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Shandy
Joined: 16 Jul 2008 Posts: 11
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Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 6:18 pm Post subject: Baotou Teachers College |
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Hi folks,
I was just wondering if anyone out there has experience of working at Baotou Teachers College. I would like to know what your teaching experience was like and what you thought about Baotou city in general.
thank you in advance for your comments.
Shandy
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North China Laowei
Joined: 08 Apr 2008 Posts: 419
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Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 10:38 pm Post subject: Re: Baotou Teachers College |
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Shandy wrote: |
Hi folks,
I was just wondering if anyone out there has experience of working at Baotou Teachers College. I would like to know what your teaching experience was like and what you thought about Baotou city in general.
thank you in advance for your comments.
Shandy
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Dear Shandy,
Baotou can be awfully, awfully, awfully cold in winter. If you come from Manitoba, or Saskatchewan or Labrador or remote parts of Scotland, you will have no problems handling the winter in Baotou.
But unless you like long bouts of -25 C to -30 C, and sometimes even worse, then I would seriously looking at a another job offer.
The city can be really dark, dank, cold and uninviting from November until late April...
but it's your choice.
NCL |
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Shandy
Joined: 16 Jul 2008 Posts: 11
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Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 8:50 am Post subject: |
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Oh no! I am not used to this weather or anything even close. When I was young, my father declined taking up a job in Saskatchewan when he heard he would be snowed in for a few months each year out there. Is Baotou really this bad? |
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vikuk

Joined: 23 May 2007 Posts: 1842
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Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 9:11 am Post subject: |
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or remote parts of Scotland |
even the most remote parts of Scotland benefit from the warming effects of the warm waters of the Gulf-stream, which flows down the west side of UK. The Winter climate of Scotland - although cold - can hardly be ranked with the likes of Saskatchewan - and indeed with the onset of global warming - even snow has become a rarity for our Haggis eating friends.
As for Baotou city - well I don't know naught about this place - but I"m pretty sure that Haggis isn't one of their lunchtime staples!!!
Sorry for highjacking the thread - but I just had to stick up for the jock-climate. |
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fitzgud
Joined: 24 Jan 2006 Posts: 148 Location: Henan province
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Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 9:19 am Post subject: |
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Sorry for highjacking the thread - but I just had to stick up for the jock-climate. |
Why? |
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vikuk

Joined: 23 May 2007 Posts: 1842
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Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 9:22 am Post subject: |
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Because I'm Welsh (we also share that Gulf Stream with the Scots) - and I'd hate to see someone comparing our climate to that of an Amazonian rainforest
By the way OP - the best way to get real info of the place you intend to work is by contacting an FT who has really worked there - sometimes the secondhand info here looks a little dubious. if your prospective employer can't put you in touch with an ex-FT - then it could be a good idea to find another job offer  |
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Shandy
Joined: 16 Jul 2008 Posts: 11
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Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 10:30 am Post subject: |
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Yes, I will probably have to ask my prospective employer to put me in touch with an FT that has before worked in the college. I had hoped to meet one on this forum.
... and you're right: Scotland is not that cold. |
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Rooster_2006
Joined: 24 Sep 2007 Posts: 984
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Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 6:13 am Post subject: Re: Baotou Teachers College |
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Shandy wrote: |
Hi folks,
I was just wondering if anyone out there has experience of working at Baotou Teachers College. I would like to know what your teaching experience was like and what you thought about Baotou city in general.
thank you in advance for your comments.
Shandy
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I would not do it if I were you.
I "got a job" in Baotou.
However, the public school that hired me informed me that basically NO ONE is getting letters from the Foreign Experts Bureau to teach in Inner Mongolia.
This was a little while ago, before the Olympics, so that may have been part of it, but Inner Mongolia is famous for being too paranoid to let anyone in.
You might end up there without a Z visa, or if you're applying for a visa from outside China, you might be waiting for several weeks only for your recruiter to say "sorry, it's impossible."
My recruiter told me (and the denizens of Dave's agreed) that Baotou actually requires a criminal background check from the FBI if you're an American (which takes months)!
Work elsewhere. |
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Shan-Shan

Joined: 28 Aug 2003 Posts: 1074 Location: electric pastures
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Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 6:37 am Post subject: |
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Code: |
My recruiter told me (and the denizens of Dave's agreed) that Baotou actually requires a criminal background check from the FBI if you're an American (which takes months)!
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And good thing. I read that sometime last year, four U.S. citizens were caught at Baotou International Airport with suitcases full of stolen coal. After having their goods confiscated, one of the Americans grabbed a rusted pipe and held a yak hostage for two and a half minutes before a police sniper managed to shoot the wicked economic spy in the head.
Best us greedy Westerners find other places to get our sooty air and mercury-laden water highs. Leave poor Baotou alone. |
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arioch36
Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 3589
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Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 7:40 am Post subject: |
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Excuse me if I'm wrong ... the FBI will give you a background check? I do not believe so
What did the police do with the coal? |
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Shan-Shan

Joined: 28 Aug 2003 Posts: 1074 Location: electric pastures
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Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 8:45 am Post subject: |
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What did the police do with the coal? |
After first reciting passages from Hu-Thought to rally their uncorruptable socialist strength, they squeezed the coal into a million Polly Pocket Princesses for immediate export. |
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tuvia
Joined: 29 Mar 2006 Posts: 34 Location: beijing
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Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 10:06 am Post subject: |
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what did they do with the coal? i think they probably put it into a milk product.
there was most likely difficulty getting visas and related paperwork processed pre-olympics, but now it should be back to whatever usual is. i dont agree with the statements about inner mongolia or baotou being any more difficult than other parts of china to get a work visa; i studied chinese for a short time at inner mongolia u. in hohhot quite awhile back, and have known a few people who have taught english in different parts of the province.
and i dont believe the fbi is available to give you a criminal background check so that u can get a job teaching english in china. |
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arioch36
Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 3589
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Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 1:43 pm Post subject: |
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bradley
Joined: 28 Mar 2005 Posts: 235 Location: China
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Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2008 9:55 am Post subject: |
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My former co-worker taught there and loved it....... |
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