-10% a year. The ambiance was just truly positive.

That being said, given the corporation that runs all of these schools, positive and successful employment at any given school run by this corporation is just a roll-of-the-dice. Some of its schools are managed to perfection. Others are mismanaged to death. The FAO at Eton House Suzhou was warm, caring and tremendously efficient. We did not have to look for apartments -- we were shown apartments and given a choice. The school fronted the key money without any acrimony. Visa paperwork, payroll and about any other issues of concern to the foreign teachers were handled with alacrity and transparency.

The children at Eton House Suzhou were brats, spelled B R A T S. They were all the sons and daughters of the new Chinese or Korean or even Japanese elites living in China. Many were delivered and picked up by chauffeurs with nannies at hand. The foreign teachers were often invited to have dinner with the parents at home and the houses were wealthy beyond anything that most of us might have ever seen in the West. Many of the little ones would fly to Hong Kong, or to Seoul, or to Jakarta or to Tokyo for the weekend and nearly all of them went on lengthy overseas holidays during National Day and Chinese New Year holidays. A goodly number of them had been born abroad and carried two passports. Their nannies were usually young white females who were otherwise ineligible for work and residency visas for China. That being said, the papas and the mamas took care of any visa issues of their nannies with one telephone call.

I enjoyed the curriculum and I truly enjoyed the camaraderie. Suzhou is not a bad city when things go well. Nevertheless, I had been so scarred by my five months with Kevin the Pizza Boy at Suzhou Foreign Language that any joie de vivre I might have felt for Suzhou had long dissipated. In the end, I did stay 3.5 years, enjoying all of it, but constantly watching over my shoulder, knowing that the vengeance of Kevin had no limits.

I cannot speak to Eton House Jinan. I can, and I have, spoken to Eton House Suzhou and honestly I can quite recommend it, particularly in light of the other positions in Suzhou.

All of my best wishes to you,

Mark Royer

#4 Parent Susan - 2018-03-29
Re Avoid EtonHouse international school in Chengdu, China

Hi,

I considered working for Eton House in Jinan. As a teacher with over 10 years' experience I'm serious about education. I'm not overseas just to see the world.

I was treated similarly. The teacher I spoke with about housing assured me that the stipend was more than enough for a good apartment. Then after signing the contract, I was told I'd have to bring 4 months salary to pay the landlord. That should have been stated in the contract. I've worked in China at two different schools and housing was completely covered by the school that employed me. I was able to negotiate for Eton House to cover that expense, so try to negotiate for better conditions. Then expect to fight for them again upon arrival.

The principal in Jinan is a lovely woman who doesn't shout, but she's never around. Her only experience in education is Eton House so she has no idea how better schools are run. I ran into problems upon arrival and she was never available during school hours to discuss problems. They already had 2 kindergarten teachers back out so you'd think she'd want to make the third work out. Especially since I was the only one on staff with a Masters degree and 10+ years of experience. Most teachers are very new to the field and some have no form education experience. You'd think a school that charges more than a Chinese university ($20,000 USD).

Lucy, her assistant and the vice principal were mainly concerned with money. Not surprising since the franchise was started and owned by an accountant with no formal background in education. Their main concern was getting me into an apartment no matter how dirty and decrepit and out of the Chinese hotel they placed me in. I was assisted by a wimpy young woman with poor English and professional skills.

The classrooms had few books and a number of the labels in the room were spelled wrong (e.g. writting desk). You'd expect the native speaker filling in for the class would have that corrected. The rooms were quite charming, but the teachers must share the bathroom with the children, a practice that's agains the law in many countries -- including China. I wish they'd told me that before I took the job. The teachers don't have a room to prepare lessons. They just have a table in the corridor with a couple old computers.

Although children have their temperatures taken upon arrival by the nurse, teachers are allowed to come to school when they're sick. Thus I caught an awful cold from a staff member.

I found it troubling the the administration was so worried about the parents seeing me at the school, when they knew there were problems that meant I might not stay.

The school has boasted it's going to be an International Baccalaureate school, but they haven't even filled out the application.

Carol H, who's named in the original post, is the advisor for this school.

Educators are better off working at an accredited school where you're well paid and have the resources and support you need.

#5 Parent martin hainan - 2015-04-11
Re Avoid EtonHouse international school in Chengdu, China

we native speakers often miss out a word or two

miss out? I don't want to miss out on the opportunity to observe that many self-described native speakers have apparently missed out on the childhood absorption of phrasal verbs.

#6 Parent yu2fa3 Dilley - 2015-04-10
Re Avoid EtonHouse international school in Chengdu, China

I am afraid you're wrong; we native speakers often miss out a word or two ,which is accepted. So, 'in no way English ' it would mean .If you were a native speaker(missed out English note) then you would know this.

#7 Parent Sunlight - 2015-04-10
Re Avoid EtonHouse international school in Chengdu, China

Your native language isn't probanly English either; otherwise, you would write "not"!
Gw talk!

It is clearly no English.
#8 Parent Curtis - 2015-04-10
Re Avoid EtonHouse international school in Chengdu, China

Sounds like a s*** school, but you also might be an idiot for working there so long. Might I askļ¼Œ what is your native language? It is clearly no English.

#9 Parent Mark - 2015-04-09
(Message Deleted by Poster)
#10 Parent Curtis - 2015-04-08
Re Avoid EtonHouse international school in Chengdu, China

So what is your story? What specifically happened to you?

Mark - 2015-04-08
Avoid EtonHouse international school in Chengdu, China

I have worked for EtonHouse school last year, they are around China, if you work for them , you will get terrible benefits ,starting pay and raises are both really bad, too low salary, long working hours, no breaks between the classes during the weekdays ( Unless it is lunch break ) . you are going to work on weekends usually . No one is held to a standard of accountability.Basically, EtonHouse international school management does not support others, they like to challenge their teachers. The school is managed by a principal called " Carol H[edited] " if she is the one who is gonna interview you, all what you need is to flee ! Carol H[edited] does not allow the teachers to get sick ! She shouts and yells at all staff including the foreign teachers. Carol will sound super-nice and professional during the interview, just to make you sign a contract with EtonHouse international school, then lots of lies all around . Carol can terminate your contract without even a discussion and sometimes without paying you a penny . Her huge focus is on the profit ( As she gets a percentage of the profit at the end of each academic year from the owner of the school ) , staff is neglected and poorly treated ( Chinese and foreign staff ) . Unfair salaries and benefits, not based on qualifications . My advice to you is to avoid working for EtonHouse international School in Chengdu,China .

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