User profile: Geezer

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Forums > Study > Profit margins for Chinese-language colleges in Kunming

Taught simple English to kids 6-8 years old. About 40 kids in a class. They paid 30RMB for a class and I was paid 250RMB. Taught the same material for 8 class a day (sat and Sun). The school got about 19,000 per weekend and I got 8,000. And, yes I did get paid all of it. In Changping near Beijing.

Taught at a private school in Beijing, Students paid 80,000 a year plus living, plus food, plus books, plus, plus. Subject teachers, not English teachers, were paid 10,000 a month, foreign and Chinese both for 12 hours max. Most taught 8 hours for Math, Chemistry, Physics, Accounting, Statistics, etc. all A level courses with UK books. Silly owners fired the headmaster who took 80% of the students to his own new school. This school folded I think.

Private schools usually get the tuition and boarding fees upfront. They tend to run out of money toward the end of the year which makes return air ticket money iffy.

Breakeven depends on rent and the number of non teaching staff, you know the guys that hang around all day reading newspapers and plying cards. One private school I worked at had 65 Chinese and foreign teachers with over 200 total staff most of which did little or nothing.

Rent is a mystery. One school paid annual rent of 25% of tuition collected - this school folded. Other schools had cost reduction programs, firing teachers or abusive fines. Fines for failing to report to a class when the time and day had been changed but kept a secret from the teachers. Class schedules and notices are sometimes posted in Chinese in areas the foreign teachers don't frequent.

I don't usually teach English and usually get to pick the text with the requirement the text be less than 3 years old.

Private schools hire foreign teachers for marketing reasons. My face has appeared all over the place and my resume greatly enhanced (in Chinese).

If foreign teachers get paid more at a private school, tough, the smiling white faces bring in the revenue and job opportunities for Chinese teachers.

I have also worked at two government universities. At both schools, Chinese professors taught less hours and earned more money. I gather the Chinese get a basic salary, around 1200 at my uni, then get paid for hours times a factor (prep or difficulty) and also extra money for extra assignments. One Prof said his 1200 was upped to more than 4500 based on the pay scheme. Me? I get 3700 for 9 class hours contact time but that is 11 paid hours if I was paid according to the Chinese scheme.

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Forums > Living in Kunming > Hot water heaters

Laotou is right. My apartment has an electric water heater and aside from the risks it wasn't very productive in winter. My landlord, who was living in Germany, agreed and suggested I buy and have installed a gas heater and he would repay me.

I did buy an 80L heater (OK for one person) for about 1300RMB installed.

Hot water is glorious!

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Forums > Study > Keats School

Sorry SFL, the potential student is 12 years old and proximity to the Hump Bar is not a selling point. :-)

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Forums > Living in Kunming > "retirement visa"

A Chinese acquaintance insists there is now a retirement visa available in China. I can't find any mention of such a visa anywhere. Has anyone any knowledge of this visa option?

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@Alien: Your perception of free speech in the US is a bit weird, sorta like it comes from a propaganda script. There is only a few things things that are curtained by law.

It seems these days that political correctness is the biggest thing that attenuates speech but being un-PC is not illegal. Even hate speech is protected by the 1st Amendment. PC is now pretty much a left wing tool to limit divergent opinion and attempts to shame disagreement with labels like racist, denier, sexist and various phobias. Should the argument continue then the non-PC person is personally attacked.

In the case of Yang, most Americans would not even blink at her words. The reaction in China is quite different. To me, the issue is not about free speech but one of being naive.

@Trumpster You have constructed a response and argument to a position I did not state or refer to. My comment above provided a reaction of several of her fellow Chinese students. Other than pointing out the reaction was to defend Kunming's air quality, those comments avoided addressing freedom of speech, I did not comment on the merits of her, or their, words.

I have no issue with her speech nor the responses it generated. People have every right, in this American's thinking, to think and speak as they feel and do it freely. That said, in the context of a Chinese person, getting a liberal education at a US university who would shortly return to China, I find her words to be incredibly naive.

I have no doubt Ms. Yang read that speech to friends and perhaps faculty at UM. That no one suggested to her that those words held consequences strikes me as incredible. Further, the CSSA reaction was entirely predictable. It is my opinion Yang has a complete lack of situational awareness and that is unfortunate.

The Chinese Student and Scholar Association (CSSA) at the University of Maryland, which the Post describes as "loyal to the Communist Party," created a seven-minute video in which Chinese students and alumni respond to Yang's critique. You can view it here. What's striking about the response is how many of the students focus on debunking Yang's comments about the quality of China's air. None of them directly address what was clearly the point of her analogy.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG-s9nenvcw

Reviews

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Good for quality, but pricey, hand tools.

Be aware they will push whatever they are selling. Some of the staff have no idea about the technical side of appliances.

I went there to buy a stove. I repeatedly told them I would be using bottled gas. They sold me a stove. When I went to my local gas guy, I learned there are at least three kinds of gas sold. Luckily, B&Q did not deliver as promised. I went back to the store and discovered they had sold me a stove they needed to be hooked up to the gas main. I got my money back.

The sales lady was almost in tears, 没有问题!I don't know if it a safety or design issue, but I would think B&Q would know and care.

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Last week had an 8:45am flight.

Subway starts at 9am. I have no idea where to catch an airport express bus. Eight taxis refused to go to the airport. After almost an hour standing on Beijing Lu took a black taxi, this dude drives slower than my mother, 120 yuan.

Flight back was delayed so I learned the subway stops running at 6:10pm.

Getting a taxi back was easy, more taxis than customers. Taxi was 87 yuan including 1o yuan toll, airport to Beichen area. Yes, he took a longer route than necessary.

Kunming imagines being a gateway for international travelers. New airport but hard to get to and from it.

World Class Airport, NOT!

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Tonight "Peacock", a performance by Yang Liping (杨丽萍), to begin her world tour, 8pm, 100-1680 yuan at Yunna Haigeng Auditorium.

Saw this lady perform at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, in California, in 1995. Quite a good and interesting show.

I'm going to try to make it.

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Not so good. Kimchi had a very sour taste. Other food was nothing to brag about. I don't think I would go back.