Job Discussion Forums

[MESL]

PROS:
-- All foreign teachers have a bilingual assistant in and out of the classroom.
-- Most assistants majored in English and are fluent, competent, friendly, and helpful.
-- The office staff are bilingual and reliable.
-- No evening classes, weekend classes, or office hours.
-- You don’t have to submit lesson plans, write reports, do evaluations, administer exams, or give scores.
-- No dress code.
-- You don’t need experience or certification.
-- Design your own lessons.
-- Apartments are on or near campus, furnished, and are spacious and luxurious by Chinese standards.
-- Work visa, resident permit, foreign expert certificate, and heath certificate fees are paid by the agency.
-- You can be recruited after the semester begins. I came in late October.
-- Emergency loans.


CONS:
-- No salary for February and August.
-- All travel expenses outside the mainland are paid by the teacher. For those of you who’ve never been to Hong Kong, it’s one of the most expensive cities in the world. When the agency sends you to Hong Kong for a visa run, expect to go through the border with a tall stack of money and go back through the border with a short stack of money. 200 will get you a night in a matchbox. 50 will get you a snack size meal.
-- Reimbursement for a work visa is 1100, not matter what type of service you use. So if can spend your own money on express service and get out of the one of the most expensive cities in the world or you can use standard service and continue to pay your own living expenses while you wait. It works out to about the same amount of money either way.
-- The teacher pays for two way travel to Taiyuan to get a health check.
-- The teacher pays for electricity. I’ve stayed long term in dorms where utilities were free. This saved me as much as 4000 per year. Apartments in China are not well insulated, so if you have a large apartment, you could be paying a staggering amount of money for heating and cooling that is seeping out before it has a chance to benefit you.
-- You’re not allowed to freelance in your spare time. How are you supposed to make up for not getting paid 2 months a year and absorbing visa travel costs?
-- Most schools have only 1 or 2 teachers. So you won’t be hanging out with other foreigners except at the western restaurant on weekends.


FULL REPORT:
English Village is a full service agency with 28 foreign teachers. All foreign teachers have a bilingual assistant in and out of the classroom. Most assistants majored in English and are fluent, competent, friendly, and helpful. The office staff are bilingual and reliable. Most assignments are in senior middle schools in or around Yuncheng, a typical small Chinese town in Shanxi province about 3 hours by express train from Xi’an. Class sizes are about 50 students. Lesson load is up to 20 per week. Lessons are 45-50 minutes. No evening classes, weekend classes, or office hours. You don’t have to submit lesson plans, write reports, do evaluations, administer exams, or give scores. No dress code. Weekly English Corner. Occasional agency staff meetings. Summer camp. Skill level and enthusiasm level varies widely from class to class. You’ll teach each group of students lesson a week. You’ll teach mostly speaking skills. Most classrooms are crude and do not have technology. Use the textbook or design your own lessons. Most schools have one or two foreign teachers. Apartments are on or near campus, furnished, and are spacious and luxurious by Chinese standards. Accommodations are free, utilities are paid by the teacher. Depending on season and lifestyle, electricity is 150-600 per month. Street food starts at 3, restaurant meals start at 10. All apartments have free Internet, some have Wifi, some have cable, some have both. There’s a western owned, western style restaurant in Yuncheng where foreigners hang out on weekends. The agency sponsors all documents. Work visa, resident permit, foreign expert certificate, and heath certificate fees are paid by the agency. Salary is 6000. Airfare is 8000. Contract is for 10 months. No salary during the winter and summer breaks. 1000 for travel during the winter break and 1000 for travel during the summer break. You must be a native speaker and you must have a college degree. You do not need experience or certification.

[fat_chris]

[johntpartee]

That^ and

[keeperofpythons]

Taiyuan itself should be on the cons list.

[fat_chris]

[wangdaning]

[kev7161]

Sounds like a horrible place to work, IMHO. Every time I read one of these job descriptions, I do a little "thank you lord" for the job I found and stuck with years ago.

[RWA1981]

[MESL]

At the company Christmas party, I saw most of the foreign teachers and talked to several of them. My predecessor was at the same school for 2 years. I've worked at 2 of the schools. This isn't one of those places with lots of non-native speakers with suspicious visas. Nothing dodgy here.

[MESL]

They're hiring. You could end up with my old place. Stone's throw from the school. Second floor. Walking distance from the bus line that goes to the train station, bus station, and large supermarket. Local vendors don't try to cheat you or whisper "Foreigner" when you walk by. But buy a large container for emergency cleaning water. The water gets turned off a lot. Electricity went off several times too. And usually at the worst time on both counts. Couldn't shower, flush, do laundry, or wash dishes without the water and electricity being on at the same time. But here at my apartment, the water's been off a few times already. There's no such thing as a perfect job situation. Every gig has it's pros and cons. And compared to other gigs in China, I'd say the pros outweigh the cons.

[wesharris]

Check old posts, awful place.

[Big Worm]

Sounds pretty horrible.

Ridiculous salary. High class hours with too many students. No dress code, lesson planning, assessment, office hours, qualifications or experience = entry level b.s. job. Middle of nowhere. Not paid for vacations. Can't do side work. Classrooms are basically a room (no tech). May or may not have cable/internet. Live on campus. Must work summer camps.

The only reason to take this is if you are desperate.



But what I really wanted to say was...seriously, who makes having to pay twenty bucks a month for electricity a deal breaker? lol.

[MESL]

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

Free ad for recruiter?

Note the multiple errors consistant with Chinese writers.

[Bud Powell]

Wait. Is this a a school or an agency?

Definition of agency: a person or business authorized to act on another's behalf:

It's a stretch to call a school an agency just because its service is education.