 Hello, hi. Welcome to another live session from ITTT. My name is Linda. Yeah, welcome back this week. If you've noticed last week our live or my live was actually on a different day, different time. If you've seen it, it was really, really interesting. I had some really, really interesting guests to sisters from Australia who are currently teaching in Japan under the Jet Program. And we had a lovely chat. It was really fun. So if you have not seen that, I highly recommend checking it out if you're interested in teaching abroad, teaching in Japan. If you're from Australia, check it out. Two really lovely girls. It was so much fun talking about what it's like to teach in Japan. And this week I have, I'm here by myself again and I have another interesting topic for you that I've picked today. We're going to talk about TEFL contracts, so teaching contracts and what to watch out for before you signed a contract to make sure it's all good and dandy. Okay. Guys, as always, if you can see me, if you can hear me, please just say hi in the comment section. We're live on Facebook and on YouTube at the same time. And I hope it's all working well. You know, sometimes there are technical issues you never know. So please just let me know that everything's good. You can see me. You can hear me. You can see the presentation here. Just say hi. And maybe where you're watching from, I'm always really interested in that. I am in South Korea. I'm about an hour and a half south of Seoul in a city called Cheongju. And it's 10 a.m. on a Friday here. And yeah, the weather is not too bad actually. So we'll see if it's holding up. I actually got a little ring light over here because one time actually I always go live usually on Friday, 10 a.m. And one time it was like end of the world weather out there. Everything just suddenly became super dark. And I was almost sitting in the dark because I'm in front of a window here. And I felt really bad because you couldn't really see me anymore. So I just got a ring light real quick. I feel like a real YouTuber now. I have a ring light. So that's fun. Anyway, please say hi real quick in the comments. I'd really appreciate it so that I know that someone's out there watching. And it works well. But yeah, and then just a couple of more seconds and we'll wait for more people to join. And then we can start. Hi, Juliana. Hey, Juliana says hi, Linda. Nice to see you again this week. I'm watching from Illinois. It is 8 p.m. now. Great. Awesome. Very, very good. As a reminder real quick, please don't forget to like and subscribe. Like our Facebook page. Subscribe to our YouTube so that you don't miss any of our future live sessions. We go live twice a week. One time me and then one time my colleague Lisa who is a non-native English speaking teacher from Russia. And she has a lot of experience teaching English in China and also online. She shares a lot of really great information. So if you're a non-native English speaker, even if you're a native English speaker, I highly recommend checking her out. And yeah, we might switch in the future with some times. So just so that everybody has the opportunity to watch our live sessions. So normally I go live at this time. But next week is probably going to be a different time, maybe also a different day. Just so that we can reach as many people as possible because there's always going to be some people who are not going to be able to watch because it's like nighttime where they are. So we just want to make sure that everybody has the opportunity to tune in and get this information. Also, there is a 30% discount during this live session. So you might have noticed the QR code up there in the right hand corner. You can scan that at any time if you like. If you can't scan the QR code, there's also a discount link that I'm going to share with you right now in the comments. So you can check that out. Looks like this. So you just click on this link, you fill out your application and you get 30% off any Teflor T-Soul course from ITTT. So that's a great deal. And like I always say, we only share the 30% off link in our live sessions. You can't find this discount anywhere else. So it's a good deal. If you haven't started yet with your Teflor, I highly recommend it. Hello, Faraz. Hello from Egypt. Thank you. Great. Awesome. So yeah, as you can see, today's topic is all about Teflor contracts and what to watch out before signing, you know, what you should look out for. Some of the things you probably already know, some of the things you might not know. It's sort of going to be a checklist of things. And at the end, I'm going to put the checklist on the screen. And I might also share the checklist in the comments for you to save and to use later on. I think that'd be really useful. So that you have that and you can just later when you need it, you can just make sure that you use it and you check all the items off your list for your contract. So that's what we're going to do today. I hope you're ready. I hope you're happy. Hello. Hello. Also in South Korea. Awesome. Thanks so much for joining. Great. All right. So let's jump right in. I'm going to make myself a little bit smaller here. Like this. And then I'm just going to do a real quick self introduction. I know some of you have already seen this like every single time, but there's also some new people that I would like to just say hello to. And we have Try here from Cambodia. Hi. How are you? Thanks for tuning in. So my name is Linda and I'm a travel writer and content creator under my name. Linda goes East East because I've basically been in Asia since 2012. I've lived in China in South Korea and traveled all over Asia pretty much. I haven't been to Cambodia yet. That's actually on my list. I hope I'll be able to go next year if everything works out, but we'll see. But yeah, you can find my own stuff basically at Linda goes East.com. It's a travel blog platform and also information about teaching abroad. So if that interests you, check it out also on my Instagram. I'm very active on there also at Linda goes East. You can hit me up. You can also message me. I'd be happy to have a chat with you on there. I'm originally from Germany and the US. My mom is German. My dad is American. And I've been based in South Korea for the last six years already. I'm also a Teflon TESOL marketing professional at it. That stands for international Teflon TESOL training. You can find it at www.teflacourse.net and on Instagram at international Tefl training and obviously on YouTube. I know some of you are watching from YouTube and also on Facebook. We're also some of you are watching. So check that out. All of our other social medias. ITTT is a leading Teflon TESOL course provider worldwide. We have a different a huge variety of different courses, different also specialized courses, standard Teflon TESOL courses, all that good stuff. So do check that out. And we also always turn our live sessions into podcast episodes. So we have a podcast. It's called the Teflon TESOL podcast by ITTT. You can find that on all major podcast platforms like iTunes, Spotify, Apple, Google podcast, Stitcher, I think. All of those podcast platforms. You can find it there and then you can just listen to it. I know that maybe some of you don't have time to watch the whole session or every live session. So if you prefer audio only, the podcast might be a really good option for you as well. And that's about it. Yeah. Let me just take one sip of my coffee. This room where I'm in, there is no air conditioning and it's really hot in Korea right now. I have my fan behind me. So if that kind of messes up the audio, I really apologize. But I need this fan or I think I'm going to have like a heat stroke or something. And I need to hydrate. So please don't get mad at me if I drink a lot during this live session. But that's just what needs to happen. Okay. All right. Hello, Tasha. Hi. Thanks for joining today. Awesome. Good. So now that's that the introduction. Now we're going to jump into the nitty gritty of TEFL and TESOL contracts, teaching contracts, what to watch out for before signing. So I'm going to go through a lot of important things that you need to watch out for. And I'm going to show you real contract examples and how the stuff is written in the contract and how you can find it and what to watch out for with examples. I think that's going to make the most sense and is the most useful. And like I said, at the end, I'm going to have a whole checklist of all of the things that I talked about that you can save or screenshot. Or I think I'm also going to share it in the comments later as like a PDF. So you can just print that out or save that for you for when you need it, when you are going to sign a contract. All right. Maybe the first thing that I want to talk about before. Yeah, just a disclaimer. Obviously these are contracts not from ITTT that I'm going to show you the examples. They're just samples that I found online. And also just never accept the job without a contract, right? I think that goes without saying. So even if you're already in the country or no matter where you are, no matter where you go, never just start a job without signing a contract. That's just a very bad idea. It's also illegal. So you can get into trouble. In the worst case, you could get deported from the country. There's fines. There's all these other things. So and also for you personally, because you need to have a binding contract as proof, you know, that states your salary working hours and all those things so that your employer can take advantage of you. So never accept the job without a contract. Hello. Supapong. Hi. Thanks for joining. Gets you from Thailand. Awesome. All right. So the first one that we're going to talk about today is the contract written in English and easy to understand. So that's the first thing that you need to make sure of. And here's an example, and it might be a little small depending on if you're watching this full screen or how are you watching this? But basically this is a contract for school in China. So you can see there's Chinese on it, but there's also English. So that's the first thing. If they give you a contract that's only in Chinese or only in their language. That's a bad thing, right? Because you can't read it. So don't sign a contract if it's not an English and you don't understand it, right? So that's the very first thing. And then also very important, you know, do the translations of both languages make sense? Do they match? Is it the same content, right? Because a lot of times, for example, if you sign a contract like this one for China, for example, it's Chinese and then English. So if there's any issue, only pretty much the Chinese version would count because it's China and likely people don't really speak English there. And like from a legal standpoint, the Chinese text is what's valid. And so that's going to count if you have any legal issues. So you need to make sure that the Chinese version or the native language version also matches the English version, right? And so how can you do that if you don't speak Chinese or if you don't speak Korean or whatever? If you look for the job through a recruiter, you can ask your recruiter to have a look over the contract and make sure that it's good. You can also, if you know somebody, obviously, you can speak the language, you could ask a friend, family member to have a look over it. You could also, in the most simplest and easiest case, you could just, you know, take a picture of it and like Google translate it and just make sure it's, you know, the same. Or you could always pay somebody to have a look at it, you know, translate it and make sure but those are just some ideas how you can do that. So yeah, I think that's about it for the first point. Thinking, I feel like I forgot something. Let me just think about it for a second. Yeah, I think that's it though. So just to remember if they only give you a contract and it's not in English at all, there's no English, do not sign it. And just read through, always read through the whole contract in general, right, before signing anything. But that's the first thing that you want to make sure, look at the contract, is it in English, or is it only in the native language of the country and do the translations make sense, right. So try and verify. Oh, one other way you could do that is by like going in either a Facebook group. There's a lot of Facebook groups for like EFL teachers in China, EFL teachers in Korea and whatnot. And you could upload or you can find someone there to maybe have a look at the contract where you can upload your contract. Obviously you would black out any sensitive information like the school name, your own name and like personal information, black that out, but you could upload that. And, you know, ask people about advice and if they think this is a legit contract. So that's another thing. Good. Next up, what we need to look at in the contract is the name of the school the same as the one you were told during interviews. And has it been spelled correctly. So that's also very important. So for example, this contract right here as you can see they have logo usually school contracts they would have a logo at the top if it's like a big chain school or even a smaller school they would have their own logo. And so that should be on the contract. And so is that the same as you know the school that you interviewed with is that the same name is it spelled the same way. You know a lot of different countries have like not the same copyright laws like we have maybe in your country. So there can be a lot of like knock off schools especially like if it's a super famous big like school chain it has a certain name for example ABC college, and then there could be knockoffs like, you know, a B E college or something or ABC college but spelled with an a or something like that so there's a lot of like knockoffs. You can't really do anything about it because of their copyright laws they're not the same. So just make sure that the name is the same as the school that you interviewed with, and then also does the logo match is the logo the same you know check out if they have a website make sure that is the same name the same logo. And also like typically it'd be like here, obviously at the top the header would have the logo and like the name. So it should be mentioned again in the text. So usually the first paragraph where it says this is a contract between then there be your your name and ABC college and the name and also the address of the school so the address should also be stated in the contract. Yeah. That's it for that part, I believe. So yeah, make sure very important I know these these are very simple things. And you're probably like, why are you saying this this is like super this like common sense but like, I feel like if you get the contract and then you're like so excited I heard this from so many teachers, they get a contract. You know, they're just so excited to go broad and they just sign. They just sign it without even no paying too much attention to it. A lot of teachers they just pay the first contract that they get because they they're so eager to go broad, and I get it you know it's super exciting you want to go abroad you want to go to China you want to go to Thailand wherever. But it's really important that you take your time and review the contract. So those are very simple things I know but it's it matters and it's very important and I just want to I have to say it I just have to say it. All right. Good. Next, also very important so the school's name and then also is your name and passport number on the contract and are they correct are they spelled correct and that's very important because a lot of times. Especially in a country like China or Korea or Japan where they don't use the same writing system they have their own writing systems right it's not the same letters like ABC that we have in English. So there it's very important that your name is spelled correctly and that is for visa purposes right because you need to take this contract usually to the embassy of that country to then get your work visa. So you need to really 100% make sure that your name is spelled correctly that it's also the same as it is in your passport. Also the same order. Some countries they they do like last name first and then first name middle name or some countries they don't have any middle names like in Korea they don't really do middle names there they might be confused like what what is the second name. So you need to make sure that it's really in the correct order and written on a contract and also your passport number and your citizenship nationality is correct. So this is an example of a job contract in Korea. And here it clearly says employment agreement. So this agreement has been made on this day between. This would be the school name. So ABC college for example, with its principal office at and then the address. And then. Or is this your name, forget. Oh no and here and this will be your name. For example Linda Dunsmore is citizen off and then they would write the country passport number. And you're going to feel like why is your passport number on the contract but it's very important, like I said for visa purposes. So you might think like this is weird why do they ask for my passport information why do they ask for my passport number, but it's very normal because they need to know that to prepare your documents for your visa. So that's not a red flag if they ask for your passport number. And then typically there'd be a section of personal information. So your name and make sure you spell it like it is spelled in your passport. It's very important. And the date of birth and here again citizenship. So it's your nationality indicated and is it correct. And is your passport number correct. And like I said is your name also spelled correctly there should not be any errors in there. And also just the order of your name should be correct. Okay, are there any questions until here am I confusing. I don't think I am but it's very basic stuff in the beginning. So I just want to make sure everybody understands what I'm talking about and we're on the same page. So just let me know. Please. Like I always say feel free during this live at any time to leave a comment to ask a question. I really like engaging. And if I don't hear from any anyone for a longer time, I get kind of nervous. I'm like, do I make sense? Or, you know, I don't know. But let me know what you think. And then I'm going to move on. But yeah, this is pretty much like a standard like beginning of a contract for pretty much anywhere. So this is Korea, but it's usually the same for any country. Obviously, and also sort of a disclaimer like every contract is kind of different. They don't all look the same. They're not all going to look like this exactly, but pretty much they're all kind of similar. Right. Thank you guys. So Nessman said we're good for us all clear so far. Great. Thank you so much for your feedback. I appreciate it. Because you know, sometimes it's just like me talking to my computer. So it's like, you know, is everything good on your end. So thank you for your feedback. I appreciate that. Good. So next one then. Very, very important. Good person said, please continue. We are listening. Everything you say is really important. Thank you so much. Yes. I appreciate that. All right. Next one is, is the salary the same as promised to you in interviews and is it written down correctly? So very important, right? Your salary. So I'm going to show you an example. This is also from, yeah, from a Korean contract. So there's always like a joke for teachers in Korea because our salaries are millions. For example, a monthly basic salary of 2.1 million won. So in Korea, you're a millionaire basically, but 2.1 million won. That's like, I think a little bit less than 2000 US dollars. So, yeah. But this is how it's indicated. So you want to have basically stated a monthly basic salary of 2.1 million won. So is the salary correct? Is it the same as what you discussed in the interview? And then there'd also usually be a little bit more detail. So they would calculate that, what it's a yearly, what the yearly amount looks like. And then how also, how it will be paid. So, and also the hour, how it's calculated per hour and things like that. So that's very important. And then also you need to make sure that over time is over time paid or not paid is that stated in a contract. It should be stated. Sometimes it's paid. And then it should indicate like here, the overtime compensation per hour, 60 minutes is 26,001. That's like 22, $23, I believe. So that should be stated. If you get paid over time, it needs to be stated how much. So this is correct here. Or maybe it says over time is not paid, then it's not paid. Just make sure it's what you've discussed before. If you have not discussed over time, then it's just how it is. You might be, you can always ask, write your employer about anything you're not sure of in a contract. It's better to ask more questions than to just sign and not be like 100% sure of what you're signing. So important is an overtime rate stated. Sometimes there's not because overtime is not paid in some schools or there is no overtime. But yeah, that's very important. So yeah, also I will say in some contracts, it's not as detailed as here. They would just say like monthly salary and also for all the Americans out there. Typically, it's the salary is paid on a monthly basis, not weekly or bi-weekly. So that's something to consider as well once a month. And that kind of also varies from school to school. They all usually do it on a different day. Sometimes it's like the first of the month, sometimes it's the 10th or the 15th. It really depends on the school. But that should also be stated in the contract when it is paid actually. So it doesn't say it in this paragraph, but probably later on. And I think I'm going to talk about that as well in a little bit. But yeah, that's that about the salary. Good. All right. Next up, very important are to start and end date written down correctly. So start and end date of your employment. Right. Typically ESL contracts there for one year or sometimes also two years. So the date needs to be written down and not only like the month, but also really month and day exactly what day it starts and when it ends. So for example, in this contract, this is this is also Korea doesn't say doesn't matter. Doesn't matter where it is. But here it would it should say it somewhere like this. So period of employment from March 1st, 2013 to February 28th, 2014. So that's a one year contract. So that's typically what it looks like. And this is very important because in a lot of countries you pay, for example, taxes and in Korea, you pay into the pension scheme. And when you leave, you get the money back. Not in all the countries and not for everyone, but in a lot of instances. So it's very important for taxes for like any kind of benefits, bonuses, severance pay. So it's very important to have the exact date on the contract. And then it should also it's also stated later on here in this paragraph. As you can see, it says the employee will commence his or her employment on March 1st, 2013. The employment will continue to February 28, 2014, unless terminated sooner as provided here in and for such further period as provided for here in subject to the following conditions. Yeah. And we're actually going to talk about this part in just a bit. So is the start and end date written out correctly and also one thing to note on the start date and the end date are not the same as your arrival and departure date, typically, right? You're going to arrive earlier than the start date, right? If you start on March 1st, you're probably already going to arrive in February, maybe a week earlier or two weeks before. It's kind of going to depend on that, right? It's obviously you're not going to arrive and then start teaching right away, right? Typically, so that's not going to be your flight will be earlier than that. That's what I'm trying to say. And also you're probably going to be leaving later than that, right? Your last day is February 28th, but maybe you're just changing schools. You're staying longer. Maybe you will extend your contract, but then you're going to get a new contract or, you know, you're going to move to a different city, things like that. So just keep that in mind. All right. Comment here. Let's have a look at that from Gordon. Having been teaching internationally for some years now, I can categorically say that not one contract I have had was followed by the school. Don't expect your contract to be followed going to each with a very, very open mind. Do as much due diligence as you can. Read sites like ISR. Yeah, good point. Of course, contracts, you know, should be followed by both parties. Sometimes, yeah, there might be an issue. You know, it's not they don't follow it or you don't follow it 100% how it's written. Yeah, it also depends on where you teach, I feel like, and what type of school. Typically, if you work for any one of those government funded programs like Epic or the Jet Program, they pretty much, it's all how it is in the contract. But private schools, yeah, they, and a lot of schools, they are actually looking for loopholes, right, what they can do to just for their benefit. So that's also very important that you that's why it's very important that you need to read your contact contract through very thoroughly. So, but yeah, that's a good point. Thank you, Gordon. All right. Good. That's that about the start and end date. Very important. Next point would be is everything with regards to your package written down and the same as previously agreed upon. So what do I mean with by package, package, basically like your, your benefits, everything that goes on top of your salary. Do you get housing, do you get like a year of your end of contract bonus, a yearly bonus, paid vacation days, sick leave, all of these kinds of things are your package. Paid airfare. Maybe you get like a housing allowance or you do get an apartment provided to you free of charge. So all of those things, those and this is very important, right? So typically you will have discussed this already during your interview. So now it's your time to check if it's stated correctly in the contract. That's very important. One of the most important things, right? Because you will, you want to get what they promised you, right? So that's what we're going to look at now. Obviously, this always depends on, you know, the different school, different country. So this is a contract, actually a epic contract that I have here, Korea. So with Epic here, housing stipulated. So it says the employer shall provide the employee with a single housing chosen by the employer, et cetera, et cetera. Any and all fees, charges, costs, taxes, expenses, et cetera, incurred in using the housing shall be borne by the employee. So you do get free housing, but you need to pay for utilities and all that kind of stuff. So that's important that you really read between the lines here. Read the nitty gritty to make sure it's all the same as what you expect and what you talked about during the interview. Also, any benefits should be stated, for example, settlement allowance, medical insurance, things like that. And again, so this varies from contract to contract. There are some countries that don't give you any other benefits. But in Epic, Epic contract, this is very standard. This is what you get in an Epic contract. And I believe also Jet has a lot of this similar stuff in Japan, the Jet program, but also private schools in Korea. Most of them do have housing. Sometimes you can choose between housing where they give you an apartment or a housing allowance where they basically give you some money per month for your apartment. So if you don't want to live in this apartment and you want to get your own, you can get some, a little bit of money per month to help with your apartment. But that also obviously needs to be stipulated. And so that's why I put here, check this very carefully. Some more examples like paid leave, right? How many vacation days do you get? Is that the same as what they promised you in the interview? Also sick leave, what does that look like? And obviously if there's something that doesn't match up with what they told you before or with, or you don't, you have questions, you don't understand something, always ask, right? Always ask as much as you can before signing the contract. And even like what we talked about before, if it's always have someone read the contract, like a family member, a friend, someone have them read the contract also and give you feedback if it's a legit contract. Okay. I think that's all right. Also, next part, what you need to check in your contract before signing, are you work hours stipulated correctly? Very important point. Because I feel like this is one of the sections where the employer might look for loopholes. So the more detailed this is written down and stated in the contract, the better. So this is another example from the Epic Program in Korea and their contract. So how it is stated here. So article seven, work hours. It is very clear indicated here, clearly indicated the employee shall work eight hours per day for five calendar days per week from Monday to Friday. So, oh, what happened here? Okay, here we go. If this is not written down like this, you know, imagine like if the five calendar days per week from Monday to Friday, this part is missing, they could basically have you work on the weekends and whenever they want. So that's just something to keep in mind. And usually it doesn't say it here, but in my, I remember from my contract, it even states the times, the exact times of the day that you work. So like what time you need to be there and until like when you can go home. The times of the day. This is missing here because I guess it's just different from school to school and like Epic because Epic operates for a lot of pretty much all of the public schools in Korea. So they all might have different times. So that's why it's not stated here. But that should also be in there your exact like starting day and yeah. Things like that. One second here. Okay. Good. And then also your teaching hours very important. So not only work hours, but usually also teaching hours or working days should be indicated. So employees class instruction hours. I don't know why it's doing that employees class instruction hours per week shall not exceed 22 hours. That's the teaching hours. If you teach more than 22 hours. You would get overtime pay that's also stated here. Right. So here, if however the employees actual weekly class instruction hours exceed 22 hours due to supplementary class instruction. The employee shall be entitled to supplementary class instruction pay of 20,000 one hour. That's about 1818 dollars or something like that. Yeah. So over times clearly stated things like that right. Very important. I think this part is one of the most important ones and this should be written down as detailed as possible. So like I said here, it clearly states eight hours per day for five calendar days per week Monday to Friday, typically. Oh, and it also says and shall not work on Saturdays and Sundays and also Labor Day and any national holidays of the public Republic of Korea. So that's also very important that it states that you do not work on public holidays. But there can be English camps, etc, etc. And yeah, there should be also the hours of the day when you start and when you finish. And like this could also be different right Monday might be different from Tuesday from Wednesday. So but it should be written down in the contract as well. Good. I hope I'm still making sense here. Yeah. So this is an example of where they have the start time. Very good. So here again this is from a different contract not the epic program. So Monday to Friday. And here we have general hours of the Institute are from 10 a.m. to 7 40 p.m. And it also says free lunch provided and when your break is so from 1 30 p.m. to 3 p.m. break. And only classroom teaching in excess of 120 teaching hours per month approved by the academic director is to be considered as overtime. And then there was probably a clause about overtime and how much overtime pay you get right. So this is another great example with the times stating when you start when you finish and also when your break time is and then you get free lunch. So all of these things are very important to check that they are in there in the contract right. Not saying that every school provides free lunch but if that's something that they already told you before during the interview for example that you will get free lunch and it's not in the contract. Then you need to let them know and they can add that in right. I mean contracts they can be revised many many times until everybody's happy. Right. So yeah. All right. And then I think those are the last three things they all have to do with kind of termination and dismissal. So one thing is how to terminate the contract early at the panel penalties for doing so. So if you don't want to stay for the whole year if you have problems or you like you need to you just don't want to finish the contract. So how can you terminate and if you terminate early what penalties happen to you the offenses which may lead to your dismissal and contract termination. And how and also then also how to extend the contract and any benefits for doing so. So I'm going to show you some examples of how it might be written in a contract. And this is the epic program contract so it has article nine a clear section about resignation. So the employee shall perform the duties step forth under article three here of during the. Oh this contract is binding unless the employee gives 60 days written notice of termination. And this will obviously vary from contract to contract right sometimes it's 60 days sometimes could be less 30 days it could be more. So it also depends on the law of the country that you're going to usually they have this in labor law written down. So, yeah. Yeah, and then also what happens so failure of the employee to give 60 days written notice of termination to the main school leads to. It will be reported to the Korean immigration service and shall affect the employee's ability to freely enter the Republic of Korea in the future so as you can see this is a very serious thing. If you don't do this properly you might end up getting deported your visa might be canceled you might not be able to return to Korea in the future is that this is something very serious for yourself to know how to. Hopefully you know give notice and terminate your contract early so that you don't get into trouble because that's that's annoying right we don't want that unless you hate it so much that you don't care if you can come back. Then I guess it doesn't matter. So yeah, another example here about renewal. So how to go about to renew your contract. And also the benefits of doing so very important usually there's a benefit right if you renew either you get a higher salary or you get like a bonus or something like that. And here it also states in this epic contract that the renewal shall not exceed one year so you can only renew for another year another year another year, it can't be longer than that. Obviously this depends on the school varies from school to school. This is what it's like in the epic program. And then there is a contract renewal allowance of two million Korean ones and that's actually really nice. 1.3 Korean one will be paid within one month of the beginning of the new term and the remaining 700,000 Korean one to be dispersed after the successful completion of the contract. That's really nice I didn't know that. So if you and two million one is about just under 2000 US dollars. So that's really nice if you sign up for another year in case of the termination of the renewal contract within the first six months. The paid leave specified in the foregoing clause shall be unpaid. All right. So just some things about renewal and termination. Here another contract about termination. Oh, why the employer might terminate you this is that part. So obviously if you violate any laws of the country here it's Republic of Korea for example. If you don't have a visa if obviously they would kind of know before but maybe if your visa got canceled or something. If you don't have a visa if you don't have the correct kind of visa for an English teacher you need to have a visa. So if you have another kind of visa might be a reason. And then also obviously if you fail to perform your duties right for more than five working days without receiving prior consent. So and also any of the information provided in the employees application is false or inaccurate. So this also depends obviously from school to school country to country but it's usually pretty much similar stuff. Obviously if you fail to perform your duties if you violate the law things like that then you might be terminated. So yeah just something for yourself to know right. And those are two things I just want to mention two additional tips for you guys what you can do before signing your contract. So the first one is even after going through the contract with the checklist that I just gave you get someone you trust to read through it before you sign it. So this could be your mom your dad an uncle a friend anyone as a teacher a professor have someone read it through and give you feedback on what they think if this is a good contract or not. And then also good to know you will likely this is likely pretty much depends on the country but pretty much you're probably going to have to sign two contracts one before you leave. So right after the interview when they tell you yes we want to hire you they probably send you a contract or online you print it out you sign it and you send it back to them. That's what you will need to basically get your visa then to go to the country and then you sign another one when you arrive typically on your first day like in person together. And that's important that you make sure that those two contracts are identical and that nothing has been changed or if something has been changed. That you're aware of the change they would let you know oh we changed this part are you OK with that. And then you say like yes or no. So be aware that you're probably going to sign two contracts one before you leave and one when you're there in the school in person together. So make sure that those contracts are identical. And if anything has been changed they let you know right. So don't just sign it like right away. Maybe ask if you could take it home with you and read it through and bring it back the next day or something like that. That's totally reasonable. OK. This is the checklist everything that we talked about it just want to review real quick for people who maybe were here came here late. So the first thing we talked about is is the contract written in English and easy to understand. And also if there is two languages if the translations make sense then is the name of the school the same as the one you were told during the interviews and hasn't been spelled correctly is the logo the same. Is your name and passport number on the contract and are they correct and also written in the correct order is the salary the same as that promise to you in the interviews and is it written down correctly. Also it should always kind of a side note the salary should probably always be stated in the currency of that country where you're going to get it if they write it down in like US dollars. They're not going to pay you in US dollars unless they pay you in US dollars but typically they would not they pay you in their currency right. So if they write it down in US dollars it's kind of ambiguous it can change like every month. So it's better to have the salary always in the currency of that country and it's always the same right. Just another side note and then are the start and end dates written down correctly. And then disclaimer please note these dates may not be the same as your arrival and leaving dates to China or to wherever you go but they must be there nonetheless. Then next point go through the package details carefully is everything with regards to your package so accommodation medical insurance bonuses etc written down and the same as previously agreed upon. Are your work hours stipulated correctly and as detailed as possible. So you're working days Monday to Friday but some teachers they also work like Wednesday to Sunday with Monday Tuesday off that can also be the case. And your work hours you know how many teaching hours do you have max if you exceed that do you get overtime pay how much is the overtime pay. And also ideally the time of the time of the day you start and when you finish. Are the following details with regards to the contract stated how to terminate the contract early and dependencies for doing so how to extend the contract and any benefits for doing so the offenses which may lead to your dismissal and contract termination. Boom. That's it. That's the checklist and I'm probably going to have this later in the comments on Facebook under the slide as like just image. So you can save that for you so you can have it for when you need it when you need to sign a contract. But after all of this are there any questions or any comments maybe something I didn't mention or any questions now is the time. I'm just going to leave this up real quick in case there is a question about one of the points please let me know. And then we can just move into the official Q&A section. Just let me know if there's any question about this or if it's all good or if you would like to add something. All right. Here we have good person. Thank you so much Linda it is a wonderful resource not only for teachers but also for anyone who wants to work abroad in any field. That's true it doesn't apply only to teachers right. Great thank you. Far as thanks Linda and much appreciated. Thanks so much. Thank you guys. This one I am good. Okay great. Then I just want to quickly mention before we go into the official Q&A how to find it online Facebook Twitter Instagram. Check us out also our website. Also my personal Instagram at Linda goes east you can send me a message I'd be more than happy to have a chat with you on there. And then we're moving into our Q&A section. Again as you can see I just want to mention the 30% off link you can scan this QR code or you can also check out the link in the comment box and if you're listening to this as a podcast it's also in the podcast description. So you can just copy that link and then get a 30% discount any TEFL or TSOL course from ITTT. Looks like this. That's the code. Alrighty then I'm back bigger here with my water ready to answer any questions about either this topic today the TEFL contracts or anything else related to TEFL and teaching or Korea China. ITTT anything let me know I'm going to be here another maybe five minutes depending on how many questions you have. And then I'm going to sign off. But I hope you found today useful. I think it was. You're probably going to think some of those things are super like common sense and like duh but it's very important. And like I said in the heat of the moment when you get your contract you get offered a job in the country of your dreams a lot of people just get carried away and just sign it and they just trust their employer completely. But not all employers are great unfortunately some of them really try to take advantage of you and you know try to get all the loopholes in there that they can so really take your time with the contract. Don't sign the first contract if you're offered unless you're really 100% sure that this is the job for you. That's my advice. All right question here. Do you Linda have to make your own lesson lessons planning or they do it at your job. So I teach I used to teach at a English like private kindergarten and we had kindergarten in the mornings and early afternoon and a late afternoon elementary kids. And at that school it was a big big chain in Korea they actually provided us with all of the material because they had this school all over Korea. So it had to be the same thing had to be taught in all of the schools at the same time on that on the same day. You knew exactly which page you had to do which exercise you had to do everything was stipulated and they gave you all the material. So I didn't have to do a lot of planning there. Now I teach a lot online my own lessons my own classes to like students and that I do plan yes because that's just what I offer. So anything like that you obviously have to do your own planning. Yeah but so some schools you know you might have to do your own lesson planning but some schools have all the materials and give it to you and there's very minimal lesson planning it depends on the school. So this is a good question to ask during a job interview with a school you know and ask how they handle that. And another question. What countries do you do you that put lodging in the country. What countries offer accommodation. So typically East Asia. So that is Japan Korea China Taiwan. Those countries typically have accommodation free accommodation for their teachers. And that's pretty much it a lot of times but again it depends you know from country to country school to school it depends but East Asia typically has really great benefits. I also think the Middle East has great benefits and might also have paid housing but then like Europe or Latin America. Not so much not so much. So yeah. Wow I guess that's good they have the lessons in place. Yeah you know sometimes it's I think that's really great for first time teachers if you're new to teaching it's great to just have that material in front of you and then you get more experience and then if you are a new school where you have to do most of the teaching or lesson planning. You have maybe more ideas so I actually know a lot of people who are teachers who prefer just planning out their own lessons they really like this flexibility and freedom. So it really depends on you and what you want to do. Good. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you guys so much for being so active today and asking all your questions and listening and giving me feedback it's really really nice and I hope you really took something away from today's live session. It's not easy coming up with a new topic every week. So you know I wasn't sure if this topic was good but I think it was really good and helpful for you guys for future reference and also because I'm going to share that checklist with you in the comment section so that you can check it out and just save it and have it there. You know for the future for when you need it. I think that's going to be really useful. All right. I think I'm going to sign off soon. It's been an hour now this session. If you have any questions when you watch the replay or just later on you can still leave the questions in the comments and we will get back to them later on. No problem. As I mentioned you can also just reach out to it directly or you can reach out to me directly on Instagram. I'd be happy to answer any of your questions on there as well. Don't forget the 30% off link. It looks like this. This is your chance to start a career in teaching English abroad or online. So yeah. Right. Good. Thanks so much. Yeah. Totally. Great. Then I hope all of you are going to have a wonderful weekend and you're staying safe out there and I hope to see you again next week. Like I said I might be live on a different day and time. So please like and subscribe so that you don't miss that on our page and you get notified when we do go live. But yeah. Thank you guys so much and I hope you have a lovely weekend and I hope to see you again and please don't hesitate to comment. Leave more comments on this video or anywhere else we get back to you. No problem. Okay. All right. Then thank you so much. Have a lovely weekend and I'll see you hopefully next week. Bye.