Job Discussion Forums

[CardiffHio]

Hi Guys

If you can comment on what I've been offered I'd really appreciate it.

Firstly, I'm a UK citizen in my mid 40's, degree and CELTA qualified and looking to establish a teaching career in TEFL.

I've been offered a job in Suzho teaching in public schools Mon to Frid 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. I have been told the teaching hours won't exceed 15 and I'll be teaching classes of 40-50 students with the aid of an assistant.

I've been offered shared accommodation rent free, but I'll have to pay utility costs of 200 rmb per month, or if I prefer to live alone I will be given a monthly allowance of 2,000 rmb, but no deposit help.

My outbound flight will be paid at the end of the 10 month contract via a 6,000 bonus.

Firstly, is 7k per month typical for a new teacher ? I have to send money home, so I'm a little concerned that it's not going to go a long way. With regard to the other benefits do these sound typical, too ?

Any considered comments will be appreciated.



CardiffHio

[mw182006]

Doesn't sound great but I'm not too familiar with public school gigs.

- Teaching 15 hours a week but office-sitting for 40, that's a lot of time potentially wasted.

- Do you want to be sharing an apartment? Most don't.

- Airfare reimbursement is typically 10-12k.

[Listerine]

Are you required to be at work for the full 40 hours, or just can come, teach and basically bail? If the 8~5 office time is mandatory that is going to...be...a....grind - especially for 7k a month. Better to grab a 6k uni gig with free private housing and max 16 hours teaching and no office time.

Will you only be teaching at the one school? What age group? 15 hours a week in a public kindy for 1,000 bucks a month would leave me praying for The Earth to crash into The Sun.

BTW Shared housing sucks. Way too many fruitcakes in the ESL industry (especially in Asia) to ever consider in my opinion, and the Suzhou housing market is nasty. Like a mini Shanghai. In certain parts of town you'd be lucky to rent a public outhouse for that 2k a month they are offering.

Suzhou is a rich city. They're short changing you on the pay, the housing allowance and the flight.

With the info provided I'd personally keep looking.

[toteach]

If you are required to be in the office full-time you should be looking for a job that pays double what you are currently offered. What you are offered is perfectly fine if you are only required to be on campus for the hours that you do teach...

Why don't you try your hand at negotiating? Either negotiate the pay up or the office hours down.

[Bud Powell]

Firstly, is 7k per month typical for a new teacher ?

In public schools, the payscale is based upon one's degree level, not experience level, though if you have no experience, the school may pay you on a BA level scale, even though you may have an MA. Pay scale varies from area to area.

My outbound flight will be paid at the end of the 10 month contract via a 6,000 bonus.

Public schools almost always pay for your inbound AND outbound plane fare. If you aren't reimbursed for round trip, count on a 9,000-10,000 rmb loss. That 6,000 rmb bonus won't cover the flight, except (perhaps) to Australia.

Free shared housing? Good G*d NO!

You can do better in other areas of Jiangsu.

Office time in a public school? Never heard of it.

Unless you MUST be in Suzhou, look somewhere else. That offer isn't too good. You should be able to find a better deal in Suzhou.

[doogsville]

The 6k bonus will probably be taxed, so it won't quite cover the cost of a return flight to the UK at current prices unless you get a really good deal.

If you're required to be either in the office or teaching for the whole 40 hours it'll kill you. You'll either be in a cubby hole of an office on your own the whole time, with a computer from the 90's with a monitor the size of a postage stamp and Internet access so restricted it's barely worth using, or in a large, open plan office with a bunch of Chinese teachers who will most likely ignore you, talk about you and/or resent your presence. Oh, and the same computer. Unless you're currently writing a book you'll be bored witless.

The teaching assistant part is like playing Russian roulette. Either they'll be great, and help control the kids and translate for you and support you, or they'll gang up with the kids against you, or they'll spend most of the time playing with their phone and only contribute when you force them to.

Ditto the shared accommodation. I've had three room mates in China, and two of them were so bad I had to move out. The third one was a really nice guy.

A ten month contract means no paid summer holiday, so you'll either have to fund yourself for two months if you return to the school after the holiday, or find another job in a language mill since they're the only places working over the summer holidays, or return to the UK for the summer, which means doing the whole Z visa thing again if you plan to come back over.

As to whether you manage to save anything to send home, that depends on how much you have to send home, and how much you spend in China. It's almost impossible to say since everyone is different. It's not a lot of money though, especially for a 40 hour week, which means you're unlikely to have the time or energy to do other work, which would make a huge difference to your income. I don't know the place you're talking about, but if you live a quiet and modest life you might be able to do it. But would you be enjoying the experience, or just treading water in a foreign country until you go quietly insane?

I'd give it a miss. There are other, better jobs out there. It's easy to get sucked in to committing to something, rather than take the chance that nothing else comes along. Bear in mind though that you are moving to a country which is quite difficult to live in some of the time, and will have no support other than that provided by the school, and whatever friends you make once you get here. It can be a nightmare if it doesn't work out. I would wait and keep looking until a better opportunity comes. There are plenty of good jobs out there if you look hard enough.

[Big Worm]

Shared housing is an automatic dealbreaker.

Do you really want to share a house with a total stranger...from anywhere in the world...of any age...of any hygiene/mental stability stature? Plus you have to work with them AND live with them? Horrible idea.

I'm surprised public schools try to get away with this.

[drjtrekker]

OP,

short answer, it sucks.
U can find a better situation.

[Bud Powell]

[Riff Raff]

40 hours of ur time? For 7K? They're looking for a sucker.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There%27s_a_sucker_born_every_minute

"There's a sucker born every minute" is a phrase most likely spoken by David Hannum, in criticism of both P. T. Barnum, an American showman of the mid 1800s, and his customers. The phrase is often credited to Barnum himself. It means "Many people are gullible, and we can expect this to continue."