Job Discussion Forums

cr1127 · Joined: 12 Jun 2006 Posts: 2

hi,

i hope to be teaching in china within the next few months. i've been offered a few positions and the two that most interest me are universities in zhenzhou (taizhou univ.) and bengbu (anhui school of science and tech.). can anyone tell me anything about the schools? the staff? the students? positive experiences or should i stay away? how about the locations? what are the cities like? i've never lived in china and am both nervous and excited about the prospect. any help would be greatly appreciated.

thanks!

NorbertRadd · Posted: Sun Jun 18, 2006 10:29 pm Post subject:

anhui might be better only because Henan's still in the cultural revolution mentally and economically

grwit · Joined: 20 Apr 2006 Posts: 329 Location: Dagobah

Hi cr1127

I live about 1hr away from bengbu and it is a fairly good city! Not the best I'v been to but its ok.

I must Warn you the anhui school of science and tech is NOT actually in bengbu. Its about 30mins bus drive away in a much smaller town called Fengyang. I had friends teaching there last year. It is a good uni. Its fairly new and clean. The teachers dorms are brand new just built last year. The college staff seemed to look after my friends very well. They had a good time there. The city however isn't that great. It's very small and dirty. There is no western influence there at all. No McDs or KFC or any western resturants for that matter. Bengbu has all of these things though and its not far away. Fengyang does have a bit of history though. 1 of china's many emperors used to live there and his temple is still standing right in the middle of town. The surrounding shops have converted the emperors wives and soldiers living quarters into their businesses. So the buildings that the shops are now in are very old too.

All in all... The uni is great the town is not so great. I guess it just depends on what style of living you want to have in china. If you want to live a western lifestyle maybe it is not for you but if you want to embrace the chinese way of living then you should enjoy yourself there.

grwit · Joined: 20 Apr 2006 Posts: 329 Location: Dagobah

Check out this thread....

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/job/viewtopic.php?t=39841

gregmcd101 may be your new work mate if you both decide to accept the offer at Anhui uni of Sci and Tech.

gregmcd101 · Joined: 06 Jun 2006 Posts: 144 Location: Ireland (for now)

I have actually accepted that now, so will we there for sure next year. Are any of your friends still there? got any useful web links.? Ive also communicated with cr1127. How knows, we could all be sharing beers in a few months time. BTW, do you happen to know when the academic year starts? I forgot to ask, i just know its september!!

cheers

greg

grwit · Joined: 20 Apr 2006 Posts: 329 Location: Dagobah

Nah my friends have gone back to Australia! Actually they wern't really my friends but the friends of the other foreign teachers at my college and we spent some time together travelling and stuff last year! I can get their email and PM it to you if you like!

The other teachers there I met once!
Terry - a girl from England
Louise - A lady from Australia

But I think their contracts will expire this july so I don't know if they will still be working there either.