Job Discussion Forums

[Midge]

Hi all. Sometime in Feb 2010 I will be headed to Yunnan with my husband, who is doing research for his PhD. In order to make myself useful for the 11 months that we'll be there, I am in the process of getting TEFL certification through MTTP (Midwest Teacher Training Program...it's awesome). I also have a master's in Science Education.

As far as I know, we'll be in Kunming for a couple of months when we first arrive, then head up to Shangri La for the rest of the year.

I don't know what sort of visa I'll have...there might be a spousal thing that I can get, but I might have to just be on a tourist visa. I'm not opposed to working at a school, but have no interest in a contract at this time since we have a weird schedule. We're not super concerned about money since the hub's research is paid for, but it would be nice to make a little. I don't mind being paid in rice and vegetables, either.

I figured I'd try to pick up a few tutoring students in Kunming to get more experience and pass the time, then try and gather small classes while I'm up in Shangri La. Does this sound doable? Anybody want to come to Shangri La with me?

[vikuk]

When you talk about Shangrila - then I presume you're talking about Zhongdian.
Just be careful - since you haven't got a work visa - then you're not supposed to work. In Kunming your operation shouldn't cause too many problems - but in Zhongdian - which is in a Tibetan area - you'll be a little more obvious. Security was stepped up in these areas about a year and a half back - although I have no idea how the Situationn is in Zhongdian at present - its always best to be a little cautious in such places (at least at the beginning of your stay).
In the past there used to be a few foreigners working in Zhongdian as so-called volunteer aid workers - on those expensive aid/tourism packages - so foreigners working in this city isn't anything new.

[Midge]

Yes, I'm referring to Zhongdian (Gyalthang). There's so little information about it besides the occasional blog post about people passing through as part of some tour. I know there are a handful of foreigners there doing god-knows-what, as well as organizations like ETTI that host a few volunteers. Thanks for your response...hopefully someone else here knows a little more about how things are there.

[Cairnsman]

[Midge]

[vikuk]

[Midge]

[vikuk]

the school that I stayed at was very short on facilities and equipment ( a grasslands boarding school - three small kids to one bunk) - none of the teachers could speak English and some of the children could barely speak Chinese - getting there involved a major expedition - so all in all - with the extra work they'd have to put in to cater for my presence I could well have been a drain on meager resources rather than a huge educational benefit. The school also concentrated on teaching the three R's - English didn't seem to be on the curriculum - and I'm not sure the local PSB would have been too happy to find an FT teaching at the school.

That school received some funds from a Norwegian charity - and a far more useful way of helping this kind of place - is to organise fund raising so the locals can ensure that the kids get better food, more hygienic living conditions, qualified medical supervision if sick, and more basic school materials - like paper, pencils and better text books.
As for learning - well English may seem a great idea - but far more pressing are lessons concerning basic hygiene, disease prevention, agriculture (the grasslands are being torn-up with over-grazing - and what forest is left needs to be saved), and environmental care (the idea of a Tibetan village may seem romantic - but the modern day reality has many of these places looking more like litter strewn rubbish dumps ).

As for learning English for tourism - about a year back we drew up a plan for training Tibetan Eco-tourist guides in Ganzi prefecture Sichuan - which is now being fostered by an American funded aid agency.
However in the present climate, the English learning side of the plan has been watered down - it aint easy to get permission to send foreign English teachers out to the far west - especially if the recipients of that teaching are to be ordinary locals.
If you intend to teach English to those who aren't the kids of party officials, or the rich - then make sure at the beginning it's low key - after a little time you should be able to find someone who has a sympathetic ear for your ideas, and can give some help - but running in like the proverbial bull in the China shop could cause problems.

At the moment we don't do ant education related work - our present major project is an environmental impact survey in the NE of Sichuan - but we still get out west about once a month - the best part of China by far!!!!!!!!

[nobleignoramus]

Since Gyaltham was in the ancient Kham Tibetan area - the then so-called "Inner Tibet" as opposedto the "Outer Tibet", i.e. today's Tibet A.R. - you might find visiting the www.khamaid.org website useful.

[Midge]

[Midge]

[vikuk]

As far as Khamaid goes - you can make yourself a job right from the start - help them sort out a decent webpage.

Last winter we were at a NGO workshop that was focused on projects in the Kham region - there's a mass of good organisations out there - Tibetan language schools, environmental groups, cultural groups, craft workers - but nearly all of them needed help with getting their message put over the net so they too could argue their case for aid money and expert help.
I'm sure in Zhongdian you'll run into someone who's looking for help in the field of organisation and publicity - but I'm afraid that 99.5% of those jobs are on a strictly volunteer basis.