Job Discussion Forums

[harmon]

i have recently accepted a position a Kai En in shangahi and i will probably be an embedded ESL teacher at a Large tech company in the ZhiZu district of shanghai. Does anyone know if its possible to commute from downtown and and how long would it take. Also is 15000 rmb enough to live on? I am bringing 24000 rmb with me. Also i pretty much have no supervision at the this possition other than 2 other teachers and the hours are 9am to 5pm are there any advantages or drawbacks from this setup as to say a tradition private school setup?

[laska]

Is 15k your salary? It's plenty to live on and save money. Don't know where Zhizu is. It may be quite remote -- be prepared for the worst and you will be pleasantly surprised.
9 to 5 is long hours, so you will be working for the money. But after a year of this, you will be well qualified to go out on your own and set up an even sweeter deal, whether that means for you shorter hours or more money.
Most schools have contracts of 22-30 teaching hours, however, which is probably pretty much what you willl be teaching. And it doesn't sound like you will be doing split shifts.
Kaien is a pretty good organization to work for.
My advice: Keep work and leisure separate. You don't want to be teaching 24 hours a day.
With all the money you save the first year, you could take a year off and learn Chinese or travel.

[laska]

to be honest, being "stuck" in more remote locations can be really interesting -- there will be an authentic local life, whether that means hi-tech factories mixed with farmland or local dialect and identity opposed to urban Shanghai, whatever. So it is really a blessing in disguise. You will have weekends to explore Shanghai proper, and you can scope out where you want to live if you stay another year. But the compensation sounds fair enough. "Full-time corporate trainers" generally start around 12k in my experience, or even less.

[kev7161]

Check your spelling. Are you sure it's Zhizu or is it Zizhu? If it's the latter, I just googled for you (you're welcome) and it seemes to be an industrial park where you can catch the Metro line 5 (subway) to get into the city.

[eslstudies]

The salary is decent, though for a 40 hour week nothing exciting.
You might do best to live convenient to where you work; rush hours are hell in SH. Rent is likely to be much lower as well, so you'll save time and money, not to mention stress. Then hit the town on your weekends. "Downtown" is pretty spread out, depending on what you're looking for. If you want a Western bookstore and a nightclub, they aren't going to be in the same area.

[laska]

I totally agree with eslstudies. At least live somewhere on line 5. Then play on the weekends. On your salary, you can afford a taxi home once a week if you are out late. Won't cost more than a couple beers at a bar. Welcome to Shanghai.

[gregmcd101]