Jiangsu College for International Education, Foundation Public School in Huai'an

I have completed (sort of) my contract here in Huai'an and decided to move to another school in Dalian. I thought it would be appropriate to post my thoughts on this particular program.

This is a foundation school. I currently work at a public middle school in Huai'an and this is my first year teaching in China. I teach only 10 hours per week. My apartment and utilities are paid by the school. This includes internet and cable TV. My monthly salary is 7,000 RMB and a travel allowance of 9,000 RMB. I started last October not knowing too much about what to expect. My school year ends pretty soon and I will be going home for a month before moving on to Dalian.

So, why am I leaving before my contract ends? Well, I received another job offer from a university and they needed me to start in September. I might have stayed for another year in Huai'an if my FAO took some effort in communicating with me. My biggest problem with this job was not the students, teachers, or administrators at my school. These people have been good to work with. No, my biggest problem was the lack of communication from my FAO in Nanjing.

I wrote an e-mail back in April asking about staying for another year. I got no response from him. So, in May I sent another e-mail with the same request except I also asked if I could work in Nanjing at the college. I got no response to that e-mail so I called up my FAO. I was told that they were waiting on a response from the school. I talked with my liaison and was told that the school had already provided their feedback. This was towards the end of May and I knew that either I needed to renew my contract or find another job for next year.

So, I started applying to other places and found a university job in Dalian. I will be making only 5,000 RMB and will need to pay my own utilities (the apartment is free) but I will be happier there. I have talked with other teachers that work at this university and have been told that the FAO is the best.   

Overall, I found the school to be a good place to work and the teaching hours to be really decent. However, the lack of communication on the part of my FAO is not acceptable. This person is the main reason that I did not sign up for another year.

 

Well, I agree that I would not like the lack of communication either.  This is a very common thing in China at public schools.  They have this idea in their head that it is a very easy thing to find a good teacher and if you leave, too bad for you we will just find another one.  Problem is they do not realize that good teachers are not very common and there are alot of crap ones out there too.  Maybe they need to get a few crap ones to learn this.  In civilized western countries if we like one of our teachers we will do what it takes to keep them.  Not so in China.  They don't get this concept at all here.  I have seen in so often..  Good move on your part.

Yeah, you got it. It doesn't help. though, that this program is run by Westerners. Youjwould think that they would know better. Live and learn, I guess.