Ivy English school Jiamusi city, Heilongjiang Province

Hi people,
Has anyone worked at this school, I have a job offer but I am wary.
I understand that Eastern employers generally have different ways
of treating Western staff and sometimes we can be treated as a shor
-t term commodity.

Please let me know guys! 

From eslteachersboard.com:
http://www.eslteachersboard.com/cgi-bin/review/index.pl?noframes;read=42390
Ivy English School / Jiamusi, ChinaBy:Every foreign teacher who has ever worked there <Show E-Mail>
Date: 13 January 2012

This school is a total crapper!!!! They will lie to you and cheat you in almost every aspect. They check your apartment monthly, have a Chinese TA who reports to the director about your performance, and they treat you like shit. Plain old shit. I watched as my collegues were fired or just couldn't stand it anymore and left. They lie about your hours and pay. DO NOT WORK FOR IVY ENGLISH SCHOOL IN JIAMUSI. PERIOD.

And:

Re: Ivy English School, Harbin HeilongjiangBy:Every foreign teacher who has ever worked there <Show E-Mail>
Date: 16 January 2012 In Response To: Ivy English School, Harbin Heilongjiang (Patrick)

Ivy English school in Jiamusi, China is a pack of lies. Their website includes pictures of teachers who came and left within three months because they couldn't stand it anymore. They make you work in public schools during the week and their private school on the weekends. Their accomodations are NOT like the pictures on their website. They will check your apartment monthly, will meddle in your personal affairs and they hire very, very young Chinese "assistants" who basically watch your every move in the classroom and outside in your daily life and report it back to the headmaster. This place is a NIGHTMARE. It's the worst mistake I ever made in ESL. Pick a different school, any different school and I can guarantee you will be better off.

Thanks for the insight Milkweed.

Did they stick to the work contract in terms of hours and pay, did they pay you on time?
What Visa were you there on? Yeah the pictures of the accomodation were not quite the same, maybe they have a couple of different apartments that they own or rent.

What were your colleagues like, maybe you can expand on why everyone left. Did some people stay?

What was the city like? How long did you last there. And if you left the job, were there not other employers in the City or do they take your passport, cancel your visa and send you home.

Its really doesnt sound great man, but in the Saloon it doesnt really get much beef compared to some other schools and sometimes people also dont gell with their employers.

 

Kop, i didn't work there. I just found those posts by searching a bit. Go to the original posts and try to send an email to the original poster. Also contact the schools current teachers for a review before going cos otherwise IMO it's just too damn risky without some good, unbiased reliable feedback.

I had heard about these reviews but I never really made much effort to find them.  Now I have read them carefully and feel I'd like to give my opinion also.

I have been working at Ivy for 10 months and I will be staying another year.  If possible I will stay longer because I am comfortable and happy here. 

I personally do not see anything wrong with Ivy inspecting their apartments especially after one was totally  trashed by a teacher a couple years ago.  After all, they are responsible for the apartments.  The inspections consist of checking and fixing anything that could break.  Things like washing machines, water heaters and kitchen appliances are all in Chinese and without specific instructions on how to use them, we foreign teachers would simply not know how to use them.

The gripes about the TAs telling the director about how your classes are going are true.  The director needs to know in order for the school to run smoothly.  You are asked to have a good working relationship with the TAs and work as a team.  If you have a problem with a TA in your class that you can't resolve speaking face to face with her, then you go to the director for mediation.  It is part of your job to make sure that there is good and constant communication between you and your TA as well as you and the director.

I have never felt that I was treated unfairly or in any way bad.  On the contrary, I am grateful for all the assistance and consideration that I have received from the staff.  I have heard from teachers that have gone on to other schools from here and truthfully, I opt to stick with what I know rather than to risk living some of their first hand horror stories.

There will never be a "perfect" place to work, but as far as I am concerned, Ivy is definately a "great" place to work.

I had heard about these reviews but I never really made much effort to find them.  Now I have read them carefully and feel I'd like to give my opinion also.

I have been working at Ivy for 10 months and I will be staying another year.  If possible I will stay longer because I am comfortable and happy here. 

I personally do not see anything wrong with Ivy inspecting their apartments especially after one was totally  trashed by a teacher a couple years ago.  After all, they are responsible for the apartments.  The inspections consist of checking and fixing anything that could break.  Things like washing machines, water heaters and kitchen appliances are all in Chinese and without specific instructions on how to use them, we foreign teachers would simply not know how to use them.

The gripes about the TAs telling the director about how your classes are going are true.  The director needs to know in order for the school to run smoothly.  You are asked to have a good working relationship with the TAs and work as a team.  If you have a problem with a TA in your class that you can't resolve speaking face to face with her, then you go to the director for mediation.  It is part of your job to make sure that there is good and constant communication between you and your TA as well as you and the director.

I have never felt that I was treated unfairly or in any way bad.  On the contrary, I am grateful for all the assistance and consideration that I have received from the staff.  I have heard from teachers that have gone on to other schools from here and truthfully, I opt to stick with what I know rather than to risk living some of their first hand horror stories.

There will never be a "perfect" place to work, but as far as I am concerned, Ivy is definately a "great" place to work.

I'm getting a certain vibe from this post....can't quite put my finger on it.
    

Please tell me what person needs a reminder every month about how to operate a washing machine in Chinese. Wow...a couple of years ago one teacher did something bad...so let's invade the privacy of every teacher on a monthly basis!!! Great plan! Yes, TA's reporting on what we do in class is normal but how they report it is what matters and if they have the ability to accurately report what is going on in a classroom also matters. It takes almost no skills to become a TA in most schools....can they accurately report on what FT's do in class? Or do many simply say negative things about FT's they don't like and cover the asses of FT's they do like.

I don't know this school from a can of paint but the post from Paloma Blanca feels like total crap.

Things like washing machines, water heaters and kitchen appliances are all in Chinese and without specific instructions on how to use them, we foreign teachers would simply not know how to use them

Really?  That's an odd way of putting it...personally I have been figuring out how to use stuff like that in foreign languages for years without breaking anything.

"I personally do not see anything wrong with Ivy inspecting their apartments especially after one was totally  trashed by a teacher a couple years ago."

To me the post seems quite well written grammatically so I may be pedantic or
it may just be a typo or simple mistake but would a current teacher not say our apartments. Just my two cents.

uhm... i was raised with the idea that giving a stranger the benefit of the doubt is a good thing.
Sure, Paloma just joined the forum and the first post is this one... it's still is a perspective from someone who knows the place and could be valuable. That said, if the number of posts under the name remains "1", I'd be inclined to take that opinion with a a whole lottta grains of salt.

Ok, the chap is happy at his school, but I agree with Noles. A member joins, does not do any intro, just beelines for the recommend an employer thread...that's fishier than my Grandma's Tuna Mousse  Let's see if he posts some more.

A helpful post though, in that it confirms some of the things that the original person was unhappy about.

I would definitely not stand for this kind of behaviour from a school.

They encourage telling tales from their staff, and treat FTs like children who can't look after themselves. It's tempting to say that if paloma is happy then good for him / her, but I can't imagine that this management style is going to result in anything good. This place sounds more like a religious cult than a business.

Paloma Blanca's application indicated that he had a desire to "find another job when [his] contract is up".

Let's give him the benefit of the doubt and move on