Job Discussion Forums

Miles Smiles · Joined: 07 Jun 2010 Posts: 1294 Location: Heebee Jeebee

JerkyBoy,

What you seek requires special skills.

You need the special decoder ring, the password, and you must know the secret handshake.

You must fly to China with an L visa and then crawl the bowels of Beijing and until you reach the star chamber where you will be initiated into the Golden FT club whereupon Milk, Honey, and Manna will rain down upon you.

The heavens will part wherever you travel, doors will open, and people will beg you to come teach for insane amounts of money.

But first, Grasshopper, you must come to the Middle Kingdom.

MisterButtkins · Joined: 03 Oct 2009 Posts: 1221

From what I've heard, top-end corporate trainers with years of experience and loads of qualifications who have clawed their way to where they are can sometimes earn 800 yuan/hour.

Normal teachers here sometimes make 300/hour.

200/hour is more normal.

Whoever told you 1000/hour is feeding you a lot of bull. I knew a guy who said that his grandfather caught a 4-foot long lobster. Guess what, the world-record is 28 inches. Another guy said that one time he drank 25 shots of tequila and 20 shots of rum in the same night. Later that day, he drank 10 shots of baijiu and couldn't even walk. Some people just like to exaggerate.

Shroob · Joined: 02 Aug 2010 Posts: 1339

Miles Smiles · Joined: 07 Jun 2010 Posts: 1294 Location: Heebee Jeebee

Shroob,

I'll meet you in Nanjing and I'll buy you a beer. Then you can say that you met two. (MA, MFA. Times are very tough in the U.S.).

Lobster · Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2012 3:37 am Post subject:

Strange. My experience has been quite different. Lots of MAs, PhDs, certified teachers and retired principals. The BA + Online cert teacher has been the exception for me. It may depend on where you work, both in terms of province and school type.

RED

Miles Smiles · Joined: 07 Jun 2010 Posts: 1294 Location: Heebee Jeebee

I don't know why a certified teacher would go to China. He stands a better chance at a secure life back home (at least in the U.S.). If I were a certified teacher, I'd move to a state that needed teachers and draw good pay, medical insurance, and a pension when I retire.

MA's and Ph,Ds have a more difficult time because unless they have taken the Praxis exams (primary and secondary cert exams in the U.S.), they're stuck standing in line outside the doors of University department chairs where nepotism and politics abound. I can see why they'd be in China.

I'd be wary of anyone who doesn't qualify the "school principal" moniker. That requires special education and certification (in the states, anyway). I've met three such animals who crumbled pretty fast as soon as i inquired about their qualifications.

Denim-Maniac · Joined: 31 Jan 2012 Posts: 1238

Lobster · Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2012 4:19 pm Post subject:

The certified teachers I've worked with were here because they enjoyed TEFL, were retired or were teaching in international schools or EAP programs. All were great teachers.

The two principals I worked with were both retired. Both were great teachers. They were certified up the yingyang.

Worst teachers? Backpacker types with a BA in economics etc. with an online cert, and MAs and PhDs from other fields without solid classroom experience; lecturers and windbags. I even worked with a guy with an MA in Education who used to boast about his weekend conquests to the class along with a running tally before popping in a DVD and nodding off.

RED

MisterButtkins · Joined: 03 Oct 2009 Posts: 1221

For each person I've met with an MA or better, I've met 10 people with just a BA and sometimes a cert. I've met more people with no degree than people who have an MA or PhD.

Maybe age has something to do with it? I am in my mid-20s and obviously a lot of other people my age (ie, the people I mostly talk to) haven't had time to get higher degrees yet.

My last job did have a retired principal working there.