It's a Rough Life Now

[Randy W]

from Learning English/Reuters

Here in Yulin they have not had ANY foreign English teachers in 4 years.

Chinese Officials Taking Action Against Foreign Teachers

Reports from China say arrests of foreign teachers across the country are up sharply this year. That information comes from lawyers, schools and teachers. They also report a jump in foreign teachers forced to leave the country. Chinese deportations of foreign teachers have increased this year.

The lawyers, schools and teachers say the arrests and deportations are part of a larger campaign. They say it combines new police measures with the government’s push for a “cleaner,” more patriotic education system.

. . .

The notice said that EF workers had been "picked up by police at their home and work as well as in bars and nightclubs and have been questioned and brought in for drug testing." It added that the school had received warnings from embassies about the rise in arrests.

 

Edited August 21, 2019 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Allon]

I will use this article to demonstrate to my wife the education system she comes from that teaches Hong Kong and Taiwan were always part of China, among other topics where history is mis-taught.

 

I hope this does not affect you, Randy. Looks like you are pretty well entrenched in China. I think I remember you were not teaching anymore.

 

I wonder if "cyber crimes" might include use of a VPN.

 

Hang in there....

[amberjack1234]

Yes, now I am getting a little concerned for you too. Dealing with CFL so much now and using a VPN as Allon said. Watch you back just in case Randy. It always pays even here in the good ole USA.

 

Edit to add: With the brother in law out of the picture again we are looking at the prospect of having to move to China at some point to take care of Lee's aging parents and with all this going on I am not so sure that I won't be questioned frequently. If it happens I guess I better get real friendly with the local fuzz. Good thing we have a little nest egg stowed away but I sure do hate to invest it in China with things like they are today. If our man goes out of office perhaps things will turnaround. That is what the wife is telling me that they are waiting to see what happens with the election.

Edited August 22, 2019 by amberjack1234 (see edit history)

[Randy W]

KEEP YOUR MONEY IN THE US, even after moving to China. There's no reason to have any more than your immediate needs there.

 

Also wait to see what happens in the 2022 election (China's)

[amberjack1234]

Thanks, Randy for confirming my beliefs. The wife was inclined to buy a place in Beijing but I am not likewise minded. She does put a lot of stock in what you say. I don't think that I am any longer healthy enough to live in Beijing. Perhaps Yulin but that is a long way from the south of Beijing where they live and they have lived there so long they will certainly not be willing to move to Yulin. That is where all their friends are. You know how old folks are they have an aversion to moving around much. I am steering toward renting and like you say to keep our money in the US except for what we need on a month or two month's basis as much as three maybe.

Edited August 22, 2019 by amberjack1234 (see edit history)

[Randy W]

from the Sixth Tone

 

My own experience from my year of teaching was that reading and writing skills are very high - the English exam the students were required to pass was roughly at a newspaper level of proficiency. But very few - usually only one or two in each class could speak. They have PLENTY of non-native, but very capable, English speaking teachers (Chinese).What is LACKING is the native speakers that they are looking for. They could easily relax the academic requirements for foreign teachers, but the native speaker equirement is a must, in my view.

 

The Foreign Teachers Caught Up in China’s Education Clampdown

China is cracking down on foreigners working illegally at English training schools, but demand for teachers still far outstrips supply.

 

 

But last August, the State Council, China’s Cabinet, released a document ordering officials to tighten supervision on after-school training centers to ensure “the employment of foreigners … abides by the country’s stipulations,” triggering training center inspections across the country. The crackdown has intensified this year, with local governments launching further inspections and warning parents to look into teachers’ qualifications.

Jay was among the first teachers to be affected, and her story is a telling example of how supervision of the education sector has tightened, but the crackdown fails to deter schools and teachers from ignoring the country’s visa policies.

The young South African had been working at King’s International English — an English training center in the eastern city of Rui’an, Zhejiang province — for nearly a year when local officials came to inspect the school last September.

. . .

There are signs that other schools are willing to continue flouting the rules. Although the crackdown led to high-profile arrests of recruiters who had placed unqualified teachers in kindergartens in Beijing and Chongqing this year, multiple agencies are openly advertising English teaching jobs for non-native speakers and non-degree holders in China on Dave’s ESL Café, a popular online jobs portal.

The demand for foreign teachers among private language schools remains enormous, as many centers consider having overseas staff essential to their business, an agent surnamed Hu, who declined to give his first name for privacy reasons, tells Sixth Tone.

 

 

[Randy W]

. . . and the companies - from the Sixth Tone

 

School’s Out: China’s Suddenly Disappearing English Academies

Language learning centers across China are folding overnight, leaving angry parents out of pocket.

 

 

Quote

Stories of English tutoring centers vanishing and leaving clients out of pocket for thousands of yuan have spread like wildfire across the Chinese internet in recent months. The officer in Pudong declines to reveal the specific number of such cases his department is dealing with, but says it is, “a newly emerging phenomenon this year.”

 

The wave of closures has taken many by surprise. The market for English language education was previously booming as a growing number of ambitious parents looked to give their kids a head start in life by signing them up for private classes from as young as 3. China’s English training market is predicted to be worth 220 billion yuan by 2020, up from 104 billion in 2015, according to Beijing-based research firm Bosi Data Research Center. But schools have been plunged into crisis this year amid intensifying competition and a government crackdown on illegal practices within the industry.

. . .
 

The Chinese government, meanwhile, launched a campaign to clean up irregular practices in the English training industry in August 2018 that has forced yet more companies to shut down temporarily or permanently. According to China’s minister of education, Chen Baosheng, officials had investigated more than 401,000 training organizations as of March this year, finding illegal practices in 273,000 of them.

 

Step Up became embroiled in both of these issues. On Nov. 1, the school was forced to close its doors after Turchinova was unable to resolve the company’s legal status. This prompted anxious parents to report Turchinova to the police, fearing she planned to become the latest school operator to run away with her clients’ prepaid fees. Ironically, the calls from the police scared Turchinova so much, she decided to drop everything and move back to her hometown of Barnaul in Western Siberia that night.

 

“I didn’t want to flee, but I didn’t want to go to jail either,” says Turchinova. “If I’d known it’d be so complicated to run an English training center here, I never would have set up Step Up.”

 

 

Edited July 24, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)