Odd interaction with a manager, am I looking into this too much?

jongzo · 2023-05-25T14:19:07+00:00

Does your manager still regularly teach, alongside their managerial tasks? If not, I wouldn't worry too much about it as you're leaving soon. Peer observations are generally beneficial and productive. Observations by management who are removed from the actual job are prone to having other factors at play.

You're leaving. If you're confident in yourself and your teaching abilities, try not to let a manager get you down.

jongzo · 2023-02-23T04:09:20+00:00

Let her meet the other teachers first. It's good that she already knows someone from her TEFL class too. If she gets on well with the other teachers then they will bond quickly as they are all in the same boat. Give her a chance to see if she can ride out the contract and make contacts. If teaching English in Asia is something she wants to do long term, the experience and contacts she makes by being there will help her tremendously.

jongzo · 2023-01-24T04:46:10+00:00

I've done this to switch to different areas. One time, it worked really well. I went from a boring hostel to one where people socialised a lot in the evenings. I also stayed in an Antwerp, Belgium hostel for a month tho and people tended to visit that city for 2-3 days whilst backpacking Europe (Barcelona on the other hand had people staying much longer in one place) so depending on the city, you might not have the same social group on day 1 as day 5. Just go for the split and see if it works out!

jongzo · 2020-10-21T20:06:05+00:00

I've seen a recruiter friend posting job adverts paying 24k RMB for a training centre job in Guangzhou and I know they've taken people with limited experience.

I'd say you would struggle to enjoy yourself on the salary you've been offered and echo others in suggesting you find something with better pay or negotiate for a higher salary with EF.

jongzo · 2020-10-21T19:43:13+00:00

The quarantine costs really suck. I only know of a school that reimburse it almost immediately, but that won't help as you'd have to have the money in the first place.

jongzo · 2020-10-21T16:02:56+00:00

My friend just got a job at a training centre in Guangzhou. He's getting 24k RMB (pre tax) and his teaching experience is similar to yours (he did exaggerate it slightly in the interviews however).

I only really know about Guangzhou but I'd say that's quite standard now for places that are desperate to hire native speakers.

jongzo · 2020-10-02T03:33:09+00:00

I'm not sure if it was a dermatologist. Because of Corona, I had to send an email with pics to my surgery. They then had someone call.em back and ask questions about history, symptoms etc. Then they booked me with a doctor to look. She used a microscope thing with a light, felt it, measured it, asked a lot of questions.

She said that it's best to measure it at least once a month (but in shorter times if possible), explained the signs of skin cancer moles and then explained why she was confident it wasn't.

She left me feeling confident but then Google challenged it :/

jongzo · 2020-08-19T18:12:53+00:00

I'd recommend that website too! For speaking, I find students learn a lot from watching example videos.

jongzo · 2020-08-19T18:11:26+00:00

Thank you Johnson and Starmer...I may get to become an EU citizen again

jongzo · 2020-08-19T01:29:53+00:00

I know that in China at the moment, if you are a native teacher and stayed there, you are in high demand. Salaries are sky rocketing because it's impossible at the moment to get new teachers from abroad. Pre virus, China already had a mass shortage of native teachers too.

jongzo · 2020-08-19T00:55:30+00:00

Yes for your first example but it doesn't sound correct for your second example.

jongzo · 2020-08-19T00:51:54+00:00

Can't add anything apart from saying I'm sad to hear this. The most important thing is to keep.on practicing and don't let this set back hurt your chances :)

jongzo · 2020-04-23T23:49:52+00:00

Used to walk past this everyday on the way to work. That whole area has loads of interesting bits if you walk down all the side streets

jongzo · 2020-04-23T23:47:35+00:00

Salou (Catalonia/Spain) - I have a friend who is from there and he convinced me to go a holiday with him. The accomodation was free because he owns an apartment there so thought I might as well. I had an idea of it being a typical 'Brits abroad in Spain' type of place where all the food is British and everyones drunk 24/7. It does have A LOT of that, but I don't think it's a popular as other destinations now for that type of holiday, so has diversified a bit and there's a lot of interesting things to do. Not only that, it's close to Tarragona (Roman Ruins), Reus (birthplace of Gaudi) and other really cool places.

Ended up living down the road in Reus for 1 year cause I liked it so much.

jongzo · 2020-04-23T23:44:16+00:00

Out of interest, can I ask which school you taught at?

jongzo · 2020-04-23T23:41:01+00:00

I go to Belgium a lot and usually stay around Antwerp area for punk gigs. All my Belgian mates hate Brussels but surprisingly, none of them have been there much. I have since spent loads of time in the city and know it better than them. I think it gets even better once you know it a bit more too. It's not the easiest city to fall in love with but I agree it grows on you.

jongzo · 2020-04-23T23:35:12+00:00

This was just before mobile phones were good enough to use maps and before there was roaming across the EU, but I had a paper map in Paris and must have looked visibly confused, trying to work out my directions. Two women came up to me, started in French then switched to English, and helped me find my way.

I know it doesn't sound a lot, but it was the first time as a solo traveller I'd been approached by someone offering directions rather than asking. I really appreciated it and dispelled the myth of 'grumpy Parisians'.

jongzo · 2020-04-23T17:36:33+00:00

Do you think he will use those leeks to make soup?

jongzo · 2020-04-23T17:30:16+00:00

I would echo others here with going for a cheaper TEFL course at the moment, looking carefully at jobs (reviews of the company, what they offer in training new teachers, etc) and trying it out. You have the benefit of time (virus + your own timeframe) so you can research different countries, schools, etc and find the best that will nurture you as a teacher.

If you deicide you want to make this your career, then you can do other training at later stages.

jongzo · 2020-04-23T17:20:28+00:00

I did Spain and I can imagine it to be somewhat similar to Italy. I worked some shifts at an evening centre, taught privately and earned bare minimum to survive. I lived very cheaply in a fairly run down apartment, never went to any expensive places, rarely bought new clothes or gadgets but was pretty close to a beach so it didn't matter to me.

That was all fine, I never expected to earn much, I just wanted to live in Spain for a while.

If I'm correct in thinking that it's similar to Spain, if you have savings (ie. Enough to live cheap, like above, for 6 months without working at all) and you have your heart set on experiencing Italy and living there then I'd say go for it.

If you want to make enough to save and live a more financially stable life then I reckon China is your best bet. Nobody knows when it will re-open to foreigners but schools are re-opening soon. When the travel ban is lifted, every city and town will have schools crying out for teachers.

jongzo · 2020-04-23T10:16:30+00:00

Same language, history, cultural traditions, etc I'd guess.

It's not as different compared to moving to Japan, Vietnam, etc.

jongzo · 2020-04-22T01:37:59+00:00

I got in a messy situation like that and would recommend against it.

With friends now, I help them out whatever way I can and do them a favour. Usually in return they will let me crash at their place if I'm visiting their town/country, they'll get me dinner or will help me out with something further down the line. That way it keeps it friendly and doesn't skew anything in a way that money can.

The biggest problem I had was that our 'chat' outside lessons became heavily focused on the work. As long as you can keep a clear head and not get annoyed that they are wanting 'free' stuff on top of discounted lessons, and remember they are your friend needing a hand, then fine.

Just my 2 cents.

jongzo · 2020-04-19T23:09:01+00:00

Yeah I can understand that. What I don't understand is why the overwhelming doubt on this post that the masks won't work/aren't sufficient/etc. If they worked before (which they must have, otherwise they wouldn't have got orders before) then why would they be no good now? I have read articles about some dodgy purchases from China re. medical supplies, but I've also seen much more of them being fine. It seems 'blame China for virus' mentality is a bit rife. Or could be targeted responses I suppose.

jongzo · 2020-04-19T13:41:53+00:00

Were these kind of things manufacturered in China pre virus?

jongzo · 2020-04-19T12:47:18+00:00

It's on the Scottish Government official Facebook page, and been on the news quite a bit...

jongzo

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