Job Discussion Forums

[elcomputo]

I am just getting interested in pursuing a teaching assignment in China. I am in touch with a number of people who use this site and nagging them with a million questions. It was suggested by one of them that I test my marketability at the resume-posting site. But I thought I'd check it out here first.

I have never done ESL, but I hold a PhD in Education (Instructional Design) and have done adult training workshops in private industry. I also hold a Master's in Journalism. I have extensive background working with computers and am business-savvy.

I served in Korea in the Army a long time ago, and I am now living in Mexico. I enjoy living in foreign lands. I speak no Mandarin or Cantonese, just English and some Spanish.

I am 65, retired, divorced, and living on Social Security. I am diabetic and have high blood pressure requiring medications. Currently, my medical care comes from the USA (where I have to travel every 3 months) from the Veterans Affairs Health Service.

So, do you think I'm marketable? I have already gotten, and turned down, an offer from QuangXi University primarily because I am just not ready yet to make the jump, and they want someone over there by August. The offer was 6500/mo (contingent upon getting medical approval for working overseas from a doctor). Was this figure low or about right?

I'm eager to hear what you think.

Martin

[Roger]

elcomputo,
why such a question? Insecure?
You must take the plunge yourself. No one knows how you are going to cope with it. Survive it, or drown, is what I can say! IT's sure going to be a challenge.
Your age most likely will not be an issue at all. In fact, it might prove an advantage, if anything.

But I don't know how you fit in. This is a very ellbowey society in which there are no regards for others. You will be used, and you must know how to use others as decently as you can do it with a clean conscience!

[Teacher Lindsay]

Elcomputo

It's not so much a question of your "marketability", but more a question of your physical ability to work in China.

There are 2 issues you should be concerned about:-

MEDICAL EXAMINATION

The medical check-up in China is very thorough. I had to undergo a blood test, ECG, vision & color-blindness tests, chest x-ray, ultrasound and general physical examination, including blood pressure.

One of the new recruits in my group had a night-on-the-town the day prior to the medical check-up and he failed the blood test because his blood-sugar levels were too high (he passed a second test).

Read the post "Overseas Medical Examinations".

Some writers report that they had to undergo a check-up here in China even though they had already undergone an examination in their home country.

STAIRS

My on-campus apartment is on the 7th floor. The classrooms I teach in range from the 2nd to 6th floors. There are no lifts here!

I found out about this when I arrived at the school.

Lifts are not common in China and, I dare say, non-existent at schools and universities.

For me, the stairs have been a kind of mandatory fitness program which I would have otherwise been too lazy to undertake.

So far I've lost 3 kilograms, and I'm feeling better for it.

I have seen one or two job ads "warning" prospective applicants that they need to be fit & healthy to cope with a lot of stairs.

Before accepting any position, check with the school as to what floors your apartment and classrooms are on.

Cheers