Job Discussion Forums

nrelich · Joined: 19 Aug 2009 Posts: 3 Location: United States

Hi everyone,

I'm a new teacher and was offered a contract with the Shandong Institute of Commerce & Technology in Jinan. The pay is 5040 RMB per month (70 yuan for each class, 18 classes per week) and overtime is 80 yuan per class. The school also offers on campus housing, fully furnished, pays for utilities and 1000 RMB for health insurance (I don't know if that is good or not). 1100 RMB travel allowance and one way flight reimbursement for a 6 month contract.

I was wondering if anyone has worked for this school or has lived in Jinan and could tell me about the city or about the school. Any comments or thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!

dialogger · Joined: 14 Mar 2005 Posts: 419 Location: China

Assume that is 18 hours of contact time.
My jobs have all been 'classes' of 2x50 min periods, with each 50 min being regarded as an hour.

nrelich · Joined: 19 Aug 2009 Posts: 3 Location: United States

yes each class is 45 minutes long, sorry I forgot to mention that

dialogger · Joined: 14 Mar 2005 Posts: 419 Location: China

In that case hours to benefits sounds about right.

Bendex · Joined: 04 Sep 2009 Posts: 18 Location: China

I worked there for one semester a couple of years ago. Everything was fine except for my losing out on a payment in lieu of teachers' holiday pay of 1/2 x 3000 Yuan as I didn't have a two-semester contract! Though there is a clause in the contract that states you are on probation for 60 days and can be dismissed if less than 70% of your students like you, I think if you're a half-decent teacher at the very least you needn't worry about that. But the college lies in the countryside about an hour from downtown Jinan by bus. The bus fare was just 3 Yuan as the bus was a city bus, also 3 yuan for a one-stop journey! The salary is good, and the accommodation is acceptable. However, it'll be around 35 degrees centigrade on a hot summer's day at noon.

therock · Joined: 31 Jul 2005 Posts: 1266 Location: China

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

Clauses like the one quoted above amplifies the truth of a recent e-mail I received:

Bendex · Joined: 04 Sep 2009 Posts: 18 Location: China

Let's agree that in China there are low-ranking educational establishments having many lazy students of low ability deserving of ineffective, clueless foreign teachers, of whom the minstrel variety are naturally the most popular.
Unsurprisingly, the so-called iron bowl mentality of the Chinese has been adopted by some wily foreign teachers. Can you blame the latter for taking advantage of a sinecure situation in China rather than being abused in classrooms back home in the developed West by problematic students with no respect for teachers?
That said, attitudes are changing in China; teaching here will not remain as easy a job as it is now! The times they are a changin', as was first sung by Bob Dylan some years ago.