点击排行
Room 302, Unit 3, Building 3, Yuncheng University, 1155 Fudan Road, Yanhu District, Yuncheng City, Shanxi Province, China, 044000. E-mail: jfbalderson@gmail.com Mob: (+0086) 13225850751
Skype ID – james.balderson40
Teacher Yuncheng University March 2021 onwards …
For sixteen months now, I have been working with freshmen and sophomore Business English and English majors and enjoying myself immensely.
Teacher Barstow School of Ningbo Oct. 2020 to Feb. 2021
I spent a term, or almost an entire term, teaching English Literature to grade nine, ten, and eleven students. This was my first experience of a so-called “international” school. Although I met some great colleagues, and appeared to leave with my professional reputation enhanced, I still decided to move on for a variety of valid reasons, mainly due to moral outrage over fake grading, the excessive intensity of the workload, and the relentless non-stop nature of the assessment.
Teaching Staff: Dongying Number One High School Nov. 2019 to Sep. 2020
Somewhat strangely, my official job title, according to my contract, was “Teaching Staff!” I worked at Dongying Number One High School, Shandong Province. The school is part of an international program, aiming to prepare Chinese students for entry to overseas universities. I was teaching English reading, speaking and writing – with an emphasis on TOEFL. I was also teaching American Literature. Almost all my students were fifteen years old.
ESL Teacher: Web International English June 24th to Oct.12th 2019
I returned to Web International English for a second spell, having been made an attractive offer to come back. Unfortunately, after only a few months, the company suddenly declared bankruptcy and, without any advanced notice or compensation package etc. I found myself unemployed.
Independent Contractor Anglophone and Skimatalk July 2015 to June 2019
During this almost four year period, I was working from home, online, as an English teacher. I didn’t really have any official job title, as such. I guess I was a kind of freelancer or independent contractor. I am particularly proud of my record in regard to Skimatalk. Skimatalk is not a traditional online school. It’s an online marketplace, where students and teachers can connect. Effectively, Skimatalk is an agent. They provide a platform for these connections to take place and they take a 20% cut of the teachers’ earnings. Ultimately, therefore, market forces determine whether or not a teacher is any good. It operates on a bookings-based system. Students book 25 minute sessions with the teacher of their choice. If you are not a good teacher, then students simply will not book sessions with you because they can choose from 847 others.
At the time of writing, I am the 8th most booked Skimatalk teacher of all time, having taught exactly 5, 844 sessions. Teachers are ranked by the students, according to 5 categories: Teaching Skill, Enthusiasm, Punctuality, Feedback and Voice/Video Clarity. The maximum score is 5. After having received 1, 758 ratings my average overall rating is 4.93, which is slightly higher than the average overall rating of the top 20 teachers on the site. Many of the sessions are “free conversation,” although there are also a variety of other teaching duties, such as IELTS, TOEFL, editing and proofreading, together with MBA interview preparation. I continue to teach on Skimatalk, on a part-time basis.
As for Anglophone, this is a traditional online school. It’s based in Almeria, in the south of Spain. It isn’t a marketplace, so I was allocated students and enjoyed the comparative security of a regular weekly schedule. Again, much of my work involved free conversation, although there was also an emphasis on preparation for various European Framework examinations (A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2) etc. I was a popular and successful teacher and Anglophone would be perfectly happy to provide a reference with respect to my four years working for them.
Foundation Programme Teacher October 2013 to July 2015
I taught English in a local Chinese university, which was in partnership with the Australian organisation, “IIBT” or “International Institute of Business & Technology”. They had a special programme, designed to offer Chinese Accounting, Business Management or Finance major students the opportunity to go to an Australian university for their final year of study. My wife and I worked together to assist the students in preparing for this. We used to refer to this university as “CIE” (College of International Economy) and it was located on the outskirts of Hefei, in Feicui, Anhui Province. Much of our teaching focus was on general spoken English and listening comprehension, but the students’ third year was very much IELTS oriented.
ESL Teacher Web International English May 2009 to January 2014
I began teaching at Web, part-time, in May 2009 and switched to full-time in September 2009, I believe. I resigned from my full-time position in October 2013, but continued to teach some extra part-time classes there until January 2014. I taught all ages, from primary school children to adults and also at all levels from beginner to advanced. In 2010, I was nominated as the outstanding foreign teacher at the Hefei branch of Web International. Due to my corporate background, I considered my forte to be working with Business English and higher level students.
Hefei Run’an Boarding School March 2009 to October 2009?
This was my first teaching position in China, working in a boarding school, which included an international program; GAC (Global Assessment Certificate) on which Chinese students studied a variety of different subjects, in English, with a view towards entering foreign universities. Having said that, I was only responsible for teaching English listening and speaking. When we (my wife and I) returned to the school, after the end of the 2009 summer break, we discovered that the GAC program had been scrapped, due to lack of student interest. We continued to teach a few other classes in the school, on a part-time basis, but thankfully our boss kindly agreed to release us from our contracts, since we both preferred to transfer to Web. During our few months at this school, we taught from kindergarten all the way up to the GAC program for (senior) high school students.
Hornbuckle Mitchell Trustees Limited May 2007 to February 2009
“Pensions Administrator”: I provided a comprehensive administration service to approximately 150 clients, each having self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs). This ranged from placing investments on their behalf to assisting in the purchase and sale of commercial property, offering new business and income drawdown illustrations and co-ordinating “in-specie” and standard transfers in and out.
Natural England (Defra) 2006 to 2007
“Rural Development Adviser”: I worked in a customer service capacity to farmers and their agents, providing administrative support to their (organic) entry level and higher-level farming schemes.
Stratospheric (UK) Plc T/A: Smart October 2004 to July 2006
“Business Development Executive”: I worked for a telemarketing company on behalf of a number of different clients, both corporate and also local government and public sector agencies. I helped these organisations to develop their business through the generation of sales appointment opportunities and also by data cleansing and market research
Mercer Human Resource Consulting June 2001 to July 2003
“Pensions Administration Assistant”: I worked within a team, providing administrative support to a number of corporate clients such as Sharp Electronics/Manufacturing and Edmundson Electrical. I was responsible for all aspects of administration of their final salary pension schemes. I collaborated with Retirement Practice actuaries with regards retirement and transfer value quotations. I also supported Payroll with the processing of pension payments and ensured that all data was accurate and updated within FSA Disclosure deadlines.
Education and Qualifications
Post Graduate Bilingual Diploma, Liverpool Community College 1996 - 1997
After graduation, IT and linguistic skills, especially, were strengthened with success being achieved in 8 different modules of The London Chamber of Commerce & Industry and RSA Examinations Board, including distinctions in French/English Commercial Correspondence, Audio Processing and Text Processing.
7307 City & Guilds Teaching Certificate, MCVS
(Merseyside Council for Voluntary Service) 1994 – 1995
BA Combined Arts Degree, English Lit & French, Liverpool Hope University 1990 – 1994
Stamford Boys Grammar School, Lincolnshire 1983 – 1990
“A” Levels: English Literature – “A” (with distinction)
French - “C”
Economics - “E”
GCSE/”O” Levels: 9 subject passes, at grade “C” or above, including English and Mathematics.
Personal Details
Date of Birth: 16th January 1972
Marital Status: Married with one daughter, Chloe and one son, Jake.
Health: I have an outstanding health record, resulting in my almost never being absent from work.
Interests: Sport and sports betting, writing, classic literature, movies and travelling.
