Job Discussion Forums

[mandu]

I do take my job seriously
Iam good at what i do
what you put into your work is what you get out of it.I care about what i do I always do the best i can.

[LongShiKong]

[mondrian]

[Mister Al]

egg wrote:

[anguyen]

[kev7161]

[waxwing]

This is especially to anguyen, and I'm seconding Kev's comments:

(Before I start, I'm a maths/physics teacher with quals from back home, so keep that context in mind)

The deal is so much better here, overall. I earn a bit more than $4K USD a month here gross. I pay taxes and rent from that, but it still leaves 3K spending money (of which most is saved).

In England, teaching in a secondary school I would get slightly more than that, but not much (especially now the pound has fallen).

In England I would be
* taxed at a higher rate
* spend a lot more on day to day "stuff" like rent, pubs, travel expenses, restaurants (which admittedly I would use less often)
* have to deal with very disinterested students most of the time (and that's putting it politely)

In China on the other hand:
* students aren't perfect but are great, judged against peers in most other countries
* some students are absolute superstars, and I don't find that wearing, I find it energising (I guess this "superstar" comment won't really apply so much for an English teacher, but you will definitely find a lot of committed and enthusiastic students)
* I get to teach the age range I want (pre-college/University)

Of course you could argue it the other way on a few points, but China just wins hands down for me, and the ONLY thing I'm worried about is how long before HORDES more professional teachers from back home figure this out and bring our bargaining power down. I'm convinced it will happen, economic meltdown notwithstanding, within a few years, and I'm acting accordingly.

PS You might guess that $4K means an international school, and teaching expat kids, but actually not - it's a school for richer Chinese kids who want to go Western Universities (very selective, hence the comment about superstars).
There are various forms of this around China, some of the outfits are dodgy or very badly run - I've had direct experience of that. But now I've been in country for 4 years and learnt the ropes, so I've found a school which actually is functional as opposed to dys-.

Now given you're in TESOL, it isn't necessarily the same story, but on the other hand having real teaching qualifications and experience at home means you can command good salaries in various types of places, PARTICULARLY if your area is the young kids, which I believe yours is. But I'll shut up now as I don't know your situation or if you even want to come to China.

[theincredibleegg]

[theincredibleegg]

As for the "stay sane"-part. I'm changing employer, i will now work for a British employer under a British management. I think it will be a bit easier. So, if you want to stay sane, find a management for westerners.

[anguyen]

Hmm... China is sounding better all the time. The only thing I'm worried about is the cost of tuition for my son. Tuition at International Schools are pretty steep and as my husband doesn't have a Bachelor's I'm not sure he could work. As you can tell by my name, he's also Vietnamese and so probably couldn't freelance. We'd be making it all on my salary...for now anyway.

But, I don't want to hijack this thread anymore than I already have. You can go ahead and PM me if you have any other tips. How did you find your great jobs Kev and Waxwing?

[nickpellatt]

[bradley]

Maybe things are different at different schools in China but the university where I teach at in China expects teachers to be professional.

[cj750nomad]

[waxwing]

[JZer]