Job Discussion Forums

tclowers · Joined: 13 Apr 2007 Posts: 22 Location: Fukuoka, Japan

Okay, Web International English - Chengdu center: is there such a creature? The Web recruiting page doesn't talk much about it, but it's on the list of centers on Web's main site, and I've seen other listings that mention the Chengdu center, but I'm not sure how current that information is.

Has anyone on this forum ever worked for Web in Chengdu? Friends? Rumors? I'm wondering what the pay and conditions are like there. I used to live in Chengdu about three years back, it's a great town and I think the salary from a training center like that could go really far there.

If anyone on this forum has any information on this topic, I'd really appreciate hearing about it. Thanks for checking out my post.

tclowers · Joined: 13 Apr 2007 Posts: 22 Location: Fukuoka, Japan

askiptochina · Joined: 26 Feb 2010 Posts: 488 Location: Beijing

25 hours teaching, 15 hours in the office. You really want that? Waste of 60 hours a month if you ask me. That's 2 weeks worth of teaching, you could be earning 1.5 times the amount. So, basically, they are getting 2 teachers to do jobs for 3 teachers. They just aren't putting 30 hours to use for whatever stupid reasons they have. Maybe they have some teachers on standby. That's the only thing I can think of.

I would take a lower paying job that didn't force me to sit in the office and then use that office time to make the .5 I would have lost if I worked at Web International. In the end, it wouldn't be more than 1.5 WI's salary, but it would be more like 1.25.

Steve C. · Joined: 05 Nov 2010 Posts: 11

I think some folk put too much emphasis on the 15 "office" hours per week. The real time killer, based on my experience, was the time commuting.

In the past I worked for a center similar to Web. I would leave my apartment around 12 noon (45 minutes commute) and get to the center around 12:45pm. I'd spend 15 minutes smoking a cigarette before "clocking in" at 1pm. Then spend 1 hour gathering folders and making copies. This could be done in 30 minutes = waste of 30 minutes.

The other waste was the 1 hour that I wasn't scheduled to teach - basically, there were 6, 1 hour classes. I didn't consider the 1 hour lunch break, which is factored into the 40 hours, a waste either. So, 1.5 hours wasted at the school and then another 45 minutes commute back home = 3 hours a day.

This is why I prefer a university job where the commute is less than 10 minutes each way, today I will spend around 40 minutes commuting = better than 1.5 hours a day. My weekly commute time = around 2 hours v. nearly 8 hours.

Of course, you could rent an apartment within walking distance to the center.

tclowers · Joined: 13 Apr 2007 Posts: 22 Location: Fukuoka, Japan

Steve C. · Joined: 05 Nov 2010 Posts: 11

That's the spirit. Ideally, you get scheduled to have your "off" hour between 4 and 5pm = 2 hour lunch! When that didn't happen, I generally just read a book or bullshitted with the students and staff during the hour. What did irk me was having that "off" hour scheduled for the 2pm class = if they had simply called me, I would have arrived at 2pm instead of 1pm. The same even more so for the Sat. or Sunday morning class.

Keep in my mind, the center I worked at was small and these things happened sometimes. I doubt it happens often at Web in Chengdu, especially if the center in question is the only Web training center in town.

6 to 9pm would definitely be full, unless it is a small center and students don't book the classes or you are scheduled an "Advanced private" class with just 1 student and they don't show. That was nice sometimes for the 8pm class!

I do think though that most training centers could do things a bit better. At the small center I worked at, they had only 1 foreign teacher working the morning shift and then 3 come in at 1pm and another 1 or 2 at 6pm (Tues. - Thurs.). Imagine 3 guys trying to make copies on an old copy machine at the same time.

If they didn't run out of paper, the machine overheated! If either happened and it was time for a class, the teacher went to the class and the 2 receptionists finished the copies and brought them to the classroom.

Unfortunately, some suggestions fall on deaf hears and the "supervisor" refused to heed my suggestion = have the receptionists make the copies for all of the teachers in the morning between 9am and noon when the center was slow. Supposedly the receptionists were busy with other tasks.

The few times I worked the day shift, most of what I saw them doing was filing their nails, fixing each other's hair and chatting via QQ!!

askiptochina · Joined: 26 Feb 2010 Posts: 488 Location: Beijing

tclowers · Joined: 13 Apr 2007 Posts: 22 Location: Fukuoka, Japan

Hey thanks for the info guys. I'm looking to find out as much as I can here.

askiptochina · Joined: 26 Feb 2010 Posts: 488 Location: Beijing

I work for a small school (not well known like English First or Web International). We teach Chinese and Koreans.

I had a previous job where I was farmed out through a private school to different public schools and worked at the private school on weekends. You take the good, you leave the bad.

At the my current school, I work 6 days, but I have had Saturdays where I taught 1 class, sat around for a second student, taught her for 30 minutes and then I was done. Last Saturday was different, I had students coming that weren't scheduled and had to find a way to squeeze in 8 classes. Today I have 3 scheduled. One of them is the 30 minute class.

So, I could use the available time to get privates. However, I am not doing this for the money. The school recently changed locations and I have to find a new apartment. Also, I am thinking of studying at a school nearby after I figure out where I will move to.

I plan on using the extra time to attend classes and to "my time". This includes freedom to just pack up and travel around China a few weeks and return knowing I have a job. One teacher left to the US for a month. He is back and another teacher is going to go home in the US for Thanksgiving. Since it's bit pointless for my family, we are scattered around on the east and west coast, I will wait for April 2011 to go back to the US. However, I could use this time to travel when we have time off. The school can save money this way too.

If money is your priority, I can't understand why you would be in China making 1/3 the salary of a teacher in Korea.

When I was in Korea, my average salary was 2.4 million won. At Web International, I understand the salary starts at about 10,000 yuan (which includes what they will give for housing). That's less than $1,496.11 in China (which includes housing) to $2,140.67 in Korea (which doesn't include the free housing) for the same hours. You also get pension which I am not aware being offered when I went to an interview in Shanghai with Web International and phone interview with English First.

Is there someone out there who would recommend Web International and then privates in addition?