Job Discussion Forums

[gdn35]

I've recently been offered around 6,000 for a University position with 16 teaching hours, but I need to teach at least 3 different courses, including writing. This probably means quite a bit of preparation time AND marking time. Therefore, supplementing that income will be difficult since the extra time will be taken up with the University duties.

Last year I was at a University with only one oral course to teach, one lesson plan to prepare and no marking. That was for a little less money but probably more worthwhile in terms of working hours.

For a University job (with the standard pay), how many courses would you accept to teach each week? Just want to hear from other people's experiences.

Thank you.

[talentedcrayon]

I think you have kind of answered your own question.

It isn't really relevant what the rest of us would agree to. What matters is what you can agree to. It sounds like you already have a pretty good idea of what you think about it.

But, since you asked:

No, I would never take such a job. I am happy just teaching 1 curriculum and doing prep work for one class. I end up working about 30-40 hours a week because I really care about doing a good job. Teaching just one course means I can put a lot of thought into my lesson planning. Next year I won't have to prep because I will have already developed everything I need.

Taking the job you are considering would mean either:

- I lower my own standards

- I work 60-70 hours per week for only about $1000/month.

Neither of those options are acceptable to me.

[Non Sequitur]

I think 16 contact hours is about as low as an employer would go.
The non-contact hours would balloon out if you added writing and the extra dough wouldn't compensate.
I'd flag it frankly.

[theoriginalprankster]

I was doing four 90 minute news writing classes last year.

Bliss. Throw in two hours prep and minimal marking, plus IELTS examining, and I was sitting pretty.

Gave it all up to be a beach bum for a few months.

[Son of Bud Powell]

What are the class sizes?

How many writing classes?

What are the other classes?

I would never agree to more than ONE writing class per semester. In order to do a good job teaching writing, one is required to do a LOT of marking and reading gibberish---- even from excellent speakers. My experience and observation from the schools where I have taught, the Chinese teachers didn't put much emphasis on writing, even though in many universities, BA level students must present a written thesis.

If you must teach history, writing, and oral English, even at 16 hours, you have an over-full plate. It's just too much if you want to be a good teacher.

[rioux]

I would never work in an interior province for 18 hours a week. The more west you go the less hours should be required.
It amazes me that places like Inner Mongolia and Gansu have 18 or even 20 teaching hours a week. Working way out there the maximum should be about 10.

[Deats]

I worked in a university in China for 4 years - you do realise that the grades you give your students are meaningless. I failed students and they just came back next semester after bribing the dean. Other kids put in bribes and had their grades bumped up. 1 kid threatened to commit suicide if their teacher didn't change their grade. I know teachers in other unis and they reported the same situation.

For any written work the students usually did one of three things:

1) google translate
2) plagiarism
3) copy from their friend

In the end I realised it was a massive waste of my time trying to mark their work as I spent so many hours using plagiarism checking websites to prove they were cheating. In the end I rarely set written homework. I gave optional tasks and would help correct people's work, should they choose to do it.

The corruption and level of cheating in China is insane. Nobody cares. Chinese teachers told their students to find a dissertation online and copy paste. This way the teacher didn't have to check it. They would give the students a good grade and then the teachers claimed they were great teachers cos their students scored so well.... omg. For 2 years I tried to fight the system, for the last 2 years I just accepted their way of doing things and my life was much better. You can't change shit.

I was so pissed by the end of it all, that when I submitted my yearly reports and marks, I wrote all kinds of crap just to see if they ever read it or paid attention to it - evidently they didn't.

I taught 16 hours a week (max) and got 6200 - my courses were more or less the same each year so after a year of prep, I had it all on file. I did video English, speaking and writing and a general textbook + English corner. Marking was not too much, because like I said, I got bored of marking work that clearly wasn't their own, so set homework tasks like making role plays, reading texts that we would then analyse in class, learning grammar points or vocab, etc. Giving homework that is prep for class is really useful, because then you have more time for speaking and they have the base for what your lesson will try to teach them.

Therefore I did 25+ hours a week of private tuition and made some decent money. After 4 years I could buy a house.

Also, you should get 16 weeks (minimum) a year holiday, which is good. I got 20+. In this time you can travel or make an absolute fortune from privates.

It was a nice life, but it made me cynical of the system and I was glad to leave the bureaucracy, cheating and lazy students behind.

[Non Sequitur]

That's why I opt for oral everytime.
I agree with the plagiarism.
I was chatted up by a masters student to review her thesis.
Parts were c&p from Wikipedia and still had the [citation needed] marks.
Grrrr..

[hdeth]

Yep. With some of the top high school students here they will do their homework. Otherwise no. If you're teaching AP or A-level it's far more likely they will do their homework. I teach writing and generally do in-class assignments.

The grades are sometimes meaningful in that they may make the students do a re-test for the class if you give them a bad grade. This makes the Chinese staff do more work and they will get irritated at you.