Job Discussion Forums

[koreatom]

I'm in Korea now... I like it... don't love it... am open to move and don't mind staying here...

So I'm pretty open to options. Can someone give me the lowdown for China (compared with Korea)? I really am wondering about money. Everybody knows one goes to Korea to save bundles... is it possible to save bundles in China? How do they salaries/living expenses compare? What is the typical salary in China? Do they pay for your apartment and airfare?

Basically, can I go to China and make the same as in Korea?

Thank-yee.

[koreatom]

Hi,

I have two years experience between Thailand and Korea- public elementary schools. I'm an English major and a widely published journalist, and my last job before teaching was copy editing (proofreading) for a major real estate company (not like any of this has much to do with teaching, but prospective employers seem to like the editing/writing background). I am not certified but may get my TEFL online.

I'd like to work in a big city. But I'd probably only go if I could save near the amount of money I save in Korea. Doesn't sound like that's going to happen.

Nice pic, by the way...

[Anda]

You would get about 4,500 RMB working for government schools in small cities plus holidays, accommodation etc. In Shanghai you could get up to 15,000 RMB but you have to pay for your own accommodation for public schools and you only get paid for 10 months of the year.

Top pay for Elementary institutes is about 12,000 along with accommodation etc, but not many are paying that.

[monkeys.are.smarter]

Yeah I guess you're not going to make as much money as in Korea but in Beijing its quite possible to make 8,000-10,000 a month at the private schools and conversation schools, or 120-150 and hour doing private tutoring. I guess the government schools are the ones that pay much less, maybe 4-6,000, although I imagine they are less illegal than the conversation schools about work visas (pray that you don't get caught), and sometimes they provide accommodation. One thing to keep in mind about tutoring is that you will spend a lot of time getting to the location to teach, so it might take you 3 hours to earn 1 hour of pay. Also the private tutoring agencies (sometimes just one person, i think we have a word for that in english that starts with "p") make a fortune off you so if you can cut out the middleman you would be coming out way ahead. Personally, I had a bad experience with one school in Beijing that is called Vivid, several of my coworkers had a similar experience with them as well. So I guess my lesson learned was that you can make more money than you think, but this is China, and crazy and or bad stuff can happen with school, visas, and paychecks.

[ontheroadagain]

Hi!.
you might grab 8000 or 10000 working for a private mill.
150RMB/ hours will require you to work regularly .... 17 hours per week if making 10000.
I do not know of anyone working 17 regular hours per week for a private center. So you have to fight your way with several private centers...

Substrate then 3000RMB minimum for a clean apartment in Beijing.
you are now at 7000 - fees + utilities + cost of living in BJ (4000 to be very conservative) per month.

You are now left with 3000RMB

Remember that working for a privat center might require you to travel all over the city. Subway and bus or taxi + heavy crowd.
Sometimes it will take you two hours one way to get to your job... For a total of 6 hours including your 2 teaching hours.

The competition in Beijing is huge, new comers accept teaching hours at 70RMB/h...

Not cool.

[Zero]

Why don't you try to be a copy editor in Shanghai or Beijing? I hear there's a lot of work.