Job Discussion Forums

[token]

Hi,

I'm taking off on a round the world trip early next year and am looking at teaching English in China for 6 months as part of that. The trouble I'm having is that I need to book flights for my round the world ticket and I can't seem to find anywhere that tells me when the school year is likely to start and when a 6 month contract would finish. Have had rough estimates of it starting in September and finishing in January but I'm just hoping to find something more precise so I don't get stuck with my tickets.

Maybe it's just looking too far ahead to find this out but I'd appreciate any help on this as I'm pretty new to all this

[tw]

Should start somewhere around late August to early September and ends about 20-22 weeks later. Schools will not be thinking about that until the end of next school term and it can vary from province to province, from school to school.

[Songbird]

My school has given me a 3 year calendar , and on this for January 2008 it appears the end date, as in all results, test papers etc, are to be in by the 18th- it could be earlier than this but definately no later. Hope this helps

Ooops, that's the 16th January I mean, I was looking at 2007, sorry!

[Neilhrd]

In China there is no such thing as a fixed school year. Your semester starts ten minutes after it actually did which is when they get around to telling you about it. The universities are the worst for this but it applies to many schools as well.

The Chinese have no concept of advance planning, consultation or logistics. Crazy things are accepted as normal. For example last night 5 of us were expected to placement test 150 primary school children in one hour for a class which will probably, but not definitely, start on Friday.

When we got to the school there wasn't even a classroom open to work in and we had to do the job in the corridor surrounded by other screaming kids. Needless to say the results are meaningless but that doesn't matter in China.

As for the end of a semester that depends if the Chinese teachers are satisfied that the students have been brainwashed to the point that they can't possibly fail their tests. If not the semester will be extended at a moments notice. I've had this happen to me twice in Guangxi. Parents complain about it as well but it makes no difference.

Conversely if the Chinese teachers decide that English is reducing their students time for cramming Chinese or Maths then your class will suddenly evaporate two weeks before testing time at the end of the semester and you will have bonus free time.

Unless of course you are required to waste that time writing reports in English for a school principal who can't read English and wouldn't act on your recommendations if she could.

In China you either teach or you travel. Teaching is regarded as a 24/7 commitment here. If you are not prepared to accept that then don't teach in China.

Those who try to do both end up doing neither well and just get frustrated hence the trail of broken contracts and mutual mistrust between schools and FTs which makes working as an FT here so much more difficult than it needs to be.

[tw]

[Bayden]

[no_exit]

[Outsida]

The schools can just cut your classes off with little notice. At my last school, the final week was the third week of January - about the 21st or 22nd. Then it was the 14th. Then the 5th. Finally, one Monday morning, they told us to start the final exams that day and finish through to the end of the week. This was the last week of 2005. Fortunately, we'd written the exams already. Unfortunately, the week of revision we'd planned became the actual testing week. The students were less than happy. And I left the school about three hours after finishing the last of my exams. It was a school which had seemed to know what it was doing and held quite a bit of promise, but which ended up focking up just like any other Chinese school. Not to mention some less than desirable co-workers. I was so happy to get out of there.

[Neilhrd]

Bayden for your information I have been here for more than two years and I am speaking from experience.

I have read many other posts on here over the years from people working in schools at all levels who think they own the teacher and that they can change your schedule at a moments notice and you will just drop everything in your private life and come running.

Unfortunately this can be a part of the China experience and in fairness I should say that it is usually much worse for Chinese teachers who don't have the option of skipping to another school and who earn far less than FTs do.

The Chinese attitude which sees teaching as a duty and a commitment may be why there is growing resistance among schools and parents to back packer teachers. I agree with the comments of other posters about this.

[Bayden]

[tw]

[Bayden]