Job Discussion Forums

[JB140767]

Having recently moved my primary employment to Shanghai, and, still having much free time I set about finding a new bevy of private students, thus far I am happy with the progress and Shanghai privateering is more lucrative than in Guangzhou on average I can command 50 to 100 RMB more per hour.

However as every student ever in China likes to say, 'every coin has two sides', the downside being there are a lot of very picky clients up here. I made a deal with one woman for 300 an hour, local, no traveling, and then, at the end of out conversation she casually added that I should familiarize myself with contract law in Quebec. You don't get a free RA for 300 an hour, you get conversational English, or whatever else the teacher can do without deep research. I quoted her 600 an hour to cover the research costs and she disappeared like a puff of smoke.

I recently saw an add for private tutor stipulating a tutor from New Jersey is required in Shanghai....Triad / mafia cooperation maybe?

Another no go was the guy who wanted me to teach him how to understand Western cookery shows - WTF?

i did accept the preparation for a medical conference gig cos I have a biology background, still, pretty damn specific, but, at least, 350 an hour makes it worthwhile

Any other strange private class requests out there?

[3701 W.119th]

300RMB for an hour of conversational English? Fair play to you.

For that kind of money, I'd listen to my student's needs, and then prepare my lessons accordingly. Each to their own I guess.

I think the cookery show lessons sound like fun

[JB140767]

[Shanghai Noon]

My friend once got an inquiry about English to understand radio phone-in sports talk shows.

[Jmbf]

I've had a lot of specific requests when tutoring privately. Nothing I would consider strange, but certainly some very occupationally specific target language. A recent example would be a nurse I'm helping who needs help to improve her English so that she can explain in more detail about different (and in some cases highly specific / unusual) medical conditions and their relevant treatments.

[OhBudPowellWhereArtThou]

New Joisey? Whoa. Dis, dat, deze and doze. I wonder why that state was stipulated. Must be someone looking to join the family.

If they want no accent, it should stipulate someone from the midwest. There's actually an accent classification called Midwest Broadcast. That's the accent used in most national TV shows and news broadcasts. It is considered neutral in regional pronunciation.

I've seen advertisements asking applicants not to have an Irish accent.

I remember a long time ago hearing about an FAO looking for someone from California with no Valley Girl accent.

[Non Sequitur]

My view of a student wanting specialised English would involve getting a handle on how good their ordinary conversational language is.
The specialised English is mostly specialised vocab.
'You have been diagnosed with Ebola' is good usage with an added word of health vocab.
If the student says: 'Ebola you are having' then your task is more onerous.
I have a bit of a problem (having taught Tourism students) where students (or often their parents) think they can be rubbish at conversational English but find some super mojo in English for Tourism.