Job Discussion Forums

chaz · Joined: 13 Apr 2003 Posts: 7 Location: London

I'm hoping to start my first job in China in June. Can anyone give me some advice on the best cities/areas to look? Very general, I know, but I'm trying to narrow it down a little!
Also, what do people know/think (constructively) about EF English First and Saxoncourt? Anyone working for them at the moment?
Would love some advice!!

MW · Joined: 03 Apr 2003 Posts: 115 Location: China

If you have to ask you may not be ready to know.

Read the discussion board. Things do not change quickly in China, particularly leopards and their spots.

Roger · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 9138

Finding a "best place in CHina" for you sounds like matching a good girl with a marriageable but unknown man. Very few marriages brokered by a third party work out perfectly!
I suggest you purchase a LONELY PLANET and get acquainted with the country that is supposed to play host to you.
After all, teaching here should be rewarding in not just one way.

EF is a franchised school, it operates differently from place to place. THe one overriding fact that I bear in mind is that their weekly hours of work are an uniform 40!
Accepting such a job is like accepting an 8-to-5 job back home!
I wouldn't touch any such job even at triple the regular monthly salary of an ESL teacher!

ChinaLady · Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2003 3:43 am Post subject: the best place in China?

sorry - this has been said before. you need to visit BUT first you need to read about the country. Xi'an is different from Shanghai is different from ???? well, you get the idea? summers in Shanghai are hot and muggy, winter is cold, cold cold. most classrooms have no heat or aircon. maybe a fan. and as you go North or South the extremes become more extreme. after sveral years in Asia teaching, I now spend the money to visit the school and meet the faculty. including the Chinese and the foreign teachers. if, IF, the people showing you around tell you the foreign teachers are to busy to talk to you - RUN!! and if they will not show you the flat you will be living in - RUN FASTER!! money is not the determiner in China. lifestyle is!