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I received a telephone call at 8.30 a.m. (Saturday) to say that I had to teach my classes as per a normal Tuesday. My first class on a Tuesday is at 9.10 a.m. so I had to get a move on. Then tomorrow (Sunday) we have to teach the classes we normally have on a Wednesday.

We had seven days off, so they do not let us have another weekend off!

I have been here nearly 9 months, and you think I could have remembered that - but I didn't and neither did the young teacher from the U.S.A. (or maybe he did) as he is not back from Shanghai yet. I do not think he will get here until tomorrow so he is lucky and gets out of the classes!

I am cheesed off as I have not been to the "O" for the last two Sundays due to illness (the children, not me) and I was looking forward to tomorrow!

Does anyone else have to teach this weekend, to make up for the time we just had off? It has happened in the past, i.e. when they had 2 sports days during the week, we had to teach on the Sat. and Sun.

whitjohn · Joined: 27 Feb 2003 Posts: 124

Me too mate...I got a phone call from my monitor at 8:08 this morning asking where I was. I said cleaning my apartment...she said...we have class..What? It's Saturday...no matter we have to make up the class we missed last Thursday because of the holiday. So I jump on the bike and pedal madly to school and show them the pics I'd made on my trip. Good "class"

Roger · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 9138

Well, John and Rhonda,
you must not forget next time around... classes will have to be made up again because one week of holidays is unbelievably long, considering it's called "May First" holiday...
They put a notice under my door three days before the weekend, informing me that "Thursday classes have to be held on Saturday, and Friday classes have to be held on Sunday".
I have no classes on Friday, so I put in this Saturday morning teaching two of my three Writing classes.
Had they not given me written instructions, I would have asked beforehand.
You have to - if you want to keep your job.

Guest · Posted: Sat May 08, 2004 9:18 am Post subject:

Roger, as usual you are correct - the only thing is that I have two excuses - 1. I am blond and 2. I am old. The other teacher who is currently enjoying himself in Shanghai and missing his classes this weekend cannot use either of those excuses! and he has been hear nearly as long as I have.

struelle · Joined: 16 May 2003 Posts: 2372 Location: Shanghai

Hi Rhonda,

Roger is right here, the onus is on *you* to ask ahead and find out how the classes will be made up. Now, there should be clear communication within the ranks of management about how the holiday and make-up schedule works and they should pass this on to you. But I've come to realize by now that:

This simply won't happen.

So go ahead and ask by yourself, and confirm it with at least 3 people. I've made a habit of this, not just for holidays, but also for general issues.

My situation is the same as Roger's --> Thurs. and Fri. classes get made up today and tomorrow. We get 7 days in a row after having 7 days off. It could be worse, that is, we did 9 days straight to make up for National Day last year.

As for the teacher still in Shanghai, that's a tough one. Have you or the school contacted him?

Don't worry Rhonda, if you keep learning from these experiences, pretty soon you'll be writing a FAQ about them to post here. Seriously, it's about time that somebody wrote a FAQ on general China teaching issues to help the newbies.

Steve

lagerlout2006 · Joined: 17 Sep 2003 Posts: 985

I guess I am missing something or have just been lucky..In 2 China jobs (one a public Uni and this a private boarding school) I have never had to make up for holiday time. Holidays are holidays and that has been it...Korea used to pull this where a certain "extended holiday" had to be made up.

Toss in exams and sport days and I have 11 days off. Almost over. AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! Cool

And Roger isn't May Day officially a 5 day holiday anyway. Last year they cut it to 2-3 due to SARS. It's not one day.

Anyone else???

anthyp · Joined: 16 Apr 2004 Posts: 1320 Location: Chicago, IL USA

I had to make up Thursday and Friday's classes, too. But I don't really mind ... teaching 20 hours per week will usually put you in a reasonable frame of mind when it comes to "extra" classes. I just wish somebody had told me about it sooner.

Dragon Lover · Joined: 14 Mar 2004 Posts: 64

Not only we have to make up for classes on Saturday and Sunday. Even the time sked changed. From 1:40 p.m., it has changed to 2:00 p.m. Reason? It's spring and summer---the days are longer than nights. Laughing

Just a guy · Joined: 06 Oct 2003 Posts: 267 Location: Guangxi

I'm playing uninformed,
if they want me to teach today, someone really should tell me Wink

I did get a call yesterday by the acting FAO, telling me the English corner is not happening, after it should of been over.....

quanxie · Joined: 11 Feb 2004 Posts: 91 Location: The Sticks

I am also playing uninformed. Very Happy

No one bothered to tell me about the make-up days... This school is very easy to work for and the English section chief leaves me alone to do as I please.

Phil

ChinaLady · Posted: Sun May 09, 2004 12:25 am Post subject: Make-up classes?

this varies from school to school. many universities are now adding "adjustments" to their contracts. one I read last week states that the international visiting teachers WILL NOT be required to make up holidays - PLUS they will have their birthday off and either Christmas or Boxing Day off. a guarentee of hot water and power 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. someone at this school has been really listening to their visiting teachers.
as to notice: ha! even the Chinese teachers I work with had NO IDEA of what days they were to make up, if they were to make them up, as late as April 30th. I got information from my student monitors - they have the REAL connections with the Student Union (i.e. the student cadre group) - and always seem to be in the know.
as to Korea? I disagree with the writer. we never made up "holidays" or "sports days." a holiday was really a holiday.

khmerhit · Posted: Sun May 09, 2004 3:04 am Post subject:

I used to get the same in cambodia--they wouldnt inform me till the last minute whether the holiday was being taken. They didnt know themselves.
Fortunately, a holiday is truly a holiday in Cambodia, none of this Chinese Commie work ethic for them--and there are 24 national holidays a year. They tend to creep up and before you know it you are stranded on a day when the banks are closed and you have no cash--and no ATMS either! Wonderful country.... Shocked

Roger · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 9138

It's only us, the laowai, that don't get informed; all the CHinese teachers know well before that they will have to make up lessons, so they can plan their holidays (visiting their relatives in a distant province). We don't hail from Manchuria or Tibet, so we don't need to be told...

And, no, May 1 holidays used to be but one day off until a few years back, maybe 1998 or 1999. Then the government decided there were too few foreign tourists in China, so they began exhorting the Chinese to tour their own country.
But it all comes at a price. Some have to cram extra work time on top of their schedules. Once in a private training centre, the workload on two weekends doubled from five to ten hours a day, to make up for 4 days lost.

struelle · Joined: 16 May 2003 Posts: 2372 Location: Shanghai

kev7161 · Joined: 06 Feb 2004 Posts: 5880 Location: Suzhou, China

Our holiday started on April 30th. On April 28th (in the late afternoon), I heard from some students that there would be performances the next day (April 29th) - - some said the morning, some said the afternoon. I asked my Chinese caretaker what's up with the schedule on 04/29? He mumbles something about parents coming to watch kids and maybe I would be teaching in the afternoon (my classes are scheduled in the morning). And, oh by the way, you will probably have some parents observing your class. What???!!!!??? Did he (and my department) not think this was something important that I should have been told - - - and not by a student?

I then asked what would the teachers that normally teach during that afternoon time be doing? When would their classes be taught? What I come to find out is that the ONLY classes for that day were the English classes. The school wanted to show off their "wonderful" English department. Well, I had my class of 41. They weren't informed what time their class was to be held (I thought I was going to be teaching my other class) so nobody showed up at the start of class (2:00). The head teacher raced to their class at 2:05 to tell them to come to my classroom. Meanwhile the parents are roaming the hall looking confused and smoking their cigarettes. Anyway, the kids come scrambling in and I started to take roll. Some parents were sitting in the back of the room. When I asked where three of my missing boys were, I was told they were in their dorm room sleeping (after all, they expended all their energy with their morning performances!). I looked exasperated (my kids know this look by now). Then I asked them to open their workbooks so we could go over their ONE PAGE assignment they were given three days before. Out of the almost 40 there, 7 had it done. So, I told the other 30+ to do their homework NOW. I then had one of my students explain to the parents that the reason a lesson hadn't started is that most of the students did not do their homework and were currently doing it.

Finally, about 20 minutes into my 45 minute class, we were able to start the lesson. Luckily, the kids were pretty good (they are usually pretty chatty and not so focused), but the class was interrupted a couple of times by one parent's cell phone. Oh, and then some staff members brought in a couple of cameras and one video camera to mark this "special" day. I shooed them out of my classroom quickly.

To sum it all up, I was very happy when my 16 day holiday started and I'm glad there are no make-up classes to deal with - - well, none that I know of yet!