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canrun30
Joined: 03 Oct 2012
Posts: 116
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 Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2014 2:38 am Post subject: |
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| Uni students also have a reputation for being lazy and uninterested in learning English. |
That has been my personal experience, even at a 'top-tier' joint-university.
Just my 5 Mao worth...
Oh, and NEVER take a uni. job that involves marking essays...you'll put in 30+ hours a week if you're not careful. |
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Yasuke
Joined: 10 Jan 2014
Posts: 178
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| Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2014 6:02 am Post subject: |
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| Thank you for the useful information. Some of the things you are explaining, I wouldn't even know to ask you about them, and definitely can't find them with search button. |
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Non Sequitur
Joined: 23 May 2010
Posts: 4724
Location: China
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| Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2014 7:52 am Post subject: |
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| doogsville wrote: |
| Yasuke wrote: |
| Thanks for taking the time doogsville. Would you elaborate on the langue mill and univerity? |
No problem. Language mill is the term often used to describe private schools, I would guess because they grind out students and often grind down teachers. They operate as a profit making machine with little or no regard for either their employees or customers. Your schedule at one of these places will involve mostly weekend and weekday evening work, which can play havoc with socialising. The owners will often expect you to make your lessons as 'entertaining' as possible, and the students will pass and move on to the next level whatever ability they have or how little they have learned. It is not uncommon to have your schedule changed or enlarged with little or no notice. The teaching materials are often dire, since they will use the cheapest books they can find to maximise profit. All of the preceding is a worst case scenario, but it happens, so it's good to be aware of it. Some schools are not so bad, but almost all will present you with frustrating and depressing problems from time to time. China is a good place to come to learn patience, perseverance and the ability to let go of the 'little things' that make life difficult.
Universities can be private or public schools, but they still need to make money. This will not colour your experience as much as it will in a language mill however. One notable effect of this is that students will pass, regardless of how well they have studied or perform in exams. Also note that, while the ability of some students will be higher than the children you would be teaching in a language mill, it's not always. Uni students also have a reputation for being lazy and uninterested in learning English. Again, this does not apply to all of them, but you are ver likely to encounter it.
The drawback to universities for most people seems to be the relatively low pay (not always the case, I make more at my uni than I did at the previous language mill I worked for). This if offset for many by the low hours and fixed weekday schedule. Some people supplement the low uni pay by teaching either part time at private schools or teaching one to one 'privates'. Some uni jobs, mainly those where you teach 'oral English', will provide little in the way of support for the lessons, no books, no established curriculum. This can be scary for inexperienced teachers, since you have to make your own lessons, and can take up a lot of time, even for experienced teachers. Your 12 hour teaching schedule may take 20 hours or more of your time. Some universities are located in remote parts of cities, some may have less than palatial accommodation.
These are all factors you should find out about and take into consideration before signing a contract, whether a uni or a language mill.
Do as much research as you can, choose the job that best suits you, but always be aware that when you step on the plane you are throwing a dice, and the result can be unpredictable. Bring a sense of adventure and a willingness to adapt and learn and you'll have a much easier time than you would if you expect everything to go smoothly. |
Great summary. |
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