to Raoul and Riv, and others who may think I have a "sense of entitlement" for not wanting to be shorted 1/6th of my yearly pay.

Aside from the fact I've already shared about the standard 12 month package for returning teachers, or those with enough qualifications and experience, I managed to negotiate to not lose my 12 month contract at my current place of employment.

There was a push to cut corners on foreign teacher's salaries and scale back how many month's pay (actually monthly installments of a yearly salary) we would receive. Rather than meekly folding over, I stood my ground and argued that we should have the same number of payments as the Chinese teachers. The discussion ended abruptly because my argument was irrefutable. As a consequence not only do I still get the 12 month contract, but so do all the other foreign teachers at my school.

Because of this situation, I know for a fact that there is a CHANGE going on to get rid of previously existing 12 month contracts; I know that one can fight it; and I know that if one is a hard-working teacher with some talent one can win. I've also fought and won other battles at other schools over contracts, rent, and attempts to, among other things, eliminate overtime pay for teachers and do free promotion.

To those who are taking issue with me, I say, "enjoy your summer camp jobs."

And if there were many more people doing a quality jobs and standing up for fair compensation, the whole playing field would be better here. Those of you who think it's OK to snip off months of salary, and it's just up to the teacher to accept it or bugger off, are just making things harder for the rest of us by going along with the diminution of English teaching jobs in China and Asia. A country like Thailand has become a very difficult place to find a decent job, for example, because of the constant influx of inferior teachers who have lowered the bar of compensation for performance for everyone else.

Now for some cheap Chinese food and cheap beer!