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fat_chris
Joined: 10 Sep 2003 Posts: 3198 Location: Beijing
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Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2014 1:09 pm Post subject: |
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| TrampledKlown wrote: |
Actually, we can.
A standard university gig in the gulf is
12 hours/week
No office hours
18-24,000 renminbi/month
1-2 bedroom apartment
2 months PAID vacation
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They have MAs in TESOL though, do they not?
Warm regards,
fat_chris |
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Shroob
Joined: 02 Aug 2010 Posts: 1339
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Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2014 1:15 pm Post subject: |
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| Damn it guys, you're making me want to take the 'easy' life! |
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fat_chris
Joined: 10 Sep 2003 Posts: 3198 Location: Beijing
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Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2014 1:19 pm Post subject: |
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Shroob,
This being smitten with China is a problem of mine. I too think about heading to the Middle East and cashing in.
Maybe someday, but I have a bit more of China in me still.
Warm regards,
fat_chris |
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Bud Powell
Joined: 11 Jul 2013 Posts: 1736
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Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2014 2:41 pm Post subject: |
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| choudoufu wrote: |
| Shroob wrote: |
| ....Sure, I could have got by with no lesson prep, just turn up and shoot the breeze...... |
this. you are an overachiever, a hard worker, a professional......but
you don't need to be in order to be successful here.
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It is assumed that nobody watches the FTs or monitors him. The class monitor reports to the class work leader (usually a CT or a low-level admin) who reports to the department who reports to the FAO who reports to the City FAO. At least, that's how it is expected to work. Sometimes the real snitch is the best speaker in the class.
Every test, every handout, and the notes you put on the board is scrutinized by someone. (If your work is really good, they're copied and used by CTs). One who works in a public university but doesn't believe this probably does not speak to his FAO or the FAO isn't communicative. The slouches who constitute an embarrassing percentage of the university foreign teachers remain because the FAO can't replace them, or the school rationalize that having a bad FT there is better than having no FT. Often, the department needs to park the students for an hour or so during the day; the FT comes in handy for this.
That's not to say that really bad FTs aren't terminated/not rehired.
At the schools I've taught for, I've seen FTs fired. One was fired for his class content. (He was blotto every day and incapable of planning anything, so whatever popped into his head was the lesson of the day); another was let go because she was absolute h3ll on earth to get along with and complained about everyone and everything; another was let go because he was downright incompetent despite his purported years of experience teaching in Korea; another was let go because of his explosive temper; yet another was removed from the school grounds in chains and handcuffs on a stretcher because he was a paranoid schizophrenic. Another was not renewed for reasons that were never explained by either the FT or the FAO.
Strangely, another had been at a school for several years and spent many hours in Business English and Western History class talking about "alternate lifestyles". She was even allowed to have female student pajama parties and sleepovers in her school apartment.
I do believe that most universities have begun to demand a better caliber of foreign teacher, hence the supposed tightening of the rules.
I understand and appreciate the idea behind the creation of the thread. I fear that the intent and irony of it may actually miss its target. |
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TrampledKlown
Joined: 22 Sep 2012 Posts: 44
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Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2014 4:56 pm Post subject: |
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That's their ideal candidate.
Depending on the location, they'll accept a BA in Basket Weaving.
Personally, I've had enough of the sandbox.
[/quote]
They have MAs in TESOL though, do they not?
Warm regards,
fat_chris[/quote] |
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NoBillyNO

Joined: 11 Jun 2012 Posts: 1762
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Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2014 3:24 am Post subject: |
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| She was even allowed to have female student pajama parties and sleepovers in her school apartment. |
There was a Christian lady at my first boarding/school apartment who worked for a local Uni. and she did exactly the same thing.....I didn't work for the uni, just boarded, at the time I was working for the province ED. office and had no direct line of contact with the FAO of their program so not sure what to make of it then.... |
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buffalobill12323
Joined: 18 Sep 2013 Posts: 115 Location: China
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Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2014 3:35 am Post subject: Re: China Foreign Teachers Salaries Almost Highest In World? |
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| choudoufu wrote: |
Okay, a bit of a misnomer. for those of us "teaching" oral english in
universities, colleges, high schools and middle schools......the vast majority
of us..we're not teachers. we're glorified babysitters. sure, we've got
contracts that say "teacher," but what we do cannot be compared to the
real teaching done by real teachers in other countries. apples and
crescent wrenches.
why no comparison? what about qualifications -- we don't need a degree
in teaching methodology, and we don't need teaching experience. some
few localities may "require" these (can be waived), but not required by law.
real teachers work five days a week, usually at least 30 hours, if not a
full 40-hour week. what do we do? 12 hours? 14 hours? some even put
in 16 whole hours. minimal preparation, no oversight, no required results.
is it any wonder a backpacker who spends class time talking about his
ex-girlfriends in thailand can be a success?
so why all the fricking hype...and spam....about salaries in china being almost
the lowest in the world? no, i don't have a link to an article i posted on
an anonymous blog, or "published" in a vanity website to "prove" whatever
agenda i'm pushing this week.
your basic FT "works" 12-16 hours a week, has few responsibilities, gets
a free apartment and utilities, and receives a round-trip flight. all those
cool benefits plus about a grand a month (nearly tax-free).
our "work" generally can't be compared to real teachers, so what then?
nannies? au pairs? babysitters? performance artists? you tell me.
i'd argue that given the requirements for our jobs, and the amount of
effort expended, and the type of work we do............we're way overpaid!
i'd guess (sorry, no link to some nonexistent organization) if you compare
our salary and benefits to part-time childminders, we're probably among
the highest paid employees in the whole wide world! |
I posted something similar recently, it was not well received. In my primary university job I work three days a week, whixh could be condensed to two. Sixteen classes of forty minutes duration. This semester is shortened because the students are finishing their degrees in Australia. Twelve weeks, then nothing until september. From Jan to Sept I do 36 partial days or 24 full days. Still, I get 12 full salaries in the low five figures range. Its crazy good money for the effort required. The OP is right, this cannot be considered a full time job. I always have things going on the side aiming to double my base salary or more. Working 100 days a year is essentially parttime. Gotta utilize the free time productiively |
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Banner41
Joined: 04 Jan 2011 Posts: 656 Location: Shanghai
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Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2014 6:41 am Post subject: |
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Here you go people who think you are underpaid.
http://www.care.com/babysitting-rates
You probably have less liability than a real babysitter as well. They usually need CPR and First aid certification! |
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Omniscientfool

Joined: 30 Aug 2005 Posts: 27 Location: Zhangye, Gansu
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Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2014 2:54 pm Post subject: |
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| Coming from training to be a real professor (as a TA in the U of CA system), the China TEFL lifestyle is not encouraging me to buckle down and do the research to get back into my program, which incidentally pays only about 1.5x what I'm getting in podunk Shanxi. How badly do I want to go back to microwaved meals when my students come over several times a week here to cook me a feast or eat out three times a day? How badly do I want to have no free time again and live w/ family again when I can have my own place to blast music whenever I want, hire students as personal assistants to do all my dirty work? Chalk me up as another who thinks the Chinese uni salary is about right b/c I feel like I work hard, though I guess it's optional. The school barely chides teachers for putting a DVD in and pushing play “Audiovisual class is very relaxing” (says the FAO rep, mildly, as a Chinese-style meeting criticism), so I think job security's pretty good here...I just wish there was a l/t career to be had that wouldn't guarantee a cancer death by 60 (or a freak accident, etc. much sooner). |
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Bud Powell
Joined: 11 Jul 2013 Posts: 1736
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Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2014 3:01 pm Post subject: |
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| Omniscientfool wrote: |
| Coming from training to be a real professor (as a TA in the U of CA system), |
A TA position prepares one to become a professor in California? Where I come from, being a TA merely makes one eligible to become an MA level lecturer with a three year contract.
Dang. |
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RWA1981
Joined: 27 Mar 2014 Posts: 143
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fat_chris
Joined: 10 Sep 2003 Posts: 3198 Location: Beijing
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Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 2:51 am Post subject: Re: China Foreign Teachers Are Lowest Paid Expats In China |
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| RWA1981 wrote: |
| China Scam Busters |
I'd rather call Ghostbusters.
R.I.P. Egon
Warm regards,
fat_chris |
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choudoufu

Joined: 25 May 2010 Posts: 3325 Location: Mao-berry, PRC
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Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 2:58 am Post subject: Re: China Foreign Teachers Are Lowest Paid Expats In China |
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| RWA1981 wrote: |
| ....China Foreign Sockpuppets Union.... |
bwhahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
thanks for the links sock-bro.
you've confirmed your secret identity.
see ya next month!
Last edited by choudoufu on Thu Apr 17, 2014 3:20 am; edited 1 time in total |
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fat_chris
Joined: 10 Sep 2003 Posts: 3198 Location: Beijing
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Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 3:01 am Post subject: Re: China Foreign Teachers Are Lowest Paid Expats In China |
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| RWA1981 wrote: |
| Surely the OP jests? China ranks in the bottom one-fifth of the worst-paying countries for ESL/TEFL teachers and if you really want people to believe otherwise, I would guess that you are not a teacher, but a recruiter or someone who sells products or services to expat teachers. All the reports about comparative salaries of teachers around the world do NOT support the OP at all. This is well documented in other threads of most any ESL and TEFL forum as well. |
I don't have a master's and I only have a B.A. in some garden-variety major, nor do I have much teaching experience and I am definitely not a licensed teacher in my home country, yet the universities are stiffing us because they are not paying us 18,000 yuan a month! How dare they!
That's my God-given right! I should be clearing $3,000 USD a month to do 12 hours of classes a week with little or no preparation! This is an outrage! THEY OWE US!
GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME! MINE MINE MINE MINE!
Warm regards,
fat_chris
Last edited by fat_chris on Thu Apr 17, 2014 6:31 am; edited 1 time in total |
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fat_chris
Joined: 10 Sep 2003 Posts: 3198 Location: Beijing
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Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 3:25 am Post subject: |
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| Omniscientfool wrote: |
| Coming from training to be a real professor (as a TA in the U of CA system), the China TEFL lifestyle is not encouraging me to buckle down and do the research to get back into my program, which incidentally pays only about 1.5x what I'm getting in podunk Shanxi. How badly do I want to go back to microwaved meals when my students come over several times a week here to cook me a feast or eat out three times a day? How badly do I want to have no free time again and live w/ family again when I can have my own place to blast music whenever I want, hire students as personal assistants to do all my dirty work? Chalk me up as another who thinks the Chinese uni salary is about right b/c I feel like I work hard, though I guess it's optional. The school barely chides teachers for putting a DVD in and pushing play “Audiovisual class is very relaxing” (says the FAO rep, mildly, as a Chinese-style meeting criticism), so I think job security's pretty good here...I just wish there was a l/t career to be had that wouldn't guarantee a cancer death by 60 (or a freak accident, etc. much sooner). |
+1
Warm regards,
fat_chris |
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