Dec. 2014 EDIT: I wrote this nearly three years ago, while working at Yaohua, in hopes of sparing someone what I experienced there. It does not detail the worst of my experiences, but gives general warnings. I am still teaching in China and, ever since leaving Yaohua, very much enjoying it. For recent updates on Yaohua Experimental School, please read the comments on this post.



2012/03/20

Moving to China leaves me with absolutely no regrets. I love being here. I love Shenzhen. If only, I find myself wondering wistfully, I could have experienced Shenzhen without Yaohua Experimental School.

I created this blog in the hopes that anyone else being recruited to teach for Yaohua will find it and be able to make the kind of informed decision we were carefully shielded from reaching ourselves.

What you need to know about teaching as a Foreign Teacher at Yaohua Experimental School:

As an institution, Yaohua puts money first and students last.

and students last. Foreign teachers are given many benefits not available to native teachers; respect is not one of those benefits . In any form.

. In any form. The faculty member assigned to manage the foreign teachers openly and vocally resents those under her management.

those under her management. School leaders use a vindictive, fear-based punitive system to keep those under them in line ; this culture of shame and hostility runs the authority lines all the way from the headmaster, to the higher faculty, to the common teachers, to the students. Chinese coworkers indicated that it is an unusually harsh and negative environment for a Chinese school. Foreign teachers are largely shielded from the tangible effects (a way has not been found to get around our contracts to dock our pay in spite of admitted efforts to achieve such) but we are not immune to the effects of a hostile work environment.

; this culture of shame and hostility runs the authority lines all the way from the headmaster, to the higher faculty, to the common teachers, to the students. Chinese coworkers indicated that it is an unusually harsh and negative environment for a Chinese school. Foreign teachers are largely shielded from the tangible effects (a way has not been found to get around our contracts to dock our pay in spite of admitted efforts to achieve such) but we are not immune to the effects of a hostile work environment. Students know foreign teachers don’t get respect. You will fight for every ounce of the street cred needed to maintain order in your classrooms. Discipline problems are huge, particularly in the lowest grades, and even the most effective strategies will be potent only in the short term. These kids are very smart, under tremendous pressure, and marvellously creative. This makes them really fun to teach–when you can get the class to a state of behavior that is teachable.

You will fight for every ounce of the street cred needed to maintain order in your classrooms. Discipline problems are huge, particularly in the lowest grades, and even the most effective strategies will be potent only in the short term. These kids are very smart, under tremendous pressure, and marvellously creative. This makes them really fun to teach–when you can get the class to a state of behavior that is teachable. Foreign teachers are purposefully kept in the dark about just about everything. During the hiring process, the school was presented as very chaotic and unorganised, with almost all decisions being made at the last minute. We have not found this to be the case. We find out about schedule changes, exam days, holidays, and important school-wide announcements at a reasonably in-advance window of time–from our students. Confirmation of what the rest of the school clearly knows and understands never comes until the very, very last minute. Questions–whether direct or diplomatically round-about–are ignored until that breath-before-the-deadline announcement to the foreign teachers is made.

If you choose to sign a contract with Yaohua, you can be successful by following these guidelines:

Keep your head down. Don’t ask for help–with anything. Don’t complain–about anything. Don’t ask for leave. Don’t get sick. Kiss up to the right people and play the system. Avoid being associated with people who challenge the way anything is run. Do things the Yaohua way.

And good luck, ’cause those kids are amazing. They deserve good teachers.