Job Discussion Forums

[agarbers]

The school I am looking to enter a contract with are stuck at 3,500 rmb plus round trip air fare plus housing for a one year English contract at the uni level in Shandong province. Is this reasonable?

Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[TangWolun]

There are a ot of things to throw in the mix...but here a some....

Will they let you do other work?
Are you having your resident's permit and visa payed for?
How many hours are you contracted to teach each week?
Are you paid for the Summer holidays?
Are you entitled to a end of year bonus scheme?
Do you have a Medical insurance scheme?
Do you have accident and Hospital insurance?
What are your qualifications?
Are you a registered teacher?
You said housing provided but do you have access to it when your contract teaching expires?

There are heaps more ...no doubt other posters can add to this list!

TangWolun.
Do you have teaching experience?
Have you got degrees from recognised universties?

[flutterbayou]

A fair wage at a university in China is a misnomer.

3,500 is not good enough. People often turn down 5-6,000.

If you are new in the area of teaching, you may want to accept this salary for one year to get experience. And if this salary covers you for up to 16 to 18 hours per week, then you may want to ask for additional teaching hours at a rate of no less than 120 per hour to give your wages a boost.

When you only work 16 hours a week and don't have money to burn, free time travels along at a snail's pace. Free time should be quality time, and you can't do much travel and sightseeing ont the wage you mentioned.

Best to you.

[Anda]

If you get the summer and winter holidays paid for and you are provided with accommodation plus utilities all paid and you're new to this game then it is okay provided you can do part time work. Your maximum hours should max out at 16 hours class hours a week plus preparation.

If it is a 10 month contract then laugh in their faces. If they don't allow you to do part time work, then also laugh in their faces.

3,500 RMB doesn't go far at all these days here in China. If you want to buy something like a decent TV or good computer then you will soon appreciate what I'm saying. The other thing is you can go through quite a bit of money between jobs here. For instance I've currently got a two month unpaid gap between my last job and current new position. That's what happens when you finish a contract at the beginning of July instead of the end of August.

You should also be covered fully for your airfares. Go straight to Foreign Affairs if they do not pay them at the end of the contract. I had this happen at Funing Teachers College here in Jiangsu.

[therock]

Most schools don't care if you take on supplement work as long as it doesn't interfere with your classes. Most cases you don't even need to inform the school you are undertaking other work, as long as it doesn't effect your classes and you turn up like a good monkey then most schools don't care what you do in your free time.

As for 3500RMB.....If you are only required to teach 10-12 classes a week and there is no admin duties then this offer doesn't sound too bad. However most likely you are required to teach 16 classes a week....too low, especially for Shandong province.

But if you don't accept...somebody else will.

[Orrin]

3500/month?? You must be joking! A reasonable wage for a full-time uni gig in any Chinese city of 1,000,000 or more should be AT LEAST RMB10K/month.

[arioch36]

Orrin

[agarbers]

Thanks so much for all of your feedback. I am, as some of you have suspected, new to teaching in China. I was expecting a salary of 5000 to 6000 per month plus lodging. The uni offered 3000 and wouldn't go past 3500. I knew that other schools offered twice that and began to question my choice.

A little more information:
16 teaching hours per week
No restrictions on additional teaching during my free time
Winter vacation is paid, summer is not

As you all understand it is very confusing at first. Again, I really appreciate your help.

[Anda]

Will they let you stay in the accommodation free between contracts? It is a rock bottom offer, however if you are good with young kids then you should be able to pickup some part time hours at about 100 RMB an hour.

I work for a public school and the top pay for 16 hours is 5,000 RMB a month plus accommodation and you need to have experience to get that. Most want to give only a 10 month contract also.


Even with part time work at an institute you generally don't get a lot of hours straight off. July is when you can pick up good money with institutes; many however close for August in the smaller cities. For the rest of the year it is mainly weekend work. If and I mean if you are popular as a teacher with kids then you can earn an extra three of four thousand a month year round after you get know for being a good teacher. The money is bigger in say Shanghai but costs are too.

The choice is yours but in the end. I like government jobs as you generally have less problems getting paid but not always. Universities sometimes require a lot of preparation if you see the same students a number of times a week. Most public schools have you with different classes for the whole week so you only need one good lesson plan for the week.

Many like working for universities so if you think that is your scene well at least this will give you a start to build on. Be careful but as to where the university is located as many are away from the centers of the cities where most of the part time work is.

[arioch36]

yes, definitely at the bottom. Of course, if you wait a couple of weeks, and the school doesn't have enough laowai, the offer wiull go up.

Best is to show them the offer from another school, show that it is better, and ask them if they can match it.

I would be amazed at getting an offer of 5,000 for 16 hours. Don't know anyone , especially their first year, to get this here in HEnan

[kungfucowboy83]

i really can't think of any place in shandong i would take 3500rmb per month (unless we are talking like 9 classes a week).

[Anda]

Looking through jobs in the area in mention there arn't too many offering much of a salery. I wouldn't go with an instutite full time as the hours are all over the place and holidays are little.


http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=shandong+english+teaching&btnG=Google+Search

[Orrin]

@arioch36,

I don�t know what city you�re working in, but where I am (Zhuhai, about 1.5 million population with an average per capita income of about RMB1800), the language mills and private kindergartens pay from 5500 to 7500 for 21 hours per week with housing supplied; or from 800 to 1300 housing allowance if the teacher prefers to find his/her own apartment. Utilities are not paid, but the teachers get about 25 to 30 paid days off during the year. These paid holidays usually coincide with CNY and the May and October national holidays.

The local universities (5 that I know of) offer anywhere from 7500 to 18000 per month. Some either provide housing or housing allowances up to 1500/month, while others do not. Most offer full 12 month contracts; and some offer 11 month or shorter contracts. One has to do a bit of digging to determine exactly who offers what.

How do I know this? I spent 5 years working in the Zhuhai language mills; and I have recently accepted an appointment at a local university for 17000/month. I�ll have 18 teaching hours per week, with an additional 6 hours or so for �office hours� and extracurricular activities. It is a full 12 month contract, with the whole month of July off with full pay, and the CNY and national holidays off, also with full pay.

The reason I don�t go into the recruiting business is because I don�t think I could take the pay cut.

[Leon Purvis]

[Orrin]

Academic English and some "business English".