TTC China

I had two main periods with TTC in China, one month in Beijing for TEFL theory training, then 5 months teaching high school in a Chinese city. The month in Beijing was very enjoyable and went very quickly as things often do in China. Overall I think the experience in Beijing was a very good introduction to the China experience. The second part or the main event of the 5 month placement, was also very enjoyable. Day to day in the placement we had little contact with TTC, as contrasted to the constant contact in Beijing, as we had during the TEFL course been in personal contact with TTC staff everyday as they organised and ran all the events and activities. Within my placement, we had no such constant contact, though this is not a negative aspect as TTC was always a phone call away for problems. TTC did however personally visit us in our placement a few weeks after we arrived and I received phone calls now and then just to ask how we where and if there was any problems. Similarly we had constant email contact from the office in Beijing. Personally I never had a great deal of big problems in my placement so I did not have much for TTC to resolve for me. I did however have one incident where TTC was a great help.
I taught at 2 high schools, one of which was amazing and unbelievably enjoyable and productive and another which was very difficult to teach at since the students would not cooperate very well. I worked through a regional partner in my city, so i was contracted with an organisation representing foreign teachers in the city, rather than with the schools directly. I raised concerns with the regional partner about the school, and told them seriously that it was becoming an issue since I could not do my job there and it was beginning to affect my performance at my other school. The regional organisation where in no way dodgy and in no way treated anyone badly or exploitatively, but it is often difficult in China to differentiate between what someone is capable of doing about a problem and what they are willing to do about a problem, especially since by not solving it they stand to gain, financially or otherwise. Not much happened by telling the regional organisation so I called my regional contact person at TTC, who I also knew from Beijing, and they called the regional partner. Just this call sorted things out with a degree of authority. Without TTC, and if I was alone in China at that regional organisation, I do not know if I would have the bargaining power to negotiate to leave that school and find another one as I eventually did. In the very least it would not have been as easy as it was. It is very useful, even just for situations that might occur and that you do not forsee, to have someone you know is on your side.