Anyone worked for Guangdong Country Garden IB School?

Yes, back in the States. What fun but I'm glad I came back as I would have wasted my roundtrip ticket and stuck in a hotel at 40,000 won a night in Korea because this school is taking their time with the Visa. I almost don't care because I'm home, except I am really looking forward to going back to Asia. This school is starting to be a bit shady with giving me information about the hours, work days, etc. and or they are just really unorganized. I want to go but after all the horror stories, I really don't know what to expect. Korea was enjoyable but yes, their ESL is pretty badly organized, or lack of it. So, anyone work for this school yet??

I haven't worked here, but I did "Google" the School.  They are on the IB's main listings (and I also double-checked against a couple of other IB Schools that I can vouch for as being genuine).

You would be expected to work hard, but not excessively.  The pay should be Western-decent. 
You must have "proper" papers....Bachelor/Master degree, with teaching Certificate, in the relevant Subject area.  They ought to put you through the same routines as you would expect to get from any other (reputable) School in the West. 

They ought to be a "real" school not a Language mill (= Monday through Friday, 8am to 3pm, or thereabouts, covering all standard Subjects - English, Math, History, Geography, etc).


Good Luck 

Are you still looking at working for the kindergarten attached to the school, or for the IB school itself? IB is a high school program a bit like AP in the States. 

If it is the IB high school it should be pretty legit. And like Amonk said, you'll need proper qualifications. If it is just the kindergarten it could be a completely different story. Lots of international schools (mine included!) have feeder kindergartens which are actually pretty autonomous. The kindergarten probably wouldn't require credentials like a proper teaching certificate, whereas the actual IB grade school would. It still should be better than your run of the mill Chinese kindergarten, and should pay accordingly, but maybe not quite Western standard (I'm guessing though, at least 10k a month?). Like Amonk says, if you were working for an actual IB High School, you'd expect pretty much a Western teacher's salary, hours, etc.

I'm thinking this is the kindergarten though, right?

Here is the link to the international IB site. http://www.ibo.org/
It is an academically rigorous curriculum, when the students graduate from high school it will be equivalent to an associate degree.

Yes, I only have a B.A. and some informal teaching experience so kindergarten it is, but you know how it goes... sometimes, "Lost in Translation" or what not, they don't seem to be precisely clear on which or what position I was going for until the day of the actual interview, THEN they offered me kindergarten. The only thing that really bugged me was that up until about 2 days ago (though my interview was 2 weeks ago), they finally disclosed the schedule. It looks like 37.5 hours for a short week and 45 hours (which I'm not too fond of) for the long week. I guess I overlooked and just EXPECTED that they would have given me this info two weeks ago shortly after my interview. Wrong, of course. My problem now is that I WANTED them to state the number of hours on the contract but they haven't! They've just either tell me, Skype me or sent me separate attachments of the hourly schedule for the day. Nothing written on paper yet. The 37.5 and 45... they seem to either be having a hard time understanding me or they're just playing dumb. I want it on paper...

37.5 hours per week is a HELL of a lot of hours to work.  On top of that you have preparation time, and kindy preparation is enormous - way worse than university writing classes!!.  I would be wanting a hell of a lot of money for that - at least 15,000Y per month.

There are better jobs out there CC.

Perhaps. The 37.5 was including the office hours.

37.5 hours per week is a HELL of a lot of hours to work.  On top of that you have preparation time, and kindy preparation is enormous - way worse than university writing classes!!.  I would be wanting a hell of a lot of money for that - at least 15,000Y per month.

There are better jobs out there CC.

So what are the contact hours?  What are you meant to do during office hours?  How many of the little darlings will come to see you with specific problems that need solving?  Office hours at higher levels give students an opportunity for 1-1 with the teacher, and you can schedule appointments.   Will you have access to a computer and other resources for preparation?  Office hours can devolve into a 'show off the foreigner to prospective suckers parents' process, which still leaves you with preparation time etc at home.

And for the long weeks - are the office hours extended or the teaching hours?  Extra teaching hours with no additional preparation time is horrendous!

You need to ask if you are permitted to leave the campus during office hours if you have no appointments. 

I'd say there are still way better jobs out there!

For kindergarteners, I don't suppose you'll be doing much productive during your office hours. You'll probably plan your lessons and then sit around surfing the internet (if you're lucky enough to have a computer!). I don't really see the point in having office hours for that age group, like LE said, if it is older kids then they can come to you with issues and for extra help between their other classes, but what are kindergarteners supposed to have issues with that need you to be in the office?

So clarify what you'll be doing in the office. Can you leave? Will you be expected to do demo classes or do advertising for the school? Will you have access to a computer? My school is a high school and we have office hours, but I got permission from our principal to leave the office and go home if I don't have anything to do there, since I have a kid to look after and I don't really need to sit around the office playing solitaire, which is what most of the other teachers do. I mean, some office hours are helpful -- you need to plan, to mark papers, whatever. But 37.5 is a bit excessive. What are the actual teaching (contact) hours?

lol Ok, I should have been more specific. The teaching hours are 22 hours max a week... the rest is office hours and you have one short week and one long week. The long week is pretty much just the same hours/schedule you have from Monday to Friday but just on a Saturday. As far as I'm concerned the school said I prepare/plan during my office hours. And I have seen the outline of the daily schedule. It does involve some recess, activities, etc. so the actual teaching time doesn't seem too bad. It's not more than 2 hours a day after you subtract the break times in between. So, yeah it doesn't seem that bad and the school provides a few perks, and it is located near my family in Guangdong province which I really wanted... the only thing is we had some miscommunication and I hope they can hurry it up now with what they need to do to apply for the Visa but what can I do about that? I already sent them the docs.

The powers that be, well I won't have to worry about China any more. Guess I'm going to Korea! YaY to more pay and access to FACEBOOK! 

Sorry you're not coming to China and won't be so close to your family, but congrats on the new job - and I think you are well off, considering the one you were looking at here. 

Aww, THANK YOU for your condulences on the death of my China job. lol Anyways, I am SOo trying to tell myself that right now after ahem all the time I "wasted" waiting on and having so much, apparently TOO MUCH, miscommunication. I guess ultimately not only was it not meant to be but there is definitely a lot of "Lost in Translation" and sometimes, is it bad to be TOO meticulous? lol, anyways I will visit China for a vacation or something but I'll be working at a school through my good friend's Korean aunt, so I'm pretty sure she won't be the hagwon owner from HELL.  

As for family, it would be nice to visit and see family I've never been close to or met before, but I dunno... I guess all I can say is that most of my immediate family is in Florida here with me. BUT sometimes, I wish not to end up like one of those horrible Joy Luck Club movies... HORRIBLE family or lack of family ties.   Hope everyone is well!

Sorry you're not coming to China and won't be so close to your family, but congrats on the new job - and I think you are well off, considering the one you were looking at here.