Info on Haimen City

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Noel

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Info on Haimen City
« on: May 03, 2007, 08:05:57 PM »
Hello All,

My wife and I have been offered teaching positions at Dongzhou Middle School in Haimen City, Jiangsu.
We found the positions through Angelina's ESL Cafe.

I am seeking any experiences from others that may have taught at this school and any info about Haimen City.

Any comments on Angelina's?

Thanks for any comments, opinions and advice.

Noel Murray
I am at two with Nature.

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kcanuck

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Re: Info on Haimen City
« Reply #1 on: May 03, 2007, 08:10:47 PM »
Hi;

I dealt with Mary at Angelina's for my first posting.  Basically, she just introduced me to the school and helped with some of the negotiations.  I ended up with the same contract as a 'proper' teacher who was already here so it didn't really end up making any difference.  I did find Mary pleasant to deal with and have actually contacted her again for something for the upcoming school year.
There are other sites where you can get direct access to the schools without using a middleman. 

I am still learning. Michelangelo

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Noel

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Re: Info on Haimen City
« Reply #2 on: May 03, 2007, 08:25:17 PM »
Yes, we are dealing with Mary too.
She maintains good comms. replying promptly to emails.
Their website is also very good, easy to navigate.
I was provided with the website for the school and email address for a foreign teacher who is working there, but we have yet to receive a reply to our email to her.
I think it's a good idea to seek experiences of others before committing to a contract.
We have worked previously in Hubei Province but the pollution really got to us.
We are hoping that it will be better in Jiangsu, being near the sea and all.

I am at two with Nature.

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Raoul F. Duke

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Re: Info on Haimen City
« Reply #3 on: May 03, 2007, 11:04:39 PM »
Angelina's is a recruiter, pure and simple. No better, and no worse, than any of the other ones...which is really pretty sad. I've scanned through their site a number of times just to see what was on the menu....I've never ever seen one single job on there I would describe as even remotely attractive, but then I can't speak for the specific job YOU have. Angelina's has definitely had its share of bad press over the years, too.

It's probably like pretty much any other recruiter-sourced gig...if the school's OK, the job will be OK. If the school is a nightmare, the job will be a nightmare. Either way Angelina's has already been paid and will be down the road looking for another one. Do not hold your breath waiting for them to ride to the rescue.

Recruiters tend to lie a lot. Recruiters can only offer jobs that are so-so at best....GOOD jobs don't NEED a recruiter. Recruiters tend to leave you in the lurch in a bad situation...or even worse, they will join in on the side of the dodgy school, their paying customer. Recruiters tend to continue placing people in schools that they know full well deal dishonestly with their teaching staff.

Why anyone would ever have anything to do with any recruiter is simply beyond me. But all I can do is to cry in the wilderness...

Jiangsu is likely to be better than Hubei, but WHERE in Jiangsu can make all the difference in the world. The north is pretty backwards and agricultural, with some smokestack industry, and is for all intents and purposes Lower Anhui. Or Lower Hubei. Cities here such as Huai'an or Xuzhou just make my skin crawl. There's a small bit of actual coastline here just south of the Shandong Province line around the city of Lianyungang, but it seems to share the backwardness and economic weakness of northern Jiangsu. Suzhou is crawling with its refugees. Suzhou is my chosen home and a wonderful place to live, but it still has considerable automobile pollution and a bit of industrial as well. For a non-coastal city it's not too bad. Kunshan is nice in some ways but has a lot of the dirtier industries that Suzhou proper doesn't allow in. Ditto Nanjing, which kind of straddles the North-South line. Nanjing is probably a much nicer place to live than Kunshan. Wuxi is shaping into a nice little city, but has some nasty industry as well. It's 95% under construction and is one big dust cloud right now. Smaller cities like Changzhou, Yangzhou, or Nantong seem to be rather pleasant but will have some factory pollution.

Cities from Yangzhou south are very likely to be big improvements over Hubei...but you still won't want to call them "unpolluted". If you want the cleansing effects of the sea, you need to choose a city that's actually on the sea...such as Dalian, Qingdao, or Xiamen. Cities such as Suzhou, or even Shanghai, are too far inland to get those lovely ocean breezes.
"Vicodin and dumplings...it's a great combination!" (Anthony Bourdain, in Harbin)

"Here in China we aren't just teaching...
we're building the corrupt, incompetent, baijiu-swilling buttheads of tomorrow!" (Raoul F. Duke)

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Noel

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Re: Info on Haimen City
« Reply #4 on: May 04, 2007, 04:06:49 PM »
Thanks Raoul for taking the time to give such an informative reply, much appreciated.
Haimen City is under the jurisdiction of Nantong, so hopefully it will be a pleasant, albeit polluted, place to work.
We hope to attend one of these infamous Raoul's parties/ get togethers in Suzhou next time  one comes up. jjjjjjjjjj
I am at two with Nature.