Job Discussion Forums

[tlanguell]

I have taught at Jiangnan U.-Lambton College for 2 years now and can comment about the program. I teach business administration so I make almost 2X what an EFL teacher makes. (business admin. teachers must have at least a master's degree) IMO Lambton's EFL salaries are low but the benefits are generous with up to 3 months of holidays, 2 free return tickets home per year and a free apartment on campus. (our apartments are on Youtube) Also there are no office hours and minimal administrative duties so after class teachers are free to do whatever they want. The school's staff takes good care of us including visa and other support. Also important is that there is no weekend teaching so our weekends are free and there are opportunities for teaching off campus.

The worst part of our program is the students. Most of them are lazy rich kids unable to make it into more prestigious universities. Their spoken English is generally very good but most are weak in writing. Our students have a reputation of being lazy compared to their Jiangnan colleagues. EFL classes are generally under 30 students while business admin. classes can have 60+ students. Lastly the EFL program is structured while business admin. teachers have much more latitude for course development.

The city of Wuxi is wealthy and clean located halfway between Shanghai and Nanjing and has an airport too. Our campus is near Lake Taihu and next to a beautiful protected wetlands area. Wuxi isn't much of a tourist town but does have a few sites including the Nanchang Temple and (free) Wuxi Museum. I like to say "Wuxi is a great place to live but you don't want to visit it". There is constant bus service from the campus to downtown Wuxi and Shanghai and Nanjing are only 1 hour away via the high-speed train, while historic Suzhou is 1 train stop away. There are Western pubs such as Blue Bar and Red Lion and Starbucks coffee shops too. Wuxi's foreign population is only about 6,000 so be prepared to be gawked at by locals and migrant workers.

Teaching at Lambton is what you make of it. If one is looking for motivated students yearning to learn then Lambton isn't the place to work. But if one is looking to live in a clean Chinese city and get a decent salary with great benefits then Lambton is a good choice.

[kungfuman]

You forgot to mention Ikea!

And yes, the students in Lambton are hard to motivate. And they dump two or three classes in a single business class and it makes it near impossible to manage.

Is the salary still 8500y a month for a business teacher?

[Guerciotti]

I'm also wondering if the business teacher salary is still 8,500 and I have a few more question. Anyone?

[lemak]

[kungfuman]