Teaching math/science instead of English teaching?

[Flickserve]

On 20 April 2017 at 1:26 PM, blastsphere said:

I've heard students at these schools can be lazy and unmotivated, have no respect for foreign teachers, and just sleep in class and ignore you?

 

Teachers must be boring ... I mean...pretty uninspiring...

[Yadang]

2 hours ago, Flickserve said:

Teachers must be boring ... I mean...pretty uninspiring...

 

From my experience (as a student, not a teacher) in Taiwan - they are.  I had 44 students, including myself, in my class. The teacher sits at their lectern and lectures on and on. Everything is lecture-based. Few questions are asked, and very little discussion takes place. They have at least one class where they have a quiz or test everyday - usually they have more than just one. They spend so much time testing, it takes away from the time they could be learning in class. And so much time in class, it takes away from the time they could be studying. The result is that most students are always tired and always busy. Many sleep in class, and so they don't get much out of the time spent in class anyway. And the cycle repeats. 

Anyways, that was my experience, but it was in Taiwan, and it was also all local kids in a regular high school. So I don't know how much this applies to international schools or anything.

[eion_padraig]

The students going to high schools with international curriculum in China are not going to be taking the gaokao. To a large degree they and their parents are doing this because of the pressures and approach that students have to take when preparing for the gaokao.

 

[blastsphere]

Thanks for all the replies

 

So what are the typical salaries and benefits at mid tier international schools? Assuming I can work for one after a year of teaching experience at a high school and a teaching license

[eion_padraig]

So I saw a job advertisement for a school saying they pay 25,000 - 50,000 Canadian $ per year. That's from 125,000 RMB/year to double that. That's in a third tier city, but that's quite low.

I would expect the starting salary for mid-range places is going to be more like USD$30,000 - 35,000. Good schools will have a published pay scale. Most differentiate between different levels of qualifications. Bachelors vs. Masters vs. Masters + additional university credits vs PhD. For the school I'm moving to the lowest pay (no experience/bachelors) is 275,000 RMB/year and goes up to over 500,000 RMB/year for folks with advanced degrees and lots of experience. This would be one of the better international schools in China.

One big factor is if you have to pay local taxes and social insurance or not. Some schools pay the taxes and some places you don't have to contribute to social insurance.

[blastsphere]

How could the salary be that low at mid tier international schools?

 

I got an offer to teach at Nanjing at a high school, not an IS, for about 240k RMB/yr even though I don't have a license or teaching experience. I thought i should get a much better salary increase after I get some experience and a license

[eion_padraig]

I've found international schools run by foreigners to be better run/managed, so that's another advantaged I've found.

 

Even when the pay is not significantly higher, I have found the pay and benefits a lot better at international schools.

Most international schools give free housing/housing stipend, free round trip back to your home country at the start/end of the year, health care (mine includes dental), professional development experiences or budget, moving allowance at the start and end of contract, and free tuition for dependents (usually limited to 1 or 2). Some of these may also be given at Chinese national schools running a foreign curriculum. Many schools have published pay scales that differentiate between education/experience, and this is less likely to be the case at a Chinese run school.