Job Discussion Forums :: View topic - Low salaries leave expat teachers bottom of class

Get TEFL Certified & Start Your Adventure Today!

Teach English Abroad and Get Paid to see the World!

Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Students and Teachers from Around the World!"

FAQ

Memberlist

Usergroups

Profile

Low salaries leave expat teachers bottom of class
Goto page Previous 1, 2

Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> China (Job-related Posts Only)

View previous topic :: View next topic

Author

Message

thunder_god

Joined: 22 Jul 2015
Posts: 65

Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2015 6:30 am Post subject:

talentedcrayon wrote:

I only conducted the one interview on behalf of my school.

But, in my experience most schools do not conduct a proper interview. That's the reason I offered to do interviews for my boss.

I asked the guy these questions:

- Tell me about yourself
- Tell me about your work history
- Why did you decided to come to China to teach English? - I dug deep into this question because the candidate had 20 years of experience in a technical field. Then he completed a masters degree in that field... and then for some reason he came to China. It didn't make much sense. If he was changing careers why do the masters?
- Why are you leaving your last school? I asked about this because it seemed like he had probably been fired.
- How would you describe your teaching style or teaching philosophy?
- What did a typical lesson plan look like for you at your last school?
- What kinds of materials and activities do you use?
- Students at our university can sometimes be unmotivated. While it isn't reasonable to expect a teacher to change everyone, what do you do to keep students motivated?

I asked several others, but I don't remember anymore.

The candidate had good answers for the questions about his work history, reason for changing careers and reason for looking for a new job. But, he was expecting those questions. Funnily enough, I don't think he was expecting me to ask him about the job itself: teaching.

Those sound like very standard questions. I've been asked a lot worse on interviews so at least this gives me some relief. Now I just need to get find the contact information for the hiring person from the cities I want to teach in.

Thanks

talentedcrayon

Joined: 19 Mar 2013
Posts: 91

Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2015 6:53 am Post subject:

Yeah, but like I said I only conducted one interview in China. So, I am not an expert on the types of questions you might be asked. My experience is that schools don't really interview you. In one case I had to insist on an interview because the school wanted to hire me based off my resume entirely.

jimpellow

Joined: 12 Oct 2007
Posts: 913

Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2015 8:35 pm Post subject:

talentedcrayon wrote:

Yeah, but like I said I only conducted one interview in China. So, I am not an expert on the types of questions you might be asked.

My experience is that schools don't really interview you. In one case I had to insist on an interview because the school wanted to hire me based off my resume entirely.

This is an excellent point about insisting on an interview. I think more than anything else as one should also be interviewing the interviewer about the company. It helps to discover if this is a place that you really want to work.

I must say if your interview is with a Chinese person this will most likely either really turn them on or off to you very quickly. Chinese, for our latest crop of rookies, are used to all the perceived power being with the employer and the applicant begging and kissing a**. Some will get turned off by a "if we both decide I work here" attitude. But others will fall over backwards to get you if you can show your value and frame yourself as the catch.

OhBudPowellWhereArtThou

Joined: 02 Jun 2015
Posts: 1168
Location: Since 2003

Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2015 10:14 pm Post subject:

jimpellow wrote:

Chinese, for our latest crop of rookies, are used to all the perceived power being with the employer and the applicant begging and kissing a**.

Can we make this a sticky?

This is so true. When things go south, and the boss ignores the terms of the contract, the FT is expected to kowtow and accept the BS because that's the Chinese way. Even with an "amiable" solution or compromise, the boss always comes out with the better deal (or tries to) so that he doesn't lose face.

theoriginalprankster

Joined: 19 Mar 2012
Posts: 895

Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2015 5:47 am Post subject:

Quote:

This is so true. When things go south, and the boss ignores the terms of the contract, the FT is expected to kowtow and accept the BS because that's the Chinese way. Even with an "amiable" solution or compromise, the boss always comes out with the better deal (or tries to) so that he doesn't lose face.

So true. I was offered a contract by a private middle school. EVERYTHING in the contract was in favour of the school.

I did sign it (from abroad), then set about doing some re-negotiating, as they decided they wouldn't offer me a single (non-shared) apartment as promised, and decided they wouldn't pay me to go to HK to get the Z visa, as promised.

They won't budge on any of my suggestions. They're in for a rude surprise next month.

jimpellow

Joined: 12 Oct 2007
Posts: 913

Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2015 3:25 pm Post subject:

theoriginalprankster wrote:

Quote:

So what you are saying is you will be a no show? To be honest when I normally hear of such vindictive actions I am rather disgusted. Yet when we are talking about PRC Chinese I get a warm squishy feeling inside that makes me giggle.

I think the aspect about it that bothers me most is what poor self monitoring skills Chinese have. Everybody makes mistakes, but most people observe what they did wrong and try to correct it. This is sorely lacking with most Chinese. So in your case, rather than learn that they should deliver on what they promise the teacher so they aren't screwed come fall term, they will repeat the prevaricating process in hopes the next teacher will be more spineless and exploitable.

Display posts from previous:

	Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> China (Job-related Posts Only)	All times are GMT Goto page Previous 1, 2
Page 2 of 2

Jump to:

You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum

Teaching Jobs in China