Hanova International Department of Bodi School, X'ian, China

cybergals66 · Post by **cybergals66** » Fri Apr 05, 2013 10:13 pm

Help!

I need info on the captioned school. I am looking for a new position and will be Skype interviewing with the school this week. There is no information on ISR regarding the school or it's present Director Martin Hughes.

I don't want to make a mistake by being swayed with promises and then not having them fulfilled.

I am looking for a stable school where I will be teaching English/Language Arts/ELL.

Any help is certainly appreciated.
Thanks

Lopaka · Post by **Lopaka** » Sat Apr 06, 2013 5:46 pm

I visited Bodi School in Xian a year and a half ago as part of the College Board Bridge Program. We were only there for about 3 hours so my views are extremely limited. The school is a private Chinese School with a small "international" wing. I observed a Chinese language lesson for the International High School students....pretty much just rote memorization....I say, you say...again and again and again. Engagement was minimal...not sure how much learning was going on. The building was very tired but there was talk of a new facility on the horizon. Resources and technology also seemed limited. We were not given access to talking with staff but the Head of school gave us a 40 minute power point presentation on the Chinese education system. We also were not able to speak with the students at this school...so again, my views are based solely on the observations in several classrooms and the presentation.
As a tourist, Xian is a great place...the Terra Cotta Warriors are a sight to behold, the night markets amazing, etc. but I think living there might be a different matter. Xian is a long ways away from anything.
Sorry I can't offer you more.

cybergals66 · Post by **cybergals66** » Sat Apr 06, 2013 7:22 pm

Thank you for your response. I want to be very careful and you have given me more insight.

I am hoping there are others who can shed more light.
Regards

eion_padraig · Post by **eion_padraig** » Sun Apr 07, 2013 6:40 pm

Honestly, I don't think it matters much who the foreigner is that the private Chinese high school puts in charge to deal with foreigners. He won't have much say in how things are run, and he's probably mostly there to deal with the laowai teachers. I'd take a look at the norms for Chinese run schools and try to decide if you're okay with them in general.

Chinese schools (as opposed to international school in China which are completely different) are run in a very hierarchical way. So if you're okay with going with the flow and being in harmony with the administration, then you'll be fine. I would say you shouldn't expect that the promises made will be honored. What exactly will change is hard to say. In China, contracts are often a starting point for continued discussions. Both from personal experience and from those I know who've worked in Chinese run schools, don't expect decisions to be made well in advance, and schedules often change at the last minute. Whether you would be happy depends on what you mean by stable.

I think Xi'an could be a fascinating place to be as a foreigner if you have decent Chinese language skills and an interest in engaging with the local culture. But it would be low on my list of places that are easy for people who to have access to an expat community.

Good luck.

cybergals66 · Post by **cybergals66** » Sun Apr 07, 2013 7:48 pm

Hello
Thanks for your insightful reply. This is my first year in China and I presently work for a new Chinese school affiliated with ISS. The administration changed policy in their Teacher's manual regarding extra pay when a teacher substitutes for another's class due to illness etc. I brought the policy to their attention requesting just renumeration and the response was to argue and ignore my request for compensation. Many of the antics that I have experienced would never be tolerated in the U.S. because of unions and access to a court forcing them to comply with contracts. But, I am in China and trying to be so careful before I leap.

I am an expat that needs to have connection with others in a like community.

I am in Nansha across from beautiful parks near the Pearl River Delta and purely Chinese towns around us; it is me and the crickets on the weekends.

Any other responses would be appreciated.

eion_padraig · Post by **eion_padraig** » Sun Apr 07, 2013 9:49 pm

Unfortunately, what you describe is fairly typical of the Chinese run schools, and you're right that there is little that can be done other than not working at those type of schools.

Given where you are in China now, I would say that Xi'an would be worse at least in so far as there being much of an expat community available. It will certainly be livelier and dirtier than where you are now. At least now you have access to Guangzhou, Shenzen, and Hong Kong (though I wonder if you have a multiple entry Z visa). I doubt Bodi would be all that different in terms of how it's run.

sevarem · Post by **sevarem** » Thu Apr 11, 2013 5:54 am

I know nothing about the school, but it sounds like a typical Chinese school with an international department. And since you're working for one now, you know exactly what it's like.

I do know a little something about Xi'an though. There is no teacher's salary high enough that would get me to live there. Xi'an's great for two nights, which is all it takes to see the sights. It has a small area near the Big Goose Pagoda that is clean, with a lovely park. And that's it.

The rest of Xi'an is filthy, dusty, dirty, worse so than several other Chinese cities I can think of. There's nothing to do once you've seen the sites and, unless you fancy hanging out with backpacker English teachers in their early twenties, there's not much of an expat community. And you're surrounded by nothing to top it all off, so it's hard to leave.

tangchao · Post by **tangchao** » Thu Feb 27, 2014 2:48 am

I just found this here and thought I'd better correct some basic misinformation.

Hanova International School (as it's now legally called) is a separate entity to Bodi School that exists in a separate building. It has nothing to do with the 'international' department of Bodi School (which is made up of Kazakhi students here purely to learn Chinese).

Hanova first opened her doors in August 2012 in a new building so the facilities are very new with the chairs, tables and many of the fittings coming from Germany. I think that the person who confused Hanova with Bodi's department may have been here for three hours prior to August 2012.

The school population is currently over 200. It is K-12 with about 50% of the student body being Korean and a decent mix of other nationalities making up the other half.

The international teacher package is actually okay. It is enough to travel and save on. The accommodation provided is not bad. The healthcare to be had in the city is adequate.

The expat group is not purely TEFL teachers in their early 20s; there are many well paid professionals in different industries. Interestingly, there are many foreign students here studying in the city's universities. Whilst the expat community here is a little harder to tap into than other cities, it is worth the effort.

Yes Xi'an is polluted and dusty, cold in winter and can be 'done' in two days; however, there is plenty to do around the place, including travel to Tibet, Xingjiang and Yunnan. In addition, there is a direct flight with Air Asia from Xi'an to Bangkok which takes three and a half hours.

eion_padraig · Post by **eion_padraig** » Thu Feb 27, 2014 4:50 am

Oh, well that sounds completely different than described.

And yet still not any better.

tangchao · Post by **tangchao** » Fri Feb 28, 2014 2:58 am

eion_padraig wrote:
> Honestly, I don't think it matters much who the foreigner is that the
> private Chinese high school puts in charge to deal with foreigners. He
> won't have much say in how things are run, and he's probably mostly there
> to deal with the laowai teachers. I'd take a look at the norms for Chinese
> run schools and try to decide if you're okay with them in general.
>
> Chinese schools (as opposed to international school in China which are
> completely different) are run in a very hierarchical way. So if you're okay
> with going with the flow and being in harmony with the administration, then
> you'll be fine. I would say you shouldn't expect that the promises made
> will be honored. What exactly will change is hard to say. In China,
> contracts are often a starting point for continued discussions. Both from
> personal experience and from those I know who've worked in Chinese run
> schools, don't expect decisions to be made well in advance, and schedules
> often change at the last minute. Whether you would be happy depends on what
> you mean by stable.
>
> I think Xi'an could be a fascinating place to be as a foreigner if you have
> decent Chinese language skills and an interest in engaging with the local
> culture. But it would be low on my list of places that are easy for people
> who to have access to an expat community.
>
> Good luck.

Well, you certainly drew a pretty heavily demarcation between Chinese schools and International schools in China yourself mate. The mistake I was trying to correct is that Hanova is definitely the latter. The person who thought that they knew about Hanova had actually been here prior to the school building itself even being constructed yet they went on to misinform the OP.

eion_padraig · Post by **eion_padraig** » Fri Feb 28, 2014 12:58 pm

Yes, locally controlled schools are not places I'd recommend. But there are still bad international schools in China that are not places I'd want to work.

But if you have chairs that actually come from Germany, it's clearly a great place. And I don't know if I can even tell you how long I've searched for school with a truly okay package, with housing that isn't bad, and adequate healthcare. I think you won me over even before hearing that the school was 50% Korean nationals.

tangchao · Post by **tangchao** » Fri Feb 28, 2014 3:43 pm

Clearly you are mistaking me for someone who actually wants to win you over.

jimmifoo · Post by **jimmifoo** » Sat Jan 03, 2015 10:20 pm

For Parents
Hanova International School (XiAn, China) is turning from bad to worse. School has a lot of unofficial holidays dedicated to teacher training. Can’t they do it during the school holidays? They force parents to pay a lot of extra fees that are unreasonable. We pay computer fees, but there were no computer lessons. We pay field trip fees when there is no field trip. This is a lousy school. They even have pornography books in the school library. This is not acceptable for me. If you happen to be in this School, watch your invoices, they will always quietly over charge you in areas that you may over look like exchange rates and lunch fees which you tell them not to include. If your company pays, they make sure you check the invoices as they will always overbill. They have no textbooks and are quite disorganized. Other schools like XiAn International School are a better choices. If you live in the northern part, there is a Christian international called Bo Ai school there. Avoid whenever possible Hanova. Just beware that they never keep their promises.

For Teachers
Hanova International School (XiAn, China) lacks the essentials of true international school. It is run by a Local Chinese Management who seeks to turn the school into a money making machine. Quality education and customer service is going down with cost cutting to maximize profit. Although there is an English principal, he cannot overwrite management decision. The environment is now non-organic and very bureaucratic. So make sure you get a good deal before you make a the jump.

eion_padraig · Post by **eion_padraig** » Sat Jan 03, 2015 10:45 pm

But Tangchao made it sound like such a great place to work after he worked so hard to win me over. Now, I don't know what to think.

Jimmifoo, the teachers who end up at a place like Hanova International School either never make it to this website or are so desperate they take the job anyway so your post probably won't help. I'm sure your Bo'Ai Christian International School is much better where they wouldn't even think to offer professional development to teachers.

Good times.

jimmifoo · Post by **jimmifoo** » Sun Jan 04, 2015 9:52 am

Hi Eion
To be honest. It was a great place until the great teachers left.
Good Luck