Job Discussion Forums

[askiptochina]

I taught in Japan for 4 years and over 2 years in Korea. I am used to living in Asia, and I also studied in Beijing. However, I would like to go somewhere else.

I am considering Shanghai, but I am open to suggestions. In both Japan and Korea, my best experiences have been where I worked directly with the school owner. This means small school, only one native English teacher, lots of freedom to run the class the way I want relative to the students' needs, and at least some or all adult classes so I can visit parts of the country with them. I have done 90% of the classes in Korea with younger kids, so I am looking for a job with at least middle school and up. If I got a job with a mix, it would be worth considering.

Also, I like living outside major cities. In Japan, I lived in Kyoto, but even that was kinda big for me. I preferred teaching between Kyoto and Osaka in small schools. In Korea, there are smaller satellite cities around Seoul, and I have enjoyed living about 1 hour from Seoul. It gets too crowded in Seoul, especially on weekends.

So, I am wondering how Shanghai compares. Osaka is like Seoul in my opinion. Is Shanghai, if anyone knows, more like Tokyo? Any good places outside of Shanghai or areas in Shanghai you recommend?

I was told by someone who lives in Shanghai it's easy to travel into the city, so I wouldn't mind getting a decent job outside of the city.

The next thing I am wondering is the average monthly salary I could expect.

[Sugar & Spice]

I've never been to Japan, but, did live in Shanghai. Shanghai is similar to New York, so, I'm guessing more like Tokyo.

You can travel into Shanghai from outside the city, but, it will take awhile depending on where you live. If you taught in the Songjiang "University Town" area it would take almost 2 hours to get into the city in order to go to a foreigner friendly bar/restaurant. Therefore, you probably would only go into town on the weekends and would most likely need to get a hotel room, sleep in the park or stay in the bar until 6am!

As for salary, if you taught at a university out there you might receive a salary of 8k. If you taught in the city I would look for at least 10k w/ housing or 13k w/o housing. Personally, I think 15k w/o housing is fine in town.

Before someone inevitably claims that you should/could earn more than 15k in Shanghai, the figures above are for strictly ORAL ENGLISH/Speaking classes without any additional part-time jobs.