Job Discussion Forums

[t-doo]

Hi all...

I currently work in Korea and have for a long time. I've never taught in China, but am considering it due to the crappy downturn of the efl industry here.

What I'm wondering is....is it possible/plausible to have your work visa sponsored by a part time job? There are jobs here in Korea that will do it(like a 3-4hr kindy gig) and give you permission to take side jobs. They usually don't offer any of the perks like housing, pension etc...but with a second job you can easily make up for it and then some.

Anything like that available in China?

I'm also wondering which cities have the highest demand for learning English? I may have to make a seperate post for that though.

Thanks.

[Brunouno]

Why not take a full-time public school job and work in the evenings part-time? Sometimes the easiest way of going about things is the best way. I would be more concerned about finding a decent employer rather than concentrating on finding someone who will offer a Z visa with part-time work.

[jimpellow]

Yes, there are. I would, of the chains I know that do it, look at Wall Street first. They have 3-4 options.

[Non Sequitur]

I think most state sector jobs could be regarded as part time in that they usually involve around 16 contact hours pw and no Sat or Sun duties.
Although contracts usually state 'no outside work' I've found that as long as you don't rub their noses in it you can manage something.
What space is available in your schedule to take on privates depends on your individual timetable and you likely won't get that until the evening before your classes start.
With luck or a bit of schmoozing you can get one whole day free Mon-Fri.
Remember though that private students also have day jobs and/or classes so likely best pickings are on weekends.

[t-doo]

[Brunouno]

[t-doo]

[Brunouno]

Get the part-time idea out of your mind. Your thinking needs to be reversed. Get an easy full-time job (do what me and the other guy said, and find a public school gig). You'll then get free accommodation or an allowance and paid public/winter/summer holidays. Your plan won't work, and you'll either end up busting your balls making the same as Korea or less.

Don't make life difficult for yourself!

[roadwalker]

Public Unis and high schools don't generally have office hours. There are some expectations outside the classroom, but not many (contest judging, English corners etc). So you wouldn't be stuck 8 hours a day most days.

[jimpellow]

I am not sure where all the negativity about not being able to get part time came from. Like I mentioned above, WS offers part time options. When I worked at Web I worked out three days a week with management. There are other chains that offer it, but I would consider Wall Street the best of those I know of. Not that I am saying working for them is a bed of roses.

The unis are certainly not a bad idea, but not the only option as some seem to feel. Teaching high school preps pays better and would give him similar hours depending on what he taught and with whom. I taught 21-26 classes a week because I am so damn smart. The teachers who could not cover as many subjects taught 6-14.

I may be wrong, but I am reading that this poster is a Tier 1, or maybe a Tier 2 city guy. Especially as he wants to explore other options. If so, seems easier to find part time work with a better chain that has an established presence in those cities. I think the uni programs might be harder to get work there (at least something good) this time of year. The other potential downer of uni and high school work is that the apartment is often on campus in the middle of nowhere. This is not for everyone either though not having Starbucks nearby nor being able to swing a shuang fei with two bar girls in your on campus "no visitors allowed" love pad certainly helps one to save.

To the poster, you and your employer will be taxed for the pension and other benefits under the new social plan. It is based on the South Korean model. But as China is screwed up, most of the benefits that you pay for you cannot or will not receive. You will get the medical and a couple small things, and before leaving China can request a refund for most of it back. Your employer cannot, and has to kiss off a lot of money to the government. Much of the tax is for the pension, but you cannot retire in China unless you marry a Chinese girl. Few marriages to Chinese girls last so long, but if your marriage did, you could collect the pension, though last I read that was still in the works.

If you are not tired of teaching Koreans, and want to make a lot of money doing privates, focus on cities like Qingdao and Dalian that have large Korean communities looking for teachers.

[Non Sequitur]

[doogsville]

What exactly constitutes a full-time or part-time job in China then? I'm very confused by some of the posting here. I've had three different jobs in China and never worked more than 20 hours a week. Most of the job ads I've ever seen are under 25 hours, even in language mills. That's part time in my experience. In the UK anything under 20 hours is usually considered part time, full time starting at 35 hours (yes, 21 to 34 hours seems to occupy some kind of grey area).

What the OP is looking for in terms of lifestyle doesn't seem that unrealistic to me, well, apart from the control of your own schedule bit. No employer is going to allow you to control your schedule, but if your only working part time then you can control the rest of your week once you know what your employer requires.

[Non Sequitur]

I think full or part time needs to be looked at in terms of contact and non-contact hours.
Doing 16 contact pw in say Written English is vastly different to the same contact hours in Oral English.
A teacher-directed schedule is beyond comprehension.

[3701 W.119th]

I was under the impression that any teaching job here, being tied to your WP/RP - and Z Visa for your first job in China - be it 40 hours+ at a mill, or 16-20 hours at a uni, is for all intents and purposes a full-time job, as far as your sponsor/employer/PSB is concerned.

My understanding was that contact hours, office hours, whatever. You can only have one employer here.

[ymmv]

I was told by my FAO last year that the PSB (in Beijing anyway) requires that a uni contract state at least 14-16 hours of classes to approve an RP for a university FT. Not that they actually check up on your schedule.

The conversation came up in this context: Though my contract stated 14-16 hours, the previous semester, due to a mixup by the academic department, I had only been given 13 hours of classes. In the ensuing semester, they asked me to teach 17 hours and nicely explained that they had to do this because of the aforementioned rule.

Really, they were pulling out the rule anticipating I'd be upset at going from 13-17 hours. But she did say, "we have to do this because PSB will consider you not full-time if you have less than 14 hours."

Did I care? No. The 4 additional hours were two sections of the same class. Minimal additional prep time. And going along with them assuaged their angst about dealing with THE FOREIGN TEACHER.

Bottom Line: "full time" for a uni position seems to be 14-20 hours-14-16 for Tier One unis. That's "part-time by most company standards, but it is what it is Chinese state universities. Training centres, have different business models and generally require a 25/40 contract. 25 teaching hours and 15 office/promo hours. If the training centre is authorized to apply for an RP thru the PSB, this is where the part time/full time dichotomy may come in. i've never fed from the trough of a training centre so I don't know. 14-16 hour uni contracts have fuelled each and every of the 16 renewals of my RP in China.