Guangdong Peizheng College / Pei Zheng College

[ThirdView]

Oh I let it go, alright. I wasn’t one of those people who went into Karl or Author’s office demanding that something be done about Max. I wasn’t one of those people who circulated the notorious video of Max’s notorious meltdown. I wasn’t one of those people who engaged in mass mail rage with other foreign teachers. I wasn’t one of those people who got into a shouting match at the Magick Café. I tried desperately to avoid confrontations with Max, Karl, and Arthur. My plan was to hang on to the end of the semester, get my airfare, and get out of there. I didn’t pick a fight with them, they picked a fight with me. They are the ones who refused to let it go.

[ThirdView]

you have an anger issue. you should seriously consider getting some professional help, it ain't good for your health in the long run. so what if the school let you go. this is life. schools, business or any place of employment are looking after their best interest and you weren't in this school's best interest so they let you go. let your anger go and be happy with your life.

This string was dormant for 2 months. Then nearly a month after I started posting updates, you register and quote me. Is it coincidence you arrived the day after the chairman and president received a letter recommending Karl and Arthur be fired? Why are you monitoring this string? Why are you taking the initiative to give me advice? Why is it so important to you what people say about Karl and Arthur?

[ThirdView]

Open Letter to Liang Pu Jian and Zhang Lei:

You need to fire Arthur the English Education Director and Karl the Foreign Affairs Officer. They are destroying the English program and damaging the reputation of Pei Zheng College.

-- They have divided Chinese against foreigner, administrator against teacher, teacher against teacher. No organization divided against itself can survive. Everyone should work together toward the same goal. The goal is improve the English skills of the students. If that goal is achieved, everybody wins.

-- Instead of hiring good foreign teachers who don’t need much supervision, they assign a young, inexperienced office worker named Lyn to recruit, then they threaten whoever arrives with the severest punishment for the smallest offenses.

-- They do not provide seminars, workshops, lectures, and forums for the foreign teachers to keeps their skills fresh.

-- They do not promote English Corner. At a private college where I taught a few years ago, one third of an entire floor of the English teaching building was reserved for English Corner with a café atmosphere, computers, private rooms, and volunteer workers. From 3 p.m. until 7 p.m. every day, English Corner was crowded. But at Pei Zheng College, there is no special space for English Corner and only about half a dozen students talk to each teacher for an hour and a half.

-- They assign foreign teachers to the art majors. The English skill level and attitude toward English lessons among the art students is so low, this is an enormous waste of foreign resources. Art students should be taught by Chinese teachers who specialize in beginner classes.

-- A popular technique among the students is for the teacher to write a topic on the blackboard, then have the students arrange their chairs in circles and express themselves to each other on the topic. This creates a lively and enjoyable classroom environment, but it means the students chat in Chinese for 30 or 40 minutes. They are practicing Chinese instead of improving English. It’s an English Corner session, not an academic lesson. A teacher’s role is not to just monitor student activity, but to interact with them and address their needs. But if teachers face a choice between providing a useful lesson and making the students happy, Arthur and Karl prefer the foreign teachers just make the students happy.

-- Foreign teachers are required to test every student several times each semester. Because the classes are too big to test every student in one week, each exam takes two weeks. Then the students go through the same process again with a different foreign teacher the next semester. If a student takes 4 semesters of spoken English, that’s an awful lot of time that should be spent learning new curriculum instead of being repeatedly evaluated. Again, this is an enormous waste of foreign resources.

-- Learning a language is an integrated process. It should involve integrated skills, integrated methods, and integrated tools. But they prefer foreign teachers rely solely on verbal instruction and maybe a blackboard or textbook - no audio or visual equipment, no handouts, etc.

-- Immediately after Max Long was promoted from teacher to supervisor, it was obvious he was grossly unsuitable for a management position. As a result of Max’s behavior, the school lost many good teachers and there were many negative comments on the Internet. There was also a scandalous video of Max completely losing his temper, acting wild, and yelling at foreign teachers. But Arthur and Karl refused to intervene no matter how much damage Max did.

-- They give the foreign supervisors piles of paperwork and many lessons instead of allowing them to mentor teachers, develop curriculum, and plan training. When Bob Ellis left, 22 foreign teachers - one fourth of the foreign population - applied for his job. When Max Long left, only two foreign teachers applied for his job because it has become such an undesirable position. Now Program B doesn’t even have a foreign supervisor.

-- They have canceled monthly staff meetings. Monthly staff meetings are a way for the foreign supervisors to stay in communication with the foreign teachers and maintain high morale among the foreign staff. Meetings give the supervisor an opportunity to answer questions and give the staff a sense of belonging.

-- They are hostile toward the Magick Café and Lulu’s Cantina. Both are Chinese owned. Foreign teachers help manage part time to ensure the dishes are authentic western food. These restaurants are great cultural exchange opportunities.

There are many private colleges all over China that employee a lot of foreign teachers but don’t suffer from constant turmoil and hostility. Why do these other private colleges not have the type of problems Pei Zheng College is having? The answer is simple: Arthur and Karl are in positions of authority, therefore they are responsible. They are in control of the foreign teacher situation, so they cannot blame anyone else.

[ThirdView]

You might recall that beginning on the first page of this string, John and his wife Anya took a beating from “King’s Levi,” “Truthiness,” and “The Truth.” You also recall that as these 3 did the same to several other foreign teachers, I repeated took them to task. Well, now John and Anya are perpetrating the myth that they are collateral damage in an Internet controversy I started. But looking at the dates, John posted 6 weeks before I did. He posted on April 15th in response to “Peizheng Refugee.” The first slur against this couple came on May 21st at the hands of “King’s Levi.” I didn’t post till May 30th. At the time John posted, I didn’t even know this string existed. John decided to resurrect a string that had been dormant for 6 months. He also unwisely revealed his identity by choosing the user name “Big John Nox.” He made himself a target of anyone who disagreed with him or didn’t like him, one of whom had already developed a reputation for lashing out. Then he tried to blame the results on someone else. During my recent visit, both of them have spit venom at me. John at the I Need store and Anya at the Magick Café. I have met many foreign teachers during my visit. John and Anya are the only 2 who have been hostile toward me. I tried to make peace with both of them, but neither will hear me out.

[ThirdView]

These are the comments I posted about John and Anya:

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I have a lot of personal and professional respect for the above mentioned John Oxley,
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1) I had a good experience with him. Limited but positive. 2) No one at the college told me any horror stories about him the entire 2 semesters I was there. 3) Vague accusations by anonymous people on the Internet. No specifics about people, circumstances, or results.

It’s worth mentioning that the same people who are accusing him are obsessed with his wife - her accent, her English skill level, the ethics of her having an English teaching position at the school.

When I arrived, he helped me with directions to the Italian restaurant in Huadu. I didn’t have frequent or long conversations with him after that, but every time I did speak with him, he was civil and engaging. I saw him many times at the Magick Café. He never made any type of scene there.

I saw him participate in many group conversations at the café and never saw him bully anyone. Nor has anyone presented any evidence that he does Karl’s dirty work, secretly or openly.

For all I know, he goes home and strangles cats. And for all we know, he’s Karl’s spy at the café. But no one has presented anything that contradicts my experience and the silence of his colleagues.

It’s called guilt by accusation.
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You cannot get on the Internet and engage in character assassination. You cannot contaminate someone’s view of a person they haven’t met yet. You can not poison someone’s mind against another person with no basis other than your words. It’s not only unacceptable, it’s outrageous. It is also hypocritical: You cannot take Karl, Arthur, and Max to task for their abusive behavior only to practice abusive behavior yourself.

Imagine a new teacher at Pei Zheng College walks into the Magick Café and there sits the much maligned John Oxley. How will this new teacher react? Avoid him? Share your comments with others after John leaves the café? Strike up a conversation with John’s wife to satisfy his curiosity about her accent and skill level?
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Evidence, not assertion. Proof, not claim. Background and examples, not speculation, not authoritative pronouncement. Established facts, not theory, conjecture, or rumor.

If an accusation were sufficient to attack someone’s character, person X could simply say, “Person Y is a jerk,” then person Y could simply say, “Person X is a jerk” and the 2 accusations would cancel each other.

Same goes for “Take my word for it.” Same goes for “Let me assure you.” Same goes for “I know this person well.” Same with “Obviously you don’t want to accept the reality of the situation,” “Any intelligent, reasonable person will acknowledge I’m right,” and “Anyone who refuses to believe this can’t be taken seriously.” Etc.

John Oxley isn’t a bully or an agent just because you SAY he’s a bully or agent. He’s a bully or an agent if you DEMONSTRATE it. Anything else is playground namecalling at best, slander at worst.
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1. What does his wife being Polish have to do with anything?
2. She's fluent in English. Her Chinese is pretty good too.
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Slander, btw, violates the rules of this forum.

[RobertD]

Having followed this topic for a while and still having a fondness for the Peizheng of old, can anyone who is still a teacher there tell me how it's looking for the next teaching year. Perhaps, even post some photos somewhere.

[Peizhenganon]

Hello! This is the Peizheng Students' and Teachers' Anonymous Suggestions Wiki.
Peizheng is a college located at Peizheng Ave.1, Chini Town, Huadu District, Guangzhou City, China.

http://peizhenganonymous.wikia.com/wiki ... ymous_Wiki

All comments left on this board should preferably be anonymous. That is: create a Wikia ID that is anonymous. Ideally, do not give out your real world identity or IP address when leaving comments on the Main Page of the Wiki.

All you need to do is to "edit" the Main Page and leave a comment, the same way you edit a Wikipedia article.

[Considering]

I have been considering accepting a FT position at this school for the 2013 year. Can anyone update the board on the current state of affairs at the school? Is it still an absolute AVOID?

[chinateach]

Hi there!
I would say that things haven't changed much.
The housing services and all are good, but the facilities suck. Blackouts still happen and they cut water supply after certain hours. I am planning to leave this place if things don't improve. Karl, the (in)famous administrator discussed above is still quite a pain in the ass. The area is set in a beautiful location,but the surrounding area is quite dirty and old, apparently, only Shanghai and Beijing has that shiny luster most of the laowei (foreigners) are attracted to . I am getting tired of the stupid administration here and planning to back my bags if I can find a new suitable job.

My advice: Avoid it, it's not worth your time. Find a better university/college in either another country (Japan,India,Vietnam etc.) or a different, more affluent region of the country.

Sorry to disappoint you , best of luck