Job Discussion Forums

bluebonnet · Joined: 05 Oct 2009 Posts: 11

I doubt anyone here knows of this school or has taught here, but I received an offer of about 15000 for 10 hours teaching and 5 office hours for a school called Middle School Attached to North West University in Xian. This seems higher than most university gigs, but I don't know much whether this is about the average for the middle school market in china? Seems like a light load with decent pay and the apartment looks nice from the pictures, but what I hear comes mainly from the recruiter so its hard to know the actual working conditions. Any thoughts would be helpful (I haven't been to China yet)

Thanks

gdn35 · Joined: 07 Dec 2011 Posts: 23

Good offer for those hours if it's true. Xi'an has lots of pollution though (worse than Beijing) and I lived there for 5 years.

Non Sequitur · Joined: 23 May 2010 Posts: 4724 Location: China

Think package. If there's no airfare, holiday pay or accom it ain't so great.

Modernist · Joined: 03 Jan 2016 Posts: 72 Location: Routing

I'd have a look at this other forum posting from a while back. From the sound of it it's the same operation. Would avoid personally.

MOD EDIT

Usually in China, if it sounds too good to be true it probably is. 15000 for 10 teaching hours a week and 5 hours in the office is an insanely high salary. I teach 35% more than that and a lot more office hours for not much more salary, and my job is quite good in my experience.

Why would they pay so much for so little work? Chinese never pay more than they have to unless there's a reason. Xi'an is far from the worst place to live in this country, for example.

And obviously, if they aren't offering a Z visa up front, then you'd be crazy to accept it no matter the pay.

Non Sequitur · Joined: 23 May 2010 Posts: 4724 Location: China

Good point.
Are they authorised to offer work to foreigners so that the Z visa can be applied for?

LarssonCrew · Joined: 06 Jun 2009 Posts: 1308

First things first, 15000 for those hours is great in Xi'an. Assuming it's a normal Monday to Friday gig you can pick up extra work in evenings and weekends.

I and another poster on these forums used to teach these kids in a building across from the school at weekends, the students were amazing. The middle and high school is probably one of, if not, the best public school in Xian. It's possible they are paying that because they have an international program which is super expensive.

Rent in Xi'an is cheap, probably 2000 or less around the Xi Gong Da area. If the high school is near the university then the location isn't too bad, second ring road on the west side.

bluebonnet · Joined: 05 Oct 2009 Posts: 11

Almost seems too good to be true from what i'm hearing. That experience from the poster sounds bad but then again this is the middle school attached to Northwest University 西北大学附属中学 and not the high school. Still Sages is the same recruiting company that is hiring for this position so that concerns me.

It comes with free accommodation and apparently there is flight reimbursement at the end of the contract but not sure about holiday pay. I am nervous also because they seemed willing to take me on before I got my Z Visa and I told them that didn't sound like a good idea.

So LarssonCrew can you vouch for this middle school or at least the students as pretty decent?

papuadn · Joined: 19 Sep 2016 Posts: 131

Outside major cities, free accommodation and 8-10rmb/year travel allowances are standard. Winters are usually paid, but summer pay has recently evaporated for many not remaining with the same employer.

I doubt anyone in this community will advise you to arrive in China without having acquired a Z-visa. The risks are too great. If for any reason the deal goes sideways (expectations from either side, flukes, or acts of God [force majeure for the un-affiliated]), you will likely bear every cost, foot every bill, be hung out to dry. The Cafe is a well of such wails-- don't join their ranks.

That said, those same probably know, first hand or have heard stories, of the far more rare case of arranging for legitimate permits and visas after putting a body to work. But, in my case, these are savvy people with exceptional experience-- not first timers.

The most frequent advice is if you can't email a teacher currently working for the program, or has recently moved on, China is too large with too many offers yet to find to risk it.