My Teaching Offer

[restless]

Hello,
newbie to all this,
thanking hypiereon for all his advice,
do i post my questions here?
what does anyone think of this offer, from major university, big city, for exprienced teacher, new to tesol

1. You will receive a monthly salary of 4,500RMB.
2. You will receive 2200 RMB vacation allowance at the end of his or her service.
3. You will be provided with a one-way air ticket of economic class from Shanghai directly back to his or her home state, or take 6000 RMB instead as airplane allowance at the end of his or her service.
4. You will be provided with a free apartment, including a sitting room, a bedroom, a kitchen and a restroom.
5. will enjoy free medical care with the exception of registration fee and chronic diseases.

The teaching hours are:
The working load is 14 periods per week. Each period lasts 45 minutes. There are two semesters within an academic year. Each semester lasts 20 weeks.

Thanks everyone
restless

[mycolumbus]

If you take a look at some of the other teaching jobs in China and what they have to offer, then you can see if your above offer is good or not.

Most teaching contracts in China offer airfare and accommodation.

You are getting paid for about 45 contact hours teaching / month. (45 x 14 x 4.3 weeks / 60). So as far as I see. other jobs pay around 100RMB / hour which makes your job offer pretty much spot on!

[englishaffairs]

Sounds alright to me, which city?

[restless]

shanghai,
top univeristy,
and anyway, so far they won't play ball

[waixingren]

4500/mo. for Shanghai?? That's terrible. To be able to live in the city you need at least 7000 + housing. And even that would mean that you really won't have much money to spend when you want to go out. Shanghai is expensive.

[exported_kiwi]

I have to agree with Waixingren. For Shanghai, not good at all! Life isn't cheap there, like any big city anywhere, and 4500 isn't a great offer. However, most universities around China offer approx' that salary as far as I can see. Depends also on what other benefits you'll get with that, where in Shanghai the uni is etc.

The ad might say Shanghai, but the municipality might be huge and encompass a lot of lesser "cities". This is certainly the case down here in Guangzhou where there are cities that are up to 50 kms away but are still referred to as being part of Gz. The satellite cities are much cheaper to live in and maybe in those satellites, 4500 isn't too bad. Might pay to find out exactly where, in Shanghai, it is before you commit to it. I do think that 4500 is terrible though, for Shanghai, wherever it is because you're going to want to go places, do things etc and that's just not enough at all, especially if you're young and like clubbing etc and a beer is something like 50-100 RMB!

Be careful, find out all the facts and best of luck!
My 2 cents!

[restless]

thanks guys,

coz i don't really know what to do about this offer, and negotiating via email has proved fruitless. My latest brainstorm - fly over there, check out the uni and accomodation, look at the contract and hours, if it looks ok, i'll sign on for short contract, which i may review/renew later on, if i feel hours are too long, pay too low, i won't have to commit myself, i think i'll be coming in on a two month F visa
has anyone just flown over and negotiated on the ground?

am interested to hear your experience restless

[waixingren]

If it's a public university they will not negotiate because their salaries are set. And most schools in general in China will not negotiate salaries. You would have to have quite a lot of experience in order to get what you want. You're much better off applying to job ads that state their salaries to find what you want. And make sure that they'll give you ALL the information you request to reassure yourself of your decision. If they refuse to give you some bit of important information, consider it a red flag and move on.

[restless]

i thought everything was negotiable?

[exported_kiwi]

Sadly, not everything is negotiable. As Waixingren said, Uni salaries are set and they won't negotiate on that. You might be lucky and be able to negotiate on hours etc, but I doubt it. The ad will clearly state what is expected of you and what you'll be paid. If that doesn't suit you, find something else that does. Experience is the key here and the more of that you have, the easier it'll be to negotiate. Just be careful, look around and take your time!
Again, good luck!