After reading taliesinrises' posting regarding Hemingway's negative account of his experiences in Huabei, I decided to re-read what Hemingway had written. Clearly Hemingway's testimony is written with far more thought and detail than the one provided by taliesinrises (who has the gall to claim Hemingway's posting is "venom"ous, when it is their posting which is full of venom!). Teaching English can (on rare occasions) be a terrific experience for foreign teachers, but often the experience of working in China is fraught with tremendous challenges, poor working conditions, and schools/companies/agencies that sorely lack integrity.

I love teaching in China, but that is because of what I receive from my students, certainly not school/agency administrators!

This forum is for foreign teachers to warn others about schools that cause serious difficulties for foreign teachers and are involved in unscrupulous business practices.

"talieinrises" make the grave mistake in making such claims as foreign teachers want to be treated like "God's gift to China." Such statements are highly offensive to me, as we come here to help Chinese people learn English, as one means to a possibly better future. If you read any of the dozens of ESL employment websites (such as this one), you will see China is BEGGING foreign teachers to come here and teach. We often come here at our own expense, leaving family and friends far behind, and work for salaries far less than in our home countries.

Expecting to be treated honestly, respectfully, and with integrity is certainly not equal to demanding to be "treated like God's gift to China."

taliesinrises only proves how little they know of professional working conditions in countries where most foreign teachers hail from (USA, Canada, UK, Australia, etc.) We often are appalled at the level of lies and deceit (and sometimes threats) hurled at us on a daily basis, labelled merely as "The Chinese way" of business. Do you think we are idiots???

The shcool I presently work for praises me as a fine and dedicated teacher, but they always make the mistake of assuming I am stupid when it comes to poor and deceitful business and management practices. It seems that Chinese schools/organizations wish to have it both ways: the benefit of professional-level foreign teachers who don't question any unreasonable conditions or requests or business practices. Dream on!

From the three years I have been teaching in China, I have been stunned by some of the things I have witnessed here. If these managers and administrators tried pulling some of their underhanded stunts in my country (USA), they would be shut down, or perhaps even jailed!

ESL school/company review forums such as this one, are vital resources for us to give fair warnings to one another. In my opinion, they are NOT to used by folks like taliesinrises to be used for "venom" retaliation.

I urge taliesinrises (and their ilk) to create their own website for Chinese schools to warn each other about bad foreign teachers. In the meantime, we foreign educators will keep fighting against those who seek to deceive, control, and exploit us -- especially when it us who have made personal and financial sacrifices to come here to teach.