Job Discussion Forums

Meleefracas · Joined: 26 Mar 2005 Posts: 63

I've been thinking about my own situation a bit.

So how desperate are you for a TEFL job in China? Will you accept low wages/long hours or split shifts/unheated or uncooled classrooms/troublesome students/substandard accommodation/unhelpful "assistants" etc. - all the usual stuff. Add whatever you want.

What's the one thing that's non-negotiable? That you simply HAVE TO have? A decent salary/wage? Or something else?

tarzaninchina · Joined: 16 Aug 2004 Posts: 348 Location: World

List of things I refuse to do without and my reasons for them:

Automatic washing machine (refuse to spend 8 hours a week washing clothes)

Hi-speed Internet (hooked up to a computer of course) (refuse to be disconnected from my family and friends here and around the world)

No outright restrictions on my personal life (I'm not a baby and I'm not an angel with a tail)

A/C in the summer (my body is still adjsuting and I still have difficulty over 33 degrees Celcius)

Here's a list of things I've found I can tolerate:

unhelpful staff, screwy contracts, uncooled classrooms, non-overly-troublesome students

tw · Joined: 04 Jun 2005 Posts: 3898

peabocardigan · Joined: 14 Jun 2005 Posts: 63

Absolutely non-negotiable:

1) Getting paid the right salary, re-imbursements, bonuses, airfares etc. on time.

2) Not getting lied to.

Things that aren't very important to me here:

1) Air-Conditioning (waste of energy and unhealthy)

2) Western food

brsmith15 · Joined: 12 May 2003 Posts: 1142 Location: New Hampshire USA

Peabo,

Not getting lied to? TIC. Chinese lie so often they can't determine what lies they've told, when, to whom, and under what circumstances.

Reminds me of a Star Trek program in which an android is told to utter the phrase, "I always lie."

Well, then the last statement is a lie, etc., etc., and the robot finally goes mad.

I'd love to catch a Chinese FAO under the same circumstances!

sigmoid · Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 1276

tw · Joined: 04 Jun 2005 Posts: 3898

sigmoid · Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 1276

Keath · Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:49 am Post subject:

Why would someone be 'desperate' for a tefl job in China?
Damn, I want to hire that person right away..

PS> OOps that question has already been asked.. sorry..

carken · Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2005 1:39 pm Post subject:

[quote="brsmith15"]Peabo,

Not getting lied to? TIC. Chinese lie so often they can't determine what lies they've told, when, to whom, and under what circumstances.

Reminds me of a 5 minute time filler I was using at the end of class (university level). Students were to finish this sentence, "I never . . . ". One student answered, with a very straight face, "I never lie."

I probed and asked, "Never??"

His answer was, "Never - I'm an honest man."