Expats

Blonde hair, blue eyes, working on black labor market

By Alexandra Leyton Espinoza (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-12-22 15:16

With long blonde hair and blue eyes, Erika Andreasson, a 24-year-old from Sweden, is exactly what English schools in the city are looking for - except that she has neither a teaching diploma nor teaching experience.

Erika worked as an oral English teacher at Fidelity English School in Beijing while she was studying Chinese in a university in Beijing last year. She worked for the school for five months from April to September 2008.

She said she was told by the school to say she was a native speaker from the US.

"I have never been to the US," she said. "I knew these parents were spending a lot of money to give their kids a good education. I felt very bad when I had to lie to them but the school said I had to."

Andreasson was paid 200 yuan per 100 minutes.

She needed the money to cover her food expenses, apartment bills and school fees. It was not until she was about to return to Sweden in October when she realized something was wrong.

"According to our contract, we had to give a notice of resignation one month in advance," she said. "I adhered to the contract. And upon my last pay day, the school said the person with the money wasn't here."

Erika went to the school many times to get her salary, but without any success. She said the school still owes her almost 4,000 yuan.

"I went to their office with my friend and told them he could collect the money for me since I was going back to Sweden. They agreed that will not be a problem," she said.

"I signed a letter saying he had my permission to collect the money after I left, since he was also working as an English teacher in the school."

When Andreasson's friend went back to collect her salary, the school refused to give him the money.

"Then I knew it had nothing to do with the fact that I wasn't there - they didn't want to pay me. I made calls and they refused to give me any answers. I felt cheated and couldn't do anything about it," she said.

A former employee named Cynthia at Fidelity English School told a METRO reporter by phone that everything was just a misunderstanding.

"Erika's friend got Erika's salary, but not his salary and when we tried to contact him for his payment he had already gone back to his homeland Sweden," she said.

Erika came back to Beijing in the beginning of January 2009 and called the school twice without any result.

"After a while I gave up, it was too much hassle. I had to speak to different people all the time. Nobody wanted to take responsibility," she said.

Andreasson said she isn't the only one in this situation. She said she knew other students who have similar experience. She said students can't do anything about it even if they been cheated by their employers.

"If you don't have a working visa, you are not allowed to work in China. I knew that," said Andreasson, who now studies psychology at Cambridge University in England .

"Many students are afraid to go to the police," she said