Hi, I've been working for the parent company (Compass) for four and a half years, the most recent one of which has been with Kings English for Kids. To start, I've lived in Tianjin for more than 6 years and while Tianjin is a bit dirty (as are A LOT of cities in China, a sad fact but true), it's not horrific. Over the past few years it's gone through rapid expansion, pushed the factories to the outer districts, and developed a lot of the city. While it's not as exciting as Beijing it has a nice mix of old China and modern China, and if you're ever up for travelling Beijing is literally only 30 minutes away. Shopping is incredibly cheap, unless you go to big name brand shops as always if it's a real western shop you're paying a premium but you never really to buy from them as there's always a good knockoff or Chinese brand store within a close vicinity.

As for the job, like I said I've been here for over four years and I really enjoy it. The hours are light, the pay is great compared to the vast majority of others, and management is pretty good. Any time I've had issues or needed something management has always been open to listening and tried to provide everything they could. Initially when a new teacher comes they're given training for a week or two based on their experience and confidence which includes observation, co-teaching, and proper training from a few teachers who have been doing this for years.

As I said I've only been working for the kids center for only a year, but during this time I haven't had any 2 year olds in my actual classes as they have what are called warming classes (Chinese teacher run classes which prepare kids for being a class without parents until they are of age, or for children that need a bit of time to adjust to being in a class without their parents (it's a big step for kids)).

As the school is part of a business they do have demos for prospective customers which most teachers will do so the parents can see your teaching abilities and in general introduce their children to you. For the most part it's usually between five and ten children but it can reach up to a maximum of twelve children. I've never had or heard of more than twelve children in a class, but like I said I've only been here for one year so I'm not sure what had happened prior.

I hope this answers some of the questions raised. I think it's a really good school, and the city gets a bad rep due to it constantly being compared Beijing which is so close, but all in all it really isn't that bad. If anyone has questions about the city or the school in general I'd be more than happy to reply to any questions you may have.