THIS REVIEW GETS TAKEN DOWN EVERY FEW DAYS, BUT I'M HOPEFUL IT WILL STAY UP LONGER THIS TIME!

Warning - Victoria House of Foreign Languages - Tieling, China!
I will address the main issues in two sections the school and the town of Tieling.
The good things about this school is that you will get paid eventually, be provided an apartment and your visa will be paid for by the school.

The School!

The pay situation: The pay is always late at this school, during my 12 months there, was paid on time only twice. The situation will not improve soon, since it is not an important priority for the management.

During early 2016 - 2017 for 25 hours of work a week/ salary 13,000 - 18,000 a month, and now they lowered it to 12,000 RMB.

Housing: You will have your own apartment, but it is not air conditioning during the hot humid months in Tieling, and the indoor heat only turns on in November, and it turns off in March, even though there is still snow on the ground. So you will freeze in the month of October and March with the temps. hovering around 0 C.

School Materials: There are lack of teaching materials at most of their school locations, and the computer and printer is usually broken at their main campus.

Medical Insurance: School does not pay for it, so if your sick or hospitalized it comes out of your own pocket. Even though, they advertised it in their job descriptions online.

Airfare: The school does not pay for the round trip, only a return ticket back to your home country (mentioned in your second contract that the school signs, while your in China ). The school refuses sign the initial contract allowing Christmas and your round trip paid after end of contract, since that is used to get over to China.

Working Conditions: Victoria will not be the only school you will be working for, the owner also bought a Thomas Training School, and is building/buying others around town. The management is disorganized and makes impulsive decisions, now they have cash flow problems which affects the FT and Chinese Teacher salaries. These Chinese teachers and staff had to wait a month or more for their salaries, and quite a few of them already quit.

Teacher's Moral: Both FT and Chinese is low not only due to the pay, but also favoritism and the lack of transparency. Example: A female FT worked there a few months and quit, and come back about 6 months later. The second time, she left after barely 2 months for an impromptu 6 week vacation in Nepal. This caused a lot of confusion and hardship for remaining FT's, but the management are now claiming that they ok'd it. She got her job back and with no financial penalty. However, another FT that took off for family emergency back home was threatened and suffered financial penalties.

Contract: You will sign 2 contracts with this school. The first contract will entice to come over there with Christmas Day off, but the school will NOT put their stamp upon it, and it is in only English. The second contract is in both English and Chinese and will say that the FT holiday's will be same as the Chinese Staff and Teachers. The second contract that you will signed at the school will have the owner's signature and stamp, and the first contract is therefore meaningless.

One more thing You do not have a BA degree and only have to be in China to work there, since the remaining FT's there do not college degrees. The school owner claims to have financial ties to the local PSB.

Town of Tieling!

Location: 193 miles from the North Korean border! The Chinese are already practicing disaster and evacuation drills in the event of war between the United States and the DPRK in the border region.

City of Tieling: Small town according to Chinese standards. There are only two western fast food restaurants Pizza Hut (awful), and KFC (good). There are couple western style Chinese restaurants that are pricey. There are a few temples and a park for daytime entertainment. The nightlife is mainly KTV's.