Maple Leaf Educational Systems Reviews

It is difficult to separate the school from the culture of China. At least for me. So instead of writing an opinion piece, I will try to just simply list a timeline of events so to speak, as they happened. And let you draw your own conclusions. Started out at X amount of salary and 20 classes per week. Maybe 21. Was given a raise (after three or four years of teaching) of 500 US dollars more per month. Not bad. Immediately informed afterwards, that our teaching will now be raised to 25 classes per week, plus clubs. That was soon raised to 30 per week, because of teacher shortage. After reaching the point of exhaustion, we went back to 25. Still, this term, at least one teacher was required to do 30 classes. As of this writing, most schools are at 25 classes per week, plus clubs ever second week. You are told to present an idea for a club. Frequently, your own ideas will be rejected in favor of something more academically based. There will be no supplies, no resources to draw on other than your imagination and the internet. And whatever you choose to buy. I have spent thousands (RMB) on my classes. I'm told I could hand in a receipt. I never do. If I was better organized, I might get the receipts. On the other hand, a limit of probably 500 rmb or maybe 80 bucks will start to raise questions. That's 80 bucks for the entire term, though I have never been told a limit. I buy the stuff. I forget about it. Sometimes the kids will kick in some cash if they want something special. Point is: no resources but what you decide. Computers in the classroom are rife with viruses...students use them with their own USB's...wiped tons of files off my own USB, and infected my computers too many times to count...still have them. Almost unavoidable. No policies for misbehavior, no consequences for students who continually disrupt class and refuse, outright refuse to listen, obey rules, or apply themselves. None. Don't let them tell you different. There are NONE. We were told point blank by our director, 'this is a business..' Any classroom issues, ANY, will be the sole responsibility of the teacher. The unspoken, (and often spoken) rule is thus: 'if there are ANY issues in the classroom, it is the fault of the teacher." You will be held accountable. You will receive no support, or if any, perhaps they will tell the students to apologize. I had three students expelled by having them sent to the dean's office. After other teachers agreed the students were indeed an issue, they were all sent home, for one week. A welcome rest for the kids from all their studies. Upon their return, nothing changed. Nothing. It is a business. Period. And the kids are the cash cow. Keep them in school. Regardless. (I can't speak for all schools and programs, just my experience) I spent weekends, after school and some evenings working with kids, tutoring them and giving up free time. During one event, I arrived at school at 7:50. (schools begins at 7:40) My first class was at 10:00. I was taken into the dean's office, informed of the rules, given a reprimand that was witnessed by two other office workers, one of whom took notes, sent a warning email, and a transcript of the 20 minute meeting. As far as I can recall, I never missed a class, nor was late for a class. Admittedly, there were times I did not make the 7:40 bell and rolled in 10 - 15, and sometimes 20 minutes later. Ok fine. Whatever. But it wasn't a large habit and probably didn't require the large canon to deal with it. You will NOT be heard, by anybody at any level of administration here. No-one. If you are in ESL, you are basically left to the whims and desires of however they want to treat you. If you complain. You will be labeled. You will make yourself a target of some petty person who's only ambition is to retain their own position, and climb the corporate ladder. (I speak of the Chinese side..and if you are ESL, that is the only side you will know)...You may get lucky and get some support in the immediate, but it will cost you dearly in the end. You will be driven mad by the request for detailed lesson plans. Somebody got it in their head a few years ago that lessons plans were the god of education and god help you if you don't hand them in. Good luck with that. You will have new students dropped into your classes in the beginning of terms. "Do you have a text book?" No. "Do you ask for one?' No. Yes. They don't have any they said." (ESL) You will have 4 levels in your classroom. Out of 30 students (average), you will have 2-3 stars, 2 who want to be stars, 15 middle of the road, 7 who probably don't know a tree from a post, and 3 who will test the very limits of your patience with their constant disruptions, for the which there will be nothing you can do, except whatever your skill and imagination can foster. Again, good luck. Shipping your stuff home: great if you live in Vancouver. Other than that, you're pretty much on your own, no matter what the contract says. I was told i had to pay for my own crates. By the time I paid for the crates, and the extra mileage (I don't live in Vancouver), the money leftover for this 'free shipping' will cost me about 500 dollars or more. Plane tickets. Great! If you live in Vancouver. Though, to their credit, you can do U-fly anywhere in the world and they will reimburse you. Shares. Awesome!, given over three years and told in the second year (of receiving them) my contract will not be renewed for the third year (of shares)..with no warning, and no indication that it would be so. Just an email. No warning letters or reprimands and a 90+ approval rating by students. (Yes, the students rate you). My colleague, the same. Shares cancelled after 2 (of 3 years....they award shares, and spread them out over three years.) As far as all the other stuff goes, canceling/changing classes, last minute notices, people walking into the middle of your class while you're teaching, having somebody stand at the door with a clipboard keeping track of you while you walk into the office in the morning, ignoring common sense, disregarding your ideas, threatening deductions for infractions, intimidation, bullying, and ....well, you get the idea. Maybe its China, maybe its Maple Leaf. Its hard to see the forest for the trees sometimes. Would I do it again. Oh sure. But only for 2-3 years. Beyond that, you''ll probably grow bitter.

I have a list of grievances, but first and foremost I should bring up that I almost DIED while teaching here and I received no assistance from the school. They actually wanted me to come in and teach instead of going to the hospital, where I ultimately found out my kidneys had shut down. After my diagnosis, they still wanted me to come back and teach the same day. I must reiterate that I was literally DYING and they wanted me to continue working so they could squeeze just a little more profit from me before I croaked. The ESL teachers are paid significantly less than the high school teachers, and we have the disadvantage of a Chinese administration instead of a Western one. The Chinese administration does not care about the teachers and will offer no assistance. When my health issues began, they refused to help me get to a hospital. Eventually they relented when another foreign teacher said he'd leave to take me. The Chinese teacher they ended up sending with me took me to a closed hospital. My health was not a concern to them and honestly a bother. The "benefit" of getting paid less than the high school teachers meant we were able to live on campus. These were advertised as fully furnished dwellings. This was only partly true. My bed only had a box spring and no mattress, which meant it was more comfortable to sleep on the floor than on the bed. Additionally the entire building had a mold problem that the school refused to deal with. My entire apartment was covered in mold and I was never able to get rid of it. My water and power was often shut off with no explanation. Our Chinese English teacher colleagues knew very little to no English. It was shocking to me that these folks had managed to graduate with an English degree and no proficiency in the language. This obviously created problems in the classroom because the students learned two different versions of grammar/pronunciation/etc. On top of that these colleagues were very jealous of foreign teachers and made the administration give us even more tasks and made me spend even more time at school. These teachers maybe only had to teach 1-2 classes a day and spent the rest of the time watching Chinese Soap Operas, but still felt like they were working harder because they came in earlier. Because the Chinese teachers were streaming all these shows, I was unable to get lesson plan material off the internet. I was given one ridiculous textbook as my teaching materials and it was never enough for even half a class. I began to heavily rely on outside materials for my classes, and because the internet was so slow it took me hours to do something that would typically only take me 20 minutes. We were required to fill out a bunch of paperwork, including lesson plans and disciplinary notes, that the administration never looked at. I could have literally written anything I wanted on these and it wouldn't have mattered - no one looked at it. All this paperwork was a colossal waste of time. The discipline issues at the school were eye-opening as a Westerner. Maple Leaf would allow students to abuse and viciously bully other students. My FIRST DAY at the school I saw one kid sucker-punch another student, and the teacher did nothing. I would later learn that this is how the school deals with violence on campus. Fortunately I was not a new teacher so I had experience in behavior management, but I still struggled in one class where a particular student would attempt to be as disruptive as possible. He'd often hit female students in the face, make load moaning noises while I was talking, and run around the classroom and throw things, all to get attention. At first I thought the student was mentally disabled, but when his mother visited the classroom he behaved normally. The administration never did anything about this student even though he was intentionally disrupting the education of other students. Maple Leaf is RACIST. One of the foreign teachers was not white, and they told her, TO HER FACE, that they wanted to fire her because she is "black." Unfortunately for Maple Leaf, finding foreign teachers is difficult, and it's even more difficult to find qualified and competent teachers. My coworker dealt with the abuse professionally and luckily got out of the situation. My advice to any teacher wanting to teach abroad is to avoid Maple Leaf like the plague. You're not only putting your mental well-being and career in jeopardy, but your health as well!