doogsville
Joined: 17 Nov 2011
Posts: 924
Location: China
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 Posted: Sun Jul 14, 2013 9:36 am Post subject: |
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I've worked for them, and I still recommend them to people from time to time. They're not the best employer in the world, but they're okay if you're aware of what to expect.
First off, they are fully licensed and have a lot of guanxi, so they will get you the necessary visa and permits. They'll put you in an apartment on arrival, shared, if you want free accommodation, or on your own if you're happy to pay the difference between the rent and your housing allowance. They're very good at taking care of teachers, organising your bank account, getting you a phone/SIM, taking you to the doctor and dentist, that kind of thing. They'll give training before you start teaching, some of which is actually useful, and pay you for it as teaching hours. They'll show you round the branches you'll be teaching in, and the people who work in the branches are all reasonable English speakers who will help you out a lot. They will pay you what they owe you, regular pay and bonuses, on time, and occasionally a day or two early if it's a holiday.
The contract talks about 21 teaching hours and up to six non teaching hours a week. You will usually teach about 16 to 21 hours, and you will get paid overtime for every hour over the 21 you do. The only time I had to do any of the six hours was occasionally I did a demo class or spent an hour or two in a branch meeting potential students and testing them to figure out what level to put them in. I only had to do that in the summer when I was only teaching about ten hours a week anyway, so it's not like you have to do six office hours each week or anything. You'll work almost all of your hours at the weekends and evenings, but the workload is okay, and a lot of the teachers I know work privates or for other schools on weekdays. You can double you're TPR salary if you do some kindergarten work or similar.
Which brings me to the downsides. The salary is not great. It's liveable on, but don't expect to save a lot of money if you only have the TPR money. Everything is last minute at TPR, but from my experience, and from hearing about others experience, that's a Chinese thing, not just a TPR thing. They will give you very little notice if they want you teach a class. That being said the schedule will be given to you at the start of each semester, and apart from an occasional VIP one to one class it won't change much if at all. As I previously mentioned, you'll be working a lot of hours at weekends and sometimes in the evenings, which messes with your social life from time to time, but if you hang out with other teachers it's not such a big deal. They are not the most organised company in the universe, so occasionally they will 'forget' to tell you about a change to your schedule or some such thing. They are Chinese and therefore incapable of making mistakes, so they will try to blame you for any screw ups. Just stand your ground and make sure they know you're not a carpet.
It's a good first gig, or a foot in the door in Zhuhai, which is a great city to live in. I only know a little about Zhongshan, but the teachers who work there seem to like it a lot, and I've gone clubbing there and had a great time. I know nothing about Dongguan or the TPR school there.
I know the contract, I signed two of them, and it's pretty standard stuff. They will not negotiate on the contract unless you've been there a couple of years, which a few of their teachers have. Until recently they had three teachers who had all been there 5+ years. There's still two left, and I know of another three teachers who've been there almost 3 years, so they must be doing something right. I left to go to a uni gig for more money and less hours, otherwise I would probably have stayed.
Hope this helps, PM me if you need any more info. |
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