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So-so in Suzhou - Rayhua School

Ivy February 14, 2004 ivy at smirx dot com USA I had a mixed experience at Rayhua Bilingual School in Suzhou. When I accepted the job I was promised several things that did not happen: 1) I was told I would be the Kindergarten and Preschool English teacher. ACTUALLY: I taught half my hours in Kindergarten and Preschool and the other half with grades 1-12. 2) I was told I would receive ESL training since I had only had experience teaching English to native speakers. ACTUALLY: It was arranged by the school for me to come to China one day before classes started and I was given no training at all. Later that day I was shown a bookshelf with exercise books and photo copy materials. 3) I was told I would have a Chinese teacher in the classroom to help me since I was teaching the beginner level and had many students with no English experience ACTUALLY: I had a Chinese teacher help in the Kindergarten and Preschool but no help in the grade school. Occasionally a teacher from the Kindergarten would come to help me with my beginner class of 23 1st-4th graders. 4) I was told the school could supply me with a work visa. ACTUALLY: It couldn't. (Like you couldn't see that one coming a mile away.) 5) I was promised a specified salary to be paid on the 1st business day of the month and a round trip ticket. ACTUALLY: I was shorted 400 dollars of my salary and my plane ticket back to the states. The reason stated for this was that the school had to pay the equivalent of a 1 way ticket to America when it paid for me to fly to Hong Kong and renew my illegal visa. When I was paid, it was often a month or more late. 6) I was promised language classes. ACTUALLY: I received none. On the other hand, I had a good experience when I worked in the Kindergarten and Preschool. The teachers who worked there were wonderful educators for the students and were very helpful and friendly to the new laowai (me). I was allowed to develop my own lessons. It's my opinion that books we were required to use, the safari series, weren't the best possible texts. However, we did a lot more in class than just read. I feel that Sunflower Kindergarten tries hard to make a bilingual environment for everyone to learn in. If this is not enough, I was paid on time.