Job Discussion Forums

[bridge]

I appreciate all of your comments.

One question was, why am I interested in China and what about Korea or Japan, or even Taiwan?

Well, my answer is very simple. I am not picky. I am looking at many options and trying to find a good fit.

I have experience teaching ESL, mostly as a volunteer, but I do have some professional experience. I really enjoy working with speakers of other languages and like the challenge of coming up with a good lesson. However, I have had my share of lessons that really didn't work out the way I planned. But, I believe in learning from your mistakes and moving on. You can't dwell in the past.

I am also one of those that want to teach and travel, just for the hell of it. What else am I to do, but work in the US if I don't. Did that, want to do something else now! Why not work in a different country and learn something about the other billions of people who live in this world. Plus, my time in China or wherever I go will also be put to good use as I plan on coming back to the US to obtain my PH.D in Anthropology. The more exposure I have to other cultures, the more prepared I will be to actually have something to say in my discertation.

I hope to actually work in a number of countries, but I can only do one at a time, so now I am trying to figure out where to go first. Like I said, I am not picky. I am interested in many countries and China is a very interesting place to me.

Ludwig, I will take your comments with a grain of salt, as I know that not every place is wonderful. I am sorry that you hate China so much. I just want to make sure I can be at least comfortable there, if I choose to go.

I find the financial aspect pretty interesting. I am not going into teaching for the money, that is for sure. However, I do have student loans that I still need to pay every month and that is a factor on where I decide to go, because some countries pay you just enough to pay your living expenses. I need that much and enough to pay my monthly loan bill. It sounds from many people's comments that that should be something I can handle while working in China.

I would still like to hear what anyone has to say about their thoughts on positives and negatives. I am asking for personal experiences here and know that everyone has had different experiences, but that is exactly what I want to hear about.

Thanks ahead for your input.

[David Bowles]

China seems to me to be a good choice as a 'first teaching destination' because the workload is generally light and low pressure (in universities, colleges etc), and such work is very easy to get- although be cautious when investigating where to apply.
Chinese people could take up several libraries' worth of anthropology- as soon as you go a little under the surface the culture here is fascinating, completely baffling, and great fun to live in (I won't say 'be a part of', because the culture is also very exclusionist- foreigners here are very much outsiders, but often very welcome ones).
On money... you should look carefully at the amounts offered, and the bonuses- accommodation, utilities etc. Living costs ARE low, but if you're in a big city entertainment of the non-DVD kind still costs- you won't want to be doing nothing but loan-repaying each month...

[Ludwig]

You may well not be "picky", 'Bridge', but Japan most certainly is! In addition, if you really think that if a job is worth doing it is worth doing well, then I would strongly advise against your going to Mainland China (things there run, if at all, by sheer and pure accident).

[Lee_Odden]

Bridge - Not too long ago, I started a thread entitled "Useful Advice for the Newcomer." You can find it by clicking here http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/job/viewtopic.php?t=14173.

It's a summary of my personal observations and reflections on the type of adjustments I had to make when first working and living in China. Maybe you will find it useful.

[Roger]

Your "what's good - what's bad" dichotomy:

There were threads in the past that dealt with this kind of discussion; I hold you mustn't generalise; you get what you make out of the place.
I toured China for a long time before I settled down to work here; I don't think it's a wise decision to be plunged right in the middle of some mainland city social scene.
Take Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Peking or Shanghai: these towns are upwardly mobile. Here, you lead a fairly westernised lifestyle - which comes at tremendously increased hectic! Ten years ago, you could tell a Cantonese (a nativbe from Guangdong) from the average mainlander by their physique. These days - yes: just ten years on! - changes to their lifestyle such as dining out, eating fast-food, leading a sedentary existence, enjoying creature comforts not known before - and the Cantonese now look like fat ugly Americans (sorry, no profiling intended): you get students of 12 and 13 that stand as tall as you, and weigh up to 80 kg!
When I visit their homes or socialise with them on the town, I find them boring and bored. There is an imbalance between modern lifestyle and how they spend their spare time. They don't know what to do except to consume, waste and splurge. To me, that's a turn-off.

But you can be plunged into rural China, and you will perhaps regret having to put up with the backwardness that goes with that. No hot water in your bathroom; your bathroom being a CHinese one - it's a hole in the ground and a water nozzle over it under which you take your shower.
The kitchen has only gas stoves, you get no washing-machine, and the flat is on the 8th floor of a ten-floor low-rise without lifts. The air is dust-laden, the environment is noisy and hot in summer, noisy and cold in winter.

Your boss changes things every once in a short while, he may short-change you and many people use your picture to promote their own business.

People have changed greatly in those ten years; earlier in mycareer I used to teach a lot of self-paying adults; now hardly any more. Instead, you are dealing now with the younger generation. They are growing up in a different China, a country that is where the West was some 30 years ago, while their parents studied in a China that was where Europe was a century ago! A huge generational gap, man!
For instance, today's young generation doesn't practise the custom of SHARING and showing consideration for others because they are growing up as single children under parents that neglect their duties to raise them with some sense of social responsability; these kids are used to being at the receiving end all the time because their parents only have one of them to shower their increased wealth upon.

I am still here - but it's not the teaching that is so fascinating; it's watching the changes - and knowing I can pack up and go whenever I want to! And frankly speaking, when I want to enjoy real holidays, I certainly won't spend it in China!

[Ludwig]

That is a fairly interesting post there, 'Roger', with some candid personal insights.

[Syndrome057]

I find a great deal of your comments very entertaining.......

Especially the one regarding your favorite quality of the Chinese people (that they were safely constrained within their country)

China is fine as long as you come prepared for life without order. Even when we get screwed, the true test is how we react.

Peace,
Safari