Job Discussion Forums

ThailandRon · Joined: 14 Sep 2014 Posts: 4

Spat at in the face

shawadywady · Joined: 13 Mar 2013 Posts: 40

Sinaman · Joined: 23 May 2009 Posts: 85

You can make that amount of money here, but more than likely you will have to supplement your income with private lessons.

I make 14k from my job here in Guangdong, and I make roughly another 14k from privates. For example, I teach 8 kids at one of these kids' houses.I just do one two hour lesson on Saturday mornings, and I end up making about 1000rmb a week for the two hours every week.

I have been doing this a long time and have a reputation as a good teacher, so if you want to make good money, you are gonna have to build up your rep, form a good relationship with students/parents, organise yourself-eg where will you teach and WHAT will you teach- and work hard. I choose not to work Sundays, giving me one day off a week, but if I chose to do so, I could be clearing 40k rmb a month. It is possible, you just need to take the initiative to learn how to be a great teacher and the initiative to start these lessons

ESL104 · Joined: 27 Sep 2014 Posts: 108

I imagine working 7 days a week would mean burnout pretty fast though unless you get some serious paid holidays from your main job so you could recharge the batteries.

Sinaman · Joined: 23 May 2009 Posts: 85

ESL104 · Joined: 27 Sep 2014 Posts: 108

jm21 · Joined: 26 Feb 2008 Posts: 406

It depends on the person. My brother works back in the US. He typically works 16 hours per day, 6.5 days per week. 2 jobs, one as a cna and one as a dishwasher. Both of those are harder than teaching esl. He gets one week of vacation per year but it can't be on a major holiday. He has been doing that for several years now.

Most workers in Qingdao work 12 hour days, 6 days per week, and would probably work more if they could. They get no paid vacation or only get paid vacation during the national holidays.

I am lazy, as are most foreign teachers, but to say 40 or 50 hours per week is unsustainable is absolute rubbish. I don't want it for myself, as I have done it and hated it, but 80+ hour weeks are not that uncommon in America at least. I started talking with my brother a bit about working here and his first question was whether he could get a second job easily.

ESL104 · Joined: 27 Sep 2014 Posts: 108

thechangling · Joined: 11 Apr 2013 Posts: 276

Dan123 · Joined: 08 Jan 2014 Posts: 112

Non Sequitur · Joined: 23 May 2010 Posts: 4724 Location: China

Class contact hours are way more energy-sapping than a job that only involves managing yourself.
I did 20 contact hours pw once for a month, to cover a vacancy and I was mighty glad when the new teacher arrived.
I don't think there is any kind of work that parallels teaching.

jm21 · Joined: 26 Feb 2008 Posts: 406

Pretty much every teacher in America has at least 20 contact hours. I would think more like 24. And oral English is way easier than teaching a subject matter.

Sure there is prep but it becomes less and less as time goes on. Most teachers teach the same subjects over and over again so after a while it's more review than prep. Plus you learn tricks as you go on.

I'm sorry, but teaching is one of the easiest jobs out there. Plus you usually get lots of vacation. I'm liking it a lot. I seriously cannot understand how this job could be considered hard work. Maybe kindy (haven't tried but heard it's tiring).

Dan123,

I meant 40 or 50 total hours, not contact.

At my job, if I was starting fresh without any lesson plans, it would be about 4 hours of prep per week. That's 3 hours of prep for each 2 hour lesson. About 14 contact hours per week. The public relations class I teach is most of that prep time.