Ah I’m lucky enough to have my school standing by my side. It’s usually the parents that do that… every time I tell them their kids are doing great, they’d tell them off in front of me and everybody else, saying their kids are dumb and useless and suck at everything…
I feel like half of a shrink… half of my time I spend on building students’ confidence, kids or adults, just so I could get them to somehow try and make one single sentence in my class… EVEN THE ADULTS!!
The taiwanese. There is no way you can live outside for that wage.
There are several advantages with this school like location and the level of "niceness’’ from part of the owners that threatening is not an option. Leaving is also not because of the location advantage. I’ve heard of other schools not treating workers very well. That’s why I’m looking for subtle ways to do it, where it doesn’t have to end in saying goodbye. I guess it comes down to what do I have to offer them that others can’t and the willingness from their side.
I guess they already won the pay raise dispute without even knowing about it.
If leaving is not an option, kinda yeah.
But you said they were nice, and that contract renewal time was coming, so maybe make a list (grading your language for the reader, short/clear/simple) of why you enjoy working there (not the location, but flattering things like the nice management and wonderful students) and what you bring to the table (happy repeat customers, no drama or problems). Make a reasonable raise request, a little on the high side so they can offer you less, and slip it to them so they can think about it. No confrontation, lots of chance to save face, but you state your case before they give you a contract with no raise on it.
Really, though, the best leverage is being willing and able to walk to something else. If you’re tied to one location, you can’t walk very far…
600 to 650 is customary after the first year of teaching. Going up from there would mean having full classes and doing unpaid word. Its funny the more you get paid hourly the more unpaid work you are expected to do. In truth, an experienced teacher makes their life easier by knowing the tricks of the trade and inexperienced teachers tend to struggle to maintain quality when faced with higher expectations. TT is right about approaching them with respect and understanding. If they are making a mint and you show loyalty and a willingness to help, they will reward you (or not).
The guy wrote today asking when he could speak to me on the phone. I explained I was extremely busy and he could send me a message. I told him if he had a job offer for me he should send me the details.
The guy is a non teacher. He must be one of the investors. He was the rude individual yesterday.
I’m not going to let the dude lecture me as he explains why I’m not getting the job. I don’t need your reasons.
So an hour later he hasn’t replied.
You young ones have this to look forward to - you too will get old and salty
This belongs in the Quote of the Day thread.
Nobody wants to try at all when someone is constantly coming after them for every tiny error they make. I had a Chinese teacher in Beijing (thank god there were 10 of them rotating each day) who, by the time I was six characters into one sentence of my presentation, had already come after me for all of my tones, my speed, my pauses and then she said that my problem wasn’t that I sounded American but that I sounded Taiwanese. I hated her guts. I needed to prepare a 20 minute presentation (in Chinese) for a conference (of Chinese people) and she wouldn’t even let me get the first sentence out without ripping into me for every tiny mistake. It was classic bullying/lack of confidence because her own English sucked, only she had been given the platform by being a teacher. If all my teachers had been like that, I’d have quit long ago. There’s always room for improvement, even in your native language, but tearing every minor mistake apart serves only the purpose of making learners hate learning and lose confidence.
Never directly correct mistakes in the moment. Rephrase/repeat what they should have said if they’re struggling to say it, make note of what the children are getting wrong, and come back to it in a specific lesson later. Even as a near native speaker of Chinese, when people try to get me to repeat back the “correct” way of saying something, I tell them that they’re interrupting the flow of the conversation, they know what I meant, breaking up my train of thought is disrespectful, and it’s not important that I practice that right now. Children don’t have the language to tell rude teachers to eff off. One on one or direct grammar/pronunciation lessons are different. But spontaneous sentences or conversation is never the time to directly come after someone to correct their language.
This goes back to the middle of July. The same guy is still looking to find a teacher for his classes. After telling him off after a really awkward job offer with low pay he sends me this message this morning almost 6 weeks later but with a higher offer.
Before your recruitment business, you may start by finding me a job with such pay 1000 NTD/hr in Taipei - I look whitey (judging by Taiwanese who often think I’m American: Měiguó rén) - I’m not native English speaker but fluent (110 iBT TOEFL) and have some science/tech teaching experience.
Due to COVID, I’ve even applied for 500 NTD/hr jobs online but didn’t have much success.
ps. I’m looking for part-time and extremely limited hours per week (<10hr/week).
