Job Discussion Forums

[Lobster]

Me three. What kind of hellhole are you living in, and why would you stay there? I've never felt in danger in any city here.

RED

[igorG]

Many locals know that their police usually has a more serious approach to incidents with foreigners. There are some real dangers in this country, but you'd have to know it better. A lot is not told, seen or published.

[Miles Smiles]

[Guerciotti]

Miles may I respectfully request your location?

[Nexus11]

It all depends on what type of school you are dealing with.

In the case of large chain, the contracts are usually standard and made up by the head office. The local whitey wrangler may or may not have the authority to slightly negotiate salary. They will almost certainly not have the authority to negotiate anything else. Working hours, office hours, and vacation time will be set in stone. You really won't have any leverage at all.

If it is a smaller school where the person recruiting you is the top dog, they obviously have the freedom to negotiate anything. How many leverage you have depends on their situation. If they are hiring for a position six months down the road, they can just pass on you and take the next chump. If they just had someone back out of a contract at the last minute and they need someone ASAP, then you may be able to squeeze some extras out of them.

When it comes to something like office hours in a chain school, it is unlikely that you will be able to get them removed from the contract. However, try to get contact information for teachers who currently work there. Some places make you deskwarm if you are not needed. Some will let you go out for a quick bite to eat. Some will even let you go home. Find out what that particular branch is like.

[steve b]

Does anyone know what percentage of ESL teachers work at private institutions as opposed to state-run?

[igorG]

[steve b]

No that's fine. I was looking for opinions and I got one! I don't work for a private school and I assume I have fallen in the excrement and emerged smelling of Paco Rabanne.

Although a bit of a risk taker, I also like a little security.

[igorG]

Ironically, the best security we can possibly get here is probably with the party members run schools around. So, i feel secure although frustrated that i can't make a difference.

[steve b]

Are we not here to make a difference through teaching?

[igorG]

I'd like to think that we are.

[Mike E]

The interesting situation I'm in, that prompted me to start this thread, has progressed... The university that sent me the contract, at my request, put me in touch with an American teacher there. Apparently the only American teacher currently there. He says he used to divide time with another, and is looking to do so again. They don't seem to be in a huge hurry. He said "they'd like to have you here by February, or sooner."
He has continually told me that things are great at this school. I asked him if he had anything negative to say, wondering if he was giving me a snow job, and he did come up with a couple criticisms.
I'm suspicious of him in the first place, because in his emails, he does not write like a person who has taught English for years; in fact sometimes he writes so strangely that I wonder if he's really an American.
I took what I thought was the next step in agreeing to work there, which was going through their contract, coming up with a few questions and requests, and then sending that to the director, together with saying some positive things about the professionalism I promise to bring to the job.
However, my contact there, the supposed American teacher, freaked out on me when he heard I'd done this, giving me an attitude like "What? Don't fool with the contract! I don't even want them thinking about the contract! They're not under any obligation to do all the great things they do for us teachers!" etc.
I wrote back that, no offense, the contract is much more binding than what somebody tells me in an email, and I'm just trying to watch out for myself. And anyway, if the contract says XYZ but the reality there is actually ABC, why can't I ask them to just write down ABC and make me more comfortable?
Still haven't heard back from the director, who says she's very busy but can talk to me this weekend. Then I'll see what her attitude is about negotiating the contract.
Weird stuff.

[rogerwilco]

[Mike E]

That is my unhappy guess. I've been thinking of them as trustworthy, because of a string of recommendations that is, though, getting to be a bit of a telephone game (someone I trust recommended me to someone they trust and so on, a couple more steps).
I brought up Skype early in our exchanges, and he said he is old (60, in fact. Would a 60 year old still be teaching there?) and doesn't do such new fangled computer stuff. I do have what is supposedly his phone number. I tried it tonight and no one answered.

[Mike E]

So, is that... not beyond the pale, for a Chinese university?