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brewsterbudgen
Joined: 29 Apr 2005
Posts: 43
Location: Bangkok
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 Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2005 7:44 pm Post subject: China or Thailand? |
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I've been accepted on to the CELTA course at ECC in Bangkok starting on 3 October. I'm 45 years old and have a BA in Sociology, plus 21 years (non teaching) work experience. My original plan was to try and find employment in China or Japan after I (hopefully) pass the CELTA. I have had positive responses from New Times Hebei and Liaoning Promotion Committee On International Education Cooperation (I really like the idea of teaching in Dalian), although neither are offering definite jobs - 'just turn up and we'll sort you out' - and both I assume are recruiters. I've also been offered an interview in the UK by the Nova Group, for teaching in Japan but after reading the posts on this Forum I think I will steer clear of them.
I hadn't really considered teaching in Thailand, although I fired off a few emails to schools with good reports on this Forum (difficult to find!). Now I've had positive replies from Kings College and Bell Institute and arranged to see them when I get to Bangkok.
So, where is the best place for a newbie to start? China or Thailand? Salary is not a major issue. My main priority is to enjoy my new life and career, get valuable experience and not get exploited!
Thanks |
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JDYoung
Joined: 21 Apr 2003
Posts: 157
Location: Dongbei
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| Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2005 8:19 am Post subject: |
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| I first came to China 2 years ago at the age of 55 having never been out of North America. I had retired from a job with no teaching component. My degree, many years before that, was in physics. I did a 6 week general teaching skills course, then a 4 week TEFL course in Vancouver. I'm in Shenyang, just a few hours north of Dalian, here on my second contract. I don't know about Thailand but I have thoroughly enjoyed China. Wherever you go, keep an open mind. The rest of the world is not North America and generally doesn't want to be. Good luck with whatever you choose. PM me if you have any specific questions about being an older newbie in China. By the way, never say newbie to a Chinese. The phrase in Chinese is a gross insult. |
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go_ABs
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
Posts: 507
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| Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2005 12:37 pm Post subject: |
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| JDYoung wrote: |
| By the way, never say newbie to a Chinese. The phrase in Chinese is a gross insult. |
Really?! I never knew. Not that I use the word anyway... Would you mind explaining why that's so?
brewsterbudgen: JD's given you some excellent advice. My two cents: if you teach at a university in China you will often only teach 10-15 hours a week. That means that as an introduction to the profession, it's pretty cruisy.
On the other hand, I've never taught in Thailand so I don't know if it's the same there.
Good luck, though, and keep us updated! |
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JDYoung
Joined: 21 Apr 2003
Posts: 157
Location: Dongbei
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| Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2005 1:59 am Post subject: |
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| Newbie in Chinese. How can I put this without getting bleeped? It was explained to me as an insult used by uneducated ignorant men just before the fists start to fly. It is used in the idiomatic sense as "arrogant" but literally refers to female genetalia. |
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Taishan
Joined: 30 Oct 2003
Posts: 110
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| Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2005 4:14 pm Post subject: |
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Newbie does not sound like anything in Chinese!
Chinese is tonal therefore anything in English can only sound a little bit similar. Newbie sounds very vaguely 'Nu bi' female vagina or 'niu bi' which means cows vagina! It actually means wonderful, but it just for colloquial use and saying it at formal dinners is a no-no.
If you say newbie in a context when you are speaking English you will not cause a fight with random Chinese people! |
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Seth
Joined: 05 Feb 2003
Posts: 575
Location: in exile
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| Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2005 10:12 pm Post subject: |
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| Similar to Shabby. Don't say shabby in China, it means, more or less, the F word. |
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Tiger Beer
Joined: 08 Feb 2003
Posts: 778
Location: Hong Kong
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| Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2005 4:07 pm Post subject: |
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| 'never say' equates to 'please memorize and never forget' in my mind. |
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Zola
Joined: 25 Apr 2005
Posts: 5
Location: East Sussex, England
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| Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2005 5:38 pm Post subject: |
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| Seth wrote: |
| Similar to Shabby. Don't say shabby in China, it means, more or less, the F word. |
Sha3 = stupid
bi1 = the c word |
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coming soon
Joined: 16 Jun 2005
Posts: 47
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| Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2005 5:16 am Post subject: |
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I've only been in China for a few weeks but I have enjoyed every minute of it so far. My dean is taking me out to dinner twice a week and I'm spending most of my time just planning classes, going to the gym and relaxing before the semester starts. It's so easy to just jump in a bus and head to another city, to the country side and look at the China that I pictured in my head before arriving here.
I did spend many weeks reading the forums here before coming and I have to admit that it did make me a bit paranoid but so far so good. I always keep an eye out for trouble but it seems to have gone another way for now. This is almost too good to be true! |
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Chris_Crossley
Joined: 26 Jun 2004
Posts: 1797
Location: Still in the centre of Furnace City, PRC, after eight years!!!
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| Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2005 5:40 am Post subject: Before and after the semester starts - differences! |
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| coming soon wrote: |
I've only been in China for a few weeks but I have enjoyed every minute of it so far. My dean is taking me out to dinner twice a week and I'm spending most of my time just planning classes, going to the gym and relaxing before the semester starts. It's so easy to just jump in a bus and head to another city, to the country side and look at the China that I pictured in my head before arriving here.
I did spend many weeks reading the forums here before coming and I have to admit that it did make me a bit paranoid but so far so good. I always keep an eye out for trouble but it seems to have gone another way for now. This is almost too good to be true! |
Things may change once the semester starts, though. You will be expected to work your guts out, work with students who may be unmotivated, couldn't care less, talk in class, sleep in class, etc, etc, and you will be expected to pass those whom you would normally fail back home.
What you describe is simply the buttering-up process where they give you something and everything before the semester starts. Be aware that attitudes towards you on the part of the management MAY change once the semester starts. From then on, their attitude might be "Your a*s is mine".
| coming soon wrote: |
| This is almost too good to be true! |
Not that I am saying that this will definitely happen, but you must guard yourself against lulling yourself into a false sense of security just because your hosts are apparently bending over backwards for you at this time. Remember, this is China, and Chinese people do have a habit of being welcoming one minute, then being utterly nasty and vindictive the next.
Let the good times roll for now and enjoy them, certainly, but the raison d'etre for why you are here is to WORK. The Chinese won't let you forget that, but working hard does have its rewards. In my case, I now have a full-time job that pays highly and has allowed me and my wife to live in our own flat (with a small garden!) for the very first time in our lives after three years of marriage.
Depending upon your position, living and working in China can be both a blessing and a curse. I have had my fair share of blessing and cursing China and the people around me, but, happily, things are going just great!
Enjoy China!  |
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2 over lee
Joined: 07 Sep 2004
Posts: 1125
Location: www.specialbrewman.blogspot.com
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| Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2005 5:54 pm Post subject: |
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That is your best post yet Chris, balanced and well argued.
As for China vs. Thailand both usually crap pay. One has better weather. I'm staring to think a tropical country for EFl is my future, some teaching winters seem to last forever! |
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valley_girl
Joined: 22 Sep 2004
Posts: 272
Location: Somewhere in Canada
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| Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2005 11:48 pm Post subject: |
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| Seth wrote: |
| Similar to Shabby. Don't say shabby in China, it means, more or less, the F word. |
I discovered this a couple of weeks ago. In one class I teach (which contains all Chinese students), I was going over some vocabulary from a novel. The word "shabby" came up and the students broke out into hysterical laughter. They then told me it was a bad word in Chinese. Then a few moments later, the word "splash" came up and once again, laughter. Again I was told this was a bad word/phrase. I then said something to the effect of "there seem to be a lot of S words - shabby, splash - in Chinese that are bad words". Well, they were off their chairs! Unbeknownst to me, these two words together make a really horrific sentence!   |
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