I just want to say that your website has been very helpful and reassuring in my EFL application process. I have read a good portion of the guide and just registered this account so that I may communicate in the forum. All I have to say is thank you Middle Kingdom crew for providing this amazing site.

Sincerely appreciative,
Eric

I just wanted to take the time to personally thank the authors of the Foreign Teachers' Guide, Dr. Greg, Mr. Hayes, and Mr. Kuang, for offering a free online version of their published book. This is an unprecedented act of generosity.

For anyone thinking about teaching in China, this is your one-stop source for the most reliable and accurate information you need to know. Whatever you do, *stay away* from the anonymous China EFL forums. The owner of [NAME REMOVED] is even in cahoots with a Chinese recruiter but refuses to admit it. I got burned by the [NAME REMOVED] website he actually recommends on his forum as a resource for information about living and working in China. What a joke.

I relied on your Guide to help me avoid all the "major traps and pitfalls" you warn teachers about. I still ran into a minor problem because I didn't do all my homework, but that could have been avoided if I had communicated with a current teacher as you suggest. I'm stuck conducting a free English Corner that I'm not being paid for, but it would have been a *lot worse* if I hadn't read your book.

I recommend your eBook to everyone who contacts me for advice about teaching English in China. There is nothing else like this on the internet. Thank you all for really caring.

Carol B.

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Editor's Note: Carol, I deleted the names of the two other websites you mentioned because, if we can, we'd like to provide prospective foreign teachers with the information they need to increase their chances of having a successful time in China without necessarily stepping on anyone else's toes. We do specifically warn our readers about one recruitment agency by name but that's only because we have received no less than five complaints about her. If you want to, you can post a reply with your e-mail address so that readers can contact you directly for more information about the personal experiences you have had with the two sites you mentioned.--GM

Carol, I agree with your views about this site's guide 110% and have been meaning to thank the authors myself for some time. After reading your message, I thought I would add my two cents worth.

You don't need to worry about warning foreign teachers about specific recruiters by name. Anyone who has bothered to read this guide or has seen all the horror stories about recruiters on TEFL forums is not going to have anything to do with them. That's not just true in China but all over, in Thailand, Korea, and Japan too. I have no idea which forum you are talking about (I am very familiar with all the main ones for China, Thailand, Korea, and Japan) but it should be obvious to everyone that any foreign owner of a TEFL forum who is referring teachers over to a Chinese recruiter's website for "information" about teaching in China is as dirty as they come.

As for the guide, thanks for all your efforts and please keep up the great work!

Ken, Allan, and I very much appreciate the "thank you's." We also equally appreciate constructive criticism as well because it helps us to constantly improve the guide.

As I know the names of the two websites in question, I'd like to briefly comment on Carol's point.

The EFL forum Carol refers to is not the only TEFL website to link to this particular "recruiter website." There is a section on that website that some think is useful, or at least worth mentioning in the interest of thoroughness. For example, we list all the provincial SAFEA offices in China for information purposes only, even though we specifically state that contacting them to "go over the school's head," so to speak, is self-defeating and ill-advised. However, there may be times that knowing the location and telephone number of your local SAFEA office is useful (although I've never had occasion to contact them and neither had Ken until such time that he opened up his own school).

I checked the link on the EFL forum that Carol mentioned and, again, the owner is recommending this one particular page of the site with a caveat about using the overall site for finding a job. Although I don't know the forum owner personally, I do know of him and I seriously doubt he is "in cahoots" with a Chinese recruiter. Nevertheless, his particular excitement over these SAFEA guidelines is difficult to understand as many of the stipulations have no practical value and the ones that do are discussed in much greater detail in our guide, in terms of application. We do include copies of all documents, forms, and regulations we consider to have practical value for foreign teachers in China including a copy of the SAFEA contract and a typical addendum.

Sometimes it is difficult to know exactly what to include or exclude when attempting to best inform foreign teachers in China. For example, in the interest of completeness we have appended all 29 Articles of the national law governing permanent residency for foreigners, although I seriously question whether knowing this information has any value at all above satisfying one's curiosity (I imagine it could be useful to a political science or Asian studies major). I know at least one foreigner who didn't meet those requirements and still has a Chinese "Green Card" and at least two who clearly meet the legal requirements and were denied permanent residency without explanation.

Studying the written laws and SAFEA guidelines in China is a complete waste of time for foreign teachers as we see it. The law serves a very different function in China than it does in our respective Western countries, not to mention the fact that it is continuously open to numerous interpretations by each province and from leader to leader that change over time. Foreign teachers can make far more efficacious use of their time by establishing meaningful relationships with the very people who assess their overall value to the goals of their employers and the people of China during contract renewal time than by studying guidelines (or even their contracts for that matter).