Language training schools are big business in China. Thanks to a massive population of avid English learners with plenty of room for improvement, it will be some time before the market is saturated and the bubble bursts on English training centers big and small. Compared to other countries in which the TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language) industry is a calibrated, well oiled machine, dominated by large corporations that have almost watertight recruitment and management practices, the Chinese industry is still, in some ways, finding its feet. This leads to some interesting paradoxes and also creates an environment where those with sheisty tendencies can easily run amok.

Chinese people hoping to gain language skills for their children, or to attain that coveted overseas study opportunity or to further their careers are willing to hand over large wedges of their hard earned cash, just for the privilege of having regular time merely chatting with a native speaking “foreign expert”. Take a walk through a downtown metro station and you can see clues to the size of the TEFL industry in China. All station exits have the nearby famous landmarks or important buildings listed in the station; passing by a catchy advertising poster in the station, you may very well also spy a public signpost to a well-known high end training school. These are clues easily observed by an outsider without the need for research into financial newspapers or journals. However, behind the high profile advertising and slick, opulent offices and classrooms, in some of Beijing’s most prestigious towers, are secrets that would surprise their high paying customers.

Take for example, the director of studies at a well known training school who not so long ago, left work under not so mysterious circumstances. For the sake of anonymity he shall be referred to as Jeremy. Jeremy is a social chameleon with an extremely Machiavellian bent; this was discovered after his departure, much to the chagrin of his ex-colleagues. In his role as director of studies Jeremy acted as intermediary between Chinese bosses and foreign teacher staff and was able, thanks to authority afforded by his position, play everyone around him like an out of tune piano. As the link between the different levels of the company he made the foreign teachers believe that they were constantly under threat of losing their jobs; at the same time, he lead the Chinese management to believe that the foreign staff were discontent with their working conditions, and constantly on the brink of packing up and leaving. Still, this precarious situation was nothing to worry about, because everyone’s favourite guy, Jeremy, would always come rushing to save the day, like true lower management TEFL industry tour de force, flashing pearly whites and warm knowing smiles that set everyone at ease.

At one point in his stay at the school, Jeremy specified that holding a TEFL certificate would become a requisite for all teachers: no certificate no work. True to form, he was kind enough to enroll the teachers on a suitable course, handle their course fees and even submit their homework to the coordinator. Unbeknownst to the hapless teachers there was no course and Jeremy pocketed the fees, whilst their “homework” collected dust in the inbox of his email account. Another rather less cunning, but equally profitable scam pulled by Jeremy was that he offered to procure visas for members of his staff. You guessed it! Those visas never actually materialised, and yet the money paid in advance to Jeremy seemed to magically vaporize. Needles to say, he did not hang around for long.

Unfortunately for the more trusting of the expat community, as well as the bosses of both foreign and Chinese run companies, “enterprising” characters such as Jeremy are not uncommon. It is also true that more often than not employees partial to a little embezzling are allowed to quietly slink away, without being brought to justice; or indeed, even being investigated. One reason for this is that what goes on in accounting rooms of many companies stays in those accounting rooms; management often prefer for it to remain that way. Another reason is that with the many grey areas in Chinese business law, which is still somewhat of a fledgling creature, the boundaries between people considered to be a person with “entrepreneurial flair” and people considered white collar criminals, is to a degree, blurred.

For these reasons, China is known amongst expat circles as being the “wild wild west”. It is a paradise for opportunists, the money is flowing with the freedom of a gold rush for those brazen enough to reach out and stick their finger in that pie. TEFL is not the only industry being tarnished by less scrupulous foreign friends, however, at this stage it is probably the one most prolifically infiltrated by them. What this means to Chinese learners of the English language is uncertain; sadly, one suspects that they are more concerned with the satiating of their need for English tuition, regardless of what goes on behind the scenes.
 

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