Welcome to the Teach Abroad China Alliance, the premier support group for teachers in China. You are currently browsing the Teach Abroad China Alliance as a non-registered user. Please click here to login or click here to register.
If you have forgotten your password, please click here to reset it.
Just be a little wary. Suzhou No 1 High School.
Tue, 01/05/2010 - 14:32
The accommodation is ok, they pay on time, they treat the foreign teachers like most other schools, which is ok, but be aware that you may get a contract for the No 1 High School, but have to teach most of your time at their linked Middle School, 14 and 15 year olds which is a 15 minute walk away. If you are not a Middle school teacher, then make sure of your facts before you sign up. Once signed up they will not release you from the contract unless you do a full term first. You will get about 800 students a week. They will be looking for someone to replace me. I'm off.
Sun, 01/10/2010 - 14:06
#2
Farmed out FT's
Thanks for the warning, Tintinxmu!
But, even universities farm out their FT's.
Some universitIES in the city I'm at LEND out their FT's to the uni I work for (meanwhile, the FAO tells former FT's who had left to help find teachers for them as they are ALWAYS looking for FT's!). One funny incident: one FT who was farmed out from another uni to teach at one of the sub-colleges at this uni is now on contract with this very uni starting in March. What's the diff? When this FT was farmed out, the pay from his employer was regular rate. But this uni's sub-college pays almost double that, so the other uni had been pocketing the diff. That's the diff! That's also how that other uni could afford a fancy minivan, chauffeured by someone in a suit, to truck these farmed out FT's daily to and fro, on-time, everytime!
But it is treated differently when YOU go work part-time outside your contracted uni. Most of the time they turn a blind eye, or half of a blind eye, until something hits the fan, so to speak. My FAO rescheduled my first semester's classes so I, and another friend who was also FT here then, had mid-week off. It was nice to break up a week of classes, whether I used it for PT jobs or not (they did that thinking it would help me facilitate PT assignments having one full day off mid-week) -- yes, the FAO "allowed" me to do PT jobs. Now I can almost count on having the same treatment every semester. Thank God they did not ORDER me to do any PT assignments.
Back to Tintinxmu's topic: If you did not have that problem with teaching responsibilities, I'm told that SouZhou No.1 HS is supposed to be the best HS in that city. But being the best, also probably the biggest, they also have many sub-branches, I guess. Count your blessings that you did not have to teach the adult evening school, or the weekend classes. I passed by the front gates to SZh #1 HS many days, when I once spent half a month for Spring Festival at one of my student's home, less than two blocks from that very school. SouZhou is a beautiful city, even in winter. That student graduated from SZh #1 HS.
Tintinxmu, if your former employer gave you options, would you have taken that situation differently, such that you could CHOOSE whether to do the outside teaching assignments or not? Assuming extra work means extra income.
Sun, 01/10/2010 - 13:54
#3
I dont see that this is a problem
maybe because I see teaching as teaching. I suppose I am really in the same boat. I was employed by a college, now upgraded to a uni, and I was placed in the High School to teach. That was where the vacany was, so that was where I was put. The uni now has built a kindergarten and also has a Primary school but all teachers work under the banner of the university.
Tintinxmu were you told that you would be teaching HS? That would be a problem if you were told that and then you were given younger. Paul, I didnt understand that the middle school was extra work as in outside teaching assignments but that was the work load, maybe I am reading it wrong.
Sun, 01/10/2010 - 15:08
#4
I musta misread it!
I must have misread her comment! 
It sounded like she was upset because of extra work.
Come to think again, the government version of the contract states that if the terms are not carried out, the contract can be rescinded, with the hiring party paying a penalty to the injured party. If Tintinxmu is called upon to teach outside her contracted hours, it constituted a breach of contract, whether the "outside hours" are outside the school or the stated weekly hours. But now, the Middle School as a subsidiary to the HS, and if that was not stated in the contract, and the re-assignments were handled badly, it could still be treated as a breach.
One other aspect we do not have here is the initial reaction on Tintinxmu's part to this "change" in her work conditions. How we react sometimes can make a difference to how events would develop.
Mon, 01/11/2010 - 01:19
#5
Well my contract was with the
Well my contract was with the High School. Then when I got here I found they also had a middle school down the road where I would do most of my teaching. I have never applied for middle school teaching, I have never wanted to teach at that age. But I got the contract through the infamous Frank Zhang from Shanghai, and he told me it would be with the High School and he told the School that they could send me anywhere and I wouldnt mind. So it got a bit complicated. My main reason for putting my little warning on the site was that they may go down this road again. Who knows exactly who said what to who here? So if anyone applies for this school, they need to know that most of the time will be in a middle school, where lots of the kids are lovely, but each class is ruined by a few proper little uncontrollable ratbags.
It was not extra work or extra hours, I still did the 20 hours in the contract. It was the unexpected middle school bit that threw me. Haha, what was my reaction? I was horrified!!! I told them so, I was very upset, I cried like a baby in front of them at having to teach in a middle school, but i was not rude or anything like that I know that gets nowhere, and anyway at all times I think trying to give a professional front is also very important...hahah..although the tears werent so professional, but they were unmoved...sorry, we cant let you go, we dont have time to get another teacher. I should have just walked, but thats not really my style either.
Yes I did consider the breach thing, but at the time I had no where else to go, no other job and only a couple of weeks left on my F visa for this school to get the Z visa sorted. I came in plenty of time for the school to do the visa paperwork, but they mucked around and it took them two months in the end. Just normal Chinese timing etc, we all know to expect this. I asked them to release me from the contract because of this middle school thing, but they refused, and part way through the term when I had totally had a gutsful I asked again, but they said no, and would not give me a letter of release so getting the next job would have been pretty tough anyway.
Tintinxmu.
Mon, 01/11/2010 - 06:35
#6
Not the way to go
So if anyone applies for this school, they need to know that most of the time will be in a middle school, where lots of the kids are lovely, but each class is ruined by a few proper little uncontrollable ratbags.
That's a hilarious way of putting exactly how I feel about teaching at middle school! 
Teaching at middle school is NOT the way to go in China if you want to have a comfortable and relaxing experience here. I would definitely feel cheated if I thought that I was going to be teaching high school and instead got stuck teaching at a middle school.
Having taught in middle schools in the U.S., though, I can tell you that it's not much different there. The fact is, someone has to do it!
Mon, 01/11/2010 - 08:51
#7
So you really got stuffed
around by the agent, it seems like, he was telling you one thing and the school another what ever each wanted hear.
Certainly, people can put a guilt trip on you here (in China). I have only taught middle school for one term at two different schools. One school was good as their class teacher sat in the room and kept a tight rein on the behaviour just by being there. At the other school, it was bedlam and I couldnt wait for the term to end, I dont think the kids benifited much either as they were very big classes ranging from 64 to 84. Funnily enough, when the Chinese teachers took them for english, the class was divided into two.
Tintinxmu, do you have another teaching job to go to or are you calling it quits?
What's this?
Sorry to hear that you have had a bad experience. This is not the first time I have heard of teachers being signed to teach at one place and then being forced to teach somewhere else.
I'm guessing that if you were planning on (or more comfortable with) teaching at high school then having to teach at Middle School would not be fun.
Did you approach the school and voice your displeasure with the arrangements? What did they say?