The International Schools Review Forum

Any thoughts on Yew Chung Foundation (several locations in China).
The schools say they are biligual and there is co teaching going on.
I´ve known singles that worked there & been ok but....
I have kids? Does anyone have information about this school or expat kids attending?

YC Shanghai seems to have quite a few western students, if their sports teams are representative of their school population.

Most International Schools in China aren't allowed to accept Chinese nationals. The bigger Yew Chung campuses have a cross section of nationalities the smaller campuses tend to have more eastern (Korean, Taiwanese, Cantonese) than western. Do you have a specific school in mind?

I was thinking Shanghai. How would my kids fit in to this bilingual environment as entering upper elem students?

Hi Puka

I'm not sure whether you're concerned about your children being in a multilingual/ multicultural classroom, or whether you're specifically concerned about Yew Chung because you're thinking of working there and would have to enroll your kids in the school.

International schools are, by virtue of their identity and mission, multicultural and multilingual environments. Even international schools in Western Europe, which in many cases have a large number of western students enrolled still have linguistically and culturally diverse student populations.

The Yew Chung website seems to indicate that philosophically they try to blend 'Eastern' and 'Western' (whatever that means) practice, values and cultures to establish some sort of international equilibrium. If you're want to work in an overtly Western environment, or your kids to have an overtly western education this may not be the school for you.

We have been teaching overseas for our children´s entire lives. They have been exposed to several languages and were actually bilingual when they were younger. From what I can gather Elem. classes are co taught in English and Chinese.
I wondered if anyone out there has experience bringing thier child into a bilingual classroom as an upper elem student and if they have specifically done it at Yew Chung?
A school with high turn over of foreign kids would be very different from long term residents who have been learning Chinese for many years.
I don´t know enough about Yew Chung to determine this.
I am currently at a school where all the foreign kids except my 2 and one other girl speak the local language fluently.
It makes a difference for the kids socially and academically.

We're in a similar situation to Puka was a couple of years ago. Our current school is all locals, except for our daughter. Thinking about applying to Yew Chung and wondering about the make up of the student body, specifically in Shanghai, but also interested in other areas (not really interested in Hong Kong though).

Daughter would be going into grade 2. My wife and I are both primary.

ISs are NOT by definition multi culural or culturally diverse. A significant number of them are homogenous with local/domestic students. In these schools faculty kids are the only real foreign students.

At Yew Chung/Shanghai your daughter wouldnt be the only foreign student, but it wouldnt be a melting pot of cultures.

Yew Chung is a third tier school in Shanghai. They really only provide housing and a low salary (in the low 20s RMB). They dont provide airfare for dependents, and they reimburse your airfare after 90 days (though you can ask a favor and get it back sooner). Housing is OK, but nothing special or high end. After your first year you get an option for an allowance instead of provided housing. You have to pay all the utilities. Yew Chung doesnt pay insurance either, they provide an allowance for you to purchase and select a plan with them. With a family you will be paying out of pocket for a comparable policy at a competing IS. Yew Chung also collect the 25% tax rate. So if you get a 25K RMB salary your only going to get 21K RMB after taxes. The workload is pretty high 25-30 class periods a week plus your required to spend an extra hour everyday afterschool for extra curricular and tutoring.

I have some friends who worked at Yew Chung (married couple, two kids), and from what they told me about their experience, PsyGuy is correct. The health insurance was terrible, because the allowance didn't provide for much (and doesn't provide for dependents at all), and they ended up paying a lot out of pocket. They said they were given about 30 classes per week, with no support, and after taxes, the take home pay was terrible.

They quit and went home after one year.

On the other hand, one of my students used to be at Yew Chung in Beijing. She was there for, I believe, four years. By the time she came to my school, she was fully conversant in English and Chinese. And no, she's not of Asian descent at all.

ETA: Her parents sent her to Yew Chung because they liked the Christian atmosphere of the school. I don't know if that's a concern for you or not.

Right, cross that one off then.

Psyguy, where are you getting your information?

I am currently at Yew Chung Shanghai. My airfare was reimbursed with my first paycheck in August, 3 weeks after I arrived. The housing is by far the best I have had in now my 4th international school. Yes I do pay all my utilities, but it runs about 300 RMB a month. My complex has a gym, pool, game room, Video library, and a rooftop BBQ that I use for free. The salary you post is much lower than I am making, but maybe you were talking of the salary for a beginning teacher with no experience. Don't know much about the insurance package, just know I was given a list of places I can go to get medical attention if needed. My workload is 20 class periods a week, and the extra hour everyday you mention is nowhere near the truth. We have to provide one hour PER WEEK, and only do this 2 of 3 terms. If you coach a sport this counts as that hour.

Each primary classroom has a Chinese and Western teacher and all subjects are taught in English except the daily hour of Chinese instruction.

@gccoach

Misinformation from SighGuy is a forum hazard. It really should be part of the forum's user agreement.

"Users must be aware that SighGuy has no direct knowledge of the schools he claims to have information about. Taking advice from him is likely to damage to one's job search and possibly their career in international education.

Furthermore, while he doesn't intend to offend you. He does this more or less automatically without trying."

Thanks for providing useful information on the forum.

Actually since posting I've had contact with three other teachers currently teaching at YC in Shanghai and all say positive things about it.

I will have two years experience at the end of this year, my partner will have one, so we're not exactly spoilt for choice. It seems ok.

@gccoach:

Do you have dependents? Because my friend's complaint about the health insurance was that dependent insurance was *not* covered, so they ended up paying a LOT out of pocket for their two children.

I've no firsthand experience at YC, I'm simply repeating what my friend told me. They were obviously quite unhappy with their experience. They were at the YC in Qingdao. I'd expect that the schools in Beijing and Shanghai are quite a lot bigger, so perhaps better structured?