Job Discussion Forums

[PAzine]

Hi there,

Care to help me do some advance planning?

I'm currently working in Taiyuan on a full time contract. I teach 19 hours a week, but with breaks and gaps and whatnot, I spend about 30 hours a week at the school.

Still, this gives me a lot of time to work on my main project (a web content system).

My contract is up in 6 months. Hopefully, my web project will be generating sufficient income by then. If not, China seems a good place to lay low and continue to earn the means to pursue my dream.

Here are my Q's:

1. Next February, how hard will it be for me to score a 6-month contract for LESS than 20 total hours a week (total teaching time plus time on site)? I guess I'll need a visa as well.

2. What's realistic wage for a gig like that? 6,000 RMB with free private accomodation would make me happy.

3. Where is a good place to spend spring 2008 that's chilled out and has a decent expat community?

4. If I end up in a remote place, will Internet access be an issue?

FYI, I'm a Canadian male (36) with solid teaching references from Japan, Korea, and Taiwan.

[Steppenwolf]

Q 3: Yangshuo, GUangxi; alternatively: Kunming, Yunnan; Hong Kong; Macau; Shanghai...

[SheZook]

The only problem with Yangshuo during spring is the rain. It pretty much rains constantly.
Kunming's a bit bigger and there's a decent nightlife and in my opinion, a bit cleaner.
Never been to Macau but do plan to get there at some point. Hong Kong and Shanghai are big, noisy, vibrant and expensive places to "chill out".
Kunming's probably the best bet and is a good base if you're planning to travel to Vietnam/Laos/Thailand/Myanmar.

[Mydnight]

Stay out of Guangdong. There are your "better" places, but they simply do not compare with the other places I've been.

I wouldn't go to HK either.



Look for something in Sichuan; best in some small town that didn't have foreign teachers before. It will be one of the best experiences in your life.

[waxwing]

Kunming is great - beautiful weather, clean, cool .. just enough Western style stuff to get by. ADSL is pretty solid. If you went to smaller towns in Yunnan, I'd have my doubts about the internet service which is obviously important for you.
But as for jobs, I don't know, and I would be amazed if it was easy to get a gig teaching English at 6K for less than 20 hours. Anyway, I'm out of my depth, I didn't teach there. Also, for visas, a trip to HK for renewal of an F costs a fair bit.

[tofit]

internet is not a problem. Even in the country side you can find an internet bars. With chickens and goats welcoming you at the door.

[SheZook]

I'm betting that the only place you'll be able to earn 6K a month for less than 20hrs is a Uni. Unless you plan on heading to a big city, in which case cost of living will be so much more.
I've worked in a variety of different schools/centres, both public and private, in different parts of China and I've never had to spend any extra time "on-site" other than for my scheduled classes. On average, my scheduled hours are between 15 and 20. I'm at a public senior high school at the moment, working 20hrs a week and I can choose to work overtime if I wish but I rarely do these days. I earn close to 6K every month but that's only because my school doesn't want me to leave and they keep giving me more money to stay. I do like the school but I'm tired of teaching kids. I've put my foot down this term though and I'm definitely going in 5 weeks, no matter how much money they offer.

[waxwing]

[lychee]

Mynight,

If you hate Guangdong so much and you advise other people not to go there, why do you stay? Is it for the money? You always go on about how money orientated the Guangdong people are ?
So why stay in a place you hate ?
It is a bit sad that you complain and complain on this forum about the province and the Chinese. I wonder how your "20 Chinese friends" would feel after reading your posts"


Don'bite the hand that feeds you

[PAzine]

[PAzine]

Still a bit concerned about net access, wherever I end up.

Here in Taiyuan (a city of 4 million), the broadband speeds are pretty slow.

And, for some reason, torrent downloads don't work (not relevant to my project, but still...)

Which reminds me... do you miss stuff like Wikipedia since you came to China? I did. And then someone passed me a link to a proxy server.

I might as well do the same. Bypass "the man" with this: http://server16.kproxy.com/

Just type in the URL you want to visit.

[waxwing]

[jammish]

No, it's true, kunming is extraordinarily hard to get a decent ESL teaching job in. At my school in dalian I get over 10,000 a month, with paid acommodation and 5 months' odd of paid holidays. That's for an eighteen hour working week.

My colleague here has looked in kunming many times but found nothing, despite being qualified enough to get a job where we are.

Of course, i'm not complaining, cos dalian isn't too bad (apart from the winters) but kunming seemed a very cool place when i visited it, it has the nearest thing to a genuine local bar scene, that i have seen in china, for one thing... I would guess that most ESL jobs there paid about 3000 RMB a month.

[waxwing]

5 months of paid holidays?

[Mister Al]