Give this Big Burnin' Hunk o' Love a pass, folks.
When I arrived, my worst nightmares were realized: the apartment was a dormitory room that adjoined the boys' dorm. Bars crossed every window, and there was even a jailhouse-type of steel bar door with a lock on it (presumably to keep the FTs in in the event we tried to escape).
My first "apartment" was filthy. The second one was much better. It was only very dirty.
The toilet overflowed regularly, and the air conditioner and heater did not work properly.
Worse, the cafeteria doesn't serve round-eyed people. That requires you to walk thirty minutes to the closest Mom and Pop greasy chopstick to eat.
Shopping is about a half hour away by bus, and the city center is about an hour away.
The language labs (where your classes will be held) don't work. If you bring a flash drive to use on the computer, expect it to be corrupted or completely ruined. The language lab hard drives are filled with mp3 downloads, ICQ and QQ and other things that shouldn't be in the system. The guy who is supposed to maintain the equipment is clueless.
Did I mention that the language labs break down often? My recorded oral finals were shortened because the idiot who works in the language lab didn't know how to run the program. I couldn't grade one of my tests because the system froze and he couldn't fix it. he disappeared after that little problem arose.
Oh, the contract. Forget it. I signed a one-year contract. I was told that I would have to move to a hotel for the summer, but that the school would pay for that. The hotel move was not in the contract, so any promises regarding compensation were soon forgotten.
The last two weeks of school were spent in intensive "Teacher Practicals" during which I spent thirty hours with two classes each for two consecutive weeks. My overtime for this time spent was about thirty-five yuan per hour. I was given reams of paperwork to fill out at the last possible minute. Simultaneously, I had to submit finals for four classes, then when the practicals were finished, I had booklets of comments to which i was required to respond. Then I had to correct the finals.
On the last day of classes, I was terminated "for health reasons". I was never sick! My med exam revealed an irregular heartbeat, but while the school was in need, that didn't matter. When I brought the terms of contract regarding termination of contract by Party A to the FAO's attention. The sum of money was beyond their comprehension.
--- That's in our SAFEA contract?
--- What's SAFEA?
The FAO made too many promises that it couldn't keep. The solution? Get rid of the teacher. It was cheaper to hire a new teacher the following term than to KEEP a qualified, experienced teacher with thirteen years experience in academia and twenty years in the media industry. I am a professional.
I was taken down to the PSB, and a three day "L" tourist visa was stuck in my passport, and when it was returned to me, my residence permit was canceled. I had three days to get out of the country.
My head is reeling because I was reviewed by the dean of the FL Department and was given good reviews. My students liked me, and students from other FT's classes often attended my classes. I gave optional after-class night time test reviews (which were attended by all). THE DEAN WAS QUOTED BY STUDENTS SAYING HOW I WAS ONE OF THE BEST FTs IT HAD HIRED IN YEARS (This isn't saying much. Judging by the resumes left on my computer by former "teachers" their level of experience and education appeared to be lie somewhere between nonexistent and 'I got three weeks edjucation at a community collidge').
Being terminated on short notice was bad, but being terminated with no prior notice is inexcusable.
Did I mention that my access password to the internet was changed frequently (by god-knows-who), and that data from my computer disappeared on a regular basis? Worse, my incoming email often indicated that it had been read when I had never seen it before. Still worse, I often found my name and password on my email addresses SAVED so that I (or whoever else was accessing my email) didn't have to remember my name or password.
Avoid this place.
The Chinese teachers are wonderful. The Dean is great, but everything else about the school is just cr@p.