I have read the posts on this subject and feel that those who are wanting to come teach at this school, should know some more information.

There are 7 foreign teachers working at the college at this time. The college is located a 20 min. bus ride to the city of Daliang. The bus leaves directly from the campus and buses run at least every 15 min. It is a 45 min. trip to the bus station in Daliang which connects you to most cities in Guangdong. Access to Guangzhou from this station is easy and convenient as there are many buses going to various places in Guangzhou. Daliang is a clean quaint city with many shopping centers and markets. Access to foreign foods (grocery) is quite good and there are many Western style restaurants. There is a movie theater that plays English movies often and many recreational activities in the city.

The Department which hires foreign teachers is different from the possible departments the foreign teacher will work in, so the "FAO" can not or does not support the teacher on academic considerations, such as class size. When many of us signed up we were told by the hiring department that class sizes would be around 30 - 45 students. Some have been lucky enough to have a class of 30, but others have had classes of 70 students, one oral English class was around 90 students and another was given a class with 140 students! The average oral English class size this past term seems to be around 65. As one can imagine teaching Oral English to 65+ students is not an easy task. The teacher has very little time for any individual attention and is lucky if they remember everyone's names by the end of term. What makes it harder is that only about 10% of the class are seriously motivated.

Some teachers have asked that a 'maximum student' clause be written into the contract. It was quickly refused by management. The reason being that nobody knows how many students they will let enroll until the time comes and class size is the responsibility of the individual departments. There is no protection for the foreign teachers in the area of class size. Those who sign on next year, may just see class sizes of 100+ being normal, seeing as the college's intake next year is going to expand.

The living accommodations are run by a different department all together and the foreign teacher is required to pay rent. Again the hiring department does very little to intervene on the foreign teacher's behalf should a problem arise, sighting the different department as the reason.

Despite the grievances with the HUGE class sizes, teachers here are for the most part, happy. All of the hiring and departmental staff are friendly and as accommodating as they can be. We are always paid on time (often early!). The campus is beautiful but seriously lacks food choice variety (1 restaurant, 1 little noodle shop and many canteens).

If you don't mind large class sizes and being a 20 min. trip away from the city, then this would be a good choice of school for you.

I hope this information helps those who are looking at signing with SDPT.