Job Discussion Forums

[Lute451]

I apologize if this topic has been covered before. I did do a search for winter holiday, spring festival, teaching break...etc. It came up with zero results each time.

I was just told by the school that our last day of class is on the 10th. This is when we get paid for work between Nov. 10 to Dec. 10th. So that means that the 8th is the last day that we have class before the winter holiday. (I know that I'm lucky that I even got told when the last day of class was.)

We don't have to be back for teaching until March 1st. Is it normal to have that long of a winter holiday for the FTs? The last day of normal classes for the school is Dec. 15th, then they will be studying for exams. As least, that is what we were told. This is a public high school, so I'm not sure if that makes a difference with the scheduling.

We are not being paid for the months that we are not teaching. So no pay for Dec, Jan or Feb. We were expecting the no pay issue for Jan and Feb, but we thought we were teaching all through Dec. Did we screw that up on the contract? Do FTs normally get paid for the months that they do not teach?

We are going to be traveling to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand at the end of Dec for about two weeks. Then we were planing on traveling throughout China for the rest of our winter holiday. Now that we have so much time, I'm not sure we have enough money saved for that long of a tour! How much money can you get by with traveling through China?

Again, sorry if this is been discussed at length. If there are current threads, please point me to them. Thanks.

[Steppenwolf]

How can we know the answser if you forget to explain your particular sitatuion?

If you were on contract with a public school your holidays would be paid for. I assume you are working in a training centre, and yes, they reserve the right to pay only for a job done.

IT is sometimes hard for them to sign up new takers right after the spring festival. Of course, I would prefer to cfall it "poor planning" or "poor class scheduling".

[Lute451]

I'm sorry that I wasn't clear. It is a public high school. The contract does state that we will get paid a week for National Day and for a week in May. We also get paid for Christmas. We just weren't aware that their Winter Holiday was 3 months long. I know the students are in classes, I'm just not sure why we aren't needed for teaching until March 1st.

So, normally FTs don't get Dec through March 1st off? Or if they do its paid?

We weren't expecting to have three months of no salary, just two. We knew we would not be teaching in Jan or Feb...this was discussed before taking the job. We didn't know that Dec wouldn't have work though.

[7969]

4-5 week holiday at chinese new year is normal. 3 months is not. nobody gets a three month paid chinese new year holiday at a public school. something strange going on where you are.

[kev7161]

I'm going to guess you are teaching "Oral English", yes? It seems, from what you say in your story, that they are putting your classes on the back burner, so the kids can concentrate all their time on their "written" English in preparation for some big test before Spring Festival break. Personally, in my 3+ years here, I've never heard of this. Have you been having any problems with this school? Are you quite sure you are employed with them come March 1st? Do you have to vacate your apartment? Have you been allowed meals on campus and, if so, are you still allowed to eat at the school canteen? Have you asked or has anyone told you exactly why you are stopping your classes so early (I would ask just out of curiousity)? Were you told pre-contract that you would not be paid for December, January, AND February? (*whew!* that's a LOT of money!) Was it in your contract (and what kind of contract did you sign, if you don't mind me asking, that you'd allow them not to pay ANYTHING for lost days even though school is in session?) that you'd get paid for December? It all just sounds a little unusual to me is all.

[Lute451]

Yes, we are teaching oral English. We take a 40 minute class from the Chinese English teachers once a week. So we have 20 40 minute classes. Each class only sees us once a week.

We knew pre-contract signing that we would not be working Jan or Feb. We were told that it was for winter holiday. We are the only FTs at this school.

We are not leaving our apartment, which is on campus. We still get meals in the school canteen for free. When we were planning our trip, we asked our FAO when our last day of classes were...he told us the 15th. The students would then use all their time to study for the tests. Today we were told our last day would be the 10th (8th really, the 10th is a Sunday) to correspond to our pay schedule. We get paid on the 10th for work between Nov 10th - Dec 10th. We did not expect to not be working in December.

I honestly thought having Jan and Feb off was normal for FTs. The school told us upfront that we would not teach during those months due to the holiday. We knew that we would not be paid for those months before signing the contract, but we didn't know about not working in December.

We have had issue with classroom management. The Chinese teachers told us that they would work with us next semester to help keep the kids in control during our class time. So I don't think we are fired or anything. The teachers and FAO have always made us feel welcome and have helped us out with many things.

The contract we signed was pretty fair...I mean, I'm not an expert obviously, but we read through Dave's and made them change somethings on the contract. They were up front about Jan and Feb, and like I said, I thought that was normal for FTs to not work during those months. It's December that has me worried. We've been living thinking that we would have December's paycheck.

They even said that if we wanted to come back from our winter holiday earlier, they would help us find part time work until school started for us again on March 1st...so I don't think they are trying to get rid of us.

I think I answered all of the questions...if not, please don't hesitate to ask for further information. This school has been nothing but nice to us and we have nothing but nice things to say (aside from lack of paying attention/talking during our classes).

[voodikon]

it probably doesn't matter what anybody here says anyway--you're pretty much at the mercy of your school, aren't you?

[ChinaAndrew]

I teach in a high school.FT have 3 weeks off, two of which are paid.I would agree with the others its sounds unusally long.If your strapped for cash, why not do some freelance, is that allowed by your contract?You could always teach privately for a month then take 2 off for travelling.

[Leprecoon]

Also, if you are strapped for cash the school may front you some money... I worked for a school once, they had a policy of giving all new teachers a loan of RMB1000 when they arrived, and another Uni I worked for paid my flight bonus after a month instead of at the end of the contract....

Maybe not the ideal solution, however it sounds like you have a good relationship with them and it might be an option. Better than spending a fortnight's holiday locked indoors eating ramen noodles and watching TV!

[Lute451]

Thanks for your thoughts everyone. It sounds like this isn't normal to have a holiday for this long. I'm not sure there is anything we can actually do about it, except enjoy the time off and try to travel as much as we can. I'll remember that for next time we are negotiating the contracts.

The school did lend us money when we first arrived, so that shouldn't be a problem if it comes to that. Like I said, we really do like the school...this is the first thing that sounded fishy to me. But I thank you all for your input.

[TravellingAround]

When I taught in China it was at a university and we had two months holiday in the winter and another two months in the summer. The pay did not change - I received a monthly salary even in the holiday months so in actuality was being paid for four months of not doing anything.

The school has been upfront about it so it doesn't seem so strange. I'd expect, however, that the Chinese teachers were being paid for their holiday. Still...that's life. With free meals included it doesn't seem like you would need to spend much when there.

[adamsmith]

I have known some uni's in beijing that stop the FTs classes before Xmas because they "know all foreigners like to go home for Xmas" but those places usually paid the teachers their holiday pay if they were coming back the next semester (although they had to wait to collect it until they came back).
The standard line I have seen in many contrat I have looked at is the that - the contract is until (insert date) but employment will end on a date that the school decides - or something along those lines allowing the schools to arbitrarilly pick a date when they feel it is no longer necessary to pay out hard earned money to th FT while little wang should be studying for his more important final exams that count for something.

I have hear of this situation and faced it myself once, although not that long in the winter holiday. But then when it came time to renogotiate the contract I made sure that I was being paid for holidays (then they make sure they get every last day of work out of you they can)

[China.Pete]

It sounds to me as though you've got a bad contract. The school is taking advantage of this to avoid paying you when you're "not needed," while still hoping you'll hang around for the time when they decide that they do. It is usual to put CTs and some FTs on half-pay during the usual 6-8 week holiday - typically one per 10.5-month contract period. It is not usual to give you no pay - although I'm not surprised some schools in China have tried this (I mean, what FT would ever think to ask about such a thing?). I would definitely find work at one or more language schools in the interim. I don't care whether your contract allows it or not. DON'T ASK! Just do it! Borrowing money is not going to help you much, since you'll just be short of money later on. Enough lucrative part-times, and you might just come to think of this job as a visa, free meals and a place to stay. This may eventually lead your employer to reassess their cleverness.

[TravellingAround]

If your school is not paying you during a period of time I would suggest that it is none of their business if you work elsewhere in that period. If they don't like it then so what? They aren't paying you so have no right to expect you not to support yourself.

[no_exit]

Chinese new year comes fairly late this year. It could be that your school cancelled the FT classes super early in order to give the students extra time to prepare for exams. When I worked at public schools they tended to do this -- FT classes would end a couple of weeks before the kids took their exams. At a public high school you probably aren't actually required to test the kids, that's the job of their normal English teacher. Test results are everything to these schools and their teachers, and when exams are coming up, FT classes can be seen as a bit of a waste of time.

Still, it is a lot to ask you guys to go without pay for three months. Two months is fairly normal (usually, as Pete says, either on full pay or some kind of adjusted pay scale), three months isn't. Ask if there is any sort of compensation at all, and how they expect you to survive for three months. It is *possible,* that they figured you'd all be going home for the holidays and would enjoy the three months off even without the pay and didn't even consider that you're not all rich foreigners and that some of you do rely on your work to make ends meet. Bring the subject up and see if you can get any concessions from them -- I know a bunch of people will probably roll their eyes "concessions from a Chinese school, yeah right!!" However, it has been known to happen and it can't hurt to try. Otherwise, I'd feel free to look for work during the holidays. Many language training centers do intensive winter break classes and need part time teachers during this period. There are also lots of winter camps that hire short term teachers. Look around, you might get an opportunity to make a nice little extra bit of cash.