Job Discussion Forums

[fresha]

My friend (both female, Caucasian, American, and 26 y.o.) and I are looking for placements near each other for only 6 months beginning in late February/early March. I have a little over a year of teaching experience, but she has none. Neither of us have a TEFL certificate.

We've received a few offers, all around 8000 rmb/month, housing paid, and about 2000 to 3000 rmb for airfare after the six months.

We wanted to be a few hours from Shanghai or Hangzhou, but our offers are not in our ideal location.

Is this a decent offer considering our requirement for a six month placement? I really wanted more, but that was also when I was looking into going for an entire year and by myself.

Since we won't be in one of the largest cities, is 8000 a reasonable amount to live on and do some traveling? I do have some bills to pay back home (car payment) so I want to be sure I have enough to do so!

Any advice would be great! Thanks!

[johntpartee]

Which city? How much is your ticket? For most of the "rural" areas, 8000 is pretty good wages, but travelling, car payment, etc. will take a big bite. Do you want to save or break even?

[Javelin of Radiance]

Just leave enough money in your bank account to cover your car payments for the six months you're gone. Cant be more than a couple of grand in total. That way you won't need to worry about losing or quitting the job early, or difficulties sending money back every month. All things considered sticking around for only six months there's a good chance of barely breaking even (people go through a lot more money than is necessary in the first few months in a place).

[fresha]

The offer is for Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province. I don't know how big it is for sure.

[johntpartee]

I took a quick look at what's on-line about the place, looks like the COL could be pretty high.

[StringerBell]

I nearly did this once.

Being a travel addict (or perhaps more just averse to my home country!) I decided that teaching in China would be a great way to see some interesting places and would give me a base from which to set out and explore. I had a BA but no TEFL qualifications or teaching experience, but it didn't really phase me and I didn't think it was important. I don't know about you or your friend's view on this, but for me the teaching aspect of going to China was more something of an afterthought that I reckoned I could probably get my way through somehow. I even wanted to take my friend with me and asked if that was a good idea here on Dave's!

I applied for my first job in a chain language school that didn't require any sort of TEFL, blagged my way through a Skype interview, got my contract sent etc... and then I was suddenly struck by a startling thought. What kind of school is willing to employ people without any teaching qualifications? And why should I go and potentially be an awful teacher to some kids just because I wanted to satisfy my wanderlust? If they care so little about their students, then why should the staff be any different? So I turned down the job and went hitching around Europe, and meanwhile read a hell of a lot of information about China, TESOL, CELTA, ESL and a million other acronyms and concepts that I didn't understand when I first applied for that job. I'm surprised I wasn't banned for abusing the Search button on this forum!

Over time, I've realised how naive I was before, and that it is something I want to do as a job for the foreseeable future but I want to do it the right way with some training, and find work with a decent establishment. I really don't want to come across as self-righteous, it's just that I know now how much I would have regretted going then, and if your situation is similar then I would urge you to think about it too! For you, I guess it might not be such an issue if you have teaching experience, but your friend will be in at the deep end and should probably think this through a bit more, and perhaps do a TEFL of some kind first? Just my 2 cents anyway, but whatever you decide to do, good luck with it!

[fat_chris]