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ahsanirfan
Joined: 04 Sep 2009
Posts: 7
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 Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 6:20 pm Post subject: Do you know anything about these guys? |
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This was posted a couple of days ago on the China job board? http://www.eslcafe.com/jobs/china/index.cgi?read=21557
Do any of you know anything about them?
They're called ALWAYS and their website is http://www.edualways.com.
I have an interview with them tonight. Any background information about them will be greatly appreciated...
Thanks! |
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Miles Smiles
Joined: 07 Jun 2010
Posts: 1294
Location: Heebee Jeebee
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| Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 11:04 pm Post subject: |
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The twenty five hour schedule can be grueling, especially if you are new to teaching, more so if you are new to teaching AND the school. I'd let this one go.
Last edited by Miles Smiles on Wed Jul 14, 2010 3:45 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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hot_water_hillbilly
Joined: 10 Oct 2008
Posts: 97
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| Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2010 6:16 am Post subject: |
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Really? 22 hours is grueling? It's amazing that the Chinese teachers who work 6:00 AM to 8:30 PM 6 to 7 days a week and all summer aren't dropping dead like flies.
Spoiled are we? |
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Miles Smiles
Joined: 07 Jun 2010
Posts: 1294
Location: Heebee Jeebee
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| Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2010 12:39 pm Post subject: |
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| hot_water_hillbilly wrote: |
Really? 22 hours is grueling? It's amazing that the Chinese teachers who work 6:00 AM to 8:30 PM 6 to 7 days a week and all summer aren't dropping dead like flies.
Spoiled are we? |
Twenty-two hours can be grueling if one spends time producing lesson plans for all 22 hours, designs, administers and corrects test papers and essays for 6-8 classes per week.
It might not be so grueling if one spends his after class hours drinking beer and carousing late into the night and really doesn't put any effort into his courses. Then it becomes a headache because one is hung over.
One who actually has a background in TEFL China and works twenty-two class class hours per week, does the requisite planning, tends to the paperwork, finds himself tired at the end of the day and exhausted by the end of the term.There are some TEFL-ers in China who actually work.
As far as Chinese teachers working the hours cited, I don't know of any who do so. Most university teachers where I have taught were assigned a maximum of 16 hours, and usually worked only twelve class room hours.
Perhaps you work in a different country. |
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happigur1
Joined: 25 Jul 2009
Posts: 228
Location: USA
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| Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2010 9:14 pm Post subject: |
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| Miles Smiles wrote: |
As far as Chinese teachers working the hours cited, I don't know of any who do so. Most university teachers where I have taught were assigned a maximum of 16 hours, and usually worked only twelve class room hours.
Perhaps you work in a different country. |
I think this poster is referring to middle school and high school teachers. My coteacher (high school level) who was also a head teacher, had to be there from 6:30 AM to 10 PM. Being a head teacher, she got paid 400 RMB more a month than the regular teacher... which isn't a lot to begin with. However, I do realize that most of the time they are at school, they are either sleeping or playing computer games  |
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cormac
Joined: 04 Nov 2008
Posts: 768
Location: Xi'an (XTU)
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| Posted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 12:21 am Post subject: |
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| hot_water_hillbilly wrote: |
Really? 22 hours is grueling? It's amazing that the Chinese teachers who work 6:00 AM to 8:30 PM 6 to 7 days a week and all summer aren't dropping dead like flies.
Spoiled are we? |
There is quite a difference between what we (westerners) are used to working and what the Chinese (or any asians) are used to working.
When I worked in Business I averaged about 50 hours during a 5 day week... didn't bother me much, and I thought it would be the same for teaching. However after doing 28 hours of Kinder in one week, I realised the difference.
I suppose it depends on the ages of the students, the numbers of students per class, and the content of the classes.
But I'd be very careful of saying that you're capable of doing long hours on a regular basis (in teaching) unless you've already done so in the past, and I certainly wouldn't accept it as the norm. |
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SnoopBot
Joined: 21 Jun 2007
Posts: 740
Location: USA
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| Posted: Fri Jul 16, 2010 6:13 pm Post subject: |
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| hot_water_hillbilly wrote: |
Really? 22 hours is grueling? It's amazing that the Chinese teachers who work 6:00 AM to 8:30 PM 6 to 7 days a week and all summer aren't dropping dead like flies.
Spoiled are we? |
22-hours of lectures and group silent study is not difficult- Real teaching positions.
Try 22-hours straight of listening to Oral English conversations. I've done it before and it's not fun. |
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mat chen
Joined: 01 Nov 2009
Posts: 494
Location: xiangtan hunan
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| Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2010 5:20 am Post subject: |
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| Your right Chinese teachers are paid little but they have perks like free houses for life. If I had 5 mao for every Chinese teacher who has told me things like they only made 2,000 rmb a month and then two months later tell me how they were able to save 70,000 rmb last year I would be a rich person today. |
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cormac
Joined: 04 Nov 2008
Posts: 768
Location: Xi'an (XTU)
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| Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2010 6:10 am Post subject: |
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| mat chen wrote: |
| Your right Chinese teachers are paid little but they have perks like free houses for life. If I had 5 mao for every Chinese teacher who has told me things like they only made 2,000 rmb a month and then two months later tell me how they were able to save 70,000 rmb last year I would be a rich person today. |
Err, free accommodation is usually part of the deal that we foreigners receive.. so thats not so much of an issue. I think it mostly that Chinese people know how to take advantage of all the deals to be had in buying food, cars, transport costs, etc. I know as a foreigner who doesn't speak chinese the sellers generally mark up the price at least 30%. The Chinese teacher doesn't have to face that. |
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struelle
Joined: 16 May 2003
Posts: 2372
Location: Shanghai
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| Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2010 6:13 am Post subject: |
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Appearances mean one thing, reality tells another story. You'll often see Chinese teachers scurrying to work on time and putting in these long hours, but once they arrive at their office desks they slack off and don't do very much. It amounts to a cultural norm of 'face time' whereby they are are required to be present at their desks and accountable to the boss, working on occasion. But in reality, much of the time is unproductive and wasted, and as someone said, they are usually sleeping, playing computer games, or chatting on their MSN.
Watch out for jobs that require this same 'face time' or office hours when you're not teaching. I've seen a lot more of these requirements for FTs lately, and have experienced the scenario myself repeatedly over the last 2 years. There is nothing more frustrating than being forced to sit in the office because the boss said so, and everyone around is just wasting time. They don't question why this is, they just sit there, pull out a foozeball table, maybe play ping pong, break out some MSN -- or I got a super mario tournament going.
Yeah it can be fun, but I'd rather be doing less hours in the office, maximizing classroom time, and the majority of the paperwork and grading off campus where there aren't all these distractions. |
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