Job Discussion Forums

jammish · Joined: 17 Nov 2005 Posts: 1704

5000 a month not to enough to eat on? Are you kidding me?

My wife and I spend in the region of 4800 a month (that is the amount I make through extra tutoring), including paying our ayi (maid) to cook 3 good meals for us a day, sometimes eating food in restaurants outside, plus all the other stuff like bills, buying things for our baby son, etc, and we live in one of the more expensive cities in China (dalian).

As for the food being sweet - well as others have said, why didn't you do your homework? I have been in China 4 years and never encountered sweet dishes...

englishgibson · Joined: 09 Mar 2005 Posts: 4345

hasn't china spoiled some of us, jammish? Smile

aliaparrish · Joined: 26 Jul 2007 Posts: 5 Location: New York

In the first place I was being sarcastic when I said I couldn't eat well on 5,000RMB. Not a bright bunch are you? In the second place, I DID do my homework before I arrived in "Wuxi", a city described in Lonely Planet as "Having absolutley nothing of interest to tourists". I was told by one of my contacts that it was a pleasant city and close to other ciites of interest.

I was also told by the Canadian recruiter that the school was either 5 to 15 minutes by foot from our living quarters. She muttered something about "I hope they are ready" when I said something about wanting to arrive a week early in my apartment. I did not find out until I had purchased a plane ticket and was just about to leave that we would not be moving into our quarters for a while, or about the construction.

The bottom line is that private or public school, when you do something like this, you are buying a "pig in a poke" and have no way of knowing how things are REALLY going to be until you fly 11,000 miles. I just feel fortunate that I did not take a job with a firm like English First and that my contract (which if I really wanted to I could break) is only for a semester.

As to the person who states they have never had a sweet meal in China, I would like you to speak to my student who said when I replied that I really didn't like the food here: "Oh, yes. It is known to be sweet", and I suggest he eat at one of the outdoor hotspot places where they liberally spoon sugar into the broth.

'Nuf said.

englishgibson · Joined: 09 Mar 2005 Posts: 4345

Xingyun · Joined: 30 Sep 2007 Posts: 22

I love the "Sweet & Sour" pork in Shanghai.

Shanghai cuisine wins, hands down.

For good American style "Goulin Rou", "General Tsao's Chicken", "Shrimp w/Lobster Sauce", "fried rice" etc.... in Shanghai call Mealbay at 51580168.

Request "Henry's Brew Pub".

englishgibson · Joined: 09 Mar 2005 Posts: 4345

in fact a sweet post above on a sour topic of an operation from silver tower in shanghai Laughing

what's henry's brew or where's his pub..yeast in silver tower's cold unfiltered henry's yellow p*ss Confused

peace to EF's head office as well as their turnover of employees
and
cheers and henry's brew to the new academic management staff in silver tower Wink

_____________________________________________________________
i love emoticons

malu · Joined: 22 Apr 2007 Posts: 1344 Location: Sunny Java

englishgibson · Joined: 09 Mar 2005 Posts: 4345

wonder if that was an EF recruiter...the franchise's got their own sh*te cruiters...if centers decide to go with none-franchise ones, it is not only 'cause they don't want to pay the fees to the headless office Wink

peace to "canadian recruiters" for EF
and
cheers and beers to the OP Smile

aliaparrish · Joined: 26 Jul 2007 Posts: 5 Location: New York

No, the recruiter was not an EF recruiter. I know better than that. The recruiter was acutally someone who works for the Canadian College (Lambton)that has partnered with the University (Jiangnan) that I work for.

They sent me a "letter of intent" which outlined what I would be getting in my contract once I arrived in China. Of course it is not the same.

We cannot make outgoing calls, our passports have been taken, supposedly for one week so we "can get new visas" (I had a perfectly valid one from the consulate in New York), and I as well as other non-Canadians have not been reimbursed as promised for our visa and airfare.

Also, as one of the teachers wisely bailed 3 weeks after arriving, and another teacher wisely (did he have inside information?) called from the airport in Shanghai to say he had changed his mind and would not be arriving afterall, the school added those students to our classes (5 each), promising to pay us extra for the extra workload.

At this point, I have as much faith that they will pay us the extra amount, as I do that I will get reimbursed for my airfare, or that the weasly Canadian "faculty recruiter" will answer my email.

The noise level is insane. They don't work during the day, but last night starting at 7 p.m. (just as I was working on lesson plans) and going until 10 p.m. they were using some kind of gigantic drill (I'm not talking individual jackhammer here, I'm talking a behemoth piece of machinary the size of Godzilla) that made my teeth rattle in my skull.

About the only thing they have done right is to deposit our pay on time into direct deposit accounts for us. However, they show no inclination of helping us arrange wire transfers of this money to the US, so if I do ever get out of here, I will probably have to leave the money behind.

PLEASE: NO responses telling me to do my research, as I did. You just don't know how things are going to work out until you do them. At least I'm not working for English First!

Sonnet · Joined: 10 Mar 2004 Posts: 235 Location: South of the river

Shan-Shan · Joined: 28 Aug 2003 Posts: 1074 Location: electric pastures

englishgibson · Joined: 09 Mar 2005 Posts: 4345

Sonnet · Joined: 10 Mar 2004 Posts: 235 Location: South of the river

C'mon, it's an old, old argument, this one...

An EF salary isn't the highest or the lowest in China. I know people who work for more, and for less.

There are plenty of benefits - no tax, free accomodation (no campuses, no curfews...), round-trip airfare, health insurance, paperwork costs.

EF teachers spend more time teaching, true. But I'd rather work a 28ach week with small, homogeneous classes, a shedload of resources and regular training & development, than work a 16ach week in front of demotivated heterogeneous classes of 80 university students or more. And some people would rather the opposite. People are different.

There are advantages & disadvantages to both sides - and each option has plenty of teachers who prefer it. Neither is inherently better or worse - it's a case of personal priorities and preferences.

englishgibson · Joined: 09 Mar 2005 Posts: 4345

you're right ... there're advantages and disadvantages to both ... and, personal priorities/preferences for sure

however, and with all due respect, you strike me as one who'd work for anyone that pays and provides you with your advantages....not that i want to anal yze you on here, but you sure seem to be one that would well balance his own priorities/preferences and put own ambitions on top and above anything....do you really care about the readers on this one???

cheers and beers to the old arguements that will never get older than they are Laughing

Symphany · Joined: 10 Aug 2006 Posts: 117

Thanks for your posts all, Aliparrish -- I've seen Lambton college's ad in the Toronto Star, and decided to avoid them. Thanks a heap for posting detailed information on them. Englishbison, (everyone else who has posted about them) thanks for providing your point of view regarding EF. It helps especially hearing from someone who has worked there in the past in a non-management position.