Job Discussion Forums

[SandyG20]

University?

While I do not have a Tefl (yet - but would like to one day) I do have a teaching license in my home state - would this possibly increase my pay at the University Level? I have been offered the pay of a bachelor level education major - I do have part of my masters (I do plan to complete that eventually) - but would a university perhaps increase my pay with the teaching license?

[Mister Al]

Ask them not us. Some might some might not.

[xiaolongbaolaoxi]

If you ask, I would expect something to the effect of "Well, we are actually paying you more than other teachers, because a normal teacher gets x and you are getting y." Whether that is true or not. You will not find out everyone is getting y until you are already here (if you even deign to find out what others are paid; I remain amazed at how everyone seems to know my exact pay and its breakdown when even I do not.)

(As rumor has it...) I worked at a school where the highest paid teacher of a group of teachers who started at the same time was actually the one with zero teaching experience of any kind. Why was he paid more ? Classes were starting soon and he was available. The others with teaching experience had signed months before.

Many Chinese university teachers have master's degrees, or at least personal experience and this site leads me to believe. A credential that "counts as half of a master's degree [as mine claimed to do]" is only half of a degree, while your local counterparts have full degrees [debate the worth later], you will probably receive a higher salary [upfront, no bonuses, tenure, or real estate deals for you] so why are you asking for more, this is the highest we can give teachers who are new to our school, etc.

If you work overtime, this could get fun... I worked at a uni that decided our [mandatory] overtime pay was double what it was supposed to be. (It turns out our overtime rate was double that of Chinese teachers.) Instead of doing the right thing and paying us the right wage, the department decided to doctor the records, claiming we worked double the overtime hours than reality. She said it would have taken longer to do the right thing than to just lie and get it over with. Watch your pay like a hawk. Trust me, your employer is watching it too. As it is possible that you will discuss payroll with someone who is not comfortable reading/speaking in English, make sure they are looking at your record, not just the first foreign teacher's record that pops up. We went round and round for days until we realized that they were reading from a Korean teacher's file. You may also receive unannounced bonuses--and we were basically told "Don't ask." It was an overly generous reimbursement for utilities in campus housing. We were told it was common practice for Chinese teachers to receive free utilities, and if they were charged, they were always paid back. If you can, ask a teacher there about airfare reimbursement, which is now apparently getting more fun based on this site and personal experience.

If you have a credential, I would strongly recommend international schools, more of a chance to teach closer to a western style, and more of a chance of being paid accordingly. However, the expectations will probably be higher, and you may be in contact with parents who are very used to getting their own way.

XLB

[johntpartee]

[Zero]

[nickpellatt]

I would guess that your teaching certification is NOT related to EFL so on that basis I would say no, you shouldnt get any extra. Being certified to teach (for example) History, using the medium of English, to native English speakers doesnt really have much bearing on how successful you are likely to be in teaching English as a language to non-native speakers. Its a whole different ball game IMO, and I have observed and seen a lot of teachers which supports my view.

I note that someone says further up the page to consider International Schools as you will be more likely to teach the Western way in them. Reminds me of an ongoing discussion I had with a US certified high school teacher of English that I recently worked with. She would alway suggest my ideas were strange, and that teachers in the UK were weird. 'Grammar and IPA?? haaaaa, we dont teach like that in the US, and I dont see why anyone wouldn bother!'

What she didnt seem to understand was teaching English in the US to native speakers is very different to teaching English as a second or foreign language to non-natives ... because those who are qualified to do so, use grammar and IPA (and many other tools) regardless of where they teach ... from China to the UK to the USA. The Western way of teaching EFL can be translated to classrooms all over the world.