The Teachers' Lounge > School Reviews and Experiences (ON-TOPIC)

Ameson Institute of Foreign Languages

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CaseyOrourke:
I have been working for Ameson for 2 1/2 months now in their TOEFL/AP program, so I figured I would report what has been going on.  For the record I have had excellent support from the HR department in Nanjing. Everytime I text or e-mail them I get a timely response that they received it and I get an answer before COB. I have a Chinese colleuge who like me is employed by Ameson, but has the title of Head of the International Department.  We have another teacher who acts as a liaision between us and the school; she takes no crap from the students and has been 100% supportive of our program.

I get paid on time through direct deposit with no problms. We have a really nice huge three bedroom apartment for just my wife rented my the school.  We got an electric bill which had some charges from before we moved in. We called the landlord to ask what we should do and he said not to worry about it, that was between him and the school. So far the only time we have had to share is on Tuesday nights when they had a female teacher (Chinese female studying for her masters in English) from Shanghai spend the night.  Her contract is done so she won't be coming back.  The company sent a male treacher from Nanjing to take what was extra classes for me, but he is staying in the school teachers lounge. 

We just finished TOEFL, now I'm teaching SAT writing to help them get ready for their SAT to qualify for an American university.  Starting this week the company is sending a math teacher on Tuesday to teach SAT math.  I don't know if it will be a male or female, but if it is female she may be staying with us and if male will probably be in the lounge. After SAT will be the AP program and I am looking forward to that because it means I can get back to teaching history, geography and English lit.

 
So far I can say working for Ameson has been a great experience.  It is a great company and has been an extremely positive experience.

The Local Dialect:
That's great Casey. I also taught at an AP program for nearly 3 years and overall it was a very positive experience. These sorts of programs are growing in China and usually they offer a fairly attractive package for teachers with the right qualifications/experience so it is good to see that someone else is doing well at one of these schools.

Shoot, if your school was in Beijing I'd probably be looking into it!

CaseyOrourke:

--- Quote from: The Local Dialect on October 17, 2011, 04:22:45 AM ---That's great Casey. I also taught at an AP program for nearly 3 years and overall it was a very positive experience. These sorts of programs are growing in China and usually they offer a fairly attractive package for teachers with the right qualifications/experience so it is good to see that someone else is doing well at one of these schools.

Shoot, if your school was in Beijing I'd probably be looking into it!

--- End quote ---

Ameson has an International Education program at Beijing No 4 High school, 2 West Huangchenggen, North Street, Xicheng, Beijing, Beijing.

The school websites are:
http://www.amesoninstitute.org/school-directory/beijing-no-4-high-school
www.bhsf.cn

Check it out if you are interested, they are beginning to look at teachers for the upcoming school year.

CaseyOrourke:
I'm in my second year with Ameson. Once I finished in Kunshan I was told initially I was going to be transferred to the program at Nantong High school, but we ran into some difficulties.  It seems that at the end of the school year, Kunshan Senior High school, who Ameson had a contract with, terminated the lease on our apartment without telling the company or us. It was a crisis especially since Mrs. Casey was 5 months pregnant with Lexi at the time.  Both of us (Me and the company) had to jump through our respective backsides to find someplace for us to stay and to secure our household goods.  Finally the company decided we could store our stuff in the room in the teachers dorm reserved for Ameson's Chinese teachers for the summer and later once we secured housing at my new assignment we could contract movers to move our stuff.

Nantong wanted me to do a demo class, but because of the housing crisis I was unable to get free to do so.  The wife decided we would spend the summer up in in our house in her home city of Yanji where family could help us out.  It was there that I learned I would be going to No. 10 Middle school in Suzhou, Jiangsu.

Frankly I couldn't be happier.  I'm one of five foreign teachers. we all teach varied subjects. I teach history and human geography, another teaches calculas and stastistics, another teaches literature, one teaches physics and the other teaches writing.  The principal and head teacher are absolute gems.  When I needed time off for Lexi's birth without even asking, the principal told me to take the entire week because something like that was to important not to be there.  My desk is in the same office as the principal and head teacher and I am their go to guy when they need advice on proper English wording, American etiquette and to also improve their English.  For a while I was teaching 11 classes a week (5 human geography, 3 US History and Culture and 3 TOEFL Speaking), but when the students of another chinese teacher, who was teaching SAT writing, was finished and the students were taking their SAT's, they gave her my TOEFL classes and I dropped to 8 classes.  When I am not teaching, I'm not required to be in the office unless I want to be.  So when Mrs.Casey and Lexi do arrive, I'll be spending my free time being a daddy.  I learned that after the winter break I'll be picking up 2 more classes in a new program called "Homeroom." None of us know exactly what it entails, but I hope to find out soon.  I also get to write my own tests in all my classes and I get to have some fun with the questions.

This time housing is not problem because the first week the head teacher and I looked at lots apartments till I finally settled on 2 BR on the 19th floor of a brand new highrise (which is a story in itself).  I'm the first person to live there so all the appliances were just out the box and it included a brand new LCD TV.  Time and time again the ladies in the office tell me they appreciate the fact I'm so polite and so helpful around the office.  There has been a few instances I've had to cover a few classes because of oher teachers being sick, but I figured that since they were willing to cover me for that week I was gone, it's not that much to complain about.

milkweed:
Their website says they only pay 5000 RMB per month. And its classed as 'a stipend' rather than a salary or wage.

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