School offered to prepaid my air fare, BUT...

[arley86 0]

Hello, I want to teach English In China, but as many English teachers, specially the ones that are starting in this path, I am broke, I do have some money saved, probably enough to live for a month or two, but not for an air fare and unless I ask for a loan from bank or people there was no way I could afford it at the moment.

 

Anyways, so I got an offer from a school, fairly decent I guess, around 10k monthly, apartment, visa, not mayor city, so lower life cost, etc, classic deal, I asked the school if there was a way the school could prepaid my air fare with low hopes they would react positively.

 

And to my surprise they said they were "not" against the idea, that they have done it before, but that they also have done it, along with paying the VISA procedure for some people, and they get cold feet at the last minute and never arrive.

 

So it all comes down to this, the school is asking me if there is any way I can put their "worries" on rest, I know this is mostly a trust Issue, I have done nothing for them to make me "not" trust me, but we dont exactly know each other at all, so its understandable they do not want to pay a 1000 USD plane ticket just to anyone, anyone got idea of what exactly I can say/do to put their "worries" on rest?

[Silent 374]

 

I do have some money saved, probably enough to live for a month or two, but not for an air fare

How much is some money? My guess would be enough living for a month or two is as much or even more as airfare. I imagine you don't want to arrive flat broke, but an option I see is you buy the ticket and on arrival they give you and advance/ticket reimbursement.

 

Question is, do you trust them to do so? If you arrive flat broke and they don't you may have a real problem.

 

 

unless I ask for a loan from bank or people

Is this a real possibility? If so why not do so to overcome the problems? Otherwise, you might choose the above, if in the end the advance doesn't work as expected the loan might be an emergency exit (till regular pay day or to return home)

[arley86 0]

Well I dont have much saved, around 1500 USD, excuse me if I am ignorant on the cost of living in China, I have never been there and only know what I have read, I can probably ask my parents a couple more hundred dollars as emergency funds, but I certainly would not feel confortable asking them 1000 USD for the entire airfare, the fact they are supporting my decision is already enough, but thats not what my original question was about

[ChTTay 1,022]

If 1000USD is enough for the airfare, you could just buy it yourself. Upon your arrival either get the school to give you the money. I would feel less confident in this though, unless you really trust them. Perhaps more of a common occurance here would be to ask the school to give you an advance on your wages. Get them to give you half your wages for the first month upon your arrival. You'd arrive with that 500USD - roughly - left and perhaps get the 200 from your parents for an emergency as well.

 

Your wage would usually be paid at the end of the first month, so, if you get half of it in advance (5000rmb) then in your second month, you will also only have 5000rmb to spend. You'll have to be a bit more careful for the first couple of months. Which city would you move to? If it's a third/forth tier city you should be able to get by without any problems on 5k. At least I used to when I lived in this kind of city. You can buy noodles and 'on rice' dishes cheaply. Groceries are also very cheap relatively. Take the bus, not taxis. Don't drink too much beer OR, if you do, buy the 3-4rmb bottles from the shop, rather than going to clubs/bars.

[arley86 0]

The city is Wuhan, directly east from shanghai and north of HK, I dont know about those tiers, Im lead to believe its a big city so probably tier 2?, anyways the apartment they will be lending me is within walking distance of where I shall be working, so there wont be many buses unless I want to go out, and I know better than to party or flat out throw money out of the window when Im broke, I guess ill work some numbers and see if they are not comfortable buying me a prepaid air fare how do they feel about half wage on arrival (Which at the end of the day, it would probably be the same money spent but it might give them more confidence to see that I am actually in China and did not god cold feet), so thats an option

[ChTTay 1,022]

the rephrasing may help them feel more comfortable about it BUT the main thing is you are already there and they haven't paid anything to get you there. Once you're in front of them then they're more likely to give you an advance.

You mentioned they are "lending" you an apartment. What does this mean? You will have to find your own eventually? If so, they might be a big cost on the horizon. In Beijing at least they want 3 months rent in advance, a deposit and any agency fee. I assumed from you first post they would "provide" accommodation. If they are providing it then at least that's one less cost to worry about it.

[arley86 0]

 

You mentioned they are "lending" you an apartment. What does this mean? You will have to find your own eventually? If so, they might be a big cost on the horizon. In Beijing at least they want 3 months rent in advance, a deposit and any agency fee. I assumed from you first post they would "provide" accommodation. If they are providing it then at least that's one less cost to worry about it. 

 

 

the apartment is in the school grounds where all the foreign teachers are staying, its technically owned by the school so I though the word lending was appropriated

 

as the contract states:

 

" When Party B performs the obligations stipulated in the contract, Party A will provide fully furnished apartment for Party B to live which includes essential equipment. The following items ticked will be provided."

 

So I guess as long I continue imparting classes Ill have a roof on my head, obviously I have to pay my own water/gas/etc (and management cost, whatever that means, if you know the answer let me know, if not Ill just ask them directly)

[edelweis 833]

China is huge. One school's "management costs" won't be another school's "management costs".

[ChTTay 1,022]

I wouldn't have chosen 'lending' ... they are 'providing' you with a place to live for the duration of your contract.  This is standard with most schools.

 

The vast majority of foreigners who arrive in China, most of whom have never even been to the place they'll teach in, don't want to have to look for apartment when they arrive. Especially as any search would need to be in Chinese.

 

All the utilities should be incredibly low compared to what you're looking at in your home country. For the management costs, who knows what that is. Ask them.

[roddy 5,467]

Ask them what kind of reassurance they'd like - maybe you can provide more references, or a guarantor who promises to reimburse them if you don't turn up, or you could send them a signed agreement to that effect. It's kind of odd, I'd expect a school which had already had people not turn up would no longer be paying for flights in advance. It makes me wonder if they're desperate for teachers, and why. 

[abcdefg 4,416]

For the management costs, who knows what that is. Ask them.

 

Don't know about the OP's situation, but this is usually the 管理费。 In my case it comes to 30 or 40 Yuan a month and includes services of the night watchman 看门人 and defrays the cost of management keeping up the outside plants, someone occasionally sweeping the stairs and such. Some places it can include picking up the trash.

 

Main point is that it should not be much. A small expense; not a large expense.

 

From your first post:

 

...not mayor city, so lower life cost, etc...

 

Wuhan is definitely a major city. Plus it's huge. I recall some Wuhan threads here. Do a search when you have a chance.

[ChTTay 1,022]

 

It makes me wonder if they're desperate for teachers, and why.

 

On one hand, it might just be the usual desperation that schools face here for foreign teachers. Every year there's a mad panic to make sure schools have enough to keep going. Sometimes justifiably so but other times it just seems like people are getting worked up. The problem is if the school can't get enough teachers they won't be able to run the same number of classes - they might be looking at refunds.  In less popular cities it really is a mad panic because it's a lot harder to recruit there.

 

Is Wuhan a popular city generally? I'm not so sure. They might just struggle because demand far outweighs supply. On the other hand, maybe there is a 'reason' for desperation beyond what I've mentioned. If Wuhan is huge, it would be worth looking at the exact location of the school. Perhaps it's out in the sticks somewhere which puts a lot of people off. Who knows.

 

Always good practice to get contact details for someone who already works there and/or who used to work there.

[Shelley 1,862]

Is $1000.00 the cheapest? I mean if you are travelling from the east coast USA to china, maybe you could take the train across USA to LA airport and fly from there. That might make it cheaper but take a bit longer.

 

I am not familiar with cost of flying and trains  so this may just be a rubbish idea.

[arley86 0]

 

Is $1000.00 the cheapest? I mean if you are travelling from the east coast USA to china, maybe you could take the train across USA to LA airport and fly from there. That might make it cheaper but take a bit longer.

 

Im actually living in Mexico atm, the flights from where I live is around 2000 USD, so im going to go all the way Phoenix AZ airport, thats where the flight is around 1,000 USD, its cheaper indeed in some places like california but the distance hardly worth it

 

 

Always good practice to get contact details for someone who already works there and/or who used to work there.

 

I tried, I know the address but I cant get any contact information of other teachers because theres no other teachers, I am lead to understand that the school is a Branch from a mayor school (For the record it goes by the name Wuhan Optics Valley Foreign Languages School) and it was finished during May or a little more of this year so this will be the first semester open to public, Im not sure If I should be worried about that.

 

 

 

All that said, I think Im getting cold feet after I heard about the terrible pollution on that city, I dont live in a very polluted city but Wuhan is apparently 4 or 5 times worse

[abcdefg 4,416]

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[ChTTay 1,022]

Most cities in China are polluted by Western standards. Wuhan is currently 77 on the index and BEIJING is 30. I can tell you 77 is nothing. For China.

The job doesn't sound great if I'm honest. It sounds like Roddy's comment above about you being a test case is true. I'd find a different job. Maybe look at larger private language schools. They often have more experience dealing with foreigners, more foreigners working there and foreign managemsnt (easier to communicate if nothin else).

Unless of course you don't meet the requirements for most jobs in which case ... You should consider more carefully. If you are over 25, have a degree and some teaching experience, no criminal record then you should find yourself with many job offers. Look on Daves ESL cafe. You could also look at Aston English and English First.

[arley86 0]

 

The job doesn't sound great if I'm honest. It sounds like Roddy's comment above about you being a test case is true. I'd find a different job. Maybe look at larger private language schools. They often have more experience dealing with foreigners, more foreigners working there and foreign managemsnt (easier to communicate if nothin else).

Unless of course you don't meet the requirements for most jobs in which case ... You should consider more carefully. If you are over 25, have a degree and some teaching experience, no criminal record then you should find yourself with many job offers. Look on Daves ESL cafe. You could also look at Aston English and English First. 

 

 

Hmm, yes in fact thats quite the case, you see this is not an English Teaching job, they hiring me as Math teacher, while I am indeed over 25, degree, exp, etc, I am not from a native speaking country, so English teaching is not quite an option for me.

 

Anyways care to elaborate what exactly doesnt sound so great about it for future references? thanks!

[ChTTay 1,022]

 

so English teaching is not quite an option for me

 

You could potentially still teach English, it would just be harder. If you're a qualified maths teacher, could you find work as an international school? does your home country have any schools in China?

 

Well, as above... if job offers arent as easy to come by then I'd give the one you've been offered a lot more consideration. In particular, where exactly is the school. Get an address and look it up on a map. Is it centrally located? If not, how far away from the city? How would you be able to get from the school to there.

 

The things that make this job seem worth looking into more are ...

 

- It's 'the branch' of the main school. If it's a smaller, branch school, is that morel likely to be out of the way?

- They aren't open yet. How organizsed/helpful are they going to be with your visa stuff. Is there going to be someone responsible? Where will they be located?

- If they paid people to come and then they didn't show up... but they're still willing to entertain the idea of paying for you... this seems a bit weird. Unless they just said this to you to make you feel better.

- There are no other foreign teachers. Even at the main school? This means there is no one to ask about working/living conditions. Also, when you get there you won't have anyone to socialize with straight away. If the school isn't centrally located it might make you feel even more isolated.

[gato 919]

The Wuhan Optics Valley area is a relatively new "high-tech" business zone about forty minutes away from Wuhan city center. I was last there in 2008. Back then, the area was still rather underdeveloped, but I am sure it's changed quite a bit since then. Apparently lots of companies have opened office there in the last few years.

The rest of Wuhan has seen lots of investment and development in the last few years. Much of the city looks like a construction site right now as they build subways and roads. Most of the work should be completed soon, as construction work happen very quickly in China.

[segpl 0]

Good Afternoon arley86,

 

I think we received the same job offer: WOFLS, around 10K monthly, and math teacher position.

 

The contract should have started by August 10th in my case, but apparently the school still has issues processing the invitation letter. This situation has been on going for a month now and the school regularly informs me that there are delays for issuing the invitation letter.

On the positive side, I have always received answers to my questions.

 

If you are to teach in this school, I would like to know whether you already have received your invitation letter? When will or should have your contract started?

 

You can skype me to talk about it if you want: plenseg ; country: Peru (I am French). Just mention me in the skype invitation that you are to teach in this school.

 

Best,