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Aston Xuzhou

 
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TechGuyJim



Joined: 12 Sep 2012
Posts: 24
Location: Maine, USA

PostPosted: Sun Oct 21, 2012 5:10 pm    Post subject: Aston Xuzhou Reply with quote

Anyone know much about Aston's school in Xuzhou? I will be doing 23 hours, 6000rmb, shared housing, but the most important to me has been going on a Z visa, and going before the New Year Festival. It also has 6000 airfare reimbursement, 100rmb optional overtime, and 1500rmb for each 7 of 14 vacation days I don't use.

I signed a preliminary contract with an approximate start date of Nov 15 to Aug 31 2013.

I know you are going to say the pay is to low, hours to high, shared apt, etc. but I think the peace of mind of being able to work towards 2 years of experience (so I'll qualify for the 15,000/month International school contracts) on a real work visa might be worth it.

Any comments on the school, location, or if this is a good idea for career development (from a 'putting in your dues' viewpoint).

My qualifications are: 23 years old, white American (so I didn't earn that one), a 4 year university degree in Political Science (2012 graduate), TESOL Certificate from a U.S. University, some teaching experience (while in school, non-TEFL related).

On 6000, can I sock away 3000 a month?
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Shroob



Joined: 02 Aug 2010
Posts: 1339

PostPosted: Sun Oct 21, 2012 11:00 pm    Post subject: Re: Aston Xuzhou Reply with quote

TechGuyJim wrote:
Anyone know much about Aston's school in Xuzhou? I will be doing 23 hours, 6000rmb, shared housing, but the most important to me has been going on a Z visa, and going before the New Year Festival. It also has 6000 airfare reimbursement, 100rmb optional overtime, and 1500rmb for each 7 of 14 vacation days I don't use.

I signed a preliminary contract with an approximate start date of Nov 15 to Aug 31 2013.

I know you are going to say the pay is to low, hours to high, shared apt, etc. but I think the peace of mind of being able to work towards 2 years of experience (so I'll qualify for the 15,000/month International school contracts) on a real work visa might be worth it.

Any comments on the school, location, or if this is a good idea for career development (from a 'putting in your dues' viewpoint).

My qualifications are: 23 years old, white American (so I didn't earn that one), a 4 year university degree in Political Science (2012 graduate), TESOL Certificate from a U.S. University, some teaching experience (while in school, non-TEFL related).

On 6000, can I sock away 3000 a month?


The 2 years' experience at Aston probably won't count towards an international school. To work at an international school you'll need a P.G.C.E. or equivalent. I know from experience that TEFL isn't valued as teaching experience for P.G.C.E. courses (I was accepted onto a course but declined as it wasn't right for me at the time. Another candidate had been teaching for 3 years - it didn't mean anything to the assessors).

I also agree with you that 6,000 a month for 24 hours, shared housing and minimal holidays isn't such a good deal. You seem to value the Z Visa a lot, it's not that hard to find a company/organisation able to get those, when I was interviewing every job offered me a Z visa. Only 1 said 'come on an L Visa, it will be fine'.

Your saving power will depend on your personal habits, without knowing these it's impossible to say. I and lots of others could do it I imagine, but some people couldn't. Also, depending from where you're flying from, 6,000 may not cover the airfare.

Sorry to sound sound so negative, it's probably not what you need but I'm giving you the facts how I see them.
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twilothunder



Joined: 09 Dec 2011
Posts: 442

PostPosted: Sun Oct 21, 2012 11:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

For an EAP role, the absolute minimum international schools will consider is degree + CELTA, but yeah, as Shroob says, they will tend to expect QTS. Don't pin your hopes on a TEFL certificate and two years experience being enough - it won't.
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roadwalker



Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Posts: 1750
Location: Ch

PostPosted: Mon Oct 22, 2012 2:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

In American-speak, you almost always need an education degree and state teaching certification plus experience in K-12 teaching and curriculum planning (i.e. public school-type experience) to get the real international school jobs. International schools follow some kind of western curriculum (e.g., Canadian) or an international baccalaureate (IB) program or both. And they are credentialed by relevant western educational authorities, so their diplomas and transcripts are accepted as evidence of education in those countries. Many EFL schools and primary schools will call themselves "international" but they are often following their own curriculum for better or worse. So two years of TEFL work won't qualify you for true international schools, but might be attractive if you had the other, more relevant experience and quals.

And yes, I think this job is underpaid. If it is a decent school, you will probably learn a lot about the TEFL business and you will certainly get the experience to make yourself more attractive to higher paying jobs within the industry (but not at genuine international schools). I teach at a uni (also not what it appears from a western perspective) so I'll leave it to the language school teachers to say whether you could get a better deal or not.


Last edited by roadwalker on Tue Oct 23, 2012 4:24 am; edited 1 time in total
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Daphne



Joined: 02 Jul 2004
Posts: 119

PostPosted: Mon Oct 22, 2012 10:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Friends don't let friends work for Aston.

Rolling Eyes
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juanisaac



Joined: 03 Apr 2009
Posts: 9

PostPosted: Tue Oct 23, 2012 4:25 am    Post subject: Alot of work for little money. Reply with quote

You are right when you said someone will point out to you that you will work alot for little money.
I have been to Xuzhou, and it has modern amenities and more things to do than where i am at now. But, it is not a prime location either that has foreigners just trying to knock the door down to get there.
I work just south of you and for 11 hours (13 really with preparation time) I earn 5,800 a month. This is at a public school.
I supplement my income with outside work (50% more) and can save about 2,000 to 3,000 a month.
For you to save half your income, you need to be very disciplined and live almost like a Chinese person. You need to cook at home or eat really cheap (not always healthy food) outside if you choose to.
My old school in Hai'an, Jiangsu is looking for foreign teacher. They will give you 5,500 to 6,000 for 18 hours with no grading to do outside of work. Send me a p.m. if you are ever interested. Good luck!
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TechGuyJim



Joined: 12 Sep 2012
Posts: 24
Location: Maine, USA

PostPosted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 6:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just to update, finally called the local branch, a few yells of Hello, Hello and I got the person who is the Foreign Affairs person for the school.

It seems they don't think they can get a Foreign Expert Cert. until possibly the end of the year, they also asked if I could do more than 9 months (aug 31 2013), I said "let's see if we can get the visa thing hurried up, and I think that might be a real possibility" Laughing

Does it normally take so long to get your initial Z Visa Invitation Letter? They said that they would have to go to Nanjing to submit the paperwork.

Heck, I had a really fancy F Visa Invitation Letter sent to me by a University through Email in about 2 days of interviews, it had lots of stamps on it so it must be legit Rolling Eyes (I ended up declining when I found out that they did not do Z).
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juanisaac



Joined: 03 Apr 2009
Posts: 9

PostPosted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 6:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Once I submitted to the school all the required paperwork it took them about one month to send me my Z-Visa. However, that was just my situation. As for yourself, I don't know.

I hope people with more knowledge about these things will answer here.
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