Job Discussion Forums

[fat_chris]

[Bud Powell]

[Happy Everyday]

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding your definition of FT. If you mean to say that most ESL teachers don't do research, I agree. But there are some who do because teaching English used to be the majority of jobs for foreigners... if not the only job you could get.

I regard FT as being teachers from foreign countries. If you were to work at a Tier 1 school in USA, it's publish or perish. There are exchanges with China, visiting scholars, lecturers, and researchers. Among them, it is the norm to publish or perish. China unis provide them a work schedule that is mostly used for research. I've got friends who have been doing that for years. Sometimes they go to China to research and give presentations. In fact, that is how the first working relationship with China and The West began and continues to this day. It has since expanded into a lot of ESL teachers, then into the business sector. More recently, it's expanded into entertainment and entertainment instruction. You don't have to believe me. Mock if you want. Or you can have a look at the FTs at schools like Beijing Film Academy, and you'll likely see they've got film credits.

[doogsville]

I teach four days a week, no more than two classes a day, which is perfect for me. I use at least one of the days off to do nothing at all, except ride my bike or go shopping. I prefer to teach in the morning, to get the day started, then use the momentum to write or do something constructive for myself. Next semesters schedule, so far, is two classes a day Monday to Wednesday, and then the rest of the week off. I find if I have too many full days off I become less productive because I kid myself that I can 'do it tomorrow', then suddenly my days off are gone and I've not done much and then I have to start the working week again.

How about planning? I prefer to go into the office, fewer distractions, but one of my colleagues usually only appears in the office after classes to do paperwork, and the other prefers to work from home.

[canrun30]

There is one gentleman on here who agreed with me...sorry, can't remember the name...that teaching unis is for the birds. Yes, there are advantages--time off and all, but after teaching two semesters of uni, as opposed to 10 years of language mills, I'm still not convinced of the upside. So, ready to get back to the mills after CNY. Just my two Maos worth and thinking out loud...

But then, I was working 35 hours+ a week at a joint venture, plus literally 800 essays to grade this semester. Maybe it's not so bad elsewhere... (ahem).

[Happy Everyday]

My current job is in a Chinese mill. They ask me when I have time to schedule new classes. The bosses, owners, and instructors come from Tier 1 unis. Almost everyone has outside work of some sort. The mill is supportive of that. The various instructors have different work schedules and pay grades.

In China, I've seen different FTs have different schedules and pay grades too. They negotiated a mutual agreement with the school.

One time, I worked in a China public school. and they gave me all of my overtime. I worked more in that public than I did at a mill. It all depends on what you negotiate with the school.

Most of the tenure track friends I have do not want to teach. They'd rather work on advancing their career (i.e. research and writing). For that reason, some professors get Graduate students do it because they need the money.

One of my favorite instructors from Harvard got into an accident. She lost her teaching post because she went too long without producing anything. She was only teaching classes. While searching for jobs on Chinese websites, I saw plenty of research posts too. I agree that most FTs are just teaching oral English. But to say no FTs do research in China or to say producing or publishing is not the foundation of some FTs career would be untrue.

Stack or spread? After you negotiate a schedule that works for you, consider working on your career future.