25k Deduction Leaving Clause

[quote=“barfomcgee”]Ok, I seem to have found another job. We’re still negotiating the pay, but how does this sound:

3-9pm Monday-Friday, teaching 5-9 with 3-5 as office hours (lesson prep, etc…)
total 20 teaching hours per week
Paid holidays, including Chinese new year
6 days paid vacation in first year, or 18 days unpaid (my choice)
Pay – they offered 50k to start, up to 55k after 2 months
I requested 55k to start, up to 60k after 2 months. They’re checking with head office and will get back to me today.
15k deduction if I leave before one year

How does this deal sound? I just had a much better feeling in this school and didn’t feel like anyone was trying to trick me. Also, though the pay is less there are less teaching hours and they all fall together in the evening.

Even if they don’t increase the salary to 60k, does this sound like a good deal?[/quote]Sounds alright. You could use the mornings to study Chinese or go to the gym or something. Or you might be able to figure out a way to do a morning job too.

The hourly rate for the teaching hours works out OK, especially if you take the paid holidays into consideration. And personally, I would actually use that two hours prep time for lesson prepping etc.

Be aware that you might be required to grade homework or even make a few calls to kids for “telephone teaching”.

Overall it sounds hopeful.

Yeah they did mention “telephone teaching.” But they said I’d only be expected to do it if my teaching hours for the week came under 20. Do you think 55k (after the raise) is ok? They said they even offer lower for teachers with less experience.

Go with the gut feeling! Or pick choice C, both work :slight_smile:

It does seem like it might be a better job. But… 2 hrs a day prep time seems like a lot. You will get anoyed at it. See if they will let you lower it to 1.5 after 3 months and maybe 1 hr after a year. Also ask them what you might have to do during that time. Things like extra tootering and giving make up tests can creep in there.

[quote=“barfomcgee”]Yeah they did mention “telephone teaching.” But they said I’d only be expected to do it if my teaching hours for the week came under 20. Do you think 55k (after the raise) is ok? They said they even offer lower for teachers with less experience.[/quote]Seems alright, for those hours. If money’s a bit tight, maybe you could get a second job in the mornings.

As for prep time, I don’t want to get into a big debate, but in most places in the world where ELT is done “properly”, 2 hrs prep for 4 hrs teaching would be about right.

Thanks again for all the replies. I applied at a few more today and it seems like there are plenty of opportunities around. I’ll probably go with the job I mentioned above, but the only downside is that it’s with pretty young children. My experience has been with adults, so I applied at a few adult schools today. If those don’t pan out in the next day or two I’ll go with the children’s school.

To be honest, I don’t mind 2 hours prep time at least to begin with. It will be nice to take some extra time each day to become more acquainted with the school and its curriculum. It may get old after a few months, but I’ll at least try to make sure no other “extras” get crammed in there.

Anyway, aside from the loss of money (maybe one week of work?), I think I made the right decision walking away from the first school.

Taichung is a whacked out black hole for work in general. There is a huge and unnatural skew in favour of Taipei for working pay and conditions. Just be glad we’re not Taiwanese - the best job my gf could find is 8am-10pm Monday-Friday and sometimes weekends for a base pay of 23k/month. 280 hours a month into 23k makes about $82/hour. Ouch. By comparison she can do the same job in Taipei at 160 hours a month for 40-50k.

Sorry, a bit OT but the point is that most people in central Taiwan think business scruples are something you put on your breakfast congee. I’m sure buxiban bosses find it very hard to accept that they can’t pay foreigners 1/3 the Taipei rate like they do Taiwanese.

Unless you have some special reason for wanting to live in Taichung I would check out the prospects in Taipei before committing to anything.