Andrew Aigner-MuehlerChapter 24... The start of my second year teaching.
September 20th 2009 11:40
It is now September 2009 the start of the new school year. I have made the move from Chengde to Beijing, this time teaching grade one students at a primary school level, not middle school students like I did last school year. My little darlings are 6 years of age.
But before I actually started at this job in XiErQi, the northern districts of Beijing, I again had trouble.
I was actually supposed to start a primary school job in Tianjin, of which I had signed a a year contract with, but that school did the dirty on me, and did not follow through with their contract. This is what makes you mad teaching in China, they make you sign a contract to say if you do not follow through with your teaching assignment you need to pay around 5000rmb for the inconvenience of them finding another teacher or they take a a portion of your first months wages as a deposit.
This school in Tianjin of which I do not have a telephone number for or a name of the school did supposedly say that I have been transferred to a kindergarten in Beijing.
Well, I arrived in Beijing that was not the case, I had to go into the office which was at Chaoyangmen and prepare for a teaching demo class. I hadn’t the job. The following day I went back into the office and was taken to a kindergarten east of SiHui. I did a demo class to young kids of 3 to 4 years of age and there were 10 in the class. The kids loved me. The school loved me. The school accepted me, but the agency insisted to send me out to another three demo classes at kindergartens where the students were 2 to 3 years of age. These demo classes did not go well at all. I was getting nothing from the kids. At the end of the day, I am not blaming those kids, to learn another language at 2 to 3 years of age when you don’t even know your own language is ridiculous. Over this week, I was in touch with the new agency a almost twice a day to see what was going on, they insisted that I got the job at the kindergarten east of SiHui, though they would not get me to sign a contract, so I said stuff it. I then gave a call to Rebecca of China ESL who told me to go into her office the next day for a chat, which I did, she sent me out to a demo class at the primary school in XiErQi. Well, it was not really a proper demo, t was only done to the head English teacher Simon. She loved myself and the other guy I did a demo with. That afternoon, I had to make the hour and a half trek down to Rebecca’s office to sign the contract. I signed the contract for 3 month at 80rmb per class, of which I was given 24 hour classes per week. That evening I was told by Rebecca that I had to go to Qingdao to change over my visa. So, early the following morning I was put on the CNR express train to Qingdao which took 5 to 6 hours costing me 281rmb for a one way ticket. I had almost managed to spend a few hours walking around the city, before coming back to Beijing that evening. The day after we had a teachers meeting between the head English teacher and us foreign teachers, of which there were eleven of us, literally from all over the world. At the meeting we were told about a few school rules, we had the choice of what grade we taught, I jumped in early and got grade one, which I wanted. We then were given roster of when our classes were and where they were, and also the text book we had to work from, as well as the schedule we had to take.
From first thoughts of the school, I have to say the school is well organized. The other foreign teachers that I am working with are all great and easy to get along with, each of our classes has a teacher assistant who spoke fairly good English to help us out with translations and discipline if needed.
The following Monday after the teachers meeting we started. Most days we have our lessons spread out across the day from 0800am to 1725pm though we do not have much time to go outside of the school or to go home. So most days, we spend time planning our lessons for the week, at our desk in the foreign teachers office. Most of us have to plan at least four lessons per week.
The only obstacle I had was for the first week when I had to teach almost half of my classes with out a teaching assistant. The communication barrier at times was a bit of a obstacle but I managed. The biggest obstacle was with a couple students who decided to test me and play up, though I was warned about kindergarten and primary school students playing up a bit and being naughty. Now everything is okay, the kids supposedly love me. There is a bit to get used to you with the kids running up to you and hugging you and not letting you go, or jumping all over you.
I am very surprised about the kids level of English in grade one of primary school. They already know a fair bit of words, and even can spell when they are still learning the alphabet.
I have classes whom can understand me quite well when I give a English description on what I want them to do. When I make up flashcards, they actually beat me to saying the words.
At this current moment, I do think I have a good school that I have chosen to teach at, even so, I miss out on the returned airfare, holiday pay, bonus, accommodation and medical insurance.
As I just mentioned I have no accommodation with the school, so I needed to find myself accommodation. On my arrival back into Beijing, I stayed two weeks at the Golden Pineapple hostel in Dongzhimen, which is quite good, but I must admit I was getting sick of living out of a suitcase. The place of living was quite easy, I wanted to be close to Dongzhimen because of the weekend, so it was easy to get home. Apparently to the primary school from Dongzhimen it is a 100rmb taxi fare which is quite a lot on Chinese money. I must admit finding accommodation in Beijing as a white westerner is an absolute head &@#%!
You have pretty much a choice between local apartments and compound apartments. Compound apartments are body management run, they are way much nicer to live at, you do not have to pay a commission which Is one months rent, most compound apartments you do not have to pay electricity, gas or water.
With the local apartments, it is where the Chinese live, well they are not as nice, the buildings are older, sorry I apologise you can get some real nice apartments inside but you have to hunt for them. You do have to pay that commission to the real agent which as I mentioned is one months rent, and then on top of you have to pay electricity, gas and water, of which I was told maybe no more than 300rmb every three months but I am waiting for my first bill.
The only thing the compound and the local apartments have in common is you also need to pay one months deposit, and three months rent as well signing a 12 month lease up front. In China with a foreign card, you can not take out more than 2000rmb per day, so you will be making a few trips to an abm machine before signing your lease.
After going to numerous real estate agents, trying to communicate in Chinese to find an apartment, I ended up settling on shared accommodation with a Chinese family in Dongzhimen. For a room
I paid 1200rmb deposit, 1200rmb commission to the real estate agent, and 3 lots of 1200rmb for three months rent upfront. Every three months you need to pay three months rent. It is basically what I need, I just need somewhere to sleep, as most days I am out. I have a television and airconditioner which I don’t use. I use my own washing machine once a week which they supply. It is probably the best way to go especially if you are not sure what to do when something goes wrong. Some of the contracts look really dodgy as well, atleast if you are sharing with a family thing s will get fixed.
The worst thing about the apartment it is a 45 minute commute on the subway every morning to work, but it pays off on the weekends.
But before I actually started at this job in XiErQi, the northern districts of Beijing, I again had trouble.
I was actually supposed to start a primary school job in Tianjin, of which I had signed a a year contract with, but that school did the dirty on me, and did not follow through with their contract. This is what makes you mad teaching in China, they make you sign a contract to say if you do not follow through with your teaching assignment you need to pay around 5000rmb for the inconvenience of them finding another teacher or they take a a portion of your first months wages as a deposit.
Well, I arrived in Beijing that was not the case, I had to go into the office which was at Chaoyangmen and prepare for a teaching demo class. I hadn’t the job. The following day I went back into the office and was taken to a kindergarten east of SiHui. I did a demo class to young kids of 3 to 4 years of age and there were 10 in the class. The kids loved me. The school loved me. The school accepted me, but the agency insisted to send me out to another three demo classes at kindergartens where the students were 2 to 3 years of age. These demo classes did not go well at all. I was getting nothing from the kids. At the end of the day, I am not blaming those kids, to learn another language at 2 to 3 years of age when you don’t even know your own language is ridiculous. Over this week, I was in touch with the new agency a almost twice a day to see what was going on, they insisted that I got the job at the kindergarten east of SiHui, though they would not get me to sign a contract, so I said stuff it. I then gave a call to Rebecca of China ESL who told me to go into her office the next day for a chat, which I did, she sent me out to a demo class at the primary school in XiErQi. Well, it was not really a proper demo, t was only done to the head English teacher Simon. She loved myself and the other guy I did a demo with. That afternoon, I had to make the hour and a half trek down to Rebecca’s office to sign the contract. I signed the contract for 3 month at 80rmb per class, of which I was given 24 hour classes per week. That evening I was told by Rebecca that I had to go to Qingdao to change over my visa. So, early the following morning I was put on the CNR express train to Qingdao which took 5 to 6 hours costing me 281rmb for a one way ticket. I had almost managed to spend a few hours walking around the city, before coming back to Beijing that evening. The day after we had a teachers meeting between the head English teacher and us foreign teachers, of which there were eleven of us, literally from all over the world. At the meeting we were told about a few school rules, we had the choice of what grade we taught, I jumped in early and got grade one, which I wanted. We then were given roster of when our classes were and where they were, and also the text book we had to work from, as well as the schedule we had to take.
The following Monday after the teachers meeting we started. Most days we have our lessons spread out across the day from 0800am to 1725pm though we do not have much time to go outside of the school or to go home. So most days, we spend time planning our lessons for the week, at our desk in the foreign teachers office. Most of us have to plan at least four lessons per week.
The only obstacle I had was for the first week when I had to teach almost half of my classes with out a teaching assistant. The communication barrier at times was a bit of a obstacle but I managed. The biggest obstacle was with a couple students who decided to test me and play up, though I was warned about kindergarten and primary school students playing up a bit and being naughty. Now everything is okay, the kids supposedly love me. There is a bit to get used to you with the kids running up to you and hugging you and not letting you go, or jumping all over you.
I am very surprised about the kids level of English in grade one of primary school. They already know a fair bit of words, and even can spell when they are still learning the alphabet.
I have classes whom can understand me quite well when I give a English description on what I want them to do. When I make up flashcards, they actually beat me to saying the words.
At this current moment, I do think I have a good school that I have chosen to teach at, even so, I miss out on the returned airfare, holiday pay, bonus, accommodation and medical insurance.
As I just mentioned I have no accommodation with the school, so I needed to find myself accommodation. On my arrival back into Beijing, I stayed two weeks at the Golden Pineapple hostel in Dongzhimen, which is quite good, but I must admit I was getting sick of living out of a suitcase. The place of living was quite easy, I wanted to be close to Dongzhimen because of the weekend, so it was easy to get home. Apparently to the primary school from Dongzhimen it is a 100rmb taxi fare which is quite a lot on Chinese money. I must admit finding accommodation in Beijing as a white westerner is an absolute head &@#%!
You have pretty much a choice between local apartments and compound apartments. Compound apartments are body management run, they are way much nicer to live at, you do not have to pay a commission which Is one months rent, most compound apartments you do not have to pay electricity, gas or water.
With the local apartments, it is where the Chinese live, well they are not as nice, the buildings are older, sorry I apologise you can get some real nice apartments inside but you have to hunt for them. You do have to pay that commission to the real agent which as I mentioned is one months rent, and then on top of you have to pay electricity, gas and water, of which I was told maybe no more than 300rmb every three months but I am waiting for my first bill.
The only thing the compound and the local apartments have in common is you also need to pay one months deposit, and three months rent as well signing a 12 month lease up front. In China with a foreign card, you can not take out more than 2000rmb per day, so you will be making a few trips to an abm machine before signing your lease.
After going to numerous real estate agents, trying to communicate in Chinese to find an apartment, I ended up settling on shared accommodation with a Chinese family in Dongzhimen. For a room
I paid 1200rmb deposit, 1200rmb commission to the real estate agent, and 3 lots of 1200rmb for three months rent upfront. Every three months you need to pay three months rent. It is basically what I need, I just need somewhere to sleep, as most days I am out. I have a television and airconditioner which I don’t use. I use my own washing machine once a week which they supply. It is probably the best way to go especially if you are not sure what to do when something goes wrong. Some of the contracts look really dodgy as well, atleast if you are sharing with a family thing s will get fixed.
The worst thing about the apartment it is a 45 minute commute on the subway every morning to work, but it pays off on the weekends.
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