Positions in China
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- 5 minutes to kill
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What's going on in China? I've got a resume on a couple of job sites (not China specific) and for the past week have been BOMBARDED with offers from agents like this one. Are they really that desperate? I haven't even got China selected as a preferred country in my profiles.
You can use logic to justify anything. That's its power. It's also its flaw.
- catgotyatongue
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It is not an easy issue. First, yes, you can save some serious money if you get the right school. China is big. Climates are extreme in different locations.
The biggest issue right now is pollution. Even though they offer CEO's recycled air in the office and house, it does not affect the ppm indicator in the USA Embassy and Consulates. People are leaving. As in Exodus. Pay is going up drastically. Rough idea ... north and countryside 4500 to 6000, city, from 8000 on up (yuan per month). Most all schools will pay for accommodation and even transportation if not close. They pay for your medical and visa. If you teach a subject other than English ... Chemistry for instance, it is extremely easy at those age groups and self explanatory. Usually starts at 13000, but I was offered 19000 the other day.
Pollution. You have to know about it. It will kill you dead as a door nail. Countryside have many factories, as do big cities. Not to mention the chemicals, dead animals and 'stuff' they get rid of down river. The Pearl River Delta alone is so disgusting and one of the most expensive areas to live. You must research the pollution.
In saying that, YES, they are desperate, but will get you for nothing if they think you are going to do it for nothing. They will make you pay for everything until you hash the whole thing out.
Advantage. Corruption. They can and will do anything at a moments notice that will amaze you.
Lots of money there. People are okay. Probably be like smoking 4 packs of cigs a day if you take the wrong job in the wrong place. And I promise you that is a fact. Check the most polluted cities in the world (mostly China), and the ppm on Google. Then go to Wiki.
The biggest issue right now is pollution. Even though they offer CEO's recycled air in the office and house, it does not affect the ppm indicator in the USA Embassy and Consulates. People are leaving. As in Exodus. Pay is going up drastically. Rough idea ... north and countryside 4500 to 6000, city, from 8000 on up (yuan per month). Most all schools will pay for accommodation and even transportation if not close. They pay for your medical and visa. If you teach a subject other than English ... Chemistry for instance, it is extremely easy at those age groups and self explanatory. Usually starts at 13000, but I was offered 19000 the other day.
Pollution. You have to know about it. It will kill you dead as a door nail. Countryside have many factories, as do big cities. Not to mention the chemicals, dead animals and 'stuff' they get rid of down river. The Pearl River Delta alone is so disgusting and one of the most expensive areas to live. You must research the pollution.
In saying that, YES, they are desperate, but will get you for nothing if they think you are going to do it for nothing. They will make you pay for everything until you hash the whole thing out.
Advantage. Corruption. They can and will do anything at a moments notice that will amaze you.
Lots of money there. People are okay. Probably be like smoking 4 packs of cigs a day if you take the wrong job in the wrong place. And I promise you that is a fact. Check the most polluted cities in the world (mostly China), and the ppm on Google. Then go to Wiki.
I squish bugs ... then I eat them. Yummy!
- xtreme
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If you hustle you can make enough in China in 4 months to live without needing to work for the next 8. And yes, the air is bad, the food is dodgy and the contracts are all one sided, unless amended.
I had friends who taught English when I lived in China, and they seemed to do better financially than teachers in Cambodia, but not as well as teachers in Taiwan. I left in 2007, but at that time you could get a decent one bedroom apartment in Shanghai for 4,000RMB per month, or 3,000 out in Pudong, which I did not care for. If you like big cities, Shanghai is not a bad one at all. I also heard fewer stories of teachers being cheated by their employers than in Cambodia or Taiwan.
While I did not encounter the levels of pollution that RS mentions--nothing nearly as bad as in Kaohsiung, Taiwan--the rest of his last comments line up pretty well with what I remember.
While I did not encounter the levels of pollution that RS mentions--nothing nearly as bad as in Kaohsiung, Taiwan--the rest of his last comments line up pretty well with what I remember.
- catgotyatongue
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If you hash out the contract before you come, they will do everything they say, unless they have a little surprise up their sleeve. If you live in the countryside, or even 4 or5 hours from a city ........ it is a long haul.
Taiwan pays good because they will make you work your ass with enough time to shower and get there.
You can get all sorts of benefits, but you must ask. Paid holidays. Pay for your medical and visa, etc. They tend to cut your visa 1.5 months from the end of the school year because they do not need English teachers then. School starts Sept.1st, and winter March 1st. You had better demand they make it for one year.
If you have the patience to type and or talk to these folks you can iron out a nice contract with many holidays. Public schools = 5 months holidays. Training school = 11 days holidays. You can do private classes, but as of 2011 they have begun posting signs asking to report foreigners giving private lessons, as your visa is directly attached to your school. Sometimes they let you, most times they want you to do English Corner, Judgement contests, Book signings, and if you have a good accent .... the listening part of the national exam. Among other stuff.
I moved around a lot, but now, not while I was there, the pollution is very bad. But China is big, so if you do your research, contact a local consulate, or google the shit out of it you can come up with the variation.
You can save some serious money. I ate western (other half is a glorified chef) food and still made considerable savings.
The paperwork is a MF. They will tell you that you must go to your own country to obtain the 30 day Z visa (or HK), when in fact I have gotten it in Thailand just fine. After you obtain the visa (you need medical, but can get around it sometimes), then you have 30 days to get a medical in China and your permanent residency with the school ... in that order.
Climates are extreme. Some mold can cause harm. If the vegetables taste like shit, throw them away. Probably got grown in the battery acid vat.
Here they just cut your throat and smile. In China they give you a drink and let you wither away.
Taiwan pays good because they will make you work your ass with enough time to shower and get there.
You can get all sorts of benefits, but you must ask. Paid holidays. Pay for your medical and visa, etc. They tend to cut your visa 1.5 months from the end of the school year because they do not need English teachers then. School starts Sept.1st, and winter March 1st. You had better demand they make it for one year.
If you have the patience to type and or talk to these folks you can iron out a nice contract with many holidays. Public schools = 5 months holidays. Training school = 11 days holidays. You can do private classes, but as of 2011 they have begun posting signs asking to report foreigners giving private lessons, as your visa is directly attached to your school. Sometimes they let you, most times they want you to do English Corner, Judgement contests, Book signings, and if you have a good accent .... the listening part of the national exam. Among other stuff.
I moved around a lot, but now, not while I was there, the pollution is very bad. But China is big, so if you do your research, contact a local consulate, or google the shit out of it you can come up with the variation.
You can save some serious money. I ate western (other half is a glorified chef) food and still made considerable savings.
The paperwork is a MF. They will tell you that you must go to your own country to obtain the 30 day Z visa (or HK), when in fact I have gotten it in Thailand just fine. After you obtain the visa (you need medical, but can get around it sometimes), then you have 30 days to get a medical in China and your permanent residency with the school ... in that order.
Climates are extreme. Some mold can cause harm. If the vegetables taste like shit, throw them away. Probably got grown in the battery acid vat.
Here they just cut your throat and smile. In China they give you a drink and let you wither away.
I squish bugs ... then I eat them. Yummy!
- catgotyatongue
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I almost forgot. For those interested in China there are many agents and sites. Besides perusing Dave's ESL Cafe, there is a really good site that you will get very good jobs on. I had my best from it.
www.cathayteacher.com
You will get replies that can be very lucrative.
Roach
www.cathayteacher.com
You will get replies that can be very lucrative.
Roach
I squish bugs ... then I eat them. Yummy!
I actually taught at a school in Taiwan for one term while I waited for the very long interview and work permit process to finish at my "real" job. I talked to a few schools and ended up teaching adults at one that had several locations. It was a pretty laid back environment at all the schools I talked to, with shorts and t-shirts being standard teacher attire, and almost every teacher I talked to working a very reasonable 12-25 contact hours per week, without much in the way of BS unpaid school activities. There was an active (horribly over-moderated where the anonymous owner plays favorites big time) forum for teachers in Taiwan that probably still exists, and it was also the best source of general expat info. English teachers there were, as a group, probably the happiest with their jobs of any country I have been to. Granted, I left in 2007 so it might have changed.
I've taught EFL in numerous countries and for a variety of educational institutions. The only country I have ever vowed never to return to is China. Horrible country, largely horrible people and cost of living in urban centres can be quite high. Oh yeah, and plain clothes police officer tapped me on the shoulder in an internet cafe and asked to read my private emails. Never, ever again - not even for a holiday.
- xtreme
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What did you say to the plainclothes guy? And why weren't you somewhere more low key like a hotel lobby, using a VPN?
By the way, for cost of living, it's fairly easy to rent a decent serviced apartment in the central part of the big cities for about $1000us. They ask for deposits but the real estate market is overbuilt so you can get away with a one month deposit.
You can save 1/2 your money working full time in the city. But yeah, the spitting, loud arguing, shitting in the street, etc.---it's a horror.
By the way, for cost of living, it's fairly easy to rent a decent serviced apartment in the central part of the big cities for about $1000us. They ask for deposits but the real estate market is overbuilt so you can get away with a one month deposit.
You can save 1/2 your money working full time in the city. But yeah, the spitting, loud arguing, shitting in the street, etc.---it's a horror.
Thanks for all the info Roach. It's a bug's life! I will be getting back to school shortly and have been considering China.ROACHSTOMPER wrote:I almost forgot. For those interested in China there are many agents and sites. Besides perusing Dave's ESL Cafe, there is a really good site that you will get very good jobs on. I had my best from it.
http://www.cathayteacher.com
You will get replies that can be very lucrative.
Roach
Just need to top up my savings before heading back here. Any advice on working for 5 or 6 months only? A quit hit so to speak. Will it piss them off, as long as I don't leave mid term? I'm guessing yes, but was proven wrong on that re. Cambodia and Vietnam, it seems quite normal for people to leave at the end of a term.
A request to everyone with experience - a list of top places to teach re. little pollution and high salary and a good school where they actually try their best?
China or Taiwan?
K440 : Lucky cheese for the gentry; poultry and death for the peasants.
"Reading made Don Quixote a gentleman. Believing what he read made him mad."
"Reading made Don Quixote a gentleman. Believing what he read made him mad."
They will not only accept 6 months, because in their eyes if you work out they will hire you longer. Where you work and live is BIG, so wiki and google it and you may want to send the usa an email asking for the average ppm in that region.
To set the record straight. You should/must enter on a Z visa (good for 30 days), then they get your medical and residency (hopefully for a full year).
There are alternatives. You can enter on the L tourist visa and with the clout they have in their province they can easily change it to a residency permit, which is not authorized, but you are in China.
Be careful. Ask a lot. And never, ever, ever, get duped by their photos. Request contract by email and change it till you like it.
Roach/Cat/Murphy
To set the record straight. You should/must enter on a Z visa (good for 30 days), then they get your medical and residency (hopefully for a full year).
There are alternatives. You can enter on the L tourist visa and with the clout they have in their province they can easily change it to a residency permit, which is not authorized, but you are in China.
Be careful. Ask a lot. And never, ever, ever, get duped by their photos. Request contract by email and change it till you like it.
Roach/Cat/Murphy
I never had any bad experiences besides just bs that was a laugh. Police once attempted coercion and I told them I would contact USA. Then we went and got drunk.
It's all in the contract. You have to add and subtract stuff, so know what you are doing. A site you may want to visit if you are serious:
http://middlekingdomlife.com/guide/
The site is good. Do not believe everything because some of it is full of kaka doodoo.
Much obliged.
Murphy Batshit Crazy Weirdo on a good day.
It's all in the contract. You have to add and subtract stuff, so know what you are doing. A site you may want to visit if you are serious:
http://middlekingdomlife.com/guide/
The site is good. Do not believe everything because some of it is full of kaka doodoo.
Much obliged.
Murphy Batshit Crazy Weirdo on a good day.
Murphy wrote:They will not only accept 6 months, because in their eyes if you work out they will hire you longer. Where you work and live is BIG, so wiki and google it and you may want to send the usa an email asking for the average ppm in that region.
To set the record straight. You should/must enter on a Z visa (good for 30 days), then they get your medical and residency (hopefully for a full year).
There are alternatives. You can enter on the L tourist visa and with the clout they have in their province they can easily change it to a residency permit, which is not authorized, but you are in China.
Be careful. Ask a lot. And never, ever, ever, get duped by their photos. Request contract by email and change it till you like it.
Roach/Cat/Murphy
Good idea on checking the PPM's. Interesting abou the L visa being changed too.
Cheers
K440 : Lucky cheese for the gentry; poultry and death for the peasants.
"Reading made Don Quixote a gentleman. Believing what he read made him mad."
"Reading made Don Quixote a gentleman. Believing what he read made him mad."
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