WARNING: DO NOT WORK FOR THE GALLOP INTERNATIONAL ENGLISH SCHOOL IN XIAN, CHINA!

I am writing this as a warning to anyone that might have been considering working for this particular English school. Right off the bat, let me be as clear as possible: do not, under any circumstances, sign any sort of contract with this crooked school! They are scumbags and you will regret it. Allow me to go into detail. Hopefully my experience will dissuade you from making the same mistake I made.

After I finished my degree in December 06, I was looking for something interesting to do in my gap year, and I decided on English teaching in China. I took the Oxford Seminars TESL course in Canada, and after I completed it they put me in touch with a middlewoman named Summer, who eventually steered me towards Gallop. First little bit of wisdom: be wary of middlemen. They make commission on placing you in a school, and theyll say anything to sell a place to you. In my case, Summer told me all sorts of lies: they will provide you with a fully-furnished apartment, they will pay for the flight over, youll be a certified Foreign Expert, theyll provide weekly Mandarin lessons all of which was untrue. Do not be sucked in by such promises!

When I did show up in Xian and I saw my apartment, I was depressed. It was a dump, and I had just signed a 1-year contract to live there. Totally barren with dust everywhere, it had broken toilets, broken outlets, and no kitchen. Whats more, I was ready to tough it out until I saw some of my co-workers quarters. They looked like the Ritz-Carlton compared to mine: fully furnished, working kitchen, etc I didnt understand this injustice, so I complained to Gallops management, and thats where the real fun began.

I started as politely as possible, first by speaking to them in person and then by providing a written statement. The answer I got was a polite F*** you, this is what you get. Cool! As time went out and as I got unhappier, I complained some more, and got more of the same answer. This schools boss is a proud man who does not like losing face. Unfortunately, I realize now that as my situation became an issue around the workplace, and as management risked losing face by giving in to my demands and thus admitting they were wrong, I became less and less likely to get my way. Thats China for you.

More tidbits:
- When my boss came to inspect my kitchen (and empty, dirty room with a broken gas burner), I informed him the gas man warned me against using the gas, which he said was old and dangerous. My boss shrugged his shoulders and aggressively told me to use it anyway. I never did, and didnt cook once in three months.
- After three months, when it became clear I wanted to leave, I wanted to annul my contract peacefully. I felt that they were in breach of contract, particularly on the issue of not providing me with a working kitchen as stipulated in the contract. In the end, however, I was forced to pay the breach of contract fee myself, to the tune of $500 US dollars, which was almost a months pay.
- Also, when I declared I no longer wanted to work for them, Gallops management held my passport hostage for a week, forcing me to teach for an additional week free of charge.
- Well after I left Xian and relocated to Shanghai to do freelance work, I got a call from some Gallop co-workers. They informed me that, through his connections, my dear old boss was attempting to blacklist me with the bureau that issues work visas, purely out of vindictiveness. Can you believe that?
- I could go on with all the little things, but hopefully I have already given you an idea of how business is done at the Gallop International English School. Do not work for them! They are crooks of the first order!

Its been a few months since I left China, and my time working for Gallop was truly unpleasant. Gallops management really are snakes: at first, theyll smile at you while they screw you over, and then if you try to assert your rights things will really get nasty. Every single teacher at Gallop had an issue with our bosses and their management style, and I think I can say we were all unhappy working there. In short, it was a truly negative experience that ruined my year in China.

Its all behind me now, and it would have been easy to just forget about it and move on. But please take into consideration the fact that I took the time and effort to write this because I didnt want anyone else to make the same mistake. Good luck! - Justin

Accomodation: 5. Hit and miss. My apartment was terrible and unfair, but some co-workers got great accomodations. Complaining amounted to nothing. Go figure.
Administration: 0. Read my review above. The bosses were awful, greedy bastards who would abuse workers regularly.
General Area Info: 3. Decent area for Xi'an, I guess, but Xi'an is a dirty, depressing city that I wouldn't recommend to anyone. Don't buy the "beautiful" picture of Xi'an they'll try to sell you: the majority of English teachers I worked with hated it there, and so did I.
School Info: 4. Aside from the atrocious management, classes weren't that bad. They try to overwork you constantly, but the kids were cute and kept me sane. One of the few good things about my ESL experience.
Intangibles: I'll interpret this freely. Everything about this school is negative, so please, do not work for these people. You will regret it. Their new website makes it out to be such a great school, do not be fooled by the second-rate PR blitz.
Overall: 1. There are so few positive things I got out of this experience. I made a few good friends, I saw a different part of the world, but overall it was just an awful experience. Parting words: if you must do ESL, go to Shanghai! I had a much, MUCH better experience there.