| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
james0
Joined: 23 Jun 2007
Posts: 29
|
 Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 5:31 pm Post subject: Chongqing? (related information appreciated) |
 |
|
I received two contracts from universities in Chongqing, one at the Normal University, and the other at the Uni. Of Science and Tech.
One is paying 3600, the other 3000, both with housing, etc.
Does anyone have any opinions regarding Chongqing as a city to live and teach in?
Thankyou! |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
therock
Joined: 31 Jul 2005
Posts: 1266
Location: China
|
| Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 5:49 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Don't know much about Chongqing, but.....
If you accept any of those pathetically low paying jobs you are encouraging the schools to keep salaries low. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
inwanzhou
Joined: 20 Mar 2003
Posts: 136
|
| Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 10:56 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I use to live near Chongqing--it's a gritty and dirty city--very polluted--however the women are absolutely beautiful--I was in total awe of them--and I'm a lady myself. I've got a couple of good friends that live there. They love it because it's not a 'westernized' as the other large cities.
As for the low paying--yikes I would never accept a job for 3000rmb a month--that's low. I would have gone higher! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
vikuk
Joined: 23 May 2007
Posts: 1842
|
| Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2007 12:41 am Post subject: |
|
|
James's last posts concerned accepting a job in a Beijing primary school - now in one thread he's graduated to queries concerning teaching at a Chongqing uni!!!!! Kinda sums up the Chinese job market!!!!!
With the 3,000/month job one wonders if the last employee was given the push because they were being paid 3,500 and management came up with that ol' brainwave - "always a cheaper monkey 'round the corner" |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Mister Al
Joined: 28 Jun 2004
Posts: 840
Location: In there
|
| Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2007 1:48 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Chongqing is not the worst place in the world but the skies are grey grey grey. The weather in winter is cold and damp and in summer hot and humid. Good food and the best looking women in China. You are being offered crap wages. Don't accept.....end of story. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
james0
Joined: 23 Jun 2007
Posts: 29
|
| Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2007 5:54 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I am only 22, I didn't think it would be so awful to scrape by in a country I've never been to before. Plus I speaky zhongwen. I just cant decide between being screwed through a shroud in Beijing and being screwed in broad daylight in Chongqing. I don't have enough experience (none officially), nor any manner of certification to expect to make much more than that. Ultimately I see myself sacrificing 6 months of my life to getting my foot in the door, from which point I might have a little leverage to move up the ladder.
Im stuck between 6600 with no housing in Beijing working 18hours a week plus travel time around the city for a total towards 25.
3000 For 18 hours plus English Corner at Chongqing Normal U. (w/ housing and lunch)
and 3660 For 12 hours at Chongqing U. of Sci. and Tech. (w/ housing)
its hard to make up my mind. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
therock
Joined: 31 Jul 2005
Posts: 1266
Location: China
|
| Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2007 6:23 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| The 3660 for 12 hours seems the best option. Since you only have to teach 12 hours, you can easily find some part time work to supplement your income. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
james0
Joined: 23 Jun 2007
Posts: 29
|
| Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2007 10:19 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| I have heard (somewhere on this site) that Normal U.'s lean more towards the LIberal arts side of things and that Science and Tech. U's are more technical, that Normal U's students are more interested in learning English than in Tech schools. Could this student body advantage make the difference of a couple hours and 660 rmb? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
tw
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
Posts: 3898
|
| Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2007 1:49 am Post subject: |
|
|
| james0 wrote: |
| I have heard (somewhere on this site) that Normal U.'s lean more towards the LIberal arts side of things and that Science and Tech. U's are more technical, that Normal U's students are more interested in learning English than in Tech schools. Could this student body advantage make the difference of a couple hours and 660 rmb? |
Graduates of normal universities, or teacher-training colleges/universities, usually go on to become middle school teachers. English majors can even end up as university lecturers. Generally speaking, normal universities have more female students than male students. Sometimes, the name of a school is just that -- a name, as Chinese teachers will tell you. Just because a school's name is so-and-so technical university, it doesn't mean it doesn't have a foreign language department, and definitely doesn't mean its students have any less interest in studying English than their counterparts in a normal university. Of course, teaching oral English to a class of biology majors will be quite different from teaching oral English to a class of English majors. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
vikuk
Joined: 23 May 2007
Posts: 1842
|
| Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2007 2:52 am Post subject: |
|
|
from the wording and thought that went into your last couple of posts - you seem to be the kind of person that won't have too much trouble in China.
Getting your foot in the door maybe the best bet for you - with this in mind those 12 hours in Chongqing are very much the best bet.
Chongqing is a far friendlier place to start out as an FT - and working in that uni maybe a far friendlier working environment than a Beijing mill sweatshop - and there are many possibilities to find extra work in Chongqing without having to worry about the massive FT competition you'll find in Beijing. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
jg
Joined: 26 Mar 2003
Posts: 1263
Location: Ralph Lauren Pueblo
|
| Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2007 3:39 am Post subject: |
|
|
If you speak Chinese and have a bit of savings I suggest going in on a tourist visa and finding a job in-country. By a "bit of savings" I mean around $1000 US.
or
I also don't see why you have to sacrifice 6 months of your young (and ambitious) life towards a bottom-feeder job. Get thee to a summer camp! While at the camp you can look for work much more easily, probably even visit the school you want to work at beforehand. Summercamp can be a blast and I think they are a great introduction to China, and they might not be so strict about your not having a degree.
Also checkout kindergartens, they might be more flexible also. I saw a few ads on www.asiaxpat.com...
and here's one from Daves, they seem to specifically be looking for warm bodies, degreed or not. You'll be busy and work often during a summer camp but again, its fun as fudge and the money ain't shabby if you go with the right one.
http://www.eslcafe.com/jobs/china/index.cgi?read=17460 |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
vikuk
Joined: 23 May 2007
Posts: 1842
|
| Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2007 4:23 am Post subject: |
|
|
The best practical qualification for the FT - is having a bank card that has enough funds on it to allow you to live in China for a period without working (so you can find or get away from jobs) - and if the worst comes to the worst - allowing you to buy a ticket home!!!!
The problem of coming to a pre-arranged job is that - if you don't have enough "get out of jail" funds - your employer may have you by the short and curlies, since they know you need that job at almost all costs - and may treat you in a manner that reflects this fact!!!!
As for summer camps -
| Quote: |
| You'll be busy and work often during a summer camp but again, its fun as fudge |
well this is a very subjective view - since some peoples fudge may be other folks shiiite. Whatever your views on summer camps are - they don't really reflect real teaching employment - and are very intensive experiences in the intense heat of the summer. But unless you're actually in country at the moment getting work at one may be a mute point - since most of them are taking place right now - its just too late to sigh up unless you find some August camp that happens to still be requiring FT's (as shown in advert placed in the last post) - and then you'll still have to hurry.
As for kindergarten - well that's my specialty. There are two camps here -
The big payers (and they go for a certain type of quality - that mainly stems from the FT's empathy for, and manner with small children. But if you can add to this qualification/experience that actually results in Children speaking some English (and not your sing a song/sentence regurgitation rubbish) and a history of staying power - and not deciding to quit after 6 months, which is so common for FT's in kindy - then you can quite easily take your wage over the 10k mark). However finding these jobs, like all other high payers can be tricky � and often takes place in country, where wages are negotiated face to face after you�ve argued, in both the practical and bargaining sense, your case for the higher wage.
The poor payers - those who also expect they can hire a monkey at 3/4k. Some of these places turn to big payer after they've gone through their 3 rd teacher half way through the school year - which should tell you something about this type of teaching - its very difficult (specialised) over a period of time - especially if you're being paid peanuts for your work.
It can also be lonely work - far easier to make friends and contacts when working with older students - a group in which there's always somebody to talk to |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
MeiMei
Joined: 06 Feb 2006
Posts: 35
|
| Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 4:10 am Post subject: Come to Chengdu Instead |
|
|
| Chongqing has no nightlife or good expat community. Come to Chengdu where there are plenty of jobs and the pay is better. For example, my school is looking for 4 new teachers and paying 4000RMB with paid holidays and summers. The expact community has all the sports teams, bars, Englsh bookstores and supermarkets with foreign food. If your interested e-mail me [email protected] and maybe we can set something up. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
james0
Joined: 23 Jun 2007
Posts: 29
|
| Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 5:26 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Thank you so much MeiMei but I've heard of the Chengdu Strangler and I know I fit the demographic so I've got to stay away from that city and its seedy expats til they capture her. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
MeiMei
Joined: 06 Feb 2006
Posts: 35
|
| Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 6:25 am Post subject: Chengdu Strangler |
|
|
Ok that�s news to me. All I see are nice people and a nice foreign community. But for fun I will look into this. I have lived her for 1 year and I only know of one person who got beat up, and that was because he had a fast mouth and a slow brain. Good luck and hope you find what your looking for.
I�m assuming your joking about the Chengdu Strangler. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
