😜People keep adding #Art to my blackboard. Every morning for the last 3 days, there has been a new face from different people. ❤😄
Tag Archives: foreign teacher
Life of an Foreign #Teacher ~ Computer Catastrophes
4 May1:20 hour into class, for the 5th week in a row, all the computers crashed AGAIN. Completely deleting all the students hard work. Even saved documents were wiped off.
Class Leader immediately: Don’t worry teacher, I know. I will go make them come.
Me; why, yes Kevin darling. That might be an excellent idea. (**Insert Angry Face). And see if you can find the building manager. Or their boss. Or the boss of the boss.
Class: oooohhhh. *Waits eagerly and vengefully to enjoy the fireworks about to commence*
😆
Soooooo Tired. . . . -_-
13 Dec0_0 Tomorrow was supposed to be devoted to grading. Now I’m meeting Betty at 1, Joseph at 5, Alice at 7, Editing 6 papers, and Finishing grading. I’m going days at a time without eating normal meals. . . . If I were anywhere else, I’d be so overworked I’d lose weight. Unfortunately, Chinese students pay in snacks/treats, which means I’m actually still eating way too much 🙂
Student Humor ~ Yeah. . . No.
17 NovStudent who turned in assignment 1 week + late ~ “But Teacher, I explained everything, I think you must have forgot”
Teacher ~ Um. . . . I don’t think ‘I had a personal reason’ counts when I told you in three forms of communication (written, oral, and electronic) that we needed a note and more details and you ignored them all. Trust me, if ‘personal reason’ had been enough to get me out of English papers in college, I would have used it a whole lot more!
Chinese Teaching Objective Passed!
19 SepThree Cheers! Woohoo! Yay!
Oops, sorry I got a little carried away – I’m teaching my students about leading by being the team’s cheerleader and got a little caught up in the chanting and cheering 😛
I recently accomplished a great triumph in my classroom here in China – a student raised her hand and asked me to repeat myself.
Yes, you heard that right. . . she raised her hand and spoke in class. (wipes away a tear) I’m just so proud.
One of the cultural differences I’ve found here in China as a teacher is that students respect their teachers almost to the point of worship. It’s both self-confidence-inspiring and terrifying. They have a general fear of speaking in front of other students due to the risk of sounding like an idiot (one I’m sure students around the world share), a problem compounded by their culturally-specific fear of asking the teacher a question. I rather suspect they expect the event to go something like this:
**************
S: Teacher, I am so incredibly sorry, and I know it’s my fault, you are oh so wise. But I’m utterly lost.
Me: Shock! Gasp! Horror! You are telling me I (a foreigner from a strange land speaking your third language) didn’t explain the concept of Kantian ethics precisely the first time for you to immediately grasp all nuances? How dare you! Fiend! Horrible creature! Someone call the class monitor and have this child fed to wolves immediately!
Class Monitor: Off with his head!
Classmates: Bwahahahahahaha, what a fool!
***************
And so forth.
Average China Teacher’s Salary
26 JunThis page from AbroadChina.org offers a really great list of average salaries in the different areas of China. The list of local resident and teach salaries tells you at what level you can expect to live, while the list of foreign teacher’s salaries lets you know if your pay is the equivalent to the Chinese Standard in the area. Admittedly, it was based on 2003-2005. Still, Great Resource!
| Base Monthly Pay Only |
| Location | Foreign Teacher① | Chinese Teacher② | Urban Resident③ | Rural Resident④ |
| National Level | 1,942.00 (College) 1,108.00 (High School or Elementary School) |
897.56 | 234.39 | |
| Anhui | 3,150-4,050 | 880.83 | 727.11 | 199.15 |
| Beijing | 3,850-4,950 | 2,214.00 | 1445.41 | 627.97 |
| Chongqing | 3,014-3,875 | 994.33 | 907.12 | 188.11 |
| Fujian | 4,030-5,182 | 1,211.08 | 1032.18 | 338.39 |
| Gansu | 3,241-4,167 | 1,038.83 | 737.93 | 123.20 |
| Guangdong | 4,150-5,336 | 1,533.67 | 1283.76 | 362.74 |
| Guangxi | 2,722-3,500 | 900.50 | 790.30 | 192.93 |
| Guizhou | 4,283-5,250 | 813.42 | 704.67 | 126.39 |
| Hainan | 2,917-3,750 | 1,054.08 | 746.62 | 242.44 |
| Hebei | 2,970-3,819 | 873.83 | 603.26 | 251.31 |
| Heilongjiang | 3,617-4,650 | 1,091.00 | 657.90 | 251.59 |
| Henan | 2,902-3,731 | 888.83 | 842.91 | 178.13 |
| Hubei | 3,098-3,983 | 949.58 | 756.32 | 200.78 |
| Hunan | 3,138-4,034 | 1,014.83 | 639.52 | 245.46 |
| Inner Mongolia | 2,917-3,750 | 971.75 | 799.01 | 227.67 |
| Jiangsu | 3,150-4,050 | 1,258.92 | 976.84 | 395.22 |
| Jiangxi | 3,684-4,737 | 834.42 | 731.57 | 207.06 |
| Jilin | 3,135-4,031 | 994.25 | 726.55 | 251.22 |
| Liaoning | 3,650-4,694 | 1,070.33 | 776.34 | 318.12 |
| Ningxia | 2,800-3,600 | 1,130.17 | 672.12 | 224.36 |
| Qinghai | 2,667-3,429 | 1,055.67 | 790.96 | 148.41 |
| Shaanxi | 3,354-4,312 | 931.50 | 746.83 | 168.47 |
| Shandong | 2,975-3,825 | 1,046.83 | 906.98 | 320.90 |
| Shanghai | 4,529-5,823 | 2,057.17 | 1661.96 | 704.08 |
| Shanxi | 2,882-3,705 | 883.42 | 821.54 | 157.15 |
| Sichuan | 3,182-4,091 | 980.75 | 712.92 | 207.92 |
| Tianjin | 2,333-3,000 | 1,421.92 | 1118.86 | 458.34 |
| Tibet | 2,342.50 | 723.59 | 115.83 | |
| Xinjiang | 2,800-3,600 | 1,186.92 | 732.96 | 165.11 |
| Yunnan | 2,333-3,000 | 1,065.50 | 725.84 | 141.43 |
| Zhejiang | 3,911-5,029 | 1,852.58 | 1454.08 | 610.16 |
“She was free in her wildness. She was a wanderess, a drop of free water. She belonged to no man and to no city” ~ Roman Payne
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Deceptively Blonde 