Job Discussion Forums

[marblez]

I was recently sitting in the cafeteria with my Mandarin study partner, when her (Chinese) friends came to the table. When they noticed that I was studying Mandarin, they inquired as to why. I explained that I felt it would serve me well if I ever taught ESL in China. They spent the next 30 minutes trying to convince me that I would easily obtain an excellent position in Canada in the summer.

Apparently, there are jobs in Canada that are available to people such as me. These full time jobs pay over $40 per hour without taxes (now THAT'S interesting), and are readily available. Also, these jobs would prefer to hire me because I am 20 years old and they prefer youth. Did I mention that these jobs were in a university setting?

Where are these jobs? Since when did smoking crack become part of an ESL cultural lesson?

These guys left after about a half hour because I would not agree with them. I think they were offended that I thought they were wrong. If I am wrong, please tell me. I'd like this job.

[some waygug-in]

Were they on crack?

$40 an hour! Wow, lemme at em. Where do I sign?

Either they were highly deluded or they were trying to con you into some kind of scam or other. At least that's what I think.

Cheers

[dyak]

It's a long-shot but when the Bush decides that China is up for 'regime change', and Canada has followed in the facist footsteps of the USA, young Mandarin experts like yourself will be drafted and given espionage roles in the (by then) New World Army.

Having ploughed through Syria and North Korea installing democracy (puppet facist dictatorships); and having mastered the art of shooting fish in a barrel, Bush will turn his attention to China. But China will be ready. Bush will be shocked. World War 3 will begin.

Your role will involve the distribution and interpretation of propaganda from Madarin to Chinglish to English and vice versa. Good luck!

What's in this tea again?

[guty]

While I was working at a UK University (which paid a real salary, not a McWage) five or so years ago, several Chinese students told me I would earn more in China than in the UK.

I rushed to the internet to find out that these Chinese students' ideas of EFL salarys in China is a million miles off the truth. Why is this?
I thought that money was something they were clued in on.

Is EFL in China so glamourous that they assume rock star wages too?

[Stephen Jones]

----"I rushed to the internet to find out that these Chinese students' ideas of EFL salarys in China is a million miles off the truth. Why is this?
I thought that money was something they were clued in on. "------

There appear to be some countries where the Internet gives you a reasonable guide to earnings (the Mid-Eest and Europe for example) and others where the only jobs advertises appear to be the entry level jobs, and you can earn a lot more if you are in the know (Japan and China appear to be in that category). I suspect you could earn a lot more than the advertised income in China, particularly in Shanghai, but you would probably have to be a year at the lower wage to learn the ropes. But with the present exchange rate I really doubt if you would earn more in cash terms than you were in the UK., even in the Gulf.

[bendan]

[spiral78]

When I first began teaching in Central Europe back in 1998, some of my students believed ESL teachers to be very well-paid. However, often the misperception arose from the fact that (at that time, at least) most Czechs lived in housing that was provided by the gov't - and essentially cost them minimally. The gap occurred because expat teachers paid up to 10X as much for housing per month as the locals. Sure, our income levels sounded great - but only if the students assumed that we were paying Czech rates for housing!