ESL Teaching - Jobs, lesson plans - View Single Post - WARNING-!! -Beijing New Oriental Foreign Language School (BNOFLS)- WARNING-!!

dah216k · Sat 22-Apr-06, 10:14 PM

WARNING-!! -Beijing New Oriental Foreign Language School (BNOFLS)- WARNING-!!

Here's some free advice for anyone thinking of applying to Beijing New Oriental Foreign Language School, based on personal testimonies of present and past foreign teachers. This has been compiled from tours around many cities in China and interviews.

1. Do not be duped by the colorful sales pitch (aka interview) that will not deliver on its promises.

2. BNOFLS hawks a 'new philosophy' for English teaching to wealthy Chinese parents as a method to drum-up business. The foreign 'teachers' are touted as marketing tools to support a business plan, not any kind of educational program. This aids the creation of myths that BNOFLS has a high retention rate of 'professional' foreign teachers.

3. Consequently, as a foreign 'teacher' your participation in a number of marketing strategies/gimmicks for promotional purposes is mandatory. These are usually classed as 'extra-curricular' and involve any/all activities that will persuade gullible parents to spend vast amounts of money to send/retain their child here.

4. English teaching qualifications are not welcome at BNOFLS. They will not employ you to do anything that remotely resembles actual 'teaching'. Although such qualifications and/or skills are generally not an important requirement for teaching in China, the teaching role is the sole responsibility of the Chinese english instructors. Note: they are 'instructors', you are not.

5. While the Chinese english teachers assume the responsibility of teaching, your subordinate role as foreign 'teacher' is more like a music/dance teacher. The BNOFLS philosophy will brainwash you into believing the use of songs is enough to provide all the foreign language instruction any child needs. Angry parents only wise up to this when attending an 'open school' day, and they will direct their complaints at you about why you're not doing anything more constructive.
Bare in mind that parents send their child here at great expense and demand a return on their investment.
Advertising campaigns that, again make use of parading foreign teachers around or stating they only employ qualified teachers in commercials, create false myths that the school achieves high rates of examination success. In truth, this is not true. Foreign teachers are coerced into falsifying exam results to maintain a superficial school reputation that, again dupes more parents into the misguided belief their child's job prospects will improve.

6. Your classroom activities, together with a host of evening/occasional weekend 'extra-curricular activities', means you will be confined to campus for 11 or 12-hour working days in cases. And with most campuses located some distance from the nearest town or city, you will have no time for yourself or to shop for necessities... like, food if you wish to avoid the risk of poisoning from unclean kitchens.
These activities occur everyday and include mandatory assistance to other classes, english club, evening classes, helping out/dressing-up, or performing at various events. The workload, not including the preparation time, and the deadlines placed on all paperwork (lesson plans and/or other reports) will consume what little free time you have left.
Don't even think about skipping classes... those cameras in the classroom, as well as the ones around campus are watching you!

7. Being made to do eight exams in a single 13-hour school day casts serious doubt on whether examination rates can really be so high. But aside from the fact this puts a great amount of pressure on every student to perform, even more pressure falls on the teaching staff. An atmosphere of nervous anxiety hangs heavy around each campus, according to some teachers, that drives some children and staff to the point of breakdown. Complaints of exhaustion and symptoms of depression are all too common among teachers. Incidents of bullying are a familiar sight, as well as verbal and physical attacks against teaching staff (foreign included).

8. Still tempted to submit an application? Well, look forward to those long cold winters when the electric and/or hot water is turned off in a vain effort to save money, leaving you to wash out of a bucket of cold water filled from an outside tap.

If you're looking for an exciting and awesome teaching experience in China that will guarantee a lifetime of fantastic memories... find another school !

Sat 22-Apr-06, 10:14 PM	#1 (permalink)
dah216k ESL Newbie Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Posts: 2	WARNING-!! -Beijing New Oriental Foreign Language School (BNOFLS)- WARNING-!! WARNING-!! -Beijing New Oriental Foreign Language School (BNOFLS)- WARNING-!! Here's some free advice for anyone thinking of applying to Beijing New Oriental Foreign Language School, based on personal testimonies of present and past foreign teachers. This has been compiled from tours around many cities in China and interviews. 1. Do not be duped by the colorful sales pitch (aka interview) that will not deliver on its promises. 2. BNOFLS hawks a 'new philosophy' for English teaching to wealthy Chinese parents as a method to drum-up business. The foreign 'teachers' are touted as marketing tools to support a business plan, not any kind of educational program. This aids the creation of myths that BNOFLS has a high retention rate of 'professional' foreign teachers. 3. Consequently, as a foreign 'teacher' your participation in a number of marketing strategies/gimmicks for promotional purposes is mandatory. These are usually classed as 'extra-curricular' and involve any/all activities that will persuade gullible parents to spend vast amounts of money to send/retain their child here. 4. English teaching qualifications are not welcome at BNOFLS. They will not employ you to do anything that remotely resembles actual 'teaching'. Although such qualifications and/or skills are generally not an important requirement for teaching in China, the teaching role is the sole responsibility of the Chinese english instructors. Note: they are 'instructors', you are not. 5. While the Chinese english teachers assume the responsibility of teaching, your subordinate role as foreign 'teacher' is more like a music/dance teacher. The BNOFLS philosophy will brainwash you into believing the use of songs is enough to provide all the foreign language instruction any child needs. Angry parents only wise up to this when attending an 'open school' day, and they will direct their complaints at you about why you're not doing anything more constructive. Bare in mind that parents send their child here at great expense and demand a return on their investment. Advertising campaigns that, again make use of parading foreign teachers around or stating they only employ qualified teachers in commercials, create false myths that the school achieves high rates of examination success. In truth, this is not true. Foreign teachers are coerced into falsifying exam results to maintain a superficial school reputation that, again dupes more parents into the misguided belief their child's job prospects will improve. 6. Your classroom activities, together with a host of evening/occasional weekend 'extra-curricular activities', means you will be confined to campus for 11 or 12-hour working days in cases. And with most campuses located some distance from the nearest town or city, you will have no time for yourself or to shop for necessities... like, food if you wish to avoid the risk of poisoning from unclean kitchens. These activities occur everyday and include mandatory assistance to other classes, english club, evening classes, helping out/dressing-up, or performing at various events. The workload, not including the preparation time, and the deadlines placed on all paperwork (lesson plans and/or other reports) will consume what little free time you have left. Don't even think about skipping classes... those cameras in the classroom, as well as the ones around campus are watching you! 7. Being made to do eight exams in a single 13-hour school day casts serious doubt on whether examination rates can really be so high. But aside from the fact this puts a great amount of pressure on every student to perform, even more pressure falls on the teaching staff. An atmosphere of nervous anxiety hangs heavy around each campus, according to some teachers, that drives some children and staff to the point of breakdown. Complaints of exhaustion and symptoms of depression are all too common among teachers. Incidents of bullying are a familiar sight, as well as verbal and physical attacks against teaching staff (foreign included). 8. Still tempted to submit an application? Well, look forward to those long cold winters when the electric and/or hot water is turned off in a vain effort to save money, leaving you to wash out of a bucket of cold water filled from an outside tap. If you're looking for an exciting and awesome teaching experience in China that will guarantee a lifetime of fantastic memories... find another school !