Job Discussion Forums

DistantRelative · Joined: 19 Oct 2004 Posts: 367 Location: Shaanxi/Xian

Nathan I'm sure CJ doesn't consider "all" teachers "hacks". But it wouldn't surprise me a bit if I found out he considered you one !!!

I certainly do Laughing

I think you should consider EG's advice and go take your meds.

Shawn

kungfucowboy83 · Joined: 25 Jan 2006 Posts: 479

i work in qingdao and asked one of my friends who has been here for a few years about it. he had lots of bad to say and no good. he said QTI rutinely broke his contract, they didn't often pay what they promised, that they expected lots of overtime without pay. and that they lost almost all of their foreign teachers because of it multiple times. please note he said that not me i have no actual experince with the school.

james s · Joined: 07 Feb 2007 Posts: 676 Location: Raincity

Just an FYI that I have nothing to do with the entry prior to this one about the school. On this forum,I talk about the contract from the school. Seriously people, if you want to work like a dog and not be able to enjoy the coin that you ar earning, why would you come over?

cj750 · Joined: 27 Apr 2004 Posts: 3081 Location: Beijing

james s · Joined: 07 Feb 2007 Posts: 676 Location: Raincity

Nathan and cj,

Can I ask both of you a favour?

Please do not transform my report about a school into the ongoing battle that you two have.

If you have something nice or not so nice to say about this school, say it here, otherwise, start a new thread.

This thread is geared to aid others, not to aid you two in your battle.

Please and thank you.

James S.

james s · Joined: 07 Feb 2007 Posts: 676 Location: Raincity

http://www.englishschoolwatch.org/webboard_detail.php?topic_id=1755

cj750 · Joined: 27 Apr 2004 Posts: 3081 Location: Beijing

Brian Caulfield · Joined: 14 Sep 2004 Posts: 1247 Location: China

This is a Korean school so you must be ready to fight . Koreans love fighting . I spent 10 years there and I stayed there for such a long time because I understood them . If you fight with a Korean they all join
together and fight with you , if you leave them alone they will fight with each other . So there favorite trick in South Korea is to wait till the 11 month of a contract to tell you that you are no good and try to fire you so they don't have to honor your contract . Qingdao is the most expensive city to live in . Everyone is rich , bicycles are illegal because they slow the rich down in their cars . Green fees on the two courses there are over 1500 rmb . If you like to golf go to Qingdao .

james s · Joined: 07 Feb 2007 Posts: 676 Location: Raincity

Qingdao is not so expensive. BUT there are cheaper places which are better. Koreans do love to fight.

Everyone does drive here and bicycles were outlawed.Motorcycles and scooters as well. Just cars and busses. It portrays the image of a rich town.

Remember that this thread is opinion based.

james s · Joined: 07 Feb 2007 Posts: 676 Location: Raincity

So...
heard through the grapevine...

The owner has come forward and demanded that all foreign teachers who work at this school MUST work to 1630 hours, as compared against the 1530 hours as agreed to in their contracts. Busses are not provided.

It takes about .5 hours more daily to get to work and .5 more to get home. New math...

An extra 30minutes daily travel time to and fro. An extra "in house" daily hour of my time...

WOW! 37.5Y.

Thats per hour.
Hourly.

In case you are a skeptic: 4.55600607533USD per hour.

USD.

Lets take some time to hit home...
6.12 Australian
6.86 New Zealand
5.62 Canadian
3.68 Euro
2.46 Pounds
34.45 S. African Rand.

Most teachers are from one of these countries. You are free to value yourself.

Are you worthy of more?

I edited and deleted my prior rant.

KES · Joined: 17 Nov 2004 Posts: 722

mmmm. What's the problem?

Just say "No."

Tell your boss you expect him to honor the contract, because you are going to. Then make yourself absent during the unpaid time.

Be nice. be polite. be firm.

cj750 · Joined: 27 Apr 2004 Posts: 3081 Location: Beijing

Not sure james has a contract with these folks....

no_exit · Joined: 12 Oct 2004 Posts: 565 Location: Kunming

People who have direct experience with this school should come forward and post. I'm not saying the school is good or bad, however --

You don't get paid for travel time to and from work. Unless you work at home, or live on-campus, you have to expect that it will take awhile to get to your office/school. In any moderately sized Chinese city this travel time could easily be an hour or more. If you don't like that, choose a school near your home, but you don't get to complain that you should be paid for travel time.

Grading papers and office hours aren't anything special. If you ever work for a university, and have the pleasure of teaching a composition class, you will truly understand the timesink that grading hundreds of college-level English compositions can become. Again, the school is not going to pay you extra for this, if you choose to teach, you're going to have to expect some outside work. I honestly doubt a school could manage to keep you busy for 15 office hours a week, and a teacher with any sort of time management skills will know to use these hours for grading and planning. I've never minded office hours because my planning time was set aside. I honestly don't understand when teachers come on here and complain that their job requires planning or office hours and then also go on about being "real teachers."

If the school breaks its contract, or makes empty promises, then sure, they deserve to be called out (not providing the an apartment or airfare allowance isn't cool either, but are these things promised in the contract and then not given, or simply not offered at all? The difference is important), but I don't think your claim is strengthened by factoring in travel time and grading time and coming up with the 37RMB an hour figure. By that logic basically anyone could reduce their salary to some ridiculous sounding figure. It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that getting to work involves travel time, and that teaching requires work outside the classroom. Those who consider this unfair should maybe consider a different profession.

PeterGriffin · Joined: 22 Nov 2004 Posts: 31 Location: Qingdao

Well after reading all of this, I guess it's time I come forward. I was employed at QTI school in Qingdao. In the short time that I was employed at QTI, I have never been treated so poorly, as i was there. I agree with the OP in everything that he has said to this point, with exception to the statement about the new quitting time. I don't know about this. I also read the link that was inserted by the OP. I don't think I've laughed so hard in a while, because the description of the characters is perfect. I don't want to say too much because the Owner of QTI has made some threats and I've heard that one former teacher was suied because of Visa conflicts with another school. The paycheck at the end of the month is nice, but all the hours it took to get that stack of RMB doesn't make it worth it. Good Luck anyone considering QTI in Qingdao

james s · Joined: 07 Feb 2007 Posts: 676 Location: Raincity

noexit,
I dont want confrontation. Let me explain...

Please dont "doubt" what I am saying as you have no grounds for your doubt.

I will not be called out to do battle, nor will anyone I know be called out; to talk about this publicly.

I talk about contract. Thats it. Check earlier postings. Contract. There is a reason.

Do not call anyone out.

I am done on this thread.