Topic: LTC in Beihai

[kilroy238]

First the bright spots. Although I feel screwed over by LTC and yes I am angry with Beth who really is LTC. I don't want to give people the impression this post is all sour grapes.

Beihai is a wonderful city. The air is a pleasure to breath. The seafood is awesome. The street food vendors serve up the best BBQ seafood I have ever had. The city is very nice clean the people are friendly.

The other teachers are great a Canuck and an Aussie and 3 Chinese teachers who have excellent English skills. The assistant teachers at LTC rock. A great help and very friendly. The schedule was very nice. 1 night class 3 nights a week and on the weekends was rock and roll time. Private school Saturday and Sunday were the biggest days

When I first meet Beth, the sometimes teacher and 24/7 manager of LTC in person  she seemed like a very nice lady. She showed me and another new teacher around town. Took us to some nice places to eat. She has been very helpful getting some stuff I shipped over here from the Philippines past the red tape of customs. I needed some hard to find medicine. She found it. As a manger of LTC that is another story.

I came to ltc under a verbal agreement the contact was to be taken care of after I arrived. I was told I would get what was on the job offer.
That was 16-18 hours a week 4000 RMB since I have NO EXPERIENCE. For One year. I told her several times I have no experience except for a 1 month winter camp in Korea. That was all. No Problem. We will help train you. We have other had other teachers with no experience and they are doing fine.

Beth was in a pinch and needed someone ASAP. My first go at being a teacher, I wanted to show I could be a team player and help out when needed a good thing right?

I was living in the Philippines at the time so I packed up my stuff arranged for shipping and headed out. I arrived in Beihai on a Friday night at 11pm. I had already agreed to teach at 8am the next day since she was in a jam. She was nice enough to do 2 lesson plans for me that covered that weekend. Even with them she was not impressed. She was surprised that wow I was not a great teacher. I reminded her No Experience. No Problem. We will help train you. Here the other teachers offered help. The other teachers helped me and answered what ever questions I had. They said don't worry things will come along. You have no experience.

Cool OK so even though I can feel the point of Beth's sword of performance in my back I tried to stay relaxed and work on my technique. I tried to not let the total disorganization of the place worry me. The fact not all kids have books. The books I was given were different from the books the kids have. My teachers manual was in Chinese. Don't sweat the small stuff.

After 2 weeks I got a call to come in and talk about the contact.

To sum up the meeting. Well it's been a 2 weeks and you suck. I am changing around all your classes. I did have 16 hours at 4000 RMB changed to 8 hours a week at 2250 RMB. I was told to forget the year contract I would be given a 3 month contract and then we will see what we will see at the end of the term. Maybe you would be happy at a larger school where the have the time to train you. I asked her what about all the times she said they they would work with me on training. I got a load of excuses.

Talk about a kick to the stomach. I spent the last of my cash getting my plane tickets and shipping my stuff over from the Philippines. OK I thought no worries at the end of the term I will be proficient and she will hire me on for the agreed on year.

OK so now I had a new group of younger kids. 3 classes used the same lesson plan. Another 2 classes used the same lesson plan. Cool. So my 3rd week I started over with new kids. I would now share every class with a Chinese teacher. I had them one day the Chinese teacher had the other. I was told follow their lead. They teach you review and then start on the next lesson a bit. Monday after 3rd weekend. She started giving me that get lost vibe again. Are you sure you like teaching? Are you happy here? etc etc etc.

Other teachers were like relax no big deal it is only your 3rd week teaching. You have all new kids. So the other teachers gave me tips on good lesson plans. On Thursday and Friday I spent a lot of time doing all my plans for the weekend. It helped a lot, my Saturday classes all went better. The kids were laughing having a good time. The assistant teacher all told me I was doing better. I was using a toy hammer that the other teachers use. It is a big funny looking blow up squeaking hammer with a small bell inside. A child's toy. The other guys had a lot of fun with their classes using it. You ask a question the Ss has 3 seconds to answer they miss the question the hammer falls. SQUEAK. Everyone laughs. I was feeling upbeat and positive.

On Sunday I felt bad when I woke up. Made it thru my first class that I had to be woken up for. New class I was given that they put on my schedule but then crossed it out then changed their minds again but didn't bother to tell me. Haul ass get there. Start to teach... Get kicked out class rooms are all screwed up. Go to another one 20 minutes later another teacher comes in and wants to know when I will be done his class was supposed to start in there 5 minutes ago. Don't sweat the small stuff.
Finished up had a 50 minute break. Lesson plans were done still felt bad. Got worse and worse over the next 50 minutes. I started to get hot flashes. I was told there was a stomach thing going around. Great i thought. 5 minutes after the start of my 11am class I ran out of the room followed closely by my assistant teacher made it to the bathroom and spent the next 5 minutes puking. Missed the rest of Sunday. Still sick on Monday but feeling better swapped my Monday night class with my Chinese counterpart for his Wednesday class. No Problem.

Tuesday 28 Mar. Beth calls and finally asks how I am and if I could  come in. Sure as I already had an idea what would happen on Tuesday anyhow. Sure enough I got fired.


However she did not mention me getting sick. A parent supposedly complained about the use of the toy hammer although nothing is going to be said to the other teachers to stop using the toys. Beth also said I scare some of the kids. I am a big guy and kinda loud. What can I say I am American. She couldn't tell me who though just "some" kids. Some of those kids I only got to see once since I didn't get to do Sunday. Although when they chased me around in the hall way and everyone was laughing in class I didn't see fear in any of their eyes.

She also mentioned that it was unfair on the other teacher that they are doing my lesson plans. I said and who is doing my lesson plans for me? She then reminded me about the 2 she did for me my first weekend when I bailed her out.

That right there sums up her managerial skills. As a person is a very nice and helpful.  As a manager of LTC she needs to go back to teaching kindergarten which she says she loves and hire a manager but that is only my opinion.

She has been kind enough to still give me a 3 month visa so I don't have to leave the country. As well as 2 weeks more in my apt after I was fired. She helped me with some medicine issues while I was working there. I do appreciate that but I think I am owed at least at for all the crap she has put me thru. I came on a decent and fair offer and got the shaft.

If you have experience you could be quite happy with LTC. The other teachers seem happy. However you could also have a nightmare like me.

All I can say if Beth is selling Caveat Emptor.

If you have any questions please feel free to email me or pm me.

[morecurious]

China is a place that you really need to look out for.  Get friends or someone to help u find a good job.  Lots pf sucky ones.

[confusedfarang]

She has been kind enough to still give me a 3 month visa so I don't have to leave the country. As well as 2 weeks more in my apt after I was fired. She helped me with some medicine issues while I was working there. I do appreciate that but I think I am owed at least at for all the crap she has put me thru.


Sounds like a reasonably enough woman to me.  I can think of many other managers that would not be so accomodating

[fed_up]

Yeah, sorry to be a devil's advocate but, I agree with the comment above. I have met many so-called managers in my career who couldn't organize panic in a sinking ship. Compared to them this person you are talking about seems like an angel. You can't blame them for having kicked you out as obviously you were not suitable for the job; there's a concept known as "probation period" after all. I understand that you feel self-righteous as you told them you had no teaching experience, but that doesn't mean that they have stick with you for a whole year. Business is business, sometimes you have to be prepared to cut your losses and run.

And one word of advice, do not take a sick day within the first two months of your new job, even if you are dying...