Greetings,
First, a little about the job situation (not the essential read, just venting):
I have been working at a kindergarten for a little over a month and after getting the hang of things my directors began asking for more and more and more . . . you get, my drift (and yes, I know you’ve heard all of this before, many times.) I teach seven different classes and they have been asking (you could say demanding lol) complete lesson plans for every class, everyday. Initially I began staying a little longer, unpaid, so that they could go over them with me. But no matter how much effort I put into them, there were always plenty of suggestions and lots of things were too vague for them. So, I stopped caring as much and the same went for everything else . . . I don’t spend an extra ounce of my time nor money. Heck, sometimes I don’t even write them anymore. “Hey, where’s your lesson plan?” “Woops, forgot. hehe” My one coworker, his method for getting the directors out of his face was to literally say “stop fcking observing all my classes" and also would crinkle up their notes and say "don’t fcking write me notes anymore” (and would even correct their grammar!) They certainly did stop, no questions asked. It’s made his life easier and has honestly caused him absolutely no trouble. Now, I stopped coming extra hours and doing anything that was really time consuming and stressful . . . but it will come the time to be confrontational and tell them “I don’t get paid for extra prep time, especially considering you’ve already laid out the necessary prep times of which we get paid for. Yes I’m newer, but I think I’m already adequate and your feedback from observing the classes is good.” Venting over lol!
Quitting the job stuff:
So, I plan on leaving the school because teaching full-time is too time consuming for me because I’m taking Chinese tutoring (already have been studying for a couple years at a university) and really want to transition to a student again. I took the job as a way to save up some more money again, and even though I have a year contract I realize I will save plenty by the end of the first semester in late January (and by then I know I won’t be able to take it much longer lol). I realize there’s a lot to consider breaking a contract, so basically here’s an outline that I’d like to share (and hope someone could critique):
-Late January: I will tell my principal that I’m quitting the last day of the semester since there’s a 3-week vacation right after.
-My excuse to my principal for quitting will be “I recently found out, for sure, that teaching kindergarten is illegal for a foreigner like me, and I just cannot put myself at risk or the school, so I must leave. I know, I know, it’s safe . . . but even if I don’t get caught, it’s just against my morals.” What could she fight back with lol?
-By that time I will have my work ARC and I realize by quitting it will be cancelled (probably the exact same day or so, right?). And then, transitioning to a student will require me to leave the country to get a new visitor visa. (And I’m pretty sure I have to leave based on discussions on this forum.)
-I will already have the school papers ready to go and go to Macao, HK, or wherever and come back in the next few days with the visitor visa.
-For the university I want to go to the semester doesn’t start until March, so I will have time to hang, pick up some one-on-one privates maybe, and, most importantly, contact the Labor Bureau and try to get the two weeks pay that I assume will be withheld from me.
So, I think the process seems pretty painless. I hear there is a potential of being blacklisted by your school and that finding another teaching job might be difficult, but I now know my career path will not involve teaching ESL. Now I’ll just concentrate on the job, just wanted to share my story!
Thanks,
Tom
