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[askiptochina]

Web International English (school) - Shanghai
http://www.webi.cn/hr

I had an interview with them recently (based in Shanghai).

I was wondering if anyone is working or knows about them. Some things came up in the interview that caught me as strange, but it could very well be just me not knowing working conditions in China.

What they said - "We will give you 3,000 RMB for transportation reimbursement if you work 6 months"

I questioned them on this. I spent about 1,000 RMB for a flight to China. At first, they said I could be reimbursed if I just bring in the ticket or boarding pass. Well, first, the boarding pass won't have the amount, and second we usually get E-tickets now. This they said is unacceptable. This is an interesting way to dodge a promise to reimburse.

So, that dragged on a bit because I wanted to understand why it was unacceptable to provide an E-Ticket. They said I needed to present an invoice because "That's how things are done in Shanghai".

Furthermore, they went on to say I could get reimbursed for any kind of transportation (they already explained I could get transportation money to work after a 2 month probationary period). This however could not be for holidays for some reason. It would be applied if I used the trains outside of going to work or if I flew to another country for one of my days off.

As it got more complicated in explaining, we just stopped there and I figured I would ask. Does this kind of "malarkey" go on here? I have never been told such a thing in Korea or Japan. In Japan, I was always reimbursed in full for transportation. In Korea, they promised a certain amount and if it went over that amount I had to pay for it (which was only like 10-20 US dollars a month).

The hours are 40 hours a week with 25 teaching hours. On the surface, it doesn't sound bad, but it seems like it also comes with the worst of both worlds compared to Korea. In Korea, if you work at a public school, you also have 40 hours with 22 hours of teaching. You have to be there for the full 40 hours though. If you work at private school outside of the public school system, then you work 25-30 hours, but you don't have to stay there for 10 more hours. You just need to be prepared and ready to teach your classes.

So, it seems like here they want to pay you less, make you "desk warm" for 15 hours like Korean public schools, but they won't let you leave like with private schools in Korea.

The only reason why I am comparing this job with Korean jobs is that I have other offers on the table which don't seem so demanding. One for example is a little less pay but only 16 hours. I could teach extra classes privately and I wouldn't have to sit for 24 hours at the school to get 40 hours. I could easily make up the difference during the time I could with WIE.

Another aspect is the actual schedule. They told me I would have private small classes, group classes, and then these larger classes with 20-30 students. Being adults, I am curious how this would work. I only experienced this in Japan with 10 students in a "voice class" once a week. It was disaster. Students never talked, except 2 who always talked about the same stuff every week. With 20-30 students, I wonder what results are expected.

I'll stop here, any teacher experiences would be appreciated. Of course, they told me it was no problem and that I would love working for them, even to the point I would buy a house, get married, and live here for 10 years just like all the other wonderful and happy English teachers.

So, happy teachers, where are you?

[xiaolongbaolaoxi]

If they aren't making you happy in an interview, what will it be like when they control your visa, your schedule, and will be monitoring your performance ?

As to paper tickets, they already know that you will probably not have them. I worked at a uni...same issue... they pulled it on the (younger)Chinese teachers as well (who were more likely to shop around online.) The uni then said travel was only good for country of passport issuance (the bonus was a bonus, not linked to travel), kept changing requests. Magic words of "contract violation" and "I will post this" solved the problem. Not a good way to end a contract for either side. Venting aside, if they are giving you a runaround now, what will it be like later ?

Avoid this school. I do "heard tell" of teachers who liked deskwarming, but they treated very well in all other aspects, so it was more of a "at least you can surf the net here and not pay for electricty/"