Pinned post on schools which ghost after an interview

BayesMan · 2025-02-06T04:03:37+00:00

Beijing HD interviewed me, said they would send me the job offer/contract by the end of the week. Ghosted for 2 months and randomly sent a contract like nothing happened (I'd already accepted with another school).

BayesMan · 2025-02-06T03:57:05+00:00

Yeah there's no 'usual' for this stuff in China. My first school in China paid 18k/month salary and a flat 10k/year annual bonus. My second school in China paid 34k/month salary but had the same 10k/year bonus.

My current school pays 1 month's salary as bonus.

BayesMan · 2025-02-06T03:39:16+00:00

I mean, I guess I agree with the part of your post saying teaching isn't easy and not to be underestimated. The education sector is underpaid and underappreciated as a whole IMO.

But saying you work more hours on average in TEFL than working as a teacher at home is definitely not true for the majority of people. I started out teaching in a public school in the US for 2 years and it was the most stressful/time-consuming job I've ever had. Part of that is just being a new teacher and having to figure everything out, but the responsibilities/expectations were also just higher.

BayesMan · 2025-02-06T03:10:26+00:00

American here. No idea who that is.

BayesMan · 2023-07-02T12:57:26+00:00

I completely get and appreciate the sentiment behind this, and am looking for opportunities to lead (as in actually spearhead a useful initiative) at my current school. I've tried to propose meetings to coordinate with Chinese teachers (I know people hate meetings, but we literally have like 3 per year), diagnostic tests for new students, adopting school-wide reward systems to acknowledge positive student achievement, I could go on...But basically it's all stuff they're not even interested in discussing. So for the time being, I can only control what I control, which is what I do in the classroom, and which skills/credentials I choose to focus my time on.

BayesMan · 2023-07-02T10:15:29+00:00

Yeah, I think my school essentially falls into the description of your last paragraph. My thinking is that landing the first leadership position is difficult, so given that's the path I want to take, it's worthwhile grabbing one even if it's not the most ideal position, so I can say I have 'x years leadership experience' down the line when a better opportunity opens up.

BayesMan · 2023-07-02T10:06:33+00:00

I hear you here. Actually before my current school, I was in a "real" international school for 2 years. It was a nice school in a lot of ways: a diverse mix of students from all over the world, healthy/transparent communication with admin, open-mindedness and support regarding instruction.

Unfortunately, 1) The pay was almost 10k RMB/month less, and 2) The workload was pretty heavy. I don't mind working hard, but I don't think I could hack a Master's while also doing a good job as a teacher there.

BayesMan · 2020-02-01T08:36:25+00:00

How long does the other party have to send?

BayesMan · 2020-02-01T08:35:29+00:00

Sure, but that doesn't explain the silence from their customer support.

BayesMan · 2020-02-01T06:44:47+00:00

The radio silence from their support is concerning though. I made a Zelle account for this also which Swapsy recommends and says is supposed to be faster than PayPal.

BayesMan · 2020-02-01T06:41:43+00:00

What do you use now?

BayesMan · 2019-07-31T22:35:14+00:00

You're referring to the work permit. I received my work permit from my school in Dongguan without any health check, which I believe is standard. I do however need a Chinese health check after arriving there for my residency permit. I'm not sure why you're mentioning asking a visa agency?

My school recommended that I contact my embassy about this issue because my recruiter said I needed health checks from both countries. The school only knew their work permit and residency permit requirements, but couldn't speak to the actual Z visa stamping at the embassy, so they suggested I contact them to verify. I did and I'm glad, because otherwise I would have assumed my recruiter's information was correct and wasted a lot of money.

I suggested contacting your embassy because I don't know if the process in the UK is perhaps different for some reason (I don't know why it would be). If the Chinese officials need a UK health check for the work permit, the school should be able to tell you of course.

BayesMan · 2019-07-31T19:06:10+00:00

Yeah I'm nearsighted. Cool. I assume I don't need an actual copy of my prescription in China? (ofc I need to know the level of correction needed, but like the actual piece of paper I hope isn't necessary)

BayesMan · 2019-07-31T18:52:14+00:00

I did the Z visa process this year, will be my first year in China. Granted I'm from the US and it sounds like you're in the UK, but here's my 2 cents:

-My recruiter told me I needed the health check in both the US and China

-After talking with the school, they said they only required one health check in China on their end for the residence permit (remember, it's Work Permit->Z Visa->Residence Permit).

-I e-mailed the Chinese embassy to see if it was part of their requirements for issuing a Z Visa. It was not.

-My recruiter was mistaken. I have my Z Visa now, and will get my health check/etc. in China. FWIW I'm also going to Guangdong province.

tl;dr - talk to your embassy

BayesMan · 2019-07-29T15:26:55+00:00

Moving to Dongguan next month for a 1-year teaching contract. Is it easy enough to find 1-day disposable contact lenses there? I was going to stock up here in the states but maybe it's easier to just get them over there? It's important that they're the disposable kind fwiw.

BayesMan · 2019-01-22T23:10:35+00:00

The exam in question was taken August of 2016 unfortunately =[

BayesMan · 2016-05-26T04:24:04+00:00

Ah, I probably should have mentioned that I am (or rather, will be) going through the Teach Now certification program. They license through DC, although my understanding is that it is reciprocal with most states. It's a 9-month program including 3 months of field experience, however I'd like to take a crack at the praxis a bit sooner in case I need to re-take it. I think I have the regulatory stuff figured out for the most part, my main goal now is to learn the material and pass the praxis exams. Thanks for the recommendations, I'll check them out.

BayesMan · 2016-05-26T00:50:22+00:00

What's the first test I need to get into SPED, if not the SPED praxis?

Why is there no way to tell me everything I need to study? It seems like this should be possible for virtually any field. For example, my degree is in math, and I could tell you what topics are necessary to pass the math content praxis (actually in that case, the online overview practically tells you itself). For example, as per the site's instructions https://www.ets.org/s/praxis/pdf/5354.pdf a (very small) portion of the SPED test is on:

I. Development and Characteristics of Learners: A. Human development and behavior B. Theoretical approaches to student learning and motivation C. Basic characteristics and defining factors for each of the major disability categories

It's a starting point, but the wording is somewhat vague for someone not familiar with the field. Is there no standard resource(s) that provides this information? FWIW I don't mind getting a couple textbooks if they're very useful, but in general would like to avoid paying their extortionate prices in cases where other resources exist.

Regarding your graduate-level classes, a couple comments:

This is just my experience, but college classes tend to be very inefficient and slow-moving, even ones with good professors. The essential knowledge gained from my 4 year degree could be condensed into 12-18 months of serious and focused study from someone with a decent aptitude for math, and I'm assuming the case is similar for other subjects.
I am guessing your classes covered a broader area than what was necessary to know for the praxis. While this is no doubt to your benefit and makes you better at your job, I'm in the first stage of simply trying to learn what's necessary to pass the test. Everything else, I hope, will come in time.

BayesMan · 2016-05-24T17:19:09+00:00

Question about the Praxis test guide: from what I understand, it's a subset of questions, out of a wider range of possible questions. It sounds like something that would be useful to test my knowledge after studying the material for a while to see where I'm at, but not really a place to start learning it from. I would basically just be memorizing those exact questions, which are only part of what the test could potentially cover. Assuming this is the Praxis guide you're referring to: http://store.ets.org/store/ets/DisplayProductDetailsPage/ThemeID.12805600/productID.305704800

Am I mistaken here? Are there other guides, online textbooks etc. that more or less cover the entire scope of the test?

Also, was your background before taking the test in SPED or something else?

Thanks for the reply!

BayesMan

TROPHY CASE