How to get a start teaching in China? Part 3

[Hypiereon]

Getting your foot in the GREAT WALL
PART THREE

You now have the upper hand. They were expecting you to come and sign, not come and bargain. The fact that you’re shopping around puts them in a pinch. If they don’t make the changes they’re short a teacher, and worse yet, they know other schools are looking. If you’ve agreed to go to several schools in the area, then that means there will be several schools without foreigners come the start of the school term.

What this also means is that even if all the schools refuse to bargain with you, you can wait them out. The school year will begin, and they still haven’t found a teacher to fill the void. You then go back to them and make your offer again, but be willing to make some small concessions to make them feel like they’ve accomplished something.

Once you sign with a school, you will be required to take a physical exam which the school should pay for. You’ll have to surrender your passport so they can get it stamped with the required residence permit, and this could take anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks. There will be other paper work, and read everything carefully. If it’s written in Chinese, ask to sign an English version. If it is something you do not need to sign but they’re just “informing you” about something, ask someone to translate it until you are satisfied you understand it.

Make sure the contract is looked over by the other foreigner you had contact with through e-mail if at all possible. He’ll pretty much know if it’s the same contract he signed. If, however, you have made substantial changes and are getting more money, the Chinese will be VERY reluctant to have anyone else know about the concessions they made to get you.

Be very careful with contracts as they are your only line of defense, and only source of contention should anything go wrong. If it isn’t written into the contract, you have no complaint. If your complaint is legitimate, and they break the contract, resign according to the terms written into the contract (ie don’t you break it just because they did) which should not be anything more than a two week notice, and during the two weeks go to you other schools to ask if they need a foreign teacher. If they do, you already have put in your notice, and if they don’t and you don’t have another school, then you have put your school on notice and you can leave any time you want to. Just because you submit a letter of resignation does not mean you MUST leave – in fact, stipulate in your resignation letter your reason for leaving, and if the problem is corrected you “may” stay – you also “may not stay” according to your circumstances and disposition when the time comes.