Today James and Rachel from the organisation in Beijing came to see me at home to talk about the outstanding issues. I told them I had the impression the teachers that were sent to Changchun were the only unlucky ones in this programme, me being the most unlucky of them all. Surprisingly for me, their answer was that they had been all over China talking to interns and trying to sort things out for them since the internship started.
People had or are having issues with their apartments, which are very dirty, have no electricity, no running water, have missing items according to the contract, some appliances don't work. Their windows don't close properly. Their working schedules keep changing. They are asked to do overtime, don't have two consecutive days off, have to commute very long every day, don't have time during their 35-hour internship to prepare lessons at school. They don't have a working space nor the appropriate material and facilities to do so. There is a big lack of communication between the different organisations, the school staff and the teacher interns. Some interns feel isolated, the language barrier is also an issue to take into account. In some schools, there are no other foreign teachers and the staff speaks very poor English or no English at all. Schools are not providing the 2-hour Chinese lessons a week.
I understand we all had some big expectations when we signed up for the programme. This might have been our problem. In any case, we signed a contract that says what we would offer and what we would receive in exchange. At the moment, this is not fulfilled at all for many of us. I would like to warn people who are thinking of enrolling for the programme, they should first of all lower their expectations, be aware of the issues people who is already here have been having and then, hopefully, they will be able to fully enjoy their time in China. The experience might be hard, but it is still worth a try!
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Borrix24’s Blog
Lower your expectations! (12/10/2010)
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I was so disappointed when I came here.. but when I hear others stories, I guess mine wasn't so bad. We had no apartment, had a home stay with various familes for 5 weeks. Went to a place in Jiangsu for 10 days.. was supposed to be a month.. but we had to leave as the business visa was not legal.. even for a summer camp. Travelled to HK to get work visas ( which was amazing ) but before that we were told we would have enough work before hand to pay for the trip. Not so. Had to get money sent from my mother at home. Had to stand 22 hours on a stinky train... finally got to our school and things are better now. Things are good now. =]
We did it alone, but in all fairness, we could have waited til August and got our work visas in the UK. We were impatient and wanted to come out here sooner.
Good luck!
Hello there! I was on the internship last semester and a very similar thing happened for many people, I am very sympathetic of your situation. I believe that these small but very important details should be sorted out before they even begin thinking about placing people in a completely different country away from everything they are familiar with. I am currently in South Korea now and everything has been sorted out for me without me even asking. The whole situation is stable and routine which is so comforting. EPIK have been doing this for about 25 years though, whereas the china internship is relatively new.
However, saying all that I do believe that you are right to say you shouldn't have any expectations. With expectations comes disappointment. My personal chinese experience was amazing and yet I was placed in Harbin so when we arrived it was -30 degrees, I taught Kindergarten when I opted for high school, the lights would often go out in the apartment, I taught at 3 different schools so had to travel all over the place, I often worked 7 days a week and had job interviews when I didn't even know they were job interviews. The school was money hungry and we felt it. One night I was sleeping and my entire bed fell apart! But I really did have a wicked experience! I honestly think you have to make the best of it! Sometimes, wherever you are, situations are rough but its how you deal with them thats important. Slapping on a smile and deciding to make the best of what you got and whats around you will prove worthwhile. After all your in a country full of culture, delicious food and great people, surely its better than stuck in an office at home! I really hope your situation improves but most importantly I hope you get out there and see what China has to offer!
Hi Borrix
Very interesting to read your blog. AlthoughI am not on an internship I came to China via a group that basically recruit teachers for schools but also provide a weeks orientation and ongoing 24/7 support. There were 24 people in my group who started in August and we have lost 3 already!!! Many of the issues you outlined are identical to those faced by many in our group.
While at times I am annoyed and there are positives and negatives on the whole I feel I am one of the fortunate ones. I have a good school, 4 FAOs to lok out for me (and I'm the only foreign teacher!), a set timetable for the semester which is highly unlikely to be changed, no overtime, a great apartment on campus (Even though it took a few bottles of bleach initially to be clean) and friendly students.
The downside is the isolation due to the language barrier and I'm not getting the promised Chinese lessons. Also I am teaching 2500 students with class sizes from 60-75 so no chance of getting to know my students!! I live in a small city of 3.8 million people but our school is quite a distance from the city centre and frequent use of taxis would use up all my money (the bus service is erratic to say the least!!) Funily enough the one thing I miss is cheese...I can't buy it anywhere in this city!!
BUT I made the decision to come to China to immerse myself in their culture and thats what I'm doing.....even if it's been a deep dive to start. Like you I would advise anyone considering the move to consider that things are not going to be perfect, things won't be "up to western standards" and we work on"China" time but isn't that all part of the adventure??
Cheers, Katie
Hi Ester,
Glad TTC are getting your problems sorted - are things on the up now?
Hope it's all going OK!
Hi Tharmila,
The two schools where I teach are on the outskirts of Changchun, Jilin province. With only 3.2 million inhabitants, it's considered a small city in China, and it's in a rural province. You wouldn't really tell it's rural though, not the way we understand it in our countries.
Regards,
Borrix
hi borrix, wow.. o dear! seems to be abit difficult! whereabouts is your school? are you based in the countryside/ village schools?
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