Warning China Jingdezhen Comprehensive College

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lambertla
Member
Posts: 3
Joined: 16 Jan 2014, 08:21
Status: Teacher

Warning China Jingdezhen Comprehensive College

Unread post by lambertla »

You really want to teach at the JINGDEZHEN University.

Think twice before doing the jump, it might be your last move in China. Teaching there was like crossing the Atlantic Ocean in a bathtub.
I am French, Teacher at the JINGDEZHEN University during the first semester 2013.

As you might know, Jingdezhen has already a bad reputation. Read first this post.
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?p=938715
I will write my warning as a supplement of this one.

Before everything, I respect the students more than you can imagine, but I would never recommend JINGDEZHEN to anyone that I am friends with.

I will start just by giving few elements to describe the context, the atmosphere.

It’s Sunday morning you are in your bed. Like every day you are awakened by a loud noise at 6 AM. Your apartment is located in the middle of the campus and the activity around starts at 6 AM every day even the Sunday.
It’s only 6 am, so you decide to stay in your bed. Why? Because it’s Sunday damn and you have nothing to do. But after a couple of hours you realize that this idea was wrong.

The phone rings. You hear some words from a voice you know, it takes one second to understand that the voice comes from one lady working at the foreign office. She says: “You have class today. The students are waiting for you. You must go there immediately”.

Without a shower, without any breakfast, without questioning, you got dressed and ran to the classroom.
Fortunately you had one lesson prepared in advance.
So during 2 hours, dirty, you give this lesson to 55 students completely dumbfounded. You give this lesson with a feeling of humiliation.

At the end of the day during a meeting with the foreign office team you complained strongly about this situation. But the answer you’ve got from the person in charge of the communication with the teachers is: “I told you that this Sunday was working date”. I didn’t say anything…I am not used to deal with dishonest people. Because of the holidays the University has changed the schedule of the week without letting me know.

Problems start for you when you become very popular with students. JINGDEZHEN doesn’t like popular teachers because popular teachers “have too much influence on students.”

The result: you are given more hours to teach.
When you ask the management: “All the teachers have signed the same contract! Why does my week workload has 4 more hours than others teachers? We have the same salary!”

The answer is “This is our decision. You have nothing to say. Based on the contract you have signed we can give you 8 hours more than others. With only 4 hours more you should feel lucky.

I was in good terms with the JINGDEZHEN foreign office of the University until the day I received an email from a Chinese recruiter.

This is his email:
“Heze University wanted to hire you, but they called Jingdezhen University, Jiangxi Province. We were all told that your name is blocked in China Foreign Experts Bureau. No Schools can help you get a new working visa and a new foreign expert card in China Foreign Experts Bureau. It is a dead reason for you.”

I’ve asked confirmation to the University and surprise, for the first time, I didn’t have any answer from them. So I decided to write this warning:

My intention here was to warn any teachers to stay well away from JINGDEZHEN.
I am convinced that JINGDEZHEN put systematically foreign teachers on the Teacher National blacklist at the end of the year for one reason or another.
Whether you finish your contract or not you will be blacklisted. No matter how good teacher you are!!!! I suppose that Teachers are put, most of the time, in the “trouble maker” category.

http://www.chinaforeignteachersunion.co ... tains.html

So, if your intention is to work in China for more than 1 year, do not start with JINGDEZHEN University. If you just want to have one experience in China and then leave, you will be ok with them.
From what I have heard, all the former teachers who had worked at the JINGDEZHEN University left China after the JINGDEZHEN experience.

Maybe without knowing that they are now on the Teacher national blacklist!!!!!
shellygwar
Member
Posts: 1
Joined: 30 Sep 2014, 03:55
Status: New Teacher

Re: Warning China Jingdezhen Comprehensive College

Unread post by shellygwar »

I must respond to this post as I almost did not accept the position at this University based on this very biased review of the school. You did not inform the school you were leaving. You packed your bags and took off! You will be banned at any University in China if you do this! You signed a contract. You must pay a fee to leave. Not only us, but the University invests a lot of money into signing you on as a teacher. They pay for the foreign teacher expert certificate, the health exam, your medical insurance and taxes and fees. The foreign affairs office must go many places and do a lot of paperwork when you accept the position! Packing your bag and taking off is a good way to be banned. This was your choice so live with it without complaint in my humble opinion. I did not hear the story of your very short and prompt decision to leave from the school. I heard about it from other staff and students.

I have found the school to be very professional. I have found the English major students to be very eager and wonderful to teach. They are fun and respectful. Some of the students, according to the other complaint, are not so nice. This is true. I have traveled to other countries. This is to be expected. I have travelled to France and found this to be true. Some of the French people were awesome and some were rude or distant. This is how it is in every country. It is your attitude which determines your overseas experience.

If you had stayed long enough, you would know that the government decides if you teach on a Sunday before a holiday. China has long holidays so why complain? It is simply a way to make up your classes so the students have their classes they will miss over a long holiday.

We are given a modern apartment with western amenities. We live better than the students. There is culture shock. You were not here long enough to get over the culture shock or overcome some of the common culture miscommunications and misunderstandings which happen.

I am very happy to be here. I do not have any complaints. I teach eight classes a week with the classes being one hour and forty minutes. You will not find this kind of job hardly anywhere!!! I have a lot of fun with the students and they show me how to get around town and how to shop. The English students are very kind and eager.

Your lessons are prepared for you in almost every class! There is plenty of time to discuss cultural differences and engage the students in how other people live. They are very interested. The University appears to want popular teachers here. I have not had the same experiences as you.

In China, there are last minute changes but this is a cultural difference in itself. It sounds like you took it personally. You did not stay long enough to know it is not personal!

The foreign affairs office at this University has been very kind, prompt to my questions, patient with my fears during the first week, and professional. I would recommend this college to any teacher without hesitation. It is a great small town feeling. The University is smaller so it is not overwhelming and a very comfortable place to experience China as a teacher.
lambertla
Member
Posts: 3
Joined: 16 Jan 2014, 08:21
Status: Teacher

Re: Warning China Jingdezhen Comprehensive College

Unread post by lambertla »

People in Jingdezhen told you who I was, but I don’t who you are.

Where are you from? How old are you? Can you tell us about your background? Any degree? Which field?

Sorry, but except your holidays in France, I haven’t found anything in your post as a base for professional discussion.

What do I think about Jingdezhen?
Teachers there were not treated with respect by the school management. Any objection made, about the workload for instance, was considered as an attack against the authority.
Here, I am not speaking about the 2 ladies working at the foreign Bureau. Lilly, Vivian tell your leader: ‘you always reap what you sow’. This one works also in China.

I don’t have time to write a complete answer! I am going to put down some remarks about your post.

I have travelled to France and found this to be true. Some of the French people were awesome and some were rude or distant.
You had holidays in France, and now you came up with a new theory of learner classification

The government decides if you teach on a Sunday before a holiday. China has long holidays so why complain? It is simply a way to make up your classes so the students have their classes they will miss over a long holiday..
When it rains you can get wet.

We live better than the students. There is culture shock.
No comments.

You were not here long enough to get over the culture shock or overcome some of the common culture miscommunications and misunderstandings which happen.
What you think is: ‘I couldn’t get over the culture shock.’ That’s good to know! But who are you? How long have you been living in China? You arrived last September? Apparently you became very quickly a specialist of the culture shock theory!

It is your attitude which determines your overseas experience.
I have lived, worked, traveled in more than 20 different countries. Every time I try to apply this principle: Act locally but think globally. Doing things with a local view point help to lessen the culture differences. What about you! We already know about your holidays in France. Anything more?


I teach eight classes a week with the classes being one hour and forty minutes.
At the Jingdezhen University, I was teaching 16 hours / week for 5000 RMB/ month. Please read again my post concerning the workload. I know that Jingdezhen is now paying their Teachers 7000 RMB/ month. 2000 more!!! A big difference. You teach 8 classes a week. What do you do with your spare time? You know, you can go fishing. There is a spot not far from the campus. Ask your students!!!!

Your lessons are prepared for you in almost every class!
Are you really working at the Comprehensive College?
Nothing was prepared for us when I was there. Nothing. They just gave us a textbook (the Headway Student edition), some pencils and one recommendation: ’make your lessons interesting’, that’s all.
Me, I had to spend 2 hours of preparation for each 45 minutes teaching in front of the Students.
If you really teach at the Jingdezhen College then ask my students about my lessons!

The University appears to want popular teachers here. I have not had the same experiences as you.
I was a popular teacher because I was working hard, giving the best lessons possible to my students and also because I was fair and honest with everyone.
You are saying that you are popular. Popular at the foreign office of the University? I am happy for you. But are you honest? Completely honest? I mean writing this post!

The foreign affairs office at this University has been very kind, prompt to my questions, patient with my fears during the first week
So this is your first job. How do you feel now after 1 month teaching?


You did not inform the school you were leaving. You packed your bags and took off! You will be banned at any University in China if you do this! You signed a contract. You must pay a fee to leave. Not only us, but the University invests a lot of money into signing you on as a teacher.
Here, I have the impression that you are writing under dictation.
I had explained to the school leader that I would leave the school if my workload wasn’t the same as the other teachers. They didn’t believe me.
Yes, I didn’t say when I was leaving? Why?
I knew that the school leader would send in the police to get his penalty money. Have you heard of the Chinese jails?

In China, there are last minute changes but this is a cultural difference in itself. It sounds like you took it personally. You did not stay long enough to know it is not personal!
Who is writing here? The Jiangxi Foreign Bureau or a teacher?
I stayed long enough to realize that this school wasn’t fair to an honest and serious teacher.

This was your choice so live with it without complaint in my humble opinion.
Your post is a list of cliché. Now, I am realizing that I wasted 2 hours of my time answering your post.
During my first post I tried to explain the teacher job at the Jingdezhen University.
Here your answer is: I have new friends they are wonderful and I will do everything to defend them. And also to defend the foreign office, the expert bureau, the Chinese government. I am surprised you forget to mention Mao Tse-tung.

This is nonsense.

I live very well since I left Jingdezhen. The mistake was to go teaching there.
matt123
Member
Posts: 5
Joined: 01 Apr 2015, 01:10
Status: Prospective Teacher

Re: Warning China Jingdezhen Comprehensive College

Unread post by matt123 »

lambertla wrote:People in Jingdezhen told you who I was, but I don’t who you are.

Where are you from? How old are you? Can you tell us about your background? Any degree? Which field?

Sorry, but except your holidays in France, I haven’t found anything in your post as a base for professional discussion.

What do I think about Jingdezhen?
Teachers there were not treated with respect by the school management. Any objection made, about the workload for instance, was considered as an attack against the authority.
Here, I am not speaking about the 2 ladies working at the foreign Bureau. Lilly, Vivian tell your leader: ‘you always reap what you sow’. This one works also in China.

I don’t have time to write a complete answer! I am going to put down some remarks about your post.

I have travelled to France and found this to be true. Some of the French people were awesome and some were rude or distant.
You had holidays in France, and now you came up with a new theory of learner classification

The government decides if you teach on a Sunday before a holiday. China has long holidays so why complain? It is simply a way to make up your classes so the students have their classes they will miss over a long holiday..
When it rains you can get wet.

We live better than the students. There is culture shock.
No comments.

You were not here long enough to get over the culture shock or overcome some of the common culture miscommunications and misunderstandings which happen.
What you think is: ‘I couldn’t get over the culture shock.’ That’s good to know! But who are you? How long have you been living in China? You arrived last September? Apparently you became very quickly a specialist of the culture shock theory!

It is your attitude which determines your overseas experience.
I have lived, worked, traveled in more than 20 different countries. Every time I try to apply this principle: Act locally but think globally. Doing things with a local view point help to lessen the culture differences. What about you! We already know about your holidays in France. Anything more?


I teach eight classes a week with the classes being one hour and forty minutes.
At the Jingdezhen University, I was teaching 16 hours / week for 5000 RMB/ month. Please read again my post concerning the workload. I know that Jingdezhen is now paying their Teachers 7000 RMB/ month. 2000 more!!! A big difference. You teach 8 classes a week. What do you do with your spare time? You know, you can go fishing. There is a spot not far from the campus. Ask your students!!!!

Your lessons are prepared for you in almost every class!
Are you really working at the Comprehensive College?
Nothing was prepared for us when I was there. Nothing. They just gave us a textbook (the Headway Student edition), some pencils and one recommendation: ’make your lessons interesting’, that’s all.
Me, I had to spend 2 hours of preparation for each 45 minutes teaching in front of the Students.
If you really teach at the Jingdezhen College then ask my students about my lessons!

The University appears to want popular teachers here. I have not had the same experiences as you.
I was a popular teacher because I was working hard, giving the best lessons possible to my students and also because I was fair and honest with everyone.
You are saying that you are popular. Popular at the foreign office of the University? I am happy for you. But are you honest? Completely honest? I mean writing this post!

The foreign affairs office at this University has been very kind, prompt to my questions, patient with my fears during the first week
So this is your first job. How do you feel now after 1 month teaching?


You did not inform the school you were leaving. You packed your bags and took off! You will be banned at any University in China if you do this! You signed a contract. You must pay a fee to leave. Not only us, but the University invests a lot of money into signing you on as a teacher.
Here, I have the impression that you are writing under dictation.
I had explained to the school leader that I would leave the school if my workload wasn’t the same as the other teachers. They didn’t believe me.
Yes, I didn’t say when I was leaving? Why?
I knew that the school leader would send in the police to get his penalty money. Have you heard of the Chinese jails?

In China, there are last minute changes but this is a cultural difference in itself. It sounds like you took it personally. You did not stay long enough to know it is not personal!
Who is writing here? The Jiangxi Foreign Bureau or a teacher?
I stayed long enough to realize that this school wasn’t fair to an honest and serious teacher.

This was your choice so live with it without complaint in my humble opinion.
Your post is a list of cliché. Now, I am realizing that I wasted 2 hours of my time answering your post.
During my first post I tried to explain the teacher job at the Jingdezhen University.
Here your answer is: I have new friends they are wonderful and I will do everything to defend them. And also to defend the foreign office, the expert bureau, the Chinese government. I am surprised you forget to mention Mao Tse-tung.

This is nonsense.

I live very well since I left Jingdezhen. The mistake was to go teaching there.
Sounds like you signed a very poor contract.

Nonetheless it was your responsibility to check the terms of your contract thoroughly and negotiate any changes before you signed it. Of-course China is a vipers nest of bad employers and recruiters but if you had a z-visa you were protected by foreign rights. Your rights only demand that your contract is upheld however, and it seems like, regardless of what they did, they were acting in accordance with your contract.

The other girl responding to your comments might be a propaganda agent from the school, a false account or whatever, but the point she had about breaking your contract was right.

If you broke the terms of your contract by leaving without paying a penalty fee, I'm really not suprised that you're blacklisted. If you thought you shouldn't have to pay the penalty, you should have specified that in your contract before signing it. As it stands, you didn't, so you broke the contract, and that is both bad form and grounds to be blacklisted.

I'm sorry but that would work the same here in the UK, you have to follow a procedure before quitting any job, namely 2 weeks advance notice, otherwise you get a bad reference. It's not suprising. I can see why you feel you've been mistreated but you should have considered this, and asserted your wishes in your contract before signing it.

I imagine you also went through an agency? as 5000 RMB is a horrendously poor wage, you should have demanded atleast three times that. If you went through an agency they would have been taking 50% of your potential wages from your employer, hence your contracted wage being so low.

As for the extra hours they put on you, if its true that they specified that they could do this in your contract, then you're not entitled to the usual overtime wage in foreign rights, as that only applies if its not expressly stated in your contract that you can work extra hours without extra pay. If they expressed this in your contract, you really can't complain once you've accepted it that you've been given a higher workload than your colleagues. I would hate that too, but I'd always check and negotiate my contract to ensure that they couldn't enforce that.

You should have done some research before accepting the job.
lambertla
Member
Posts: 3
Joined: 16 Jan 2014, 08:21
Status: Teacher

Re: Warning China Jingdezhen Comprehensive College

Unread post by lambertla »

Who is it this time?

An English student, 21 years old, without ‘any prior teaching experience’, and ‘absolutely no idea how you would even go about teaching a class.’ A student finishing a degree in Manchester, who has opened an account the first April 2015 and 4 days later has answered my post. And just disappeared!!

If I understand completely the situation!

You know nothing about teaching, about china, about the contract I signed, about what happened, about the teaching conditions in Jingdezhen, about being blacklisted without knowing it. You didn’t speak to anyone and you present yourself as an advanced expert of the teaching market in China giving advices:

- China is a vipers nest of bad employers and recruiters

- The other girl responding to your comments might be a propaganda agent from the school, a false account or whatever

- they were acting in accordance with your contract

- you must pay the penalty fee

- 5000 RMB is a horrendously poor wage

- If you went through an agency they would have been taking 50% of your potential wages from your employer, hence your contracted wage being so low

- you're not entitled to the usual overtime wage in foreign rights, as that only applies if its not expressly stated in your contract that you can work extra hours without extra pay.

- Bla bla bla, bla bla bla…

For a 21 years old student, living in Manchester, finishing his degree, you are very concerned by a post written almost 2 years ago, describing the poor teaching conditions in a very small University in China.

Me when I was your age I was doing my homework and preparing the final exam.

Well planned, written in good English, this post is as ridiculous as the previous one…

I decided not to spend more than 5 minutes on this post.
The 5 minutes are over!
Matt123, you should answer this one!!!!
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?p=938715
Saturn
Rising Star
Posts: 57
Joined: 19 Jan 2015, 01:45
Status: Teacher

Re: Warning China Jingdezhen Comprehensive College

Unread post by Saturn »

This place is also blacklisted by the China Teachers Alliance, the CFTU and to be honest, your detailed description sounds so typical of a Chinese school operation. Thanks for warning all of us. I don't see anything "ridiculous" about trying to warn people they are about to step in a pile of dog poo as they stroll along on a dark moonless night.
Allophony
Member
Posts: 24
Joined: 02 Jan 2016, 13:37
Status: Prospective Teacher

Re: Warning China Jingdezhen Comprehensive College

Unread post by Allophony »

I shall avoid this place.
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