Job Discussion Forums

[johnson007]

Hello everyone, my first post, and I thank you all in advance for your feedback. I'm late-30's with an MA in an education related field and 1,000's of hours of documented emergency credentialed classroom experience teaching all subjects to ESL students. I have an Early Childhood Education Master Teacher "Permit" and a Child Development Program Director Permit issued by the State of California Commission on Teacher Credentialing but do not hold a clear or subject based credential. I've taught college, high school, elementary, preschool. Took an online TEFL cert and found it useful (though I know those are looked down on a bit here). I would like to teach in a small(ish) semi-clean city in China for a year and then go to Thailand for my CELTA (if I feel this would still be of benefit to me after my first year teaching in China... I would do the CELTA now in Bogota beginning Nov., 9, 2014 but they want $2600 for the month with accommodation and I just feel that is more than I'm able to pay right now).

My main reason for going to China is not money, but to go back in time a bit to a slower paced more "traditional" rural area with beautiful vistas and fairly clean air (difficult I know) and spend a year checking out of everything familiar. I'm not interested in drinking, chasing women, or an expat social life so I'm thinking of a town with not less than 50,000 people and with no more than 500,000 people. I do just fine without other Westerners around (and no, I'm not after the white God factor thing), but I also don't mind a few expats here and there either. I just want to focus on being a better teacher, experience something completely unfamiliar, and go for long walks in scenic settings while I plot my next life move.

So far in my research I've come up with places like Dali and Manzhouli (near the Russian border). I want cold mountainous regions for this first China job as I feel I will eventually be setting up shop on Hainan Island and will get my fair share of warm weather down there in my second year.

I'll be applying to schools directly so any suggestions on off the beaten path smallish Chinese cities with clean air and good scenery will help me immensely in limiting my search.

Thanks again for any and all help!

[Non Sequitur]

My only experience of really small town life was a summer gig - 6 weeks.
I doubt that the school I worked at got the patronage to cover an FT for semester work.
You can get weekend work away from the main cities, but to get a small town vibe you would maybe commute 2hours each way.

[roadwalker]

Yeah, 50,000 is really small town in China. Village really. Seriously there are so many unheard of cities with a population of over 1 million. I still learn of new ones after years in country and reading this forum. Read through other posts regarding location: a lot of posters will remind or inform others that you have to adjust your idea of big and of city when dealing with China. A city of 300,000 probably doesn't have many foreign restaurants, large supermarkets or even a KFC, not to mention other foreigners. It may have lots of dust and black smoke and noise though.

Anywhere in the west should fit your bill. Your pay will be smaller than in other more popular areas. Also many schools in the so-called cities are actually located in the boonies, and possibly the hills. This is especially true for universities and other tertiary schools. If you see an offer you otherwise like but it says it's located in a popular city, find the exact address and wikipedia, google and Dave's it. It may be just what you want: no western influences and no one you could possibly communicate and vent with for miles. Good luck.

[drjtrekker]

Clean air and rural.
Yunnan Province might fit the bill.
Dali might be a bit touristy for what your looking for.
manzhouli... COLD.

[johnson007]

Thanks for the input. I'll keep searching Yunnan Province, that seems like a good place to start. And yes, the cleanliness thing is the big problem because I certainly don't want to be shrouded in dust and black soot and mold and noise... maybe I'm dreaming? Shangri-la?

[theoriginalprankster]

Noise - hard one to escape in China (and large swathes of Asia for that matter).

Drove me nuts, and to leave.

Next visit will involve staying in a seriously quiet apartment block (have one in mind) that is quite remote (relatively).

[Alien abductee]

Try Kangding. It's a few hours west of Chengdu by bus and I think there are a few jobs for foreign English teachers out there.

[mysterytrain]

Well ... first I have to say, Sir / Madame, how dare you ask for the opinions of strangers on an open forum such as this one? Which one person's opinion do you seek, as if it were the Holy Grail itself? Clearly, you are only setting yourself up to blame everyone but yourself, when YOU choose the wrong place. Everyone has opinions, likes and dislikes. What are they worth? Dust in the wind ... be warned ... be warned ... be warned!

Sorry, had to have a snark at a certain poster who may still be floating / trolling about. I posted a similar thread just a few days ago myself, and got the Spanish Inquisition from a nimrod.

Attractive scenery, mountains, cold winter, clean-ish air ... the trio of "southwestern" provinces I'm looking at myself could have some places that fit the bill on most or all counts: Yunnan (as mentioned) plus Guangxi and Guizhou. Guangxi is rumored to have spectacular scenery for sure, as well as some parts of Guizhou, and the air quality should be significantly better than most cities to the east. To the best of my knowledge, these provinces have relatively very little in the way of industry (though of course, the wind doth blow).

All but the northernmost bits of Guangxi might be too warm for you, and Guilin is probably too big a city. Maybe Yangshuo (though it is also quite touristy and probably not secluded enough for what you want) or Liuzhou. Guizhou is less frequented by travelers and tourists than Guangxi or Yunnan.

A "small" town or city, in terms of population, is probably a pretty rare find in China, though I know they do exist. My previous experience living there was in a city with a population under 100,000, in northern Xinjiang. Aksu in the south of the province, on the other foot, has been described to me as a "small city" (of only 4 million souls).

Xinjiang could be a possibility for you, especially far north and west near the borders of Kazakhstan, Russia and Mongolia, if you want "remoteness". It definitely has mountains and c-c-c-cold winters ("colder than the ticket-taker's smile at the Ivorn theater on a Saturday night"), and one can feel pretty secluded there (perhaps even a bit cloistered). Maybe Inner Mongolia (is Manzhouli there?) or Gansu.

There are small villages all over China, I think, but whether most of them have institutions that hire foreigners to teach is a question.

[3701 W.119th]

[johnson007]

Thank you Alien A. and also Mystery for that thorough response. Great info.