I've just spent a few minutes browsing through the 'classifieds' and reading some of the postings for 'teachers wanted'.

If you stop for just a moment and think about some of the awful fly-by-night 'schools' children and young adults are shoved into then you start to realise the wasted time, lost opportunities and the potential for longterm damage. For the 2 year old students (!) I guess it's not so bad since it's just another face and more silly noises. But you have to question the motivation of their pushy parents.

Happy everyday。Colourful laife！Happy everyday。Colourful laife！Happy everyday。Colourful laife！Happy everyday。Colourful laife！Happy everyday。Colourful laife！Happy everyday。Colourful laife！Happy everyday。Colourful laife！Happy everyday。Colourful laife！Happy everyday。Colourful laife！Happy everyday。Colourful laife！

Part of the problem is that there are newbies willing to work for much less than 100 RMB per hour. As we say back home, "If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys".
Employers then complain about crap teachers and are unwilling to pay more. This then becomes a self perpetuating cycle of low pay and low quality.
Good teachers will often move on to other cities that pay much more. Kunming is particularly low paid. I even had one university try to offer me 1900 per month, with no accommodation, visa or flights. Really they were trying to push me to sign a 100/hour contract and be part time. No responsibility on their part.

There is always a conflict of interests between teaching and business. But as soon as you put a Chinese person in charge, it usually defaults to a cost focus enterprise. Quality is paid lip service to. Or they demand their 'pound of flesh' as they see it.

If you only pay people 50% of what they are worth, you only get 50% commitment. You also don't get continuity, many teacher don't sign on again. And so once again teachers are seen as flaky. When in fact the real issue is low pay.

I have one employer who does not pay that well. The resources are terrible, and I spend more time in class prep than I do teaching.

It is only short term, I will not renew, and they don't get my best teaching, just adequate teaching. If people have asked me if I am doing __________, I reply "No, they don't pay me enough".

I have another employer who pays me well, treats me with respect and also has most of the resources a teacher needs. The resources mean that I spend less time preparing for classes and my 20 teaching hours are manageable. They get my best teaching, which is good teaching. I also do more than is in my contract, which includes assisting and advising other staff. There is a word for this 'synergy'.

If any employers are reading this. Western teachers are not used to being treated as just another cog in the machine.
If you only think about costs and the bottom line, your profits will shrink. Because you will be the company that has teachers the parents will be unhappy with. Additionally, because this is China, the parents are unlikely to tell you that they are unhappy. The parents may just go somewhere else next time, and tell their friends.

In its own depressing way the second post sums up the issue succinctly.

Teachers do have the option of moving on, which is why my main concern is with the students. All too often parents are willing to criticise their own son or daughter for perceived failure in what are quite difficult international language tests. More often the problem is with a parent trying to live the life of the child, or with money grabbing badly managed 'schools'. There should be no conflict between profit and quality. Sadly, as stated above, profit is paramount. Money is plentiful, but the life of the child is finite.

The picture of an oversized laowai peering down on an infant in a cot 'teaching English' really haunts me. Is the situation even worse? Do expectant mothers hire English teachers to teach a foetus? Just how far does the stupidity extend?

Why is it always English, why not Japanese, Russian, Spanish, and dare I say Chinese? Surely the native language must suffer from this incessant focus on English. Perhaps the problem extends all the way to the top.

Part of the parental obsession may be that for their generation (the parent's) being able to speak English opened doors at a time when families were escaping poverty in a newly opened economy. Securing a university place in the US or UK (and graduating) possibly even meant jumping to the head of the queue for high paid jobs.

That is no longer the case, but the parents may be living their dream through the child's life.

Why not Japanese? It is not the lingua franca of business, although it is growing in popularity as a second foreign language. Especially in Shanghai.
Russian? It did used to be Russian, until there was a falling out politically. And in the North of China Russian is still popular.
Spanish is growing in China, but for the parents, they do not see Latin America as rich.

And BTW, there are people playing Baby Einstein CDs to babies in the womb.

I did teach a class of 6 year olds, and the star of the class was a 3 year old girl. She was able to answer and respond as well as the other kids, and she was bright as a button. BUT the scary thing was that the moment the attention was off her, her countenance fell, her body visibly slumped, and she looked like a depressed old lady. That poor little girl was a performing animal, with no joy in learning.

Hi everyone,

I'm researching the working conditions of foreign teachers in Kunming and I'd love to hear from any teachers currently working in Kunming. It's been really interesting reading the posts on this thread, but what I'd like to do is produce a document with concrete information regarding pay and conditions that is useful to both teachers and learning institutions.

I will not publish or share any identifying information you provide me with to other parties. You can reply anonymously, but I will need the correct name of the institution you work for (this information will not be published, institutions will be classified according to category).

If you're interested in the results, please let me know. I'd be happy to provide you with a copy, or post to this thread (nothing fancy, it'll end up like a school league table of sorts)

Please reply via gokunming, or to my email honeyburge@gmail.com with the following information.

1: Name of Employer
2: Category ( kindergarten / middle school / university / tutoring / private language provider / company etc)
3: Class hours and / or office hours per week / month.
4: Length of contract (or please advise if part time)
5: Salary and / or RMB per hour

6: Is a house or accommodation supplement provided?
7: Paid holidays? (how many and how much are you paid?)
8: Medical insurance provided?
9: Contract completion bonus? (please provide details)
10: Airfare provided (please provide details)
11: Does your employer pay for visa costs? (including medical check)
12: Does your employer provide any extras in the contract such as travel, Chinese classes etc?
13: Anything you'd like to comment on?

Thanks in advance everyone.

Once again the focus, sadly, is on teachers. Just for once, forget about bloody teachers and concentrate on research useful to customers (students).

What a teacher receives in reimbursement does not necessarily translate into student achievement or satisfaction.

In any case you (whoever you are) are never going to get 'concrete' data since some of the worst institutions operate in the grey / black economy and I doubt they are going to be mailing you any day soon. Posting a questionnaire on GoKunming is hardly indicative of systematic research leading to anything even remotely useful.

Language students in Kunming, both Chinese and English, have very little in the way of solid information on which they can make informed decisions on where to study. The entire language teaching industry in Kunming is a complete mess. The good schools are lost in cesspool of banal mediocrity. It's frustrating for most and heartbreaking for the victims!