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Insubordination
Joined: 07 Nov 2007
Posts: 394
Location: Sydney
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 Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 4:07 am Post subject: |
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I speak from bitter experience. If you don't address and correct this problem now, it will continue to plague you throughout your career and maybe in your personal life too.
It's tough, but they have to know you are prepared to walk because they have breached the contract. Otherwise, they will keep adding on extra duties, as they know you can be pushed very far and wish to line their pockets. |
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wesharris
Joined: 26 Oct 2008
Posts: 177
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| Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 5:02 am Post subject: |
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| I don't care about them lining their pockets. I'm all for profit motive and capitalism, but I'll get my fair shake, an honored contract, and proper compensation for services rendered. |
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wesharris
Joined: 26 Oct 2008
Posts: 177
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| Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 11:37 am Post subject: |
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Thanks for confirming what I was thinking.
Operation "Contractual Limit" started. Hopefully the school manager will
learn a bit about how to interact with me. |
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The Great Wall of Whiner
Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Posts: 4946
Location: Blabbing
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| Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 1:59 pm Post subject: |
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Hate to say it, but China seems to be getting drunk off of its new-found wealth.
Just one man's opinion. |
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7969
Joined: 26 Mar 2003
Posts: 5782
Location: Coastal Guangdong
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| Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 2:01 pm Post subject: |
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| well I hate to say it but maybe the drunkeness in China is the overflow from places like the US, Canada and Europe. After all, a lot of the wealth in China wouldn't exist if it weren't for foreign factory owners packing up shop in Smalltown USA and moving to China so they could make more money. That's my opinion. |
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wesharris
Joined: 26 Oct 2008
Posts: 177
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| Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 2:11 pm Post subject: |
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| It's quite normal in the course of human events for a newly enriched country to indulge in every way possible. Frex see after WWII baby boomers, post 1980 Korea, and pretty much any newly born empire circa humanity. |
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igorG
Joined: 10 Aug 2010
Posts: 1473
Location: asia
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| Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 5:30 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| well I hate to say it but maybe the drunkeness in China is the overflow from places like the US, Canada and Europe. After all, a lot of the wealth in China wouldn't exist if it weren't for foreign factory owners packing up shop in Smalltown USA and moving to China so they could make more money. That's my opinion. |
There's a lot of truth on that. But you're working extra hours again, and so am i  |
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Lobster
Joined: 20 Jun 2006
Posts: 2040
Location: Somewhere under the Sea
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| Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 3:27 am Post subject: |
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Like the latest boy band or NBA star with a multi-million-dollar contract in hand, they are enjoying it while it lasts. New Benz and mansion, caviar every night! Not to mention lots of champagne! Ostentatious displays of bling; what a surprise. No western country would ever do that!
RED |
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wesharris
Joined: 26 Oct 2008
Posts: 177
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| Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 9:49 am Post subject: |
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Talked with the manager today.
She considers a 90 minute class to be
1.5 teaching hours. I explained that my contract
considers a teaching hour to be 40 - 50 minutes
based on the age of the students. That I wasn't
going to work 5-8 extra hours for free. She still
considers 1.5 hours to be 90 minutes. I am baffled.
90 minutes to me, is two complete teaching periods. |
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dean_a_jones
Joined: 03 Jul 2009
Posts: 1151
Location: Wuhan, China
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| Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 10:53 am Post subject: |
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Have to be pedantic here - does you contract state that a teaching hour is 40 - 50 minutes? What does the age of the students have to do with it - is a teaching hour 40 minutes for, say, children under 12, 50 minutes for children above?
At the end of the day, it is what is written down that will count, by the sounds of it. If your contract states the above in terms of what is considered a teaching period, I would make it pretty clear you will teach your hours as per contract, and if she arranges anything further, you will not be there unless the proper remuneration is provided, as per the contract (assuming a rate is mentioned).
You sound like a nice, relaxed, friendly and reasonable guy based on your responses here, but I have a feeling that is currently not working in your favour. |
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askiptochina
Joined: 26 Feb 2010
Posts: 488
Location: Beijing
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| Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 10:59 am Post subject: |
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1.5 hours to be 90 minutes. I am baffled.
90 minutes to me, is two complete teaching periods. |
This is the worst time to argue hours with schools. It is summer vacation and schools have promised parents already. You are more likely to get schools on your side if you bring this up during the regular school year. Then you can build a precedent.
What you can do is, since it is summer break, break up the class into sections. Don't teach the class as 1 hour, then 1 hour, or 30:30:30. Make them 30-45:20:Finish, etc... Don't make it routine to do one division. Mix it up. This will allow you to squeeze in breaks here and there. I also add movies. Off course, you can't watch all of it, but once in a while you can play 30 minutes of something. This will offset the 30 minutes you feel you are working for nothing. You won't get the overtime pay, but you also won't have to do the workload without the pay either. If students like it, then that means you can do this 2 more days until the movie is finished. Then, do something else the next week or two. Show another movie after.
If my school has me doing what they have you doing in September, I am clearly going to put a line down where I teach 40 minutes, then I stop. The students can do whatever they want, but I am leaving the classroom for 20 minutes. Then I will continue. So, in the end, if they want 2 hours, they will end up being there for 2 hours and 40 minutes.
Chinese hate this kind of scheduling because it means they could have used the 40 minutes doing something else. This is a tactic to get them to let you end a longer class earlier if you are willing to teach through the hour and not stop to take a break. So, instead of 12:00pm-2:40pm with breaks, you teach 12:00pm-1:40pm without.
If necessary, with 1.5 hours, I would do 40, stop, come back 20 minutes later and do 40 again. This leaves 15 minutes, which I think would drive home the point how useless those 15 minutes are if they have to wait 20 minutes. The school can negotiate or find another teacher. I wouldn't do this unless it was during the school year and the school didn't give me time off during other weeks. This summer stuff sucks, but hopefully they are giving you time off after it's done. |
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wesharris
Joined: 26 Oct 2008
Posts: 177
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| Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 11:56 am Post subject: |
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| dean_a_jones wrote: |
Have to be pedantic here - does you contract state that a teaching hour is 40 - 50 minutes? What does the age of the students have to do with it - is a teaching hour 40 minutes for, say, children under 12, 50 minutes for children above?
At the end of the day, it is what is written down that will count, by the sounds of it. If your contract states the above in terms of what is considered a teaching period, I would make it pretty clear you will teach your hours as per contract, and if she arranges anything further, you will not be there unless the proper remuneration is provided, as per the contract (assuming a rate is mentioned).
You sound like a nice, relaxed, friendly and reasonable guy based on your responses here, but I have a feeling that is currently not working in your favour. |
Contract states a teaching hour is 50 minutes. Contact via email and QQ, which is saved, as well as verbal communiques and written documentation from the school lists the time as 40 minutes for children under 10 and 50 minutes for everyone else. I don't really care about the teaching hours per se, it's the working outside for an extra 5 or 6 hours per week that gets me. |
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wesharris
Joined: 26 Oct 2008
Posts: 177
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| Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2011 2:45 pm Post subject: |
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| The problem was resolved in my favor. They gave in when I brought up the contract. I ended up teaching nearly 2 months of 24 hours a week teaching and 6 hours prep time. |
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Guerciotti
Joined: 13 Feb 2009
Posts: 842
Location: In a sleazy bar killing all the bad guys.
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| Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 12:56 am Post subject: |
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I'm glad it worked out well for you.
G  |
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peewee1979
Joined: 30 Jun 2011
Posts: 167
Location: Once in China was enough. Burned and robbed by Delter and watching others get cheated was enough.
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| Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 1:46 am Post subject: |
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| wesharris wrote: |
| I'm the only F/T. It took them three months to find one, after the previous teacher quit. Although, in their defense, the previous teacher WAS a douche-bag. |
Your view of the other teacher? So the school takes 3 months to find a teacher , is screwing you, other teachers quit, and YOU are calling others names? |
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