Topic: Warning: Beijing New Oriental Foreign Language School

[Uncle Che]

This is reprinted by permission of the original author.

(Do not confuse this with similar-sounding 'New Oriental')

Be aware that Beijing New Oriental Foreign Language Schools (BNOFLS) located in many of China's major cities will not employ foreign teachers to be actual language teachers or instructors. English-speaking Chinese instructors assume the actual teaching role in classes separate from yours. Meanwhile, you will be touting BNOFLS's so-called 'new philosophy' for English; only playing games and songs, but not actually involved in anything that can be reasonably termed as 'teaching' or 'instruction'. Textbooks are frowned upon and their use discouraged in class. A common complaint among foreign teachers appears to be the absence of a 'job description' for foreign English teachers which is ambiguously or never clearly defined. Many teachers at BNOFLS, domestic and foreign, express their doubts as to whether this actually works and impromptu discussions during the last year reveal a culture of intimidation against those who don't play ball.

So, don't expect that TEFL/TSOL qualification to be much use at BNOFLS.

Thousands of Chinese parents become swayed by a sales pitch and dazzled by a superficial reputation that would have them believe that its 'new philosophy' produces high rates of examination success for children enrolled here. In fact, pass rates at Chinese state-owned schools are, on average, much higher and the standard of spoken English much better. If a much publicized reputation improves future employment prospects on a resume, then so be it, even though most parents seem blissfully unaware that a business strategy is at work and profit-making is more important than rendering a quality of teaching to their children.

Then again, how can students produce high rates in exams when they are forced to take eight exams in one day? Foreign teachers report that they are 'tacitly persuaded' to falsify exam results that can only maintain the artificial reputation of BNOFLS. Foreign teachers report that students routinely break down, cry, start fights, or express their anger physically or verbally against teaching staff, foreign included. One disturbing fact, if its any measure of how serious the situation has become, is that every classroom has cameras installed to monitor events, or more accurately, to monitor you for alleged 'evaluation and assessment purposes.' Teaching methods that deviate from 'the norm' (whatever that may be) or again, failure to play ball with an untold number of secret rules and regulations are not without repercussion that can border on personal intimidation in some cases.

Accordingly, an air of tension hangs heavy around the confines of campus, perhaps as a result of pressure that comes with long working hours (including some weekends and evenings). But the workload is enough to keep you confined to campus for most of the week with very little free time to explore this wonderful country. Many foreign and Chinese teachers frequently express a desire to leave at the end of the semester symptoms that resemble either exhaustion or depression that leaves BNOFLS always searching for more teachers.

There are thousands of great schools in China where the whole teaching experience is more rewarding, where the game plan is clearly defined, which leaves you with a great sense of personal achivement, and where you won't be forced to wash out of a bucket of cold water in the dead of winter because the electric and hot water is turned off in a vain effort to save money!

[Uncle Che]

This is a comment posted on the main site, but it is equally at place here. I am posting it here so that it can be nominated for the Hall of Shame.

Another one for the Hall of Shame: “Beijing New Oriental Foreign Language School” Group

This really grim looking group of schools are dotted around some of China’s largest cities.

This is the pits. This school will spin all kinds of lies to prospective foreign teachers to get them to join up. Do not believe a word of it.
This is not a school. Its a business with a corporate strategy that employs foreign teachers to be a contributing part of a marketing process. A BNOFLS foreign teacher does very little of what could be intelligently described as actual ‘teaching’ or ‘instruction,’ even though the contract is a typical example of, and resembles, that other foreign teachers are expected to sign in China. English teaching is the responsibility of English-speaking Chinese instructors in classes separate from yours. They are contracted as the instructors, you are not, and any attempt to assume the role of an instructor is punished. And, Big Brother will know because he could be watching you from the camera located on the back ceiling of most classrooms.

As a ‘marketing tool,’ all foreign teachers are paraded in front of parents as part of a sales pitch at various events in an effort to persuade them to spend insane amounts of money to enroll their child at BNOFLS. This sometimes involves dressing-up or a public performance of some kind. And, like the foreign teacher interview, parents also fall under the spell of a sales pitch that tricks them into believing so many foreign teachers are employed as instructors whose job it is to impart the kind of knowledge and skills usually associated with a professional teaching qualification to improve their child’s education. This is not true.

So how is the role and position of ‘foreign teacher’ at BNOFLS to be defined? This is a difficult one. I cannot recall how often I hear Chinese teaching staff and students alike do not regard the role or presence of a foreign teacher at BNOFLS seriously, or sometimes, ‘necessary.’ Students tend to regard lessons hosted by a foreign teacher as somehow ’separate’ from the run of daily lessons, and therefore, not an integral part of the curriculum. This suggests that foreign teachers are treated as a token presence and exist peripheral to the whole operation. This becomes more apparent when it comes to the point below about mandatory ‘extra duties.’ Perhaps foreign teachers merely provide an ‘international face’ to a 21st century foreign language education in China so as to fool prospective parents into believing their child is gonna benefit from instruction from a foreign teacher.

Your TEFL/TESOL qualification is a waste of time. Even the Chinese teachers frequently express doubts as to whether a teaching method devoid of TEFL/TESOL input actually works. In any case, such skills are completely unnecessary in a school that coerces foreign teachers to falsify exam results to maintain an artificially high rates of examination ’success,’ unbeknown to parents of course. Then again, it becomes even more necessary when BNOFLS forces its own students to do eight exams in one day. So-called high rates of examination success are, again, touted in the advertising and accredited to so-called ‘professional’ foreign teachers. I fail to see what distinguishes a BNOFLS foreign teacher from one employed by a state-run school who could quite easily achieve the exact same results for their students. In any case, exam results at Chinese state-run schools are, by comparison, no better or worse than those at ‘corporate schools.’ So what justifies those high enrollment fees?

So what does a BNOFLS foreign teacher actually do? Foreign teachers are expected to do little more than singing a few songs and playing a few games. Sounds easy? Well, yes it is… Until angry parents start confronting you as to why this is all a foreign teacher is required to do. Singing songs in class is fun, of course, but when repeated several times a day, day after day, month after month, this is hardly a productive contribution to the whole language learning process, no matter how creative or imaginative classes are made. Foreign teachers are discouraged from using textbooks designed for language-learning purposes in class or employing other resources to add to levels of skill. Attempts to do so result in disciplinary measures, so do not even think about working at BNOFLS if you have dreams or ambitions about being a teacher or instructor; it will not happen.

This explains why no job description or teaching objectives exist for foreign teachers. Students are only expected to pass an exam that is copied from one of the textbooks used by the actual instructors. Demands as to what the hell a foreign teacher is supposed to be aiming for is deliberately kept vague and attempts to question this matter further results in administrators dealing with ‘potential troublemakers.’ Retribution is meted out in various forms for anyone who openly voices their doubts or objections against management practices or any part of the system they feel is failing the students; financial ‘penalties’ for breaking ambiguous rules are not uncommon.

The workload, to say the least, piles up thick and fast for all teaching staff, with the addition of ‘extra-curricular activities.’ Twelve or eleven-hour days are common, and mandatory, with little or no free time to yourself. Discharging the frustrations of a life that confines all teachers within the perimeter fence of the BNOFLS campus is expressed in a variety of forms; breakdowns, symptoms of depression or exhaustion are common. In addition to their own duties, mandatory participation is demanded of all foreign teachers in a variety of other activities, such as support roles in other foreign teacher classes everyday, covering sickness leave without additional pay, participation in evening or the occasional weekend class, or participation in pretty much anything else the school can dream up. As mentioned, foreign teachers do not receive extra pay or other bonuses for these activities because it is assumed everybody is willing and able to simply give time to the dictates of their job. When finally you are able to leave the campus (usually only at the weekend) A curfew is officially in place and security guards stationed at the main gate keep notes of times foreign teachers enter and leave the campus; especially if this is late at night.

Do not be fooled by oft-cited claims that BNOFLS has a high teacher retention rate. This is not true. Confidential talks with off-duty foreign and Chinese teachers reveal most of them can’t wait until the end of the school year when they can leave. The pressure of the workload, living conditions, or living under a regime of ambiguous rules and regulations alone is enough to persuade a huge chunk of foreign teachers to leave every year. In a constant search for new blood, I wonder if this is why nothing is mentioned of the need for teaching qualifications or experience?

I enjoy living and working in China. Most foreign teachers I meet on my travels around China love what they do, even if this may occasionally be under difficult circumstances, as the posts on this forum will attest. However, for prospective foreign teachers with high expectations and a level of self worth, there are thousands of other great schools in China where the whole teaching experience is far more worthwhile and rewarding. And, where the game plan is clearly defined by aims and objectives to give foreign teachers purpose and direction, as well as a sense of personal achievement when the task is complete.

Lastly, for a school that is obviously well-funded, I still have no idea why the hot water or the electric is switched-off by the administrators in the dead of winter in a fruitless effort to save money leaving everyone to wash out of a bucket of cold water from an outside tap.

Avoid this group of schools located in some of China’s largest cities. They suck!

[airpuka]

thats too much reading for me so ill just take your word for it and stay away

[Thai Me Up]

All songs and games sound like fun.  No lesson plans, homework to grade or paperwork, right?  But the 12 hour days locked-up on campus- I think I'll pass.