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| Canadian International Children's English School | ||
| It seems almost redundant to post this here, as almost everyone that I knew who was teaching English in Guangzhou had heard how terrible Canadian International Children's English School is. Run by AJ (Canadian guy) and Winnie (local Chinese) and located on TiYu Dong Rd in TianHe district of Guangzhou, the school is the sweatiest of the sweatshop English training companies. Working on a tourist visa is expected there; nobody had work visas in the ten months during which I worked there. Pay was okay at 7000/month (if you were white, much less for non-white teachers), but accommodation, insurance, visas, etc--forget it! When I quit we were right in the middle of the "summer program". Five weeks of ten in class hours a day, starting at 7 a.m. and finishing at 9 p.m., with just one day off during those five weeks, between the first part of the summer program (3 wks) and the second part (2 wks). No overtime pay, no holidays (we had to work equivalent-to-the-minute overtime in advance just to get days off during national holidays, despite what our useless contracts said), non-existent teaching materials, ridiculous course books which they develop themselves--AJ barely being able to read--and endless excuses to withhold pay. When I left, they had told us they would keep half of our salary until after the holiday, to make sure none of us decided to leave, as we were supposed to have been paid a day or two before the week-long holiday began (this being after having worked 7 days a week for a month just to earn a week off). Fortunately the remainder of my salary wasn't worth my sanity, I couldn't take another minute there when I left, and I'm a very patient man. ALTEC, however, was a dream after having escaped the hell that was Canadian International Children's English School. ALTEC pays very well, teaching materials are excellent and well-organized, staff are very respectful and speak English, and there are air-conditioners in the offices--the opposite of Canadian International Children's English School, in other words. ALTEC is right beside LieShiLingYuan subway stop, at China Plaza. Send Message to Author |