To whom it may concern:
I would like to express formally my feelings toward F & S Education, the
China Internship Program, and Frank Sun.
Firstly, I want to state that my overall experience in China has been
wonderful so far. I've met amazing people, visited really interesting
places, and generally enjoyed teaching.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the company that I'm working for.
F & S Education is not well organized, not well run, and not a good
company to send Americans to work for. It is my opinion, after the last
five and a half months of work, that the United
States government, the Fulbright website, the United State
Graduate School,
and any other reputable program should NOT
be affiliated with F & S Education now or in the future.
My experience in China began
in Shanghai
after a 14 hour flight. I arrived on August the 2, 2007, to meet two men
who did not speak English. Every question I asked received an answer to a
different question, but I was too tired to deal with the details. We
drove for nearly seven hours to my new home in Dongyang, China.
I realized soon after that the two men were the men I was working
with. My "boss,” Mr. Zhou, did not
speak English at all. His friend, Mr. Li, spoke enough English to
probably claim that he was fluent. Understandably, communicating with them was
very difficult.
The month that I spent in Dongyang was peppered with many traditional Chinese
banquets in which I was the only person who didn't speak Chinese and the only
person who did speak English. Mr. Li and Mr. Zhou dragged me from banquet
to banquet (which last in excess of two hours). During the banquets, they
would often offer me alcohol in addition to the surplus of food, as they
themselves proceeded to get drunk.
On my very first day in Dongyang, they brought me to one such banquet.
During it they got so drunk that I was tempted to jump behind the wheel
as they drove me back to the hotel I was staying at (I did not have an
apartment at this time). Once we arrived (and I breathed a deep sigh of
relief), Mr. Li invited himself up to my hotel room to rest. During this
time, the drunk man lain on my bed while I was reading a book on the same bed.
Needless to say, this made me very uncomfortable. I was not sure
why the situation happened or what to do during it. My only comfort was
that I was completely sober. Eventually,
he decided that it was time to go to the school to see my classroom. When
we arrived, we found that Mr. Zhou was sitting in a pool of his own vomit in
the school cafeteria. Mr. Zhou was the "principal" figure at
this school.
The month proceeded in much the same way. I avoided the banquets when I
could, but I ended up attending quite a few in which I was offered much
alcohol. The words, "Lea, maybe one day you will get drunk with
us," actually came from Mr. Li's mouth. I was astonished that I was
left in a situation where I was the only foreigner in the entire city, and I
didn't speak any Chinese (speaking Chinese was not a requirement of the
program). Further, I was dealing with
men who drank far too much, attempted to get me drunk at every occasion
possible, acted inappropriately, and didn't really speak English. I did not complain about this experience
because I was told I would be living in Dongyang for one year. I didn’t want to cause further discomfort in
my situation.
In addition, my living conditions in Dongyang were very
different from what was described when I applied for the program. I was
left in an apartment (after living in a hotel from August 2 to August 6 ) with
a bathroom, a bed, a desk, and a makeshift closet. There was no
"sitting area, kitchen..., TV, telephone..., fridge, washing
machine..." as is described in both the application flyer and the contract
that I signed. (Quoted from the contract, leaving out accommodations that
were provided.) I complained to Frank Sun, who said it was temporary for
one month.
Email
dated August 13, 2007
Lea Witkowski wrote, “.…Also, I know you mentioned that this
apartment is temporary until September. I wanted to make sure that we are
on the same page. When I was accepted to this program, I agreed under
certain conditions. One of these was the living conditions. The
paper work that I have says that I would be given an apartment with western
conveniences including TV, washing machine, and a refrigerator.
I don't want to be asked to move to another unsuitable apartment in
September.”
Email
dated August 14, 2007
Frank Sun wrote, “Hi, Lea, you gave me a long email. don't worry
about visa and working permit..i wil take care of that...other issues i
will confirm the school and let you know. yours, frank”
In Dongyang, I was not teaching classes, but a camp.
The camp consisted of one class with anywhere between 4-8 students during
the course of three weeks. Their ages ranged from 11 to 18. I had
four classes with the same students each day.
I was told to sing English songs and play English games with them, which
I attempted to do.
Email
dated August 3, 2007
Lea Witkowski wrote, “As far as specifics go, what exactly is
expected of me? Mr. Zhou and Mr. Li told me that I'll have two groups of
students primary and middle school age and that I will be working with them on
the lighter stuff (like singing songs and learning English phrases). Will
I have a syllabus (I remember reading something about that in the information
originally sent to my about this program).”
Email
dated August 3, 2007
Frank Sun wrote, “Hi Lea, i know you got there in China and
everything is basically okay so far there. You will teach some summer programs
there in Dongyang before we start the high school programs in September. There
are syllabus but it is not a normal classes so you don't have to bother
too much. It is a casual English summer programs and most of children can not
speak good English but they speak some basic English. They have learned English
for a couple of years.”
I had no book, no further instructions, no teaching
assistant, and no clue how to deal with students who ranged so greatly in age
and English abilities (some of them didn't speak English at all).
After this camp, on August 23, I went to Dalian,
China, for
orientation where I met the other teachers in the internship program. The
orientation began on August 27, and to my surprise, many of the other teachers
had just arrived and several hadn't taught at all. I was told that I had
to be in China
for the 1st of August, but that was apparently not true. Further, I was
the only one who had a working visa. I was told that I had to get a
working visa before coming to China.
This involved two trips to Houston
(a five hour drive) before 9 am to get the visa application completed in one
day. It was two trips because I was given paperwork to get a business
visa before the working visa paperwork was completed. After getting the
business visa ($80), I was told that I had to get a working visa (another $80).
Email dated June 23, 2007
Lea Witkowski wrote, “I was planning on going to Houston sometime in the
next two weeks. Is there a best time? Should I wait for you to
finish the work permit? I'm going to be leaving the country again for one
week at the end of July, so I wanted to make sure I had everything taken
care of before that. But since my sole purpose in going to
Houston is to
get this visa, I just have to make sure I have a way to get there. So let
me know when is best and I can arrange things around that.”
Email
dated June 26, 2007
Frank Sun wrote, “You can make your plan for your visa. In case we
get all documents done, i will notify you in time. If you have got your
visa,that would be fine and we can convert your tourist visa to working visa.
Pls be reminded that you don't have to show the invitation letter for tourist
visa application. You can apply business visa with that invitation letter i
sent to you.”
Email
dated July 3, 2007
Lea Witkowski wrote, “I'm going to Houston tomorrow to get my visa. I'll
see what they say about the tourist or business situation.”
Email
dated July 6, 2007
Frank Sun wrote, “I just got approval for your working visa to China. Pls
kindly let me know your mailing address so i can send you the original
documents for your working visa application.
you'd better to re-apply a working visa with the approval documents so
none of us have to be bothered for the visa again in China. with that approval you can
get a one-year working visa with multi-entry. pls be advised.”
Email
dated July 7, 2007
Lea Witkowski wrote, “What do I need to do with the paperwork once
I get it? I have the F visa which is valid for 60 days right now.
Do I need to worry about this before I leave for China, or once I get there?”
Email
dated July 8, 2007
Lea Witkowski wrote, “I'm going to see what's possible about
getting another visa, but I'm not sure that I have time. Is it possible
to have this taken care of once I get to China given the time constraints
and the fact that I already have a visa? Also, it's nearly impossible to
do it after July 28 because I leave on the first. If it takes three
working days, then I won't receive my visa before I leave the country.
Again, I'm going to do my best to take care of it.”
Email
dated July 9, 2007
Frank Sun wrote, “the best and most efficient way would be to get
visa in US before you come here, that is the reason why we tried our best to
get your working visa approved in advance. It is possible to do it in China but very
complicated and cost time and energy. It is very easy to get working visa with
that documents in US. Pls just call the Consulate and you will get the
information. Pls tell them that you are going to teach in Dalina Sunshine
School. Dalian Sunshine
School and the Dongyang
school is sister school of us.”
Email
dated July 31, 2007
Lea Witkowski wrote, “It's been awhile since we have had
contact. I have the visa taken care of, and I'm in the process of
packing. I was wondering if there's anything else I need to do or prepare
for before I leave tomorrow.”
NOTE: I did not receive a
response from Frank Sun until I had arrived in China.
I was never reimbursed for these visas even though my
contract says that the company will pay for the working visas ("Party A [F
& S Education] will take care of Party B's [me] working visa, process and
pay for the working visa for the employee and get employee a Foreign Teaching
Expert if party B is qualified [ sic.]” [quoted from the contract with F
& S Education]).
The orientation included a tour of Dalian
and an explanation of what was expected of us. During this time, I was
told that I would be moving to another school because the people in Dongyang
were dissatisfied with me. This was very hard for me to believe as they
didn't speak English, they didn't sit in on any of my classes, and they gave me
absolutely no instructions on what I was supposed to do with the students.
I was told I would be moving to another city in the same province and
that my moving expenses would be paid. By the end of the week of
orientation, I was moving to Beijing
(literally across the country) to teach at a university.
Perhaps, this was the best and most inconvenient experience of my whole
experience in China.
I did move shortly after returning to Dongyang and was picked up at the
airport by a woman who spoke no English. She brought me directly to the
university where I witnessed a heated conversation (in Chinese) about why my
visa expired the next day. I was whisked to my new boss's office to
explain the situation. Wei Ping (my boss) was extremely worried about the
visa situation. I tried to explain that I had emailed and spoken to Frank
Sun several times asking to have it updated since I had arrived in China, but it was
all greeted with a happily dismissive, we still have time.
Email
dated August 13, 2007
Lea Witkowski wrote, “…Mr. Li and Mr. Zhou took me to get my
residence permit today. I'm not sure, however, that they understand what
need. We went to a local police station and got a permit for one
month. which is exactly what I already have. I was under the
impression that we were going to get my permit that would be good for a
year. I tried to explain that what we got today was completely
unnecessary and that I need the year permit, and I think they understood, but I
thought they understood what I needed originally.”
Email
dated August 14, 2007
Frank Sun wrote, “Hi, Lea, you gave me a long email. don't worry
about visa and working permit..i wil take care of that...other issues i
will confirm the school and let you know. yours, frank” (This
response is repeated because it’s all that Frank Sun replied to an email about
my living conditions and the visa situation.)
Wei Ping said that having an expired visa in China is a very
bad thing and that there was no way the school could have it updated in time.
I was in Beijing less than 12 hours before
I was on another flight to Dalian.
In Dalian, I
endured the medical exam (which I was told had to be completed before I left
the States costing me over $100).
Email dated May 8, 2007
Lea Witkowski wrote, “I'm going to apply for an F (business)
visa. Do I need the medical report filled out for this visa? The
Chinese Embassy's web site doesn't seem to indicate so, but in your
requirements it's mentioned. I don't want to get there and not have the
apporporiate documentation.”
Email
dated May 7, 2007 (China
time)
Frank Sun wrote, “Since you have had a degree, so we will have try
to get you a working visa. A working visa need a medical report, which should
be 12-month long and multi-entry to China.”
I was also registered with the police office. I was
told to say that I was working in Dalian
and living at another teacher's apartment. All of this completed, I
returned to Beijing
to begin teaching. I was told that the whole process would be completed
in about two weeks.
I began teaching in Beijing
and realized that I'm much more suited to teach at the university level.
Completely content with my situation, I was finally starting to settle
down in China.
Before my visa was updated, however, I was told that I could no longer
live in my apartment because it was connected with the police system, and I was
technically an illegal alien. I was forced to move all of my belongings
into another apartment further from campus until my visa was complete. I
was told I would be there two or three days. The apartment did not have
hot water. Extremely perturbed, I agreed to move until the weekend when I
could go back to Dalian
and have this entire mess completed.
As the weekend passed, I contacted Frank Sun via cell phone text messages to
find out why I wasn't given flight details. He said that the visa wasn't
complete and that I wouldn't be able to move until the next week. I tried
to explain that this situation was not acceptable and that it should have been
done well before this happened, but there was nothing that could be done at
this point.
The next week, I missed my classes to go back to Dalian by train (it’s not
possible to fly with an expired visa).
This time I was brought straight from the train station to the visa
office to finish the paperwork. I was
told that the visa laws had changed and that F & S wasn't aware that it had
to be done in 30 days. Frank Sun contacted someone he knew in the visa
office to have it fixed for a fee instead of my having to go to Hong Kong to
reenter mainland China.
I was later told by a third party that the visa laws in China have NOT,
in fact, changed; it's always been a 30 day deadline with a working visa.
In addition, there was a note stapled in my passport by the Chinese consulate
in Houston
explaining in Chinese and English
that the visa had to be updated with 30 days of arrival (this is how I knew).
The paper was ripped out and thrown away by Jonah Chang, Frank Sun's
assistant at F & S Education, while were in the process of getting it
updated on my first return trip to Dalian.
I returned to Beijing
sans my passport (the visa office had to hold it to put in my new visa), but with
a foreign expert certificate, which allowed me to fly within the country.
After all of this was complete, I was finally a legal citizen of China and could
move back to my much more suitable apartment. Another teacher visited me
from Dalian
about two weeks after this and brought me my passport. I thought I was done with the difficulties of
working with Frank Sun. I was wrong.
My contract states that I would be paid on the 10th of the following month of
service. When the morning of November 10th (a Saturday) rolled around and
I hadn't been paid for October, I contacted Frank Sun via cell phone text
messages to find out why. He said that I should have been paid on Friday,
but if I hadn't I would be paid the following Monday since it was the weekend.
I told him that I couldn't wait until Monday, to which he responded that
if I needed money I should have told him. I responded that I was unaware
that I had to ask to be paid on time. After this incident, I consulted my
contract. There is nothing in the
contract that explains that if the 10th is on a weekend payment will be
received the following Monday. "Party B's monthly salary will be
Y4500-Y5000 Yuan RMB, the pay day is 10th day of next month. If not a
full month, the salary will be prorated (days times salary/30). [ sic.]"
Further, F & S Education and all banks in China are opened on the weekends.
The payment was received around 7 pm that night after many text messages
to Frank Sun.
Also concerning my contract, it states clearly that "each class has no
more than 24 students, normally less than 20 students". I have five
classes that I see four times a week for 45 minutes, which is completely within
the terms of the contract. However, each class is in excess of 30
students, many are closer to 40. Dealing with this many students is
difficult in any situation, but as I was teaching spoken English, the
difficulties were exacerbated. Further, the contract says that I would be
receiving free Chinese lessons for the duration of the contract (In the
"Benefits" section it states, "Twice free Chinese classes per
week".). These never materialized. I spoke with a colleague at
the university who suggested a Chinese text, and I met a Chinese girl who is
attempting to help me learn the language.
But I have yet to have a formal class arranged.
The final bit of drama that Frank Sun threw my way involved my leaving the
company. My boss at Beijing University
of Technology, Wei Ping, offered me a direct contract with the university
instead of through Frank. This contract
would have basically the same terms, but would pay me Y6000 instead of Y4500
and offer me Y5000 in the form of an airfare bonus instead of the additional
$300 (Y2250) that Frank Sun offered. Further,
signing with the university insured that I would not be reassigned to another
location, which could be anywhere in China. In other words, the BJUT contract was better
in every regard. I received an email
from Frank Sun reminding me that it was time to resign the contract with F
& S Education.
Email
dated November 22, 2007
Frank Sun wrote, “It is the time to decide to stay or leave. If you
want to stay and teach in the University in Beijing, we can talk with the university,
increase your int'l airfare bonus plus extension of your international
insurance. If you prefer to sign contract with the school directly, that would
be fine but we have to terminate your working visa first and you have to
responsible for your international insurance. Chinese universities won't
provide any international insurances.
Pls let me know your decision in your earliest convenience.”
Email
dated November 23, 2007
Lea Witkowski wrote, “I talked to Wei Ping today, and I have
decided to sign a contract directly with the university. He called someone while I was in his office
to sort out the visa situation and was told that it's not a problem. I don't understand all the details of the
Chinese visas, but he did mention that it would not have to be canceled, only transferred
to Beijing. If you have more questions about it, you
should talk to Wei Ping as, again, I do not understand the entire process. He did mention, however, that I would need a
letter with a stamp from F & S Education saying that my contract with you
will be finished on January 16 and that's why we're transferring the visa. As soon as you can get this to me the
better. He doesn't want to have to go
through what I already dealt with with my visa expiring.”
Email
dated November 24, 2007
Frank Sun wrote, “Hi Lea, Weiping called me and asked if
it was possible to transfer you to work in his university and sign
contract directly. Normally we request our intern teachers return back to US
upon completion of the internship. I will talk with Weipint to sort
it out...It is not a big problem but not that easy either. We
have to do much paper work for your transfer and visa issue.”
Email dated November 24, 2007
Lea Witkowski wrote, “Thanks for the heads up. However, I wanted to
remind you that there is nothing in my contract that prevents me from changing
companies or asks me to return to the United States once I have completed
my contract with F & S Education. No
where in any paperwork I have is this stated, nor did you say anything to this
effect in any email or face to face conversation I have had with you. The opportunity at the university is much
better for my situation (they are paying me more and giving me more money in
the form of an airfare bonus). In
addition, it's much easier to work with people who are in the same city as I
am. Further, Wei Ping told me that
transferring the visa was NOT a big deal.
He did not mention an excessive amount of paperwork, only one letter
from you with a stamp stating that my contract with you will be complete on
January 16th. Finally in you last email
you said, "If you prefer to sign contract with the school directly, that
would be fine..." I'm unsure as to
how it went from "fine" to "not that easy". Please let me
know if there is anything I can do to speed up this process. Again, I do not want to be in a situation in
which my visa expires again. As it is
now November, I do not see a reason that this cannot be completed long before
January.”
Email
dated November 28, 2007
Lea Witkowski wrote, “I just spoke with Wei Ping. He told me
he had spoken with you about my signing another contract with you.
Frankly, I do not see how this would benefit me at all. As I have already
said, the contract with the university is better in every regard.
Further, I am not leaving my position to start at another school. In
other words, you do not have to replace me. I'm not sure what all the
trouble is. Wei Ping reminded me that I need a letter with a stamp
stating my contract is over with F & S on January 16th. I need this
as soon as possible so that I can transfer my visa without having to deal with
all the trouble of it expiring. Please respond as soon as possible.”
I was concerned about this situation given my previous
interactions with Frank Sun and F & S Education, so I emailed Michael
Hendley, my contact in the United
States.
Email dated November 28, 2007
Lea Witkowski wrote, “My contract with F & S Education will be
over on January 16th, 2008. I have been
offered a position at the university where I teach that pays me more and offers
me more benefits. I have decided to take
this position.
In order to transfer my visas,
however, I need a letter with a stamp from Frank Sun explaining that my
contract is over with that company. For
some reason, he registered me as teaching and living in Dalian
instead of in Beijing, and now that I will be
officially working for a school in Beijing,
I need to transfer the paperwork. It is
now November 28. I have emailed Frank
Sun three times asking for this letter to no avail. The letter must be received before the
beginning of January. As it is a simple
letter without heavy thought required, I see no reason why this cannot be
accomplished in a few minutes.
Do you have a suggestion on how I
should deal with this situation?”
Email
dated November 28, 2007
Michael Hendley wrote, “Thank you for letting me know about your
situation. I have forwarded the information
on to both the Program Manager here and Frank, so I expect that this should be
resolved quickly. If you don't hear back
from him soon, please let me know so that we can follow up on our end. Congratulations on your new position, by the
way. It sounds like a great opportunity. All the best”
Frank Sun responded in the course of this process.
Email dated November 28, 2007
Frank Sun wrote, “Lea, i got your email. you will get the letter in
time. Weiping did call me and we talked about your transfer. i have no problem
on that but I need to confirm what kind of letter the school needs and if we
have any other responsibilities. You don't have to worry about it. Frank”
I emailed Frank Sun three additional times asking for the
letter. It was not received until
January 5, 2008. This was just in time
for the semester to be over and my holiday to begin. I waited in limbo for my visa to be updated (which
took two weeks) to get my passport back before I could begin traveling for the
holiday break.
All in all, it seems that Frank Sun is unaware of how to
operate a company that invites foreigners into China to teach. Not only did
my visa expire, but one of the first stories I heard from another teacher was
about her visa expiring. Further, almost everyone who came into China with me
experienced a similar dilemma. The
process of getting a new visa was not pleasant and made me very uncomfortable.
Further, Frank Sun does not provide any information about procedures
without being asked and only provides partial information when asked. It
is very frustrating to try to live independently in a country (not to mention a
different city from your company) where you aren't given the details of any procedure
you’re expected to comply with or any decision that is made.
Admittedly, I did not research Frank Sun or F & S Education before I hopped
on a plane and flew across the world.
Somehow, a program associated with the United States Government seemed
secure. If I had done a quick Google
search, however, I would have found this:
Posted
on ESL Hang Out dated February 2006:
“There are so many things wrong
with this program that I don't know where to begin. Mr. Frank Sun
(Owner/Operator of NCC) forged a Master’s degree from a New York university so that I could work for
Dalian Institute of Light Industry. I have a BA in Communications and Marketing
with a CELTA certification. I was cheated, lied to and then fired because I
can’t teach math! That's right! I was fired because I refused to teach math. My
contract says I was hired to teach English as a Second Language, but he wanted
me to teach math.”
[http://www.aacircle.com.au/forums/f2/ncc-education-frank-sun-3139/]
Or this:
Posted on ESL Hang Out dated March 2006:
“In a nutshell, I was forced out of
my apartment in November and into an unsanitary (sewage stench/cockroach
infestation) and unsafe (aggressive neighborhood flasher/multiple keys to my
door and unknown people just walking in) apartment because of redecoration of
the campus accommodations…In January I went to the Foreign Affairs Office to
collect my winter salary (standard two months salary with a holiday allowance)
but much to my surprise I was refused! I
was told that after the deplorable way they treated me, how could they ensure I
wouldn’t just take the money and run…PS) The Director of the Foreign Affairs
Office is buddies with Mr. Frank Sun (of NCCDalian: (see another post in this
thread)… and in fact I was “recruited” by Mr. Sun… and there is a long and
complicated story there too… it involves mis-representation and outright lying.
You may be interested to know that NCC Dalian (and Mr. Sun) is being
investigated by NCC International.”
[http://www.aacircle.com.au/forums/f2/dalian-institute-light-industry-beware-3599/]
I have paid over $260 (Y1872) for things that were
absolutely not necessary in addition to the expenses incurred from traveling to
and from Dalian
so many times (even though my transportation was paid). None of this
money was reimbursed nor was it explained why I was required to do these things
and none of the other interns were. Frank Sun did reimburse costs that I
incurred from moving to Beijing.
I also have further emails between myself and Frank Sun to the effect of all of
these things I have described with the visa, living conditions, and teaching
requirements. I can forward them to anyone who is interested in the
direct communication.
The contract states clearly the penalties for breaking it.
"When either of the two parties fails to fulfill the contract or fails to
fulfill the contract obligations according to the terms stipulated, that is,
breaks the contract; it must pay a breach penalty of US $500 (or the equivalent
in RMB)." With all of these incidents written out, I feel that it is
clear that my contract has been broken repeatedly during the five and a half
months I've been teaching with F & S Education.
I strongly recommend that the United States no longer be
affiliated with Frank Sun or any of his programs in any capacity. F &
S Education and Frank Sun are not the people foreigners want to work for in China. I
will be posting this information on any English as a Second Language website or
program that I find in the future including Dave's ESL Café, ESL Hang Out, and
Teachers’ Discussion Forum. I’ve also
copied this email to anyone I thought would be interested or is associated with
Frank Sun or F & S Education.
Please contact me with any questions. I did not send this email earlier
because I wanted to be finished with my contract with F & S Education to
avoid further complications.
Sincerely,
Lea Witkowski
