Job Discussion Forums

Shenpen Dawa · Joined: 13 Nov 2004 Posts: 2

Hi,

I'm considering teaching at Xi'an E.T. Foreign Language School in Xian, Shaanxi province. I't s a private English school offering 4501-5500 RMB per month for 16-25 hours per week, with off campus housing. I've contacted them and asked to speak to another teacher, a reccomendation I ran across on this website. Has anyone heard of it? I've been reading through different postings about teaching in China and one person said that getting paid anything less than 7000 RMB per month from a private school is a rip off. Other opinions?

I have one and a half years experience of living and traveling in Asia already (including 10 months in India) so I feel prepared to handle the cultural/hygenic/food differences that await. However, I'm new to the Asian ESL circuit and don't want to start off with a bad experience.

Thanks!

P.S. Any musician/ESL teachers in China? I have some other questions related to finding musical equipment, etc., in China.

Spiderman Too · Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2004 12:37 am Post subject:

Have a look at this thread for Xi'an;

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/job/viewtopic.php?t=15738&highlight=xian+xian

And this thread for guitars;

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/job/viewtopic.php?t=13818&highlight=guitar

Long ai gu · Joined: 22 Oct 2004 Posts: 135

I'm a musician in China, what do you want to know?

Roger · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 9138

I don't agree that "anything less than 7000 is a rip-off".

...but having said that, I definitely think the salary offered is a wee bit on the low side. You can live comfortably on it though in a town like Xi'an.
However, I wonder, do you expect to be paying for your housing and utilities?

Shenpen Dawa · Joined: 13 Nov 2004 Posts: 2

Hi,

Thanks for the quick and helpful responses everyone. I thought I'd reply to the 2 or 3 messages posted so far:

1) Housing is included in the position I'm considering.

2) My questions regarding music have to do with keyboards, the sampling/sequencing variety. I'm interested in programming electronic music and am wondering what the selection will be like in China, or if there will even be one. There are some very versatile computer programs that are synths/sequencers/samplers all in one. These can be downloaded, so if I bought a computer while in China I could go online, download the software and work on a PC. The only thing I would need is a MIDI controller, but I think that something like that would be easy to find. I'd rather not work exclusively on PC, I would like to outboard, vintage synths and sampler/sequencers, but will if that's my only option. Anyone with any knowledge in this area?

Thanks again!

matt2p · Joined: 08 Aug 2004 Posts: 2 Location: China

I have been in China since January and visited Xi'an for a week this past summer. I found Xi'an to be a very nice city.
I too am a musician that has dabbled in the black art of MIDI. I use Cakewalk on my PC and a Roland Sound Canvas (SC 8 Cool

as my sound module. Professional grade equipment (especially brand names such as Yamaha, Digi-Tech, Roland, etc) are very expensive compared to what your salary will be in China. The gear is available and you will find no shortage of music shops in Xi'an.