Job Discussion Forums

[JDYoung]

I just accepted an offer for my first TEFL job. It's in Shenyang in northern China. I've posted my thanks to all on the Newbie forum. Now I need more China-specific help. I've done a ton of research on the TEFL industry, China and the specific school, Shenyang Red River Centre, including talking to current and former teachers. Any insider secrets you'd like to share?

[travesty21]

What sort of info. are you looking for? Pay, hours, etc. or about Shenyang and the school? Perhaps about what to bring and not to bring? So many questions and sooo many answers. Narrow it done for us.

[travesty21]

What sort of info. are you looking for? Pay, hours, etc. or about Shenyang and the school? Perhaps about what to bring and not to bring? So many questions and sooo many answers. Narrow it down for us.

[JDYoung]

Have all the details on the pay, hours, school. Could use some help on what to bring, particularly handy teaching aids schools might not provide and, since I'm a gadget person, advice on whether to get new electronics in Canada before I leave or wait till I get to Shenyang. Since I've read virtually every post on the General Discussion, Newbie and China forums and all of the old style journal entries, I'm looking for anything not posted yet.

[stevey]

have u been able to get hold of an email from a previous foreign teacher there? if not, ask for one - it might sound like you dont trust your employers by asking for it, but just use an excuse such as you want to find out first hand what it is like and wot difficulties he had which you can prepare for - once you get the email, you can get ALL the inside INFO andtop secret files on who's sleeping with who, who is a total bee-atch to work with, who you can rely on,etc,etc.

[Minhang Oz]

Congratulations, JD. I PMd you on the Newbie forum when you felt age was proving to be a barrier for a first timer.
Check your kitchen for the spices, condiments, magic ingredients you use a lot of. As long as they aren't heavy or bulky bring a big load with you.
Such things can be hard or impossible to find, or they are very pricey when you can locate them.
There's a long thread on this forum from a month or two ago on electricals. It should answer your questions.

[arioch36]

Get the address of your school, english and Chinese id best, and ship things such as books, if you like to read. if you are into your gadgets, bring them. They are not much cheaper in China, usually. Ask your school what they have?, better, ask the previous teacher.

[carken]

Yes, condiments are a good thing to bring. Other things to bring for your personal use are deodorant and vitamins. Deodorant is impossible to find in China and vitamins are just too expensive. Any other personal hygiene-type items that you think you can't live without, bring! A zip-loc bag of over-the-counter meds and first aid articles will be handy. Also, bring pics of your family and home to comfort you and as conversation starters for visitors.

I don't know what level you're teaching, but for any level, pictures (interesting magazine pics) are useful, posted on construction paper and laminated makes them practically indestructable; although they're heavier, I think it's worth it. A good grammar reference book and dictionary for you is good, but being an ESL teacher by profession in the States, I brought too much ESL stuff. You can get all the activities and info you need from the Internet. Books for you to read are good to bring if you have weight and space.

Good luck and enjoy!

[Michael T. Richter]

[Michael T. Richter]

I came to China with a stupid amount of stuff because I had no clue what to expect in the backwaters of a third-world country and didn't have the brains to ask here. After two years, I've narrowed down what I think is needed significantly. My list, grouped by functional category:

Personal

You will need the following things to survive in China:

• A sense of humour. Things in China are simply ridiculous. Things that would ordinarily take you five minutes back at home can take hours here. (I am only exaggerating a little bit.) Learn to laugh at life's ludicrousness and you'll get along here just fine. Take yourself and your life too seriously and you'll see your blood pressure go through the roof in a week.
• Wariness. The Chinese people can be helpful, warm and a genuine joy to be around (once you've got over some of the cultural differences). Chinese "leaders" are almost universally assholes. When you're dealing with Chinese "leaders", get everything in writing or assume it won't be delivered. It is not out of line to assume that everyone in a position of authority is trying to deceive you and rip you off. Not all of them are, but the ones who aren't are a sufficiently small group that you should just not bother trying to identify them.
• An open mind. This seems to contradict the previous item, but it doesn't. You do not need to open your mind to the point that your brain bounces from the brainpan. You need to realise, however, that you are in a foreign country with very different values, customs and beliefs than you hold. You will see things that shock you, disgust you and in general disturb you. Centre yourself and realise that they are not you, and that you are not they. Don't go native, but respect their way of doing things (insofar as it doesn't directly impact you). You will make no friends by telling the locals that everything they do is wrong and that you are the sole arbiter of some mythical Right Way.

Hygenic

Don't bother bringing more than a single bar of soap, a single container of shampoo, a single tube of toothpaste, a single container of shaving cream (but c.f. below), a single set of razors, etc. These things can be readily obtained locally, even in backwaters. At most, if you are in the countryside, you may have to make a quick trip to a nearby medium-sized city (which are as common as dirt in China) to pick them up. What you will need to bring are:

• Deodorant. This is simply not available in China. The closest I got to it was some Adidas body deodorant picked up at an obscene price in Shanghai. Now personally I'd recommend something like Crystal Stick. I started using that in August of last year and I'm still on my first stick. The stuff is nigh-miraculous both for its deodorising effect (without perfume, no less!) and its longevity.
• Dental floss. It's available in China, but difficult to find. I had to get a student to ask her boyfriend in Shenzhen to seek some out to mail to me. Alternatively bring along something like a Sulcabrush and a supply of extra heads for it. It takes up less room for a one-year supply.
• Shaving oil. Men can bring along shaving cream/gel and can find razors and shaving cream/gel locally. The pricing is a bit high on the cream/gel, however, so I recommend instead something like Somersets shaving oil. The containers are tiny, the shaving oil feels and, IMO, smells nice, and a single container is enough for three months of daily shaving. A years' supply will take up less than half the space of a single, small container of shaving cream. (Of course an electrical razor is also a possibility, but c.f. below about electrical items.)
• Canestan (or other anti-fungal creams). You will get athlete's foot (or worse) here unless you are the most careful person on the face of the planet. And when you get it, you'll find it difficult-to-impossible to find antifungal treatments. Bring a tube or two of Canestan or equivalent with you.
• Tampons. Women who use tampons, at least by reports I've heard from my female colleagues, cannot find them in China except for the occasional batch of very, very, very low-quality ones. If you use tampons, bring a supply with you. You won't find them locally.

Electrical and electronic

Be careful with anything electrical or electronic you bring. The local voltage is 240VAC/50Hz. Europeans should have little difficulty with this, but North Americans beware: your electrical supply is 110-120VAC/60Hz. In general this means that you should carefully check the input requirements of anything you bring. It must be capable of coping with 240VAC and it must be capable of coping with 50Hz. Items which are purely electronic (i.e. which have no motor) can usually be made to work locally with transformers (although I have yet to find a transformer locally which can pass ground through -- wiring that by hand is a pain in the butt!), but items which have electrical motors will not. AC motors are very finicky about the cycle rate. A motor for 60Hz will not work on a 50Hz line, no matter the voltage.

My personal recommendation is to bring along small personal electronics (PDAs, etc.) only if the power supply can cope with the local utilities. You can check this out on the unit itself. For example my printer says "100-240VAC/50-60Hz". It's internationalised. My scanner's power supply, on the other hand, wants 230VAC/50Hz. I can't take it back home.

Don't bother bringing anything with a motor (including hair dryers) unless you're absolutely positive it will work with the local power supply. Electric razors that have to be plugged in while working will likely not fare well, but electric razors that have to be charged may -- check the specs. Most things that you'd bring along like this may be purchased locally, however, so don't worry too much if you have to leave them behind.


Teaching material

A decent dictionary, a decent book of grammar, a decent thesaurus and a decent style guide are a must. Anything else is optional. I personally strongly recommend the Cambridge Press books Discussions that Work and Five-Minute Activities. They're small, but they're packed with information I really found useful.

Other books I use, but don't necessarily strongly recommend, include the various [Foo] Games books from publishers like Cambridge Press and Longman. They're very useful, but they're also very large to be lugging around. (Besides you can buy them on a weekend trip to any city with a respectable foreign language bookstore. I got mine in Hangzhou, Shanghai and even Nanjing.)

One book I do recommend you get in advance, however, if you're going to teach Business English, is the Cambridge Press book Decisionmaker. This book is full of exercises which stretch Business English vocabulary, oral practice, written practice and throw in a smattering of actual business choices. I could run half a semester of Business English just from the activities in this book with the other half consisting of preperatory lessons to introduce some key concepts as well as exams, etc.

Almost anything else you need to prepare lessons can be found on the Internet -- sometimes just by popping in a message here and watching for responses. I'd recommend that you plan at least two weeks' lessons in detail in advance, and, perhaps even better, a month's worth, but not much beyond that (because you're always going to have to adapt your lesson plans to the actual abilities of your students). (Many schools will demand a course outline complete with lesson outlines. Supply them, but realise that in most cases these outlines are purest fiction anyway. If your class can't cope with the speed, change them on the fly.)

[JDYoung]

Thank you all so much for the great, practical advice. I'm a long time computer geek so I've collected a ton of clip art and scanned magazine pictures to print out as needed. They will be on my hard drive and also burned to CD in case of disaster. Even lighter than carrying unlaminated paper.

I'm used to having to wait for stuff to be shipped. I currently live in a village of 1700 - 100 km from the nearest traffic light and 150 km from the nearest Tim Horton's. Having to go into the city to pick up books and other stuff will be simple.

I'll make sure I pack condiments, deodorant and dental floss. One of the advantages of being an older newbie is that I no longer have to worry about tampons.

I'm off to Vancouver next week to get my visa and will do some book shopping. I agree that packing anything you can get from the internet is a waste of space and weight. I'm going to get a new notebook computer and will be sure to get all the right adapters. Vancouver has a lot of immigrants from China so I'm sure that with their help and the information you folks have provided I'll be able to get what I need.

Sense of humour, flexibility, open mind, etc. I hope I've got them.

Thanks again.