In today’s news, Toronto’s SARS outbreak is back and may have spread into the public schools through the child of a nurse at a SARS-infected hospital. This article isn’t the one I read earlier, but has at least some of the details: story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s … ada_col_86
[quote]Health officials said a student at the school appeared to have symptoms of SARS, and that prompted the quarantine call. One of the student’s parents worked at Toronto’s North York General Hospital, epicenter of the latest outbreak.
…
Nurses said this week they had noticed patients with SARS-like symptoms after the rules were relaxed, but doctors and hospital administrators did not listen.
“Unfortunately, they were not taken seriously,” Doris Grinspun, executive director of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, told Reuters, describing it as “ridiculous” that no one paid attention.[/quote]
Those accursed diseased Canadians!
So, there may be a mass exodus to safer locations – Taiwan, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Chechnya, Somalia, Woop Woop . . . – from Canada. And hence, a teacher surplus.
But maybe Taiwan will have the sense to block all Canadians. We, or at least I, can only hope.
It’s sucha a distant thing for most peaople in the world. I recently met 3 (they don’t know each other) newbies that just arrived. They really had no IDEA about SARS. When I suggested that many school may shut dow for ten days they were quite surprised. Really if you are at home how much attention would you really pay to SARS? I’d be more interested in hitting the pubs and getting drunk.
That’s why we’ll have enough teachers, I think. It will be just plain cluelessness.
[quote=“ski”]It’s sucha a distant thing for most peaople in the world. I recently met 3 (they don’t know each other) newbies that just arrived. They really had no IDEA about SARS. When I suggested that many school may shut dow for ten days they were quite surprised. Really if you are at home how much attention would you really pay to SARS? I’d be more interested in hitting the pubs and getting drunk.
That’s why we’ll have enough teachers, I think. It will be just plain cluelessness.[/quote]
Guess 1. You’re from the UK and have an average university education.
Guess 2. You’re from there and have been practising since you were 5. Your lips move when you write it.
Guess 3. Somebody in a hockey shirt, with a maple leaf tattoed on some part of his/her anatomy, is standing behind you shouting S… A… er
Guess 4. You’re from New Zealand and have a T-shirt reading “I may shag sheep but at least I’m not from SASKATCHEWAN”
Moving on:
I’ve been job-hunting for the last month and a half. There has been an apparent lack of students among various organisations that teach adults, but in the last week they have ALL called me back to say that things seem to be looking up and can I teach xyz?
I think there is a bit of a squeeze in the supply of teachers, caused by difficulties in recruiting from abroad. But there doesn’t seem to be any real shortage of people lining up at any of the places I’ve been for interview.
On balance, I’ve been offered better rates than I was six months ago - and more willingness to work around my schedule. Perhaps it’s just because I’ve been here a year now, know the ropes a bit better, and have been prepared to wait longer for the right offer. Or perhaps it’s because I’m devilishly handsome, a great teacher, and I’m not Canadian.
Judging from my school, and from what friends are telling me about their schools, the teacher shortage is already here. My employers (a well-known and established franchise) are scrambing for next semester, and have even made me a ridiculously good offer (raise, bonus package) to try and convince me to stay one more year in Taiwan. I was tempted, but can’t.
A friend of mine who’s shopping around for a job right now had a woman run up to him on the street with a business card, begging him to come in to see her school. He’s overwhelmed with interviews and is shocked at how desperate many of the schools seem to be to find teachers.
Hard to say if this shortage will mean better wages for teachers. At the very least, I think the teachers who have already established themselves here will have more bartering power with the boss.
[quote=“Zen”]Judging from my school, and from what friends are telling me about their schools, the teacher shortage is already here. My employers (a well-known and established franchise) are scrambing for next semester, and have even made me a ridiculously good offer (raise, bonus package) to try and convince me to stay one more year in Taiwan. I was tempted, but can’t.
A friend of mine who’s shopping around for a job right now had a woman run up to him on the street with a business card, begging him to come in to see her school. He’s overwhelmed with interviews and is shocked at how desperate many of the schools seem to be to find teachers.
Hard to say if this shortage will mean better wages for teachers. At the very least, I think the teachers who have already established themselves here will have more bartering power with the boss.[/quote]
I have a feeling these new expensive teachers will get fired as soon as SARS recedes and the cheap overseas hires start again.
" have a feeling these new expensive teachers will get fired as soon as SARS recedes and the cheap overseas hires start again."
What makes you think so? They might as well just reduce the initial pay after all. Besides, the new cheap force won’t come very soon. People are too concerned…
:shock:
