Suzhou Foreign Language School, Suzhou, China

[Meinicio]

Just to clarify the situation with SFLS. A number of this year new intake of teachers had read reports about the school on this and other forums. Being new to the school it was only natural that we would discuss some of the issues between ourselves, having established that accussations appearing on this and other forum sites were malicious, untrue and illegal we agreed to campaign against the proprietors of the websites who are responsible for the content of the forum. In doing this we have also established links with other institutions who have been targetted on the forums so that we can collectively communicate with authorities in the countries where the sites are registered. We know that the purpose of the malicious postings is to generate responses in order to improve search engine optimization for the websites and has nothing to do with providing free and impartial advice to ESL teachers. Our aim is to have malicious comments removed from the sites and for the site owners to give a clear staement that Suzhou Foreign Language School was the victim of a two year campaign by a malicious person and that they inadvertantly trusted and believed that person without establishingbthe facts for themselves.

[raoulduke]

Being new to the school, you don't know yet who you're really working for, or what really goes on there.

And I can easily go to the same sites and testify that the bad reviews SIFLIS gets are the result of a large, long-term body of real experiences, and are an attempt to get out the truth...not some malicious campaign or whatever else K's paranoia wants to call it.

Good luck. ;-{)

[VocalRush]

From "The Truth":

I personally have no axe to grind with this institution, one way or the other.

Really? 'Cause it sure does seem like you do. I have to ask, "Why is that?"

To date, "The Truth" has claimed he has never worked for this school. Yet he sure does have a LOT to say about a place that he has allegedly NOT worked for.

I mean, I really don't see anywhere else (except for that wonderful eslteachersboard website) where people that have NOT worked for a school spend so much time railing against it.

And it's my feeling, my opinion, no I think THE TRUTH is that the

bad reviews SIFLIS gets [that] are the result of a large, long-term body of real experiences

are actually the result of one, very angry (still!) and quite possibly emotionally disturbed man who actually DOES have an axe to grind with this institution (if I may borrow the phrase).

Am I claiming that there haven't been other teachers who have left this school in a negative light? No, of course not, I could rattle off 3 or 4 other names since I've worked there with no problem. Do I think these 3 or 4 are constantly and unceasingly posting here, there and yonder with their ongoing axe grinding? No, I do not. Can I rattle off 3 or 4 or 10 names of those that have left in recent years for other non-anger-related reasons (you know, returned to home country, found a better paying school, wanted a change or scenery, etc.)? Sure I could, in a heartbeat.

Can most of us see that the one under the host of names that have been listed before on various sites is one and the same person? Yes, even by those that can now no longer publicly admit that it is one and the same, but they know. Sure they do. "K" is not paranoid; why should he be? None of us currently at this school are paranoid. We have a great job. It's not like I'm spinning CDs at a local nightclub or anything, trying to get by. The school treats me well. I'm sure it treats "K" and other teachers well. I'm sure there could be a teacher or two this year that may well leave due to dissatisfaction with the job. So what? That is not a damning of the school, that's NORMAL, especially in the ESL biz.

I'm truly, truly sorry that *ahem!* C. Worthington or *ahem!* StephanieB or *ahem!" Diana or *ahem!* any other person out there had such a rough go of it. I hope *ahem!* "they" have found something to soothe their rattled nerves. I don't know, I've had bad jobs in the past (never been fired, knock wood . . . yet!) and I've complained about them to anyone who would care to listen. But I kind of, you know, GOT OVER IT and, you know, MOVED ON. And I have never, ever blasted a place of employment that I'VE NEVER WORKED FOR. That is just a bit . . . weird . . . in my opinion.

[VocalRush]

By the way, before yet another thread gets wildly out-of-hand, let's all remember this websites "terms of use":

By posting in forums or blogs at TEFL.net you take full and personal responsibility for the content of your message. Views expressed in forums and blogs are not necessarily the views of TEFL.net. We collect and log IP addresses and such information as may be necessary to identify individual posters. This information will be shared or divulged only in the event of libelous, fraudulent or otherwise abusive postings or if required by law.

These terms shall be governed by the Laws of England.

[raoulduke]

And it's my feeling, my opinion, no I think THE TRUTH is that the

bad reviews SIFLIS gets [that] are the result of a large, long-term body of real experiences

are actually the result of one, very angry (still!) and quite possibly emotionally disturbed man who actually DOES have an axe to grind with this institution (if I may borrow the phrase).

I can understand that you would have to resort to such a stance. But such a person, if indeed there actually is one, isn't me.

Well, not entirely true. SIFLIS has such a horrible track record that I do feel some compunction to try and wave people away from it before it's too late. Too many teachers have been abused there. Others have been abused there too, but I'm sure VR knows what I'm alluding to and there's no need to spell it out. ;-{)

What I wonder is, if things at SIFLIS are so great, why do you and your various aliases and sock-puppets feel so compelled to stagger like a punch-drunk boxer from one EFL forum to the next, crying in the wilderness about how wrong are all those many voices condemning it?

As for invoking the laws of England: I'm all for it. Bring it. Let's get a really good impartial police investigation of SIFLIS started and set the record straight once and for all on the things that have taken place there. :-{D

[VocalRush]

Wellllll . . . the laws of England referred to in this case are about nasty comments made in this or any thread. I don't think the laws of England (or any other country for that matter) would actually amount to a hill of beans if levied at any Chinese school (OMG, let me clarify that I know there is no need for any laws or investigations - - from what I can see, this seems to be an above-board school, regardless of insinuations).

And no, Raoul, I wasn't intimating that the many-faceted person spreading all the horror stories (Happy Halloween!) was you (unless of course, that person is using the name Raoul Duke - - great, now THAT thought is on my mind!). At least your hate messages have all been under your own web name (right?). No confusion on where you're coming from I'd say! I don't agree with them in the slightest, but at least you're being crystal clear.

Yes, you've done your duty many times over to warn people away from this school. Well done. Luckily, the 34 teachers we currently have paid no heed and, whereas I don't even know what's on each and every teacher's mind as to their feelings (so far) toward this school, several seem happy and joyful to be here. Which is a good thing, right? Right?

The tit-for-tat postings of late is because we that are posting the positive comments are actually admitting we work for this school. "Suzhou Teacher Also", "The Truth", "Mrs. such-and-such PhD" (whatever) and a couple others here and there claim "they" (he) have never been at this school. So why are "they" (he) SO antagonistic towards it? And it's already been shown on that other website how spookily similar (Happy Halloween!) "C. Worthington", StephanieB" and "Diana" (among others)'s postings are. Why not just stick to one name and just come back now and again to make the warnings every few months? In the method A*** chose, he really diluted his message and now I'd imagine very few take him seriously at all, if they ever truly did in the first place!

And, finally, in regard to the previous post, I'd LOVE any police investigation of this school and I've been told (by him), "K" would love it to. Clear the air and all that. If you can make that happen Raoul, please do so. Tell your buddies Turnoi and Silverboy to give you a hand. Let's get that ball rolling. Keep us posted on your efforts.

[raoulduke]

I'd LOVE any police investigation of this school and I've been told (by him), "K" would love it to. Clear the air and all that. If you can make that happen Raoul, please do so.

Can't, yet. Maybe someday. I'd love to see it happen. Who knows (besides you and I) what nasties might turn up?

[VocalRush]

Can't, yet. Maybe someday.

Honestly, it's just a hollow threat trotted out by the usual suspects every once in a while to, I don't know, try to intimidate posters who would dare cross the mighty (fill-in-the-blank: Turnoi, Raoul, Silverboy . . . ). I stand by my convictions that Suzhou Foreign Language School and its teachers have NOTHING TO HIDE. Those of you that keep bringing up the whole "investigation" chestnut either need to instigate it NOW or leave it alone. I've been reading about this nonsense for over two years now. Guess what? SFLS is flourishing, the Mr. "K" that you guys keep piling on is flourishing, and students keep graduating into top schools both on the mainland and abroad. If you want to try to bring down this school and/or its teachers, well, I wish you all the luck in the world because you'd certainly need it to be successful while chasing your paper dragons.

[fischer]

Hi, my name is Jake Fischer and I'm crying right now because I work at SFLS and it is terrible. Terrible. Let me tell you about all my horrible experience at this school, in hopes that you come to hate the place like I do and never work at such a horrible school that beats and mistreats you and calls you names and stuff.

One time at this school I was savagely beaten by a refrigerator. This sounds horrible and it IS horrible! It was after a long day of teaching and I was totally exhausted. So I went back to my dorm room and grabbed a Gatorade out of the fridge. But somehow I dropped it and when I bent down to pick it up, somehow I hit my head on the top corner of the fridge. Such a horrible refrigerator and such a horrible school for putting it in my dorm room! The incident left a small bump on my forehead and a huge scar on my heart. I'll never be the same. Never work for such a terrible, terrible school as this. Such agony. If you've never been beaten by a refrigerator you have no right to comment on what I'm saying. It is one of the worst forms of punishment and never work for a school that lets this happen to you!!

And it's not just physical beatings that this school dishes out. It's also horrible, horrible forms of psychological torture that you'll have to endure. Once, right before class, a small child came and called me a "watermelon" and I almost passed out from the pain. Never work for such a terrible, terrible school as this. You'll get post-traumatic stress disorder for sure.


Then another time, an administration named Xavier from the international department emailed me to say I had a package waiting at the school gate for me and I should go pick it up. Little did I know it would turn out to be an attack on me personally. When I got to the gatehouse, I found my package and started to open it. When I realized it contained the Xbox controller that I'd ordered a few days earlier, I was ecstatic and began to rip the package open with my bare hands. This is when the school started to beat me. Yes beat me. This is written proof that this really happened and it's posted on the internet, so believe it. They somehow beat me with the innocuous-looking cardboard packaging of the controller, sliding it under my index fingernail such that I actually winced. Never work for such a terrible, terrible school as this. You'll get cardboard shoved under your index fingernails and you might wince.

Another way this school will make your life miserable is on payday. Like last month, they almost made me cry on payday. So believe what I say because this is on the internet and so it's absolutely true. So last payday I went to get my pay, and lo and behold I didn't get paid the amount I thought I'd be getting: I got paid all of one month's salary plus 40% of next month's salary, because the October holiday was coming up and, long story short, they paid us the 40% of next month's salary a week in advance because of the holiday. Never work for such a terrible, terrible school as this unless you want to get paid early. Why subject yourself to horrible treatment like getting paid early?

Also, the school sends me a lot of emails. Like probably 3 a week. All of these emails are sent to me and that's harassment! Never work for a school that sends you emails! It's psychological torture by monsters!

Also, there is a soccer monster here that probably weighs about 190 lbs, so never work here because he might get you. The other day I was playing soccer after class with some fellow teachers and the soccer monster kicked the ball at me. He actually did this to me. And this happened on school property. The school knew about it - the administrators, the buildings, the grass, they all knew about it. Here's what happened: I was just standing there, playing goalie, minding my own business and the soccer monster kicked the ball straight at me. And it wasn't a baby kick either, it was a man-kick. I tried to stop the ball with my hands, but when I did it actually knocked my left hand into my knee a little bit and that hurt. So never work at this school.

I repeat, unless you want to get things slammed into your head and have things shoved under your fingernails, get called names like "watermelon", get emails sent to you every week, get things kicked at you, or get paid on time, never work for this school. It's better by far to stay in a padded cell where you're not expected to act like a normal, functioning adult who can take responsibility for their own choices.

[VocalRush]

LOL!

I can't help noticing that "C. Worthington", "The Truth", "Suzhou Teacher Also", etc. have all but disappeared. Wonder where "they" have all gotten off to? Just waiting for the next incarnation.

[fischer]

If this website constitutes an online community, these guys are definitely the village idiots. My guess is they can't decide whether to side with or against what I said in my last post.

[TheTruth]

I am sure that we would like to thank the 250 kilo Kevin and all of his myriad personalities for all of the posts here....same tone, same style, same ilk.

What WILL be interesting, however, is what will happen over the next 2 - 3 weeks : that is when, if what I hear is correct, that Gordon, or whomever is doing the recruiting for the school, will start recruiting again for the spring term, 2012, for replacements for all of the teachers who have left or will be leaving the school at the end of one term.

These adverts usually appear on Dave's...and then it will be science, not opinion, and then Kevin can make all of his 10,000 reasons, together with all of his split personalities, as to why so many new teachers will have left after one term. After all, numbers speak.

And as Raoul Duke so accurately wrote somewhere, since they (meaning the 250 kilo Kevin) cannot attack the underlying reasons, he attacks the messengers. Truly a cheap stunt by the great unwashed (literally).

[VocalRush]

Oh Alex, give it up! You've revealed your true colors and your real feelings for this school. And I don't know why you go on about someone's weight when you are surely pushing 300 lbs yourself. It's so sad, a 60 year old has-been (wait, don't you even have to have BEEN someone to be a has-been?) who keeps jumping from school to school, leaving a path of destruction in your wake. Granted, very MINOR destruction, but why pick at semantics?

And so what if a couple of teachers leave (not saying anyone will)? With a staff of 34 foreign teachers, a school of this size will always lose a small percentage each year and they will always be advertising/hiring. Normal stuff here in China and most anywhere I'd imagine. And, BTW, the original 34 we met in September are all still here, regardless of your false assertions. Many of us will be enjoying Thanksgiving together in a few days. Your warnings and blusterings are hollow and gas-filled. We've all exposed you for the loon you are so keep on going "The Truth" -- anyone following your threads knows the REAL truth I'd imagine. LOL!

[VocalRush]

Looks like Alex/Andre/C. Worthington/The Truth et. al. is on the loose again over at eslteachersboard.com. In recent days he's posted under the names of "yournewbestfriend" "heres-your-answer", and "the truth be known". I knew he'd be back. Just waiting for him here at this site! LOL!

[CFTUBeijing]

This school has been on the China Foreign Teachers Union blacklist for over 18 months. We have no clue why people are not using the blacklists to learn from the mistakes of others.

[CFTUBeijing]

Be advised that Suzhou Language School has been on our blacklist since mid 2010 based on no less than 23 complaints received with no attempts made to resolve these complaints. If and when you have any doubts about a particular school, agent, or website related to ESL/TEFL placement please check our black and whitelists.

Best wishes to all of our teaching colleagues around the world for the New Year!