DELTER/TELFORT

There has been a great deal of negative treatment of this business on many forums, particularly Dave's ESL Cafe. Since I do not play in Dave's sandbox, with all of those spoiled brats, I would like to have my say on Delter/Telfort here.

Delter gave me my first job in China. I took the job against the advice of many. I walked in with my eyes wide open.

I asked for assignment to the middle of the middle kingdom and that is where I went. I was met at the airport and ushered to a very nice apartment that fulfilled all of the promises made to me.

I worked for a great Chinese Manager and American DOS. The classes were small. There were abundant teaching materials available. The students were great. Yes, this was a business! Business came first, but it was never at the expense of education. Our teachers were a very mixed bag. Some qualified, some committed, some who should have been committed (locked herself in her apartment with loud music blaring for several months, refusing to come out to teach. She eventually did a midnight runner.), and several backpackers. But what can you expect from a long distance hiring process with no pre-employment face-to-face interview?

Unfortunately there was a wannabee DOS, a hillbilly from North Carolina, who was friends with the school owner and some of the board members. The hillbilly was a terribly disruptive factor and eventually was the cause of the resignation of the great American DOS and my transfer to another branch of the school.

The wannabee became the new DOS and then there was a full on mutiny with several teachers leaving.

When I transferred to another branch of Delter I also found everything more than adequate. To explain what happened next I need to explain Delter's business model.

Bing Liang, a Chinese National, naturalized Canadian Citizen, taking advantage of china's foreign investment policy, joint ventures each school with a local third tier college. The local college provides the physical facilities for admin, teaching and foreign teacher housing. Delter pays for this by teaching EFL to non-English majors enrolled at the third tier college. These classes can be as large as 90 students. In terms of real education, there isn't much happening in this particular set-up. However, these kiddies must be kept happy because they are the bread and butter of Delter's financial success.

After meeting its commitment to the third tier college, Delter is free to use the facilities to MAKE MONEY running a private business institute. Here classes are no larger than 15 students and often less. There is real education happening in these classes and real money being earned.

Although I was hired as a business teacher, I was also required to teach one of these third tier English classes. This was Delter's first mistake. I took attendance. I would not let kiddies sit in the back and sleep or be disruptive. I assigned homework and required that it be done. I failed 12 out of 68. Word spread that I was a bad teacher and the kiddies refused to come to my classes any more. This threatened Delter's lucrative business arrangement with the college so I was expendable, no; I had to go to appease the college.

Delter's second mistake was in not informing me in advance that I was just a baby sitter for the college students. My mistake was in taking my responsibilities seriously.

I was given an adequate 30 days severance pay.

I was neither angry nor bitter. I considered this to be a learning experience and I moved on to a much better job.

I was paid on time and an amount adequate for the duties. The only person in the organization I did not like was the Seminary dropout hillbilly from North Carolina.

Many teachers at Delter went through variations of my experience and from what is posted on various web forums; it appears that nothing has changed.
But when understood in perspective, Delter is a great entry to teaching in China. It is a very good first job.

Once in China, other opportunities unfold and reveal themselves.

I can honestly say that Delter has a very successful business model and provides very good entry jobs for foreigners wishing to teach in China.

Yes there are communication problems from time-to-time. Yes there are administrative problems. But, these can be much worse at other educational businesses in China. Have a look at www.usingenglish.com articles "Dissatisfied Customers: Chinese Business institute Students Speak Out The subject of that article is a JV between a Shanghai second tier university and a foreign university. Things can be and are much worse than Delter!

At any given Chinese school, at any given time, there can be problems. Many can result in self-inflicted pain due to a lack of, tolerance, appreciation for cultural differences and culture shock. Learn to go with the flow and remember, fixable people do not break.

In fact, I recommend Delter to anyone seeking his or her first teaching experience in China.