Job Discussion Forums

[william wallace]

Nothing to say.

[ilunga]

Who lives in a dorm?

[william wallace]

nothing to say.

[La Paz]

I came in 99 but now will return later this return.
Tired of it. Don't want to buy a home here.
Need to get ready for retirment and feel that the China thing is at this point overrated.
I hate bureacracy back home but here it is even worse. Getting sick of it.
Looking forward to taking a long drive in my personal car and going to the lake without hordes of people checking me out.
Tired of the Paparazzi life.

China is truly a short term plan. Unless you work for a company that gives you full healthcare, good salry of 20,000, at least a month, proper holidays, without makeups, and a very good housing package. But as teachers all those are and will remian out of reach. Oh, and legal protection which teachers lack.

La Paz, returning home in August.

[stavrogin2001]

Dear Mr. Wallace, or should I say Gibson, either way they are both highly over rated pieces of 90's pop trash.

Thanks for your concern about the content on this forum. Perhaps we should have an aged, wise, guy like yourself edit the forum and take out all the content that you do not like to read. Especially since it must be incredibly tiresome for your index finger to have to keep hitting the left mouse button to read all the posts, even the ones you do not like. Perhaps you could talk to Dave about the "approved by the Wallace party" forum.

For some this is the only place they have to turn. Employers for the most part in China are not one for giving any information beyond what they have to and I assure you that is not much. This aside China is still letting any Tom, Dick, or Harry come and teach here. This means that a lot of newbies are going to be around, backpack or not. Also with the current state of Chinese law and the way that some people get screwed around in China, I think it is a great resource. How else do you get help? Pray tell? Maybe next time I have a problem I will put on a kilt, pant my face blue and march into the FAO. That'll fix'em!

Perhaps for the almighty wisened people like you that have retired or are independently rich, you do not have to worry about a measly 8k for a plane ticket, but for some of us raising families in China on a teachers wage, this is no small task. So the next time you want to shoot off and say something stupid like this, just remember, nobody is forcing you to log in. Start your own site man, call it the "old China hand site" where you have to be prescreened to join and post.

[kev7161]

If I was making, say, 10000rmb per month (plus all the other freebies I currently get) and I could fly home once or twice a year for a month-long visit, then maybe (JUST maybe), I'd stay here longer. But, quite frankly, China wears me out! So, okay, I had (have?) a pretty sedate life. But the walking, the stair climbing, battling the elements, the mental challenges, the frustrations - - they all just zap my strength.

On the other hand, I have made some really nice Chinese friends so I've decided to stay for one more year just to be around them (including some of my students). I could EASILY say good-bye to China this summer, but I would miss my friends. I know I will miss them just as much next year when I pack it in for good, but I really want to know them and their lives for a little while longer. Also, I have challenged myself to make my second teaching year at my school better than the one I am now wrapping up.

[About The Author]

[stavrogin2001]

If you really think that wages in China are affected by the quality of the individual teaching, you need to have your head examined.

I have been here since 2001 and I can say that wages have steadily risen in the past few years, but for the most part this is out of the desire to find more teachers, quality or not. Not to mention the fact that three years ago most contracts called for 12 hours work, now the average is 16-20. You are ot getting paid more for nothing, you have to work for it.

Wages at state owned enterprises in China are given a guideline by the federal government, I assure you they do not look at you "grand ol' vetrans" for advise on where wages should be.

Pull your head out man. It is time to stop blaming the new kids for the state of affairs in China. Did it ever occur to you that many schools are happy with newbies? Did it ever occur to you that many school really only want warm bodies? You are using your western standards to define an industry that holds none of the values that our education systems do in the west. In fact I would argue that the US, UK, and Australian education systems are even lowering standards everyday. It is a worldwide phenomenom.

My advice to you if you are only here for money and old school co-workers, would be to go back to your own countries and get jobs in western universities. This would offer you the salary you are interested in and the elitist additude you adhere to.

[Rhino]

I can understand some of the hostility toward 'back packers' but how can you blame them when there are a hundred TESOL organizations advertising how easy it is to travel and teach. I took a 4 week course and was earning 8000rmbs in 2 months! I think some of the blame should be placed on these organizations. "Get your TESOL in 4 weeks and Travel and teach!" "Want to see the world? Teach English!" - these are common advertisments in my local newspaper. Hell it was enough for me. The ESL field is paradise for back packers. I dont consider myself a back packer but I'm not sure if this perspective has been discussed yet. Cheers!

[About The Author]

Your little speech reminds me how much young lads have rotten the Indonesian English school system,
In fact I submit that China shall screen all "new blood" for drugs....

[stavrogin2001]

First of all learn slavic names before you make an arse out of yourself about them. Even my computer has google.

Second, if you are telling me you can walk into Beida or Nankai with creds and "personality" and get a good salary you are out of your tree. I don't think it is standard practice in universities in this country to pay 6k. I think it would be in the minority. By your scheme of things, why is it that Beijing is the lowest paying city in China in terms of first tier universities? Beijing University of Posts and Communications is paying 2.8k to BA and a little raise if you have a MA.

Third, I am from the States and I believe along with many others that the state of education is in decline. With the new one year MAs and the mass market of MBAs in the States and other countries. You can really tell me that you are getting a quality MA without having to write. A lot of US universities are marketing post-graduate education to foreigners and have lowered the standards of acceptance and work needed to be done. As far as the UK is concerned, are you aware that a 40% is passing? I assure you I am not saying that all higher education has gone to pot, but anyone can see that universities all want to pack classes and some are lowering standards to do it.

Lastly, my main point of entering this dialogue was to say that online resources are for everybody. backpackers, retirees, newbies, oldies, or whoever wanders in off the street.

You are right there is plenty of room for improvement in this country, but it should be made by the Chinese, not some elitist expats. I think everyone could agree to the point of needing change, but the fact that China needs 100,000 foreign experts a year for English alone means that quality is not going to always be part of the equation.

This will be my last post in this category, but really guys, I don't know where you are working, maybe for private schools, but the real education that is going to get the respect from Chinese people will always be the state run universities, and they are not listening to much of what we, as foreigners, have to say about any of these issues. We in the end are guests, and if we do not want to play by their rules, they will find someone else to fill our shoes.

[Hakeyi]

The second-last post says it all for me, so much so that I have decided to break my silence. Well, Mr Wallace you are indeed a "braveheart" asking where are all the oldies who used to post here. I would have thought you�d only have to read some of the above replies to realise that forums like this are being hijacked by bored prima-donnas and egomanics for the purposes of grandstanding and self-gratification. It irks me to think that five day TESOL graduates with 12 months of "teaching" oral English in China and/or marrying a local are suddenly experts on every aspect of pedagogy, travel and a foreign culture.
Like La Paz I too

[LSP]

[About The Author]

Look everyone, any HS dropout, 18 years old, can teach all around the world with a $250 investment....
5 modules only... -vs- 17 from other schools...

http://www.worldwidelearn.com/teacher-training/esl-certificate.htm

[windsorman1972]