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vikdk
Joined: 25 Jun 2003
Posts: 1676
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 Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 12:44 pm Post subject: |
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| I find complaints such as :not aware of Chinese learning habits" ludicrous. Still, if they judge you on that score you have to question the wisdom of accepting their job in the first place. |
This is also a strange concept to understand - since these type of realisations that follow complaints start to emerge after you've started the employment. So what I think steppenwolf was trying to say was not -
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| you have to question the wisdom of accepting their job in the first place |
but - the wisdom of carrying on the job.
PlanB - this job getting you so down that you're thinking of giving it up  |
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Steppenwolf
Joined: 30 Jul 2006
Posts: 1769
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| Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2007 1:21 am Post subject: |
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| vikdk wrote: |
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| If you can charge such exorbitant rates then you are also answerable to a class of learners with very special expectations; |
What
I think its your employers - you know the guys who hired you - who are answerable - it's them who collect those fees and market you out as their teacher. You can't help it that they decided to believe your qualifications and decided to take you on - that is is unless you forced them to do it at gunpoint  |
Maybe you got it even more wrong this time than you normally do, mate!
Plan B is most probably freelancing and as a freelancer he is his own boss. Why else should he have to answer to the students' complaints? Why not his employer?
No Chinese employer would pay him 700 kuai an hour!
But I agree with everyone else in saying the students have unrealistic expectations! This has been my credo for all those years I have taught adults in China, especially in-house students.
I have warned many times that students who do not have to make a sacrifice - i.e. a financial one - won't appreciate any freebie! They take your service for granted and even regard their spare time they have to give up in order to take your lesson as a "waste".
Students should have to sign a declaration like this:
- The teacher is the ultimate authority in class! He will accommodate any reasonable ideas or suggestions from his or her students but students must accept a teacher's evaluation of the students' needs and abilities!
- Students must pay part of the tuition fee (the company can refund them after they successfully complete the course).
- The teacher will assess the student's progress in English during the course so that the employer sees whether his investment is bearing fruit!
- Attendance is obligatory and absences need justification!
SOmething like this! |
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vikdk
Joined: 25 Jun 2003
Posts: 1676
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| Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2007 1:32 am Post subject: |
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Maybe you got it even more wrong this time than you normally do, mate!
Plan B is most probably freelancing and as a freelancer he is his own boss |
Let us see - my hat is on the table ready to eat - get yours ready too!!!!
By the way this -
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| I am now at a business consultancy which charges a higher than market price for lessons - around 700 / hour. |
makes me think that this time I'll not have to start munching - but you never know!!!!! |
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eslstudies
Joined: 17 Dec 2006
Posts: 1061
Location: East of Aden
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| Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2007 3:44 am Post subject: |
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Eat his hat? Humble pie? Admit to being wrong?
Never.
He's rushed into print several times lately without reading the thread properly. Or maybe it's just poor reading comprehension.
And the tactic is, once he knows he's wrong, he doesn't post there again. |
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Plan B
Joined: 11 Jan 2005
Posts: 266
Location: Shenzhen
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| Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2007 4:22 pm Post subject: |
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| Steppenwolf wrote: |
Maybe you got it even more wrong this time than you normally do, mate!
Plan B is most probably freelancing and as a freelancer he is his own boss. Why else should he have to answer to the students' complaints? Why not his employer?
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I am not freelancing. I work full-time for my employer. However, it is a small consultancy, and I am involved in many different aspects, such as writing the lessons for the part-timers, creating course outlines, and obviously, the more menial duties. Most of the administrative work I get through efficiently and competently.
As the staff is rather small, when I s c rew up a demo and leave clients unimpressed, I feel dejected for many reasons. One is professional pride, and another is the effect on the boss I work so closely with, whom otherwise supports me fully. In previous jobs, I couldn't give a rat's arse to the financial gain of my employer, but when I look my employer in the eyes, and I see dedication in the craft personified, I start to feel a sense of liability. |
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Steppenwolf
Joined: 30 Jul 2006
Posts: 1769
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| Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 1:47 am Post subject: |
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| I stand corrected then - and not for the first time do I own up. Unless certain other posters... |
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Steppenwolf
Joined: 30 Jul 2006
Posts: 1769
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| Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 1:51 am Post subject: |
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| ...and, PLan B, it's good to read you also care about the image of your boss and his company. Good on you, my hat off to you! Under these circumstances your feelings are doubly understandable. Still, a job that pays such an astronomical hourly wage is so rare that those who actually pay it must eventually have doubts as to whether it can be justifed. Maybe this is why they are becoming obnoxious: they want to lower the rate or negotiate a way out of an onerous deal. |
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eslstudies
Joined: 17 Dec 2006
Posts: 1061
Location: East of Aden
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| Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 5:31 am Post subject: |
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| Steppenwolf wrote: |
| I stand corrected then - and not for the first time do I own up. Unless certain other posters... |
Assuming that "unless" means "unlike" give an example. I know I can. |
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vikdk
Joined: 25 Jun 2003
Posts: 1676
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| Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 12:01 pm Post subject: |
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Steppenwolf, me being such a good mate, I do have to butt in again and help you out.
You write -
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| Still, a job that pays such an astronomical hourly wage is so rare that those who actually pay it must eventually have doubts as to whether it can be justifed. |
But I believe what you meant to write was -
Still, a course that costs such an astronomical amount/hour is so expensive that those who actually pay it must eventually have doubts as to whether this fee can be justified.
After all when you read Plan B clearly -
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| I am now at a business consultancy which charges a higher than market price for lessons - around 700 / hour. |
I think we can assume that its not him pocketing those 700/hour - since that's the fee his employer charges - so I reckon he's just taking a share of it 
By the way how is the exam marking going |
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Plan B
Joined: 11 Jan 2005
Posts: 266
Location: Shenzhen
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| Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2007 4:17 pm Post subject: |
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| vikdk wrote: |
I think we can assume that its not him pocketing those 700/hour - since that's the fee his employer charges - so I reckon he's just taking a share of it
By the way how is the exam marking going |
You are right. I am not close to pocketing anywhere near 700 hour. Neither do I deserve to be as a full time member of staff. The part-timers earn between 200-350 depending on their past work and reliability. In a large organisation, it can be close to impossible to estimate the actual profit being made. In a small organisation, where the full-time staff numbers 6 - three foreign staff, two Chinese, and the boss herself, it is much simplier to break the costs down. My boss is not making millions, and I have been in much more exploitative environments to know the difference.
Exam marking? Not crossed that bridge yet! |
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Ahchoo
Joined: 22 Mar 2007
Posts: 606
Location: Earth
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| Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 2:14 am Post subject: |
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Chuck it in and come back to Zhuhai mate.
You know you want to. |
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Steppenwolf
Joined: 30 Jul 2006
Posts: 1769
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| Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 5:13 am Post subject: |
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| eslstudies wrote: |
| Steppenwolf wrote: |
| I stand corrected then - and not for the first time do I own up. Unless certain other posters... |
Assuming that "unless" means "unlike" give an example. I know I can. |
Correct again - it should have been "unlike"...No examples needed as I don't care whether you of all posters "can respect" other posters. You are irrelevant to me. You and your private opinions which you proudly flaunt here. |
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Steppenwolf
Joined: 30 Jul 2006
Posts: 1769
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| Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 5:20 am Post subject: |
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Well, Plan B, this is - I believe! - the first time we hear how much an employer bills a corporate customer and how this affects the personal chemistry between the FT who actually is doing the teaching, and the customer's staffers who are the FT's students.
I once made 280 kuai an hour (if I remember correctly) and I never heard that my boss was making 300 on top of my wage.
I don't know how much your employer should charge but I do think marking up by 100 percent is a little steep.
I know of employers that take just a ten-percent cut from the FT's wages! Of course, not all employers are so humble, but then again... |
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eslstudies
Joined: 17 Dec 2006
Posts: 1061
Location: East of Aden
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| Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 5:28 am Post subject: |
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| Steppenwolf wrote: |
| You are irrelevant to me. You and your private opinions which you proudly flaunt here. |
Je suis d�sol�! |
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