{"id":5484,"date":"2016-06-01T12:18:00","date_gmt":"2016-06-01T12:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/?p=5484"},"modified":"2016-06-01T12:19:56","modified_gmt":"2016-06-01T12:19:56","slug":"comparing-the-schools-and-comments-working-in-beijing-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/comparing-the-schools-and-comments-working-in-beijing-china\/","title":{"rendered":"Comparing the Schools and Comments: Working in Beijing, China"},"content":{"rendered":"

Around the world, there are cities that have more than one international school. Many times\u00a0there is an American school, a British School, and an international school that uses an international curriculum.<\/p>\n

Some cities, though, have MANY international schools! \u00a0When that is the case, how do the comments about each school compare to each other?<\/p>\n

This\u00a0blog series looks at comparing some of these comments, all coming from international schools in the same city.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_4337\"<\/a> \"IMG_4296\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Beijing, China<\/strong><\/p>\n

Currently,\u00a0we have 25 schools listed<\/a> in Beijing\u00a0<\/b>on International School Community.<\/p>\n

Schools with the most submitted comments:<\/p>\n

Beijing City International School <\/a>(Beijing, China)<\/span> – 31 Comments
\n<\/strong>Beijing BISS International School <\/a>(Beijing, China)<\/span> – 41 Comments
\n<\/strong>Beijing International Bilingual Academy <\/a>(Beijing, China)<\/span> – 35 Comments
\n<\/strong>Beijing National Day School <\/a>(Beijing, China)<\/span> – 38 Comments
\n<\/strong>Western Academy Beijing <\/a>(Beijing, China)<\/span> – 43 Comments
\n<\/strong>Tsinghua International School (Beijing) <\/a>(Beijing, China)<\/span> – 93 Comments<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hiring Policy<\/u><\/b><\/p>\n

“You’ll notice in the above comments that the school “prefers” certified teachers. It doesn’t require them. When I worked there there were very few accredited teachers.” –\u00a0Tsinghua International School Beijing<\/a><\/p>\n

“The school prefers candidates with at least a BA degree and teaching certification, also previous IB experience. They can’t hire anyone over 60.” –\u00a0Beijing BISS International School<\/a><\/p>\n

“Initial contracts are for one year; subsequent contracts are for two or three years. After the initial contract, it is possible for a teacher to terminate employment at the end of any school year without prejudice, provided that proper notice is given.” –\u00a0Beijing National Day School<\/a>
\n<\/a>
\nHousing Benefits<\/span>
\n<\/strong>
\n“Get a flex account to spend on housing and travel. Housing rents vary considerably. Some quite pricey but depends on what you want. There are lots of cheaper options. Prices are going up though. Utilities quite reasonable. Internet and Tv often included in rent. Heating is provided by Beijing authorities. Electricity reasonable as are other bills. Phone very cheap.” –\u00a0Western\u00a0Academy Beijing<\/a><\/p>\n

“Local rents run around 7000 RMB for a two bedroom, partially furnished apartment. Housing is very expensive. When looking for an apartment realize that what you see is what you get. The landlord will not paint or clean up before you move in.” –\u00a0Tsinghua International School Beijing<\/a><\/p>\n

“Teachers are responsible for paying their own metered electric utility, telephone, the Internet, and water bills. A flat monthly housing allowance of between RMB 3,000 and RMB 4,000 is optional.” –\u00a0Beijing National Day School<\/a><\/p>\n

“Housing is paid for. Utilities are up to the teacher, but are reasonable. I lived in a newer complex within walking distance of school. Starting your second year you can choose to live downtown and get a housing allowance.” –\u00a0Beijing International Bilingual\u00a0Academy<\/a><\/p>\n

School Location<\/span>
\n<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>“Urban, yes, but a 40 minute subway ride from other westerners.” –\u00a0Beijing National Day School<\/a><\/p>\n

“Teacher housing is on site. They are ok. Big enough but heating is an issue in the winter. Most new staff live off site in one of the compounds within 30min walk (5min cab away).” –\u00a0Beijing International Bilingual\u00a0Academy<\/a><\/p>\n

“Staff mostly take taxis to work in the morning, but can take the school busses home in the afternoon.” –\u00a0Western\u00a0Academy Beijing<\/a><\/p>\n

“Most of the staff live in Wudaukou (three bus stops south) and Shangdi (eight bus stops north). It is recommended to live in these areas the first year until you get your feet under you and learn to get around. Most staff have furnished apartments. Housing is expensive and the housing allowance does not cover the cost of rent. Next year the housing allowance will almost double. That doesn’t cover all the average rent in the area but comes a lot closer.” –\u00a0Tsinghua International School Beijing<\/a><\/p>\n

Language of Students<\/u>
\n<\/strong>
\n“Again, the comment above is accurate, but misleading. Students are Chinese with American or Canadian passports. Many had spent little to no time outside of China. This is not a bad thing, the students were great, but don’t think you’ll be teaching at a school with a large mix of nationalities. This is very much a Chinese school.” –\u00a0Tsinghua International School Beijing<\/a><\/p>\n

“Other than Kazakh, among some students on immersion programme, Mandarin dominates. Most posters and school information is mono-lingual.” –\u00a0Beijing National Day School<\/a><\/p>\n

“Common language is English. ESOL support good and in ES will go into an English enrichment programme before exited to other languages. Some children will speak own languages but predominantly English” –\u00a0Western\u00a0Academy Beijing<\/a><\/p>\n

“Definitely Chinese in the hall ways and recess areas. English level is improving slowly but still has a long way to go.” –\u00a0Beijing International Bilingual\u00a0Academy<\/a><\/p>\n

(These are just 4 of the 65 different comments topics that on each school profile page on our website.)<\/p>\n

\"IMG_4211\"<\/a> \"IMG_4018\"<\/a><\/p>\n

If you work at an international school in Beijing, share what you know.\u00a0Consider becoming a Mayor<\/a> for unlimited premium membership!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Around the world, there are cities that have more than one international school. Many times\u00a0there is an American school, a British School, and an international school that uses an international curriculum. Some cities, though, have MANY international schools! \u00a0When that is the case, how do the comments about each school compare to each other? This\u00a0blog […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5486,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2065],"tags":[1777,1533,2269,1083,2068,1535,813,612,2270],"class_list":["post-5484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comparing-the-schools-and-comments","tag-beijing-biss-international-school","tag-beijing-international-bilingual-academy","tag-beijing-international-schools","tag-beijing-national-day-school","tag-comparing-schools","tag-teaching-in-beijing","tag-tsinghua-international-school-beijing","tag-western-academy-beijing","tag-working-in-beijing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/IMG_4337.jpg?fit=853%2C1280&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2flVT-1qs","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":543,"url":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/great-resource-international-school-a-website-about-the-many-international-schools-in-china\/","url_meta":{"origin":5484,"position":0},"title":"Great Resource: International School – a website about the many international schools in China.","author":"ISCommunity","date":"March 23, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Are you interested in reading about the numerous international schools in China? Then you might want to check out the \u201cInternational School!\u201d website. China is one of the countries where the economy is booming.\u00a0 As a result, the number of international schools there is also booming.\u00a0 Many teachers are finding\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Great Resource"","block_context":{"text":"Great Resource","link":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/category\/great-resource\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/03\/screen-shot-2012-03-23-at-4-25-06-pm.png?w=350&h=200&crop=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1582,"url":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/video-highlight-yew-chung-international-school-of-beijing\/","url_meta":{"origin":5484,"position":1},"title":"Video Highlight: Yew Chung International School of Beijing","author":"ISCommunity","date":"January 13, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"There are so many international schools to work at in Beijing!\u00a0 How do these schools stand out from each other? Yew Chung International School of Beijing The school campus seems to be next to some beautiful parks. An interesting concept of the use of c0-prinicpals, one being an expat and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Video Highlight"","block_context":{"text":"Video Highlight","link":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/category\/video-highlight\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5670,"url":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/xian-hi-tech-international-school\/","url_meta":{"origin":5484,"position":2},"title":"The Journey to School: Xian Hi-Tech International School in China","author":"ISCommunity","date":"August 27, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The journey to work is indeed an important one. \u00a0The journey though is not so clear for international school teachers when they are looking for jobs at schools in\u00a0cities\/countries to which they have never been. \u00a0So let's share what we know! One of our members, who works\u00a0at the Xian Hi-Tech\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Journey to School"","block_context":{"text":"The Journey to School","link":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/category\/the-journey-to-school\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Picture-1-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C677&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Picture-1-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C677&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Picture-1-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C677&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Picture-1-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C677&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Picture-1-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C677&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2481,"url":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/blogs-international-school-teachers-international-school-teacher\/","url_meta":{"origin":5484,"position":3},"title":"Blogs of international school teachers: \u201cChris Chow Fun\u201d (An international school teacher at the Western Academy of Beijing)","author":"ISCommunity","date":"December 4, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Are you inspired to start up a blog about your adventures living abroad? 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