Job Discussion Forums

[Sade]

After a month of job searching i have finally been offered 3 positions. but I am quite unsure about which I want to take. One of the main reasons of my going to China is to experience its culture and history and to learn mandarin. I have heard from a few people that Jiangyin is a rather industrial city with not much to do is there anyone here that has lived there?

In terms of the actual organizations there's Web international in Jiangyin, Wanzhou English Language School in chonqging and a primary school in tianjin. the salaries offered are roughly 7000, 6000, and 10,000 RMB respectively. All expect 25 taching hours but web international also requires 15 extra work related hours.

I am pretty confused as to what offer i should choose. Web int. wants me to get there straight away in about 4 days on a tourist visa.. they are putting some pressure saying that they've promised the headmaster i will be there and that i better hurry up.. this is pretty unsettling for me..

My main priority is the City.. i want to live in a city that captures some of the essences of ancient Chinese civilization rather than in a modernized fully westernized lego set.

Any advice will be thoroughly appreciated.

[johnchina]

"i want to live in a city that captures some of the essences of ancient Chinese civilization rather than in a modernized fully westernized lego set."

In that case, I'd have to say "None of the above".

None of these cities do very well on that front - but then most Chinese cities don't. Tianjin has some old colonial buildings. Chongqing was the subject of a British (BBC?) documentary (last year?) and, again, the amount of history there was minimal.

I'll stick my neck out and say Tianjin, since I know several FTs who are very happy there and the Mandarin is standard (and it has the advantage of a higher salary - use it to travel and see some history?). I'm sure some people here will go for Chongqing though.

[louis.p]

I lived in Chongqing for ten months, and was happy with my experience. In Chongqing hot pot (huo3guo1) is very popular, and in conjunction with the rivers creates a very Chinese feel (at least that was my impression). I have not been there since 1999, though. And I know the construction of the damn has changed things.

When I was there, I hardly ever saw another foreigner. So expect lots of attention if this has not changed.

The dialect in Chongqing is a variant of Mandarin; the 5 tones, however, are mixed around relative to Beijing Mandarin. But a good dictionary can fix this -- just look up the words you learn from the locals and verify the tones.

[jeffinflorida]

Suzhou in the old part is as traditional as you can get...

[kingmalka]

All I can suggest is if you're not in a rush, be patient. Keep posting your resume and contacting schools that post theirs. Eventually you'll find the right job in the right city.

If you are in a rush, try to get the phone numbers for each of the three schools and ask all your questions in a single conversation. The Jiangyin position is pushing you probably 'cause I told the headmaster I was going to work there 2 weks ago, then bailed out at the last moment and went to Suzhou. The job itself isn't too bad, minus the dead office hours -- you're teaching classes of 6-10 adults, all the material is provided beforehand and the pay is rather nice considering the provided accomodation. What you may want to do is, at the very least, work there until the new term (February), then pack your bags, take your experience, and head elsewhere (assuming it's not going well). Hope this helps.

[Sade]

Hey thanks Kingmalka, I actually tried PM-ing you about Jiangyin as i read in an earlier post of yours that you were considering it.. I actually bailed as well.. got into a bit of a phone dispute with their headmaster probably similar to your situation.. what's ironic is that from then i found another Web branch in Xi'an that I'm thinking about going for.. you wrote that it might be good to hold out at Web until feb.. how difficult is it to then break the contract and go looking elsewhere.. Feb is only 3 months away .. they could get pretty pissed no ? By the way.. at Web do you find enough time to enjoy the city etc. i hear they work you quite hard.. and apparently they only offer 5 days vacation for the whole year, it makes me wonder how much of China i will actually be able to see... I can see offices and classrooms basically anywhere in the world.

I really want to go asap.. at the moment I'm still considering the 3 offers which quite open.. one is the Xi'an Web international another the Tianjin school: although they pay high wages and i probably get good holidays, i still don't know what age group I'll be teaching nor what they will tax me etc.. Finally the middle school in Chongqing..

At this point i have no idea where I'll go.. I'll just let fate guide me...

[jeffinflorida]

Sade, for the time being just try to be a Smooth Operator...

Ok when you work for English Mills such as Web they have a very high turnover rate and really many teachers do not stay 3 months - forget about a whole year.

Try and negotiate a 3 month "Trial" contract or period or just simply tell them you can only work 3 months.

Most of these Mills need teachers asap because most teachers leave without notice and many just get burnt out working 40 hours a week for crap $ when they could make much more $ at home working 40 hours a week and just come to china to chill out and work 15 - 20 hours a week.

So tell the Mill your terms and your plan - ie 3 months for now. Remember contracts in china mean shiiit really so if you are not happy with your school or mill then leave and go find another place to try.

But, if you are one of those people who have a hard time being happy with most anything in life then china will not work for you and you need to go back under a rock... ( And this is comment is not intended for the Op or any other posters on this thread by the way...it's just a general comment on some people who can not tolerate anything but the "Norm").

(Last disclaimer "Not that there's anything wrong with being gay...")