I agree about looking closely into your contract-- do they specify an amount, bag, or baggage?

For me I am allowed $800 USD as a starting teacher, and it goes up depending on a few factors. It might seem like a lot to you, but not necessarily a lot to your employer.

@psyguy it's of course not all black and white. No one is talking about unicorns. Of course there is a negative side to anything.
I'm going into international teaching for the first time so I can't say how it is from an IT perspective yet. Maybe I'm not jaded enough yet. But I've been teaching 5 years and what you are saying is what the negative press in the states says about teachers. What you have said in your previous posts is so anti-teacher that it's actually alarming. Especially coming from a teacher. Obviously you must be in it for a different reason than other people.

Saying that they either teach or marry someone to support them is pretty ignorant. There's other ways to make money. Being in the art field myself, obviously being a fine artist alone and not a teacher can be a struggle. But art is a broad term. What you are saying has some relevance. But that's not why all teachers, teach.

I don't know how you got into education. But for me it took 5 years of schooling, a semester of student teaching, many hours of observations and field work, multiple tests, etc. Definitely not 2 hours. Are we talking about certified teachers or English teachers?

Oh trust me, I'm very excited to leave my home too. Doesn't mean it's easy, there's a lot of paperwork, money, time, and stress that goes into uprooting your life. Pretty sure that's a fact with any move, anywhere.

@Psyguy

As a teacher, and an IT...why would you perpetuate the negativity surrounding the career? As if teacher's don't already get enough negative attention.

Just because you potentially went into education because you didn't know what else to do doesn't mean that other people didn't want to do it or do it out of desperation. It's the whole "if you can't do then teach." As if teaching is an incredibly easy fallback or something.
Every one of your responses on this post reeks of stereotype.

It takes quite a bit of strength and motivation to go into IT in my experience. Teacher certifications, years of experience, not to mention leaving everything/everyone in your country behind. It's not like it's extremely easy.

As far as OP. Negativity in the workplace is going to happen anywhere you go. You just need to find a balance. Watch what you say to some people because their whole goal is to bring others down with them~ misery loves company. Maybe ask them what they think the solution is? Maybe suggest and help lead others?
Maybe some teachers can come together as a group and offer suggestions to admin? Just some suggestions. I know it is difficult. It's also easy to get caught up in the negativity.

Thank you for all of the wonderful responses. They contacted me right after this post (lol).

This is all very useful.

Hello all,

I signed a contract to work in Shenzhen, China last week.
The principal let me know that HR would be in contact with me in a couple of days.

It's now the next week. I'm not too concerned as I'm sure they have other things to worry about and they also just got back from Chinese New Year last week. However, I'm slightly just anxious because i don't know what to expect as far as timeframe for getting visa etc.

I also have a bit of pressure from my current job in the states to let them know if I'm leaving. I don't want to say for sure until everything is taken care of but I don't know if that's reasonable either.

Any input from those that work in china would be excellent. Thank you!

Hello,

First time posting on this open forum. First time perspective international teacher- 5 years art certified teacher in the U.S.

I've been given an offer for a newer school in China. The principal is very friendly and very responsive and the package is really wonderful. I am really excited about the prospect of living in this area as well.

But... before I make a decision I decided to ask to speak to another expat teacher at the school- specifically the other art teacher I would be working with. The school is new and doesn't even have reviews on ISR yet.

The teacher ended up agreeing and we spoke for awhile on the phone.
The problems lies in that she isn't very positive about it and is quite vague, understandably. She shared some more contacts with me from a previous and current employee that are American. I'm sure that also aren't positive.

I think the main difference and why this isn't exactly a deal breaker is because she commented that she only moved there out of desperation/necessity because she had no other job prospects in her country. She isn't interested in the aspect of being an international teacher and is less interested in the challenges of being in a new country. She said she knew it would be challenging starting a new program as well but said several times that it is challenging and asked why I would want to leave my job in America.

I am sending out some more applications to cover myself. I've had really good luck in the search even outside of this offer so I think there could be more opportunities out there, but I also know this is a good contract.

What would you do if you were me? Any suggestions? Thank you!