Messages by Ross

Bahrain,
Al-Hekma Model
International School One complaint of dishonesty. Another negative report including threats. Another unhappy trooper.

Brazil
Cipex Idiomas A large franchise but one unhappy trooper at one of them. College Language Center, Londrina One unhappy trooper. Speaking/Centro de Cultura Americana Itajuba, Minas Gerais, One unhappy

China Options International, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province One unhappy trooper.
Ordinance And Engineering College Or Hebei Ordinance College
Shijiazhuang (city),
Hebei Province
A couple of negative reports about very basic living conditions ( no hot water and at night no water at all) and some more serious problems.
Paramount International School Guangzhou, Guangdong Province
One report of there often being no water, hot or cold.
PES (Professional Educational Services)
Hong Kong, Thailand
A couple of negative reports of teachers having trouble getting visas, not being paid for up to two months etc.
Victoria foreign language Changchun Jilin
Poor apts no heat in some and no water also teacher has to pay heat and water although good pay, teacher has to pay own medicals and taxi fares to and from different school of work, some schools are 1/2 to 1 hour ride by local buses


Czech Republic: English House or Language House, Top of the hill on Wenceslas Square; on the street directly behind the museum. Several reports that the director Mirko doesn't pay you your wages. Also that the school changes both its address and name on occasion.



Egypt; International House, Memphis International School
Cairo, One unhappy trooper. New Horizon School, Maadi/ Cairo
A couple of negative reports about this place including cheating and very high staff turnover. Sakkara, One
negative report but no details.

Hong Kong: PES (Professional Educational Services)
A couple of negative reports of teachers having trouble getting visas, not being paid for up to two months etc.

Indonesia: EF (English First) Several complaints coming out of their Indonesian branch.

Japan: Big Apple International School Of English, One report of not being paid and other serious problems.
Bohme English Academy also: Eigo Teragoya, Ichinomiya city, Aichi prefecture, Japan Passport English School, Gifu city, Gifu prefecture, One report of unpaid wages and physical assault[...GTC: Name is removed.].
English You Can Tokyo, One report of not getting the promised visa and that they were threatened with being reported to immigration.

Korean: MOTHER OF ALL GRAYLISTS. SO MANY COMPLAINTS AND STORIES THAT IT"s NO LONGER JUST A CASE OF SINGLING OUT A FEW BAD APPLES. BASICALLY ALL SCHOOLS CAN HAVE AT LEAST MINOR PROBLEMS WITH ISSUES LIKE GETTING PAID ETC ESPECIALLY IF THEY DON'T LIKE YOU. MY ADVICE IF YOU WANT TO TEACH IN ASIA IS TO GO TO TAIWAN AND ESPECIALLY JAPAN WHERE THESE SORT OF PROBLEMS ARE A LOT LESS SERIOUS.

Kuwait: Dasman Model School, A couple of reports of unpaid wages, contractual breaches and other complaints.
ELS, Many unhappy troopers.
IPETQ, One unhappy trooper.

Mexico: American School of Veracurz, One report of lies, late wages and other complaints. English Unlimited San Luis Potosi, One report that they overcharge on apartment rents compared to real rents.

Morocco: Al Akhawayn Ifrane, One report of contract breaches and other problems, American Language Center
problems. ELS problems.

Peru: Eurolingua or Carlos Navarro -formerly Eurolanguage
Piura, A couple of reports of teachers not getting paid, not getting their visas and other contractual complaints.

Poland: American Academy of English-PL Silesia. One report of them not obtaining the necessary visa and some minor contractual complaints.

Russia: Linguamir School, Samara. One report of several problems.

Saudi Arabia: In General: Many complaints come out of the Middle East especially Saudi Arabia. However the nature of the complaints are very different from those that typically come out of Asian countries like Korea. Korea has many serious complaints of a contractual nature like not getting paid. In the Middle East the complaints are more of a nature like difficult or even abusive students, incompetant management, having to give failing students good grades, babysitting rather than teaching (even more so than Asia), students not studying like Asian students do, low morale and so on. For these type of problems, while very real we just put "unhappy trooper", whereas if there are contractual breaches we will give more details. So while we have listed peoples unhappyness here, teachers coming to the Middle East have to realistically expect most of the above things as being an almost universal part of teaching in the Middle east and have an idea of how to cope or they shouldn't go. (Al Rajhi)(Dar Al Fikr School Jeddah)(ETM)
(Institue of Public Administration)(Jubail Industrial College)
(King Faisal School (KFS) Riyadh)(Prince Sultan College for Tourism & Hotel Sciences)(Saline Water Conversion Corporation (S.W.C.C.)(SAMA-IOB Riyadh)(Several unhappy teachers with complaints including long hours and high staff turnover. One report that teachers wern't being paid in full or/and that it was late. One report of the usual complaints plus pay being late. Many and long complaints.

Taiwan: 21st Century English School. Miaoli One report of problems including late pay and teachers not staying for their full contracts. Aletheia University, Tamsui One unhappy trooper. American Eagle School Hsinchu.
American Language Center Changhua County Huatan One report of unpaid pay, being unable to get a visa etc.
Blue World Language School, Kaohsiung. One very serious report of problems getting the work visa and then being sued for a significant amount of money after quiting the contract. Disney, Pin Tung. A couple of negative reports concerning the management and cheating on pay. ELSI (otherwise known as Kojen) In General They have 18 schools in Taiwan including adults and kids schools. Ten schools are in Taipei, three others in northern Taiwan, two in Taichung, three in Kaohsiung. They have some kind of examination system which apparently helps with class discipline. Pay is at the bottom end of the scale.

Thailand: Nava Language Schools, Bangkok/Samut Prakarn
One report of lies and several teachers not getting their bonuses and other complaints. PES (Professional Educational Services) Several complaints of trouble getting visas and unpaid wages.

UAE: Aspect, One report that they don't honour their contracts but no details. HCT (Higher Colleges of Technology) Dubai. Several negative reports of serious problems with management.

USA: EF (EFI) USA. One report of troubles including illegal contracts.
University of Maryland-Asian Division Asia. One unhappy trooper.

Graytlist Rankings:
(1) South Korea No, coming number 1 in this ranking is not a good thing!!! Korea has a seriously bad reputation compared to any other country. You only have to look at the complaints on Daves Cafe every day to realize somethings wrong. A large part of the reason for this is that the teachers in Korea are so active on the internet, unfortunately for Koreas sake. After all most teachers in Korea get their jobs through the internet or agents who advertise on the net. This is in marked contrast to most other destinations like Taiwan and Japan. Most of the complaints about Korea are over extras like not getting severance pay, the free but substandard housing provided. If Taiwan or China typically offered these extras I'm sure they would have problems too. Actually petty cheating in Taiwan and China are even more common than Korea and lying is just as frequent. Where Korea really stands out though is in their not uncommon practice of not paying people all their salary not to mention the problems as mention with their extras like severance pay.in the latter two countries are just as common as Korea. In short Korea usually has the most serious cases but you're more likely to get cheated in China or Taiwan. Why don't the latter two have such a bad reputation then? Two reasons: 1) Teachers in Korea get their jobs through the net unlike China or Taiwan and and far more familiar with forums like Daves and 2) For the Chinese its nothing personal, its just about money so they avoid interpersonal conflict and are far more mellow so things don't blow out of proportion with teachers leaving heavily resentful and sending off bitter letters to blacklists.
If you go here take enough money for a rainy day. They can have awful weather.

(2) Taiwan and China

This is not Korea. Still dishonesty in Taiwan and China is far more rampant than Korea although it works in different ways. They just worship money. Its nothing personal and they will often smile while offering to rob you blind. Whereas in Korea they will usually cheat you after the fact, by for example by not paying you your last months pay, the Chinese will usually do it at the start or as things progress. For example if they sense you are broke they might just offer you two thirds the going wage. If you're in Taiwan you will know its way to low, and you don't have to accept, but you may too broke to say no. Another common ploy is once they get your work visa they may think they have you by the balls since they can cancel the visa anytime and you have to leave the country. So they may load you up on unpaid office hours with telephone testing and the like. You can leave but you have pay for an air ticket and getting another visa can be problematic. Apart from things like this though, and lying, short changing teachers etc problems don't tend to get as serious as you get in Korea but strangely there are even less legal recourses. So if you get caught out theres not much you can do apart from leave. So why do Taiwan, China and Korea have these troubles? Well theres cultural factors of course but a big factor is the lack of legal protection in these three countries. Japan has good protections and a safe visa system (you own the work visa not the employer) and so has hardly any trouble compared to other countries. Even Thailand has a better visa system than Taiwan. In Taiwan even if you have finished your contract you still need a release letter to work somewhere else if you want to work legally although in practice many end up working illegally. Basically they own you if you have an ARC which gives a lot of room for abuse. In short it rains a lot in Taiwan but usually without the serious storms you get in Korea.

(3) Middle East

Many complaints come out of the Middle East especially Saudi Arabia. However the nature of the complaints are very different from those that typically come out of Asian countries like Korea. Korea has many serious complaints of a contractual nature like not getting paid. In the Middle East the complaints are more of a nature like difficult or even abusive students, incompetant management, having to give failing students good grades, babysitting rather than teaching (even more so than Asia), students not studying like Asian students do, low teacher morale and so on. Unfortunately teachers coming to the Middle East have to realistically expect most of the above things as being an almost universal part of teaching in the Middle east and have an idea of how to cope or they shouldn't go. Unpleasant weather, make sure you have the right gear before you fly off. look out asia here i come LOL

Hongkong Teaching Requirements.
Speaking English is a priority for the people of Hong Kong. The business world is always moving and communication is vitally important. In order to compete effectively, there's currently a shortage of native English speaking teachers in the country, and it seems Hong Kong might be the ideal location if you're considering teaching abroad. First of all, in order to teach English in Hong Kong you must apply for an employment visa. The only exceptions to this rule are Australian and New Zealand citizens, who can technically teach in Hong Kong under the "Working Holiday Scheme." All others must have a visa in hand. Getting a visa to teach in Hong Kong may be a bit of a struggle, because there is a great deal of paperwork involved, so you'll want to start early. The internet can be extremely helpful if you're at this point. Check out Hong Kong's government websites for more information
Before you begin applying for jobs, it's best to have TESOL certification under your belt, TESOL will open doors to the best schools and jobs poisitions plus give you a much wider range of job options-

China is not a developed country. yes i agree with you Matthew, yes remember that if you are stuck with an employer who lies to you and tries to cheat you, you can always find one that won't that is if you can get out of a one year contract that you sign. that could cost you very much> maybe jail when you break a contract in China, that was proven fact (it happen) thanks for ur confirmation. The only good thing i can say about Victoria school that they were good pay masters always on time.Thanks to laura who was so good A person and so was Shelly

if you see an ad for a teacher at changchu city one thing to keep in mind it's not like the ad states, when u are teaching you will have as many as 0ne to 35 students in a class and sometimes you dont get an assitant to help you, in that case you will be put in a classroom with a bunch of unrudy kids, they cant or do not know know what u are saying so they will do whatever they feel like to do. i went to changchun to teach these kids, the school knew that i had no previous teaching experience, but i was expected to say that i had months of experience so the school would hire me to teach. it was a bad experience. plus the apt i was staying in wasn't very nice, no heat and so noisy it was hard to sleep, sorry to say changchun city was the most dirtest place i ever live in, i was there for about 11/2 monts and that was to long. i would encourage anyone to seek another place to work, onr thing i found that the other teachers was great, Al i know you will read this so i hope the best i am back in canada now among the land of the living Yessssssssssssssssssss