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brsmith15 · Joined: 12 May 2003 Posts: 1142 Location: New Hampshire USA

I've never thought that teaching was a profession one chose because of the pay. When I was in engineering school a long time ago we had a thermodynamics prof who taught for a dollar a year, and....guess what?....he was the best we had.

If you want money, apply to be one of Donald Trump's "Associates."

Guest · Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2005 8:15 am Post subject:

Why are TEFL salaries generally so LOW in China?

SIMPLE Chinese Love their money and they spend after a lot of consideration.

How many times when you are working in China you have been asked your salary?

Many Chinese thinks we earn too much. whether it's a stranger on the road,your colleague or students in your class because they are made to believe that way.Maybe even your Leader would come and tell you that you are a foreigner and you earn more. Till some extent it's true that we earn more than Chinese English Teachers and many workers.They even expect you to work in equal salary as Chinese English teacher's salary and that's when it's insulting.They don't undersatnd that foreigners get more salary because they are also making some sacrifices and there has to be no comparison in that.For many of my chinese colleagues it would be difficult to adapt and live in another country firstly because they wouldn't get used to eating western food or any other food.

Many Foreigners see China as poor country but the question always remains is it really true that China is a poor country.I have spoken to some of the locals and in fact they feel that China is much better than before and not so poor country.In china poor remains poor and rich are getting richer.

Still if some of the people who think China is poor country it's not because of you, as you are getting couple of thousands more than your Chinese colleagues but because school is earning thousands of RMB because of your presence.

Just do little maths if you have time.

How many students do you teach ?

How much they pay to the school for getting a foreign teacher class ?

How much do you get out of this ?

Where the rest of the money goes ? GO FIGURE IT

Well one of the FT had a class on it in my school. I wouldn't think of doing in my dreams.Atleast the student knew where was money going. School was not happy about it.FT was happy that students learnt the truth.

kev7161 · Joined: 06 Feb 2004 Posts: 5880 Location: Suzhou, China

Volodiya · Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2005 9:28 am Post subject:

There is almost a direct correlation between the GDP of any country you want to name and the salaries paid for native speaker teachers of EFL. If you work in a richer country, you will be paid more－it's almost that simple.

We choose the country we want, and accept the salaries offered, to some degree. Those who insist on a higher salary will naturally limit their choices to the countries that offer higher salaries (like the gulf).

No one should ever be criticised for choosing to teach English for a modest salary: it's each man/woman's choice. (We are just too hard on one another, it seems to me: I'm not sure why。I don't see people in other fields going at each other in quite this way.)

The idea that if we just demanded more, we would be paid more, is misguided, I think. To some degree, these jobs exist BECAUSE there are people willing to work for these salaries. Chinese universities, colleges, schools, etc., (language schools) could not afford to pay western salaries, and would just have to do without us, if we insisted on pay commensurate with our education and skill.

It's my belief that the emphasis in our thinking should be more on what we have to offer- not what we make. We each have something of real value to give to China: if you, on the otherhand don't have, then perhaps you should get out- of the field, and of the country.

yaco · Joined: 03 Mar 2003 Posts: 473

Disha

You are wrong about salaries in China.

Ask a Chinese person the salary of a foreign teacher.

They answer is always 8-10k per month, when the norm is 5-6k per month.

Mysterious Mark · Joined: 15 Dec 2004 Posts: 121

No Moss · Joined: 15 Apr 2003 Posts: 1995 Location: Thailand

sigmoid · Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 1276

Thanks everybody for your contributions. There are still a few things I'd like to clarify.

kev7161 · Joined: 06 Feb 2004 Posts: 5880 Location: Suzhou, China

If my private school actually put some of the money they earned back into the school, then I (probably) wouldn't worry so much about my salary (again, probably). The bathrooms could use air freshners, TP, and even hand blowers to dry our hands. A fresh coat of paint between school years would really brighten up these drab classrooms (and don't they have yellow or blue or rose colored paint in China? Is it all white?). If they had modern computers that worked, that would be a plus. There's a theater in one of our buildings where movies could be shown on a big screen. I'd love to take my class there from time to time, but it's "broken". And don't get me started about the crappy food . . . !!!

Granted, these kids can be pretty destructive, so I understand not sprucing the place up too much, but c'mon! Just a little touch here and there would work wonders with this place.

SimonM · Joined: 17 Apr 2005 Posts: 1835 Location: Toronto, Ontario

william wallace · Joined: 14 May 2003 Posts: 2869 Location: in between

Nothing to say.

Roger · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 9138

[quote="Mysterious Mark"]

go_ABs · Joined: 08 Aug 2004 Posts: 507

I agree with Roger. The students at my private school paid 120 yuan per 4 lessons last year, this year it's slightly less.

Therefore I think it's unlikely that Mark's regular students pay 100 yuan per lesson - more likely per month.

Guest · Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2005 5:27 am Post subject:

Kev : Thanks for proof reading my post. Smile

Thanks for also complimenting that my English is better than Chinese student. Shocked

If you would have used your brain more than you would have understood without reading the whole post.Sorry you had to re read the whole post again.I am also sorry for amount of confusion caused in your head because of my post. Rolling Eyes

I would make more mistakes so that it would give you chance to correct
them and maybe improve your own English.I am just surprised why you couldn't find more mistakes.I am sure there are many and there would be more.I wouldn't mind learning from you if it would be without humiliation.

I am sorry to say kev but you do sound snippy.

william wallace: Thank you for remembering my nationality and telling me where I can teach and where I can't. You have also evaluated me and my English ability.I hadn't asked for anything like that in this post.well thanks...anyways.

I understand that if you are an TEFL TESL teacher you shouldn't make mistakes but that's in classroom. I am not going to check every word before posting out here because I am not obliged to do so.I know many here would argue about that but hey! I don't post here to know how many mistakes I made or I also don't read posts here to know how many mistakes others made. I also don't wish to know what's my English level.Let that job to be left for my Employers, Seniors, Teachers, Colleagues and Students.

There is nothing called as " We" in this forum and no wonder it created some confusion.Most of the members are thinking about themselves and trying to prove others wrong. I don't think so this is doing any good to this forum. Some members completely fail to see that someof us are trying to say something.It just shows how much you all are not ready to accept other people's point of views... ( I am sorry to also say that in some cases even racist)...If in TEFL TESL Market there is any racisim I thought it was because of the recruiters,employers,schools but I never thought FTs to be doing the same.This attitude just helps to scare some FTs to post their thoughts here...nothing more.

For eg: I had read post where American and British arguing whose English is better and who started speaking language first.
There was another post where they were arguing whether or not to put "a" in that perticular sentence when they were talking about completely different topic. What sense does it make?

Just a piece of advice for all the FTs in this site who are always looking for mistakes in others post there are websites where they pay you for doing the same job maybe that would help to satisfy your egos and you won't have to do that free of charge here Razz

Have a Good day Keep Fighting and Keep finding more mistakes. Wink

I am outta of here. Cool