Dos
- 2004-12-31
Keep your visas with you! If you DO have trouble you will have all sorts of problems without them. You should be able to find another school easily who can help you out.
But KEEP your visas with you!! Good luck!
The Voice of Experience
- 2004-12-27
Well you shouldnt leave anything with anybody (and I'm not sure what the red book is youre talking about - maybe that's just one of those uni id things and doesnt really have anything to do with this.) as far as i know and in my experience with my current and previous positions, all you need is the visa and the res card, and a valid res card alone will be sufficient to keep you legal as long as you are still with the school that supplied it.
as i said before, if you get a new job, your new employers are obliged to organise a new res card and visa for you, and you would be holding onto your other ones until they did so (well your visa's in your passport anyway and you are the only person who should be holding onto that!).
of course you can't blame them for testing the waters with you about extra work - if you did take it it would save them the problem of looking further for a teacher, and another person in your place might have wanted it anyway, so i don't see there's too much to be concerned about there.
as far as taking 14 classes a week, thats a pretty standard load for a foreign teacher - not heavy by any means, and obviously because you are inexperienced and they have employed you they cannot expect any more from you than what you are able to provide - and this will get better as you find your way. Teaching writing is my favourite anyway - you dont have to be too focussed on organising speaking activities for big classes and difficult to accommodate students. I think you're doing ok. email me if u'd like a few suggestions for your classes.
good luck!
Songbird
- 2004-12-27
Thanks heaps for your response and advice- it's good to know there are people out there care 
.
But I haven't done anything wrong- I've had no outburst, just time to think and stew in bed last night and thinking about what to do. I swear they are trying to test the waters with me to see what my reaction to things will be. I was firm with Mr Xi about the winter school and said 'I am not available, I have other plans', and I did not say anything or burst when told about my lessons next semester.
So if I did happen to get a new job, I should leave the green and red book with the uni and get new ones with my new employee? I thought one of them was basically my visa and it kind of overrides my passport (which the university also did not extend my visa beyond the original 15 February like I asked them to if they wanted me for a year!).
I'm about to have a meeting with the faculty and other foreign teachers in 20 minutes- pray I keep my cool!!!
Songbird
The Voice of Experience
- 2004-12-27
neither your res card nor your visa are "transferable" between positions, although if you did leave and take up other employment, your new employers might very well not inform you of this important fact for reasons of economy. If however someone in authority were ever to notice that your place of work was not the same as the one associated with your res card and visa, you could be deemed an illegal alien and this carries with it the possibilty of substantial fines, deportation and being barred from entering china for - i think - 5 years.
you have to look out for your own interests. no matter what other people say about yet other people, it is up to you to forge your own relationships. i am sure the situation is not beyond repair. maybe you should look at doing a bit of bridge rebuilding and fence mending. sweet smiles and fruit go a long way towards letting people know that a problem is not a problem anymore. you have to realise that some people might have been just as if not more offended by your behaviour as you have been by theirs,and seeing as they are in the majority here, the onus is really upon you to make some compromises with regard to the way you react in various situations.
if you don't want to do something that you are not contracted to do, a no and an excuse is enough to get out of it. people (any people) will only try to talk you into things if they sense a little bit of weakness on your part so be assertive, polite and friendly, and you'll find that things should work out ok.
lastly, it's not a good idea to get too specific on the internet. it's not only foreign company-deprived teachers who read these boards. take the delete option in your post, then a couple of deep breaths and get out there and do what you have to do. you'll be laughing about it all in the near future, and maybe you should look for a bit of humour in it now for there surely is some there...
...and nothing cures inexperience like getting thrown in at the deep end does chickybabe.
I know, I know, I have been warned. I have come over to China with an open mind, ready that there will inevitably be some problems, as most new teachers face. But just where do you draw the line? I think now is time, in my situation.
DO NOT COME TO LONDONG UNIVERSITY, GANSU PROVINCE!!! They have no regard to foreign teachers whatsoever and have treated me like dirt since I arrived, what with visa problems etc, story below:
Mr Gao (FAO) appears to have no intention whatsoever of assisting me with obtaining suitable Chinese/ Mandarin lessons as per the contract. He did not hold a banquet when I arrived (which the others believe is very 'shoddy'). He appears to have no regard for my contract whatsoever (as well as the pay issue recently)- he has simply said 'find a student who will teach you, and assist them with their English', so the bottom line is I will be offering free English lessons. I have spoken to the other teachers about this and they said 'No, I am entitled to suitable lessons by a proper teacher.' There have been a number of problems with Mr Gao and complaints by teachers over the years, to the point that I have been told he should have been replaced over 12 months ago. There is also a volunteer organisation from Britain called VSO who have several teachers here at the moment, and have warned me about issues involving Mr Gao and his treatment of foreigners. A new teacher, the first independent one before me (but not from VSO) was sent here in September, and he also had major issues with his visa- Mr Gao made him serve a probation period, during which he refused to do this teachers visa paperwork, and in the meantime the visa expired. The teacher had no choice but to travel all the way
to Bejing to fix Mr Gao's errors, then when the teacher arrived back, the university refused to pay him one month's salary simply because he went away!
However, this is just the beginning. We had a Christmas banquet on the 26th December and I asked the head of the department what I may be teaching next semester. He told me I would be teaching 14 hours of intensive writing classes to Grade 2. One of the other teachers (Jennifer) overheard and she got really angry. She told me this is way too much for a beginner inexperienced teacher and that they are testing me as they know I am a naive foreigner who would probably accept this if I had no advice off the other teachers. Jennifer said this is way too much work and wouldn't even be given to a young Chinese teacher.
On the very same night, I spoke to Dean Xi about the upcoming holidays, and out of the blue he said he was
sending me to a middle school in a nearby county for a week, assuming that I would just go without asking me what I was doing for the holidays. I told him it was too late, I already had something planned (I did not mention the winter school in Shanghai, and I know it is certainly not definate, I wanted to see what he would say).He even told me that he has actually told 'the company who recruited me' (which means you) BEFORE I arrived here! I said to him I have never heard anything about this whatsoever- and of course if I had to do this you would not have told me about the position in Shanghai! I am sure I am under no obligation to do anything the university demands of me after the 21st January (official end of semester). Again I mentioned this to the other teachers and they are completely outraged at the treatment I am receiving from this univesity. They have told me to outrightly say no, as the university is basically using me as their new foreign 'pinup girl' and any foreigner without experience (or the help from others as I have) would simply go along.
If I leave, I think I should go quietly, just get on a bus to Xian then get the train to Shangai for the winter school as I would have done, THEN, and only then, call the university to tell them I'm not returning. I would never ever do this, however, I really do think these people are going to give me a hard time, even go so far as call the police to make me stay if I do the 'right' thing and give notice, have a chat to them about the problems etc. I keep reminding myself that this is no longer diplomatic Australia where we can simply sit down and discuss problems, if no solution then leave.
What I would like to know is: if I can find another job here in China within the next 3 weeks (I'm staying this long so I can make sure I get my final pay , are both my green Foreign Residence permit and my red Certificate/ visa transferable to another position (I am assuming they are)? I just want to make sure I do everything legally and correctly and give them no reason to go hunting me down later on.....sorry this is SO long!
Songbird