[quote=“funkymonkey”]The math doesn’t lie. It’s a terrible offer. If you really want this job, tell them you will be on campus during your scheduled class times only. They want you to sit around campus for five extra hours a day? Unpaid? :help:
P.S. I definitely enjoy a small class of elementary school kids at a buxiban more than a huge class of Taiwanese teenagers. Have you taught at a high school before? I’ve only met one person who actually enjoyed teaching in a high school.[/quote]
I’m betting it’s not more than 25 teaching hours a week = what? 110 hours a month? Many buxibans expect you to put in half an hour of prep per hour taught = another 12.5 hours per week. Lunch is an hour a day, another five hours. That’s 42.5 hours a week accounted for already. (What else are you going to do between classes anyway? Pop out for a walk up and down Yang Ming Shan?)
So you’re being asked to ‘donate’ an hour a day, approximately equal to the total of the gaps between classes. Surely that time could usefully be spent on forumosa?
I worked at Huaxing a few years ago, long before Foresight were there. One ‘hour’ = 45 minutes in the classroom. Class sizes at that time were less than 20. Sure, it was challenging work, but also rewarding. Some of the ‘club’ classes taught there have included drama, public speaking, basketball and watching ‘The Simpsons’ or ‘Spongebob’ in the school coffeeshop. Better than sticky-balls any day. Also, the school has major tests every six weeks, which are graded by computer. I found myself watching students take tests for an entire week each time. No work involved. I don’t know what conditions are like there now, but it was not bad when I was there.
I’ve never met funkymonkey, but I enjoyed teaching High School.
I still enjoy teaching high school. At a good public senior high a few weeks ago I ran into a former Huaxing student who remembered me and wanted to have a chat. I was doing some work to help the school prepare for a competition, which they lost, predictably, to a team captained by another of my former students. He was glad to see me too! I’m meeting someone at another HS tomorrow morning to discuss some classes for them, then I’ll be dashing off to my temporary day job:
I’m subbing for FIEC at another of their schools, just for a few weeks until someone steps in who can make a longer commitment. It’s one of the easiest jobs I’ve ever had, but then again, I know what I’m doing and don’t have to rely on the material provided. Still, for a newbie, the material is provided and 15-20 well-disciplined and eager kids can be a lot of fun to teach. The pay’s not great, but the other FIEC teachers at the school are not complaining about the general terms of their contracts.
(In fairness, I’ve also done the 45 students in a class thing, with horribly inappropriate and error-ridden material to work from - for various different employers. That’s not fun.)
All the same, I’m there because FIEC seems to have a problem with teacher retention. So do other agents in the same game. It goes with the territory. A lot of people can’t hack being expected to function in a professional environment, some get pissed off with the way they are treated. I couldn’t work full-time for an agent again, and I’m not a big fan of FIEC, or any other agent, but I do try to be objective when talking about people and jobs.
Look at it this way: You’re married (unless I’m mistaken) so you’re not reliant on anyone for an ARC, so you can’t be pushed around too much, you have an opportunity to get into a part of the industry that can be better-paid than the run-of-the-mill stuff, and it will carry more prestige with your in-laws. It will pay better than you’re making right now. If it turns out to be unbearable, what would you have been doing otherwise and what will your options be?
