Immediate Open at NOT NICE school in SUZHOU

[Raoul Duke]

<I don't often have a chance to say nice things about school owners or managers, so I'm glad to have the chance to do so here. The director of this school is a nice lady....honest, open-minded, easy to work with. This would make an excellent first job for someone. I think a few of the qualifications are possibly negotiable. There are some nice things abou this job not in the ad. They need someone NOW so fire up that resume!>

Lynch language centre is a one year and half old school. It is located in the heart of Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP) (www.sipac.gov.cn). The school board of directors is consisted of Executive Chairman of an Irish company located in Dublin.

All English teachers/tutors are from overseas, preferably from English speaking counties and regions. Business English, General English are our main courses, young learner groups are all above age 10. For more information, please view our website at <deleted>.

We are looking for an experienced native spealing ESL teacher from USA, Canada, Ireland or UK who is willing to make a firm commitment to a one year contract with us in beautiful Suzhou, China. It is most important that you are flexible, as some teaching assignments could be at schools or students' place of work, while the remainder will be in our classrooms. Maximum class size is 15 in our classrooms but could be as many as 20 in an external school envirnment. One on one Business English classes are not unusual. You will have a University Degree or equivalent vocational training, be TEFL/TESOL/CELTA certified and have at least 3 years working experience teaching English, preferably overseas.

Bendfits include 6000RMB monthly salary after 3 month probationary period at 5000RMB. 40 hrs total work week with a maximum of 23 teaching hours, overtime pay, confortable shared accommodation provided, return ticket after successful completion of contract.

If you're interested please contact <deleted> and tell her you're a friend of Raoul's.

[Dr. Gonzo]

This nice, open minded lady seems unaware some of us south of the equator are native English speakers. And that she might get Groundskeeper Willie from Glasgow, who does meet criteria. Her students may find a Belfast speaker interesting as well.
I notice Suid Afrikan ren rarely get a guernsey. Would this rule out The Rog?
A confusing world.
Not that I find a job that offers about 50 rmb an hour BEFORE office and prep time and WITH shared accomm remotely attractive.

[Raoul Duke]

Gone,

It's not just her. I've spent over a year selling corporate classes in Suzhou and have noticed a very prevalent bias here against Hogans and Kiwis (as teachers). It seems you guys talk funny.

Actually, most of the people I've talked to here really only want North Americans. This being an Irish-owned school, the preference has apparently been broadened a bit.

For what it's worth, I have seen ads specifying Hogans or Brits, no North Americans. _{But not bloody many.}

My suspicion is that any native speaker who shows up speaking nice clear English, has no wine corks dangling from their hat, and isn't reeking of Vegemite and Foster's, will receive a respectful audience. I'll bring this issue up. Indeed, a number of things here may well be negotiable.

Yeah, the salary isn't spectacular. That's why I mentioned this as a good first job. My personal hurdle for recommending a job is 6K a month plus accommodations. This job qualifies. In a country where most schools are pimping 4K a month and an apartment, this is actually better than average.

Both Con and I visited this school. We're both established and experienced enough that neither of us were attracted to the salary or to an apartment pre-equipped with an Irishman. But we both left feeling good about the school and the people who run it.

I'm pretty confident that if you work here you will get what's advertised, if not better. You'll be dealt with reasonably honestly, and you'll at least get listened to. For China, this IMHO qualifies as "a good school."

Meanwhile we'll work for a time when Hogans can sit anywhere on the bus they want to, use the same bathrooms and drinking fountains as the rest of us, and so on. You Shall Overcome.
Not that I'd want my daughter to marry one, of course...

Meanwhile, I used to see ads specifying Suid Afrikaaner as OK, but these started gradually disappearing around the time Roger arrived.

[Raoul Duke]

I should probably update this one, too.

I worked in this place briefly, back in the Spring. The offer was pretty terrible, but at the time I needed to find something. In addition, the manager had become a friend; we were meeting in bars and having dinner together and so on and she was great. She was in dire need to fill a position, so I signed a short-term contract with her.

So, I started and was set to creating a lesson plan for 2 private-lesson classes with some local executives. Unfortunately, about this time I was having my first bout of trouble with my sleep condition...narcoleptic episodes, hallucinations...the whole bit.

I got worse and could no longer go out. I had someone here calling her for me and explaining the situation, but when I called in the second time she fired me.

I DON'T blame her for letting me go. I'd have done the same thing in her shoes. What got me was the way she handled it. On that second day she waited 4 hours and started waving the contract in my face, ranting like any other 2-bit local school owner. My "friend" never asked if I was going to be OK, she just launched immediately into the "Aaaannnhhh! Aaaannnhhh! Contract say you come class! You bad teachah!" routine.

You can get this same treatment at any other Chinese school, but you can usually get paid better for it and you can skip the pretense of friendship.

The offer at Lynch was always pretty punk, and suitable at best only for rank newbies to China and to teaching. The one draw it had was that the manager was nicer than most.

Even this appears to have been illusory.