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Teaching In China: The Run Down N Other Info
Entry 2 of 348 | show all | print this entry |
Hey Hey and a Big G'Day to you,
When deciding on something like 'going to China to teach together or alone' there are never too many questions you can ask so I will happily answer any questions about Buckland's as well as adding a short list of questions and answers you may have in the neat future.
To also help you understand the 'life you can live' here in China, here is my Travelblog address: www.travelpod.com/members/eddakath . It's full of thousands of photos and details of my many adventures here in China.
It is worth opening one for yourself 'IF' you decide to come to China or teach or travel overseas. One address for all your friends and family to catch up on your new awesome life anytime they wish. It's free and you can post and put as many photos as you wish. No more waiting for photos to attach to group emails.
A little bit on me so you can understand my answers better.
I have been here for nearing three and a half years and have taught in Guangxi, Gansu and I am now in Fujian. I have no plans on returning to Australia to live for a very long time. I am totally in love with China. This is my second time in China. I was here seven years ago whilst traveling Asia for a year.
So hopefully you can trust the answers below.
Are you enjoying the teaching environment with Buckland?
Is it better, worse or just what you expected?
Bucklands Home Page
Buckland's are great to work for.
When I was here many years ago I found Buckland's in Yangshuo and after returning to Australia I spent many years debating on whether to give up my life in Australia and move to China. So I spent a lot of time searching for 'Recruiters'. I found Buckland's to be the safest and best by far. You do hear of some teachers who have 'had a bad time here in China' but they are usually teachers who sign directly with the school and have no one to turn to for help.
Jennifer, Owen and Betts will ALWAYS be there for you.
No question is too small for them. If you do come and work with Buckland's you must remember this. They love to hear from you and NEED to hear from you otherwise they have no idea there is either a problem or that you are totally happy or unhappy.
In fact I have so much faith in them that I have 'saved' several teachers from a horrible time and introduced them to Buckland's. So instead of the teacher going home angry and unhappy, they have stayed and had a fantastic time.
One ended up teaching on Hainan Island which is a beautiful tropical island.
Did you find the training and orientation helpful?
The training was great.
Betts is a very vibrant and fun trainer and has spent many years in China. You will receive many tips and hints on how to teach. You will even get to do practice lessons at one of the local schools. You will get to meet many new teachers whom you will keep in contact with for your entire time in China. You are all new and will need each other for help and a general chat from time to time.
I've been here before and had been in Yangshuo prior to returning.
Yangshuo is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to. It is a 'soft' way to be introduced to China. It is full of western tourists and has several streets that have only western type bars and eateries. It really is a most wonderful welcome. My advice is to hire a bike and get out into the fields and spend several nights eating away from 'West Street' as Yangshuos 'West Streets' are nothing like where you will be going.
Will actually teach in the Yangshuo area?
Doubtfully as there are only a few positions available.
But why choose Yangshuo when you have the rest of China to choose from!
3. Do you receive the promised amount of hours per week?
Are there many opportunities for overtime?
Its not actually 20 hours, it really means 20 classes or lessons a week.
Each lesson goes for 40 minutes. Your school can not make you work more than 20 hours (classes) per week. If they ask you to, of course you can but I think it is something like 100 Yuan per lesson they must pay you. I'm working 21 classes a week.
Your standard contract will be ?000 Yuan per month and it won't be less if you only work 10 or 16 lessons a week. I was once doing 16 in my first school and I know of one teacher who was doing 10 lessons at one stage. Normal though is 18 to 20.
Overtime...no chance.
The kids are sooooooooo busy with their school and extra school activities.
You could maybe tutor of course but I'd ask Owen or Jennifer if it is ok before doing it. I only teach Primary School but if you were to choose to teach Middle or High school your eyes will be opened very wide. Their school hours and study is 100 times harder than ours in Western Countries. Some High and Middle schools have only half a day off per week and many students arrive home around 10pm to begin the following day at 7:30am/8:00am.
You will not become part of this and your hours are strictly 9 to 5 Monday to Friday.
Sometimes you may have to work a weekend, usually once a year depending on your school. But this is a good thing as it is usually attached to some sort of holiday. Let's say you have Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off as public holidays, instead of having the weekend free then everyone attending school on a Monday and Tuesday, you will work the weekend and have the week off including the following weekend.
It says in the contract that we are obligated to do special promotional work (sometimes during vacation periods). How often have you had to do this? Did it disrupt any travel plans that you may have had otherwise? I have never had to do any promotional work since arriving and have never known of anyone who has had to. Depending on what it is I would also never allow it to disrupt my holidays. You must remember we are paid a LOT of money compared to everyone around us so the schools like to show us off. You will be taken to a lot of huge feasts and sometimes your school may try to plan a weekend for you. This can also be a good thing as it is usually an adventure.
This will only happen once or twice anyhow so it is nothing to worry about.
My current school loves HUGE dinners and I am invited out to eat at very expensive places a few times a week. It is free and if I don't want to go I don't have to.
5. Is the city as beautiful as it looks online?
It seems like there would be a lot of outdoor activities, to your knowledge is this true?
That depends, are you talking about Yangshuo being the city you looked at online or has Buckland's already given you my Travelblog address and you're looking at my current city? If you're talking about Yangshuo, then it is actually more beautiful than it looks online.
Your chances of actually teaching in Yangshuo are very small.
You will be given a choice from a list of schools that Buckland's recruits teachers for.
I'm not sure how much you know about China but I've taught from the very south (a few hours from Vietnam), to the middle north in a desert city (up near Mongolia) and I'm now south east teaching in a beautiful coastal province (across from Taiwan). My first town had less than 25,000 people. It was tiny and very very poor. It was made up of farmers who had very little money. I was the only foreigner and it has been my favourite placement so far. I loved it so much.
The children were so happy even though many of them had a dirt floor in their family home and had to come to school in sandals in winter.
What I am saying is, be prepared to unpack your bags anywhere in China. Buckland's work mostly in the south where it is lush and beautiful. Don't judge where you will be going by the photos of Yangshuo. Visit my website and spend some time reading and viewing the photos.
China is such a diverse country and most provinces are different.
6: How is the accommodation at the school?
Is it comfortable and are guests allowed?
Your accommodation is very comfortable.
Very simple by our western standards but you will have everything you need. If something breaks it will be repaired a lot quicker than back home believe me. As being a foreign teacher you are treated as a 'special guest' in China. Sometimes like royalty. It can get a little too much as the Chinese sometimes don't know when to slow down or actually stop treating you so special.
Some schools offer huge three bedroom apartments and others like my first and favourite, a simple one bedroom apartment. You will have a western toilet but don't expect your bathroom to be like the one you have at home because it won't be. In fact it won't be no matter where you are in China unless you are very rich!
But you will have a western toilet!
One thing that is standard everywhere in China is the white tiles. They are everywhere. You will not have carpet on the floor but tiles and a lot of the time tiles on the walls. So it can be a tad chilly in winter. Most places will have some form of heating in either the bedroom or the lounge room or if your lucky both. Here I have both but the rest of the place is cold!
In Gansu where it gets to -20, I had steam heating in all rooms.
Most of the time, your accommodation will be at the school. In China the schools also have apartment buildings where families live at the school. You will usually be in one of these. Here my front door leads right onto the playground so I have little kids running in and out all the time. But that is my choice. If you close your door or say 'Bye Bye' they will go away. Or if you make it known at the beginning you don't want children around your place they are happy to do as you ask.
In my first school I was four floors up and also had many teachers and their children living around me. I taught many of the kids so we had a wonderful time watching DVD's and on birthdays etc. In my last school I was living out of the school right next to the town square. It was beautiful and only five minutes from school.
Of course you can have guests.
I'm sure the school will also treat your family to a huge dinner or two whilst they are here in China with you. Whether they can actually fit in your apartment will depend on how many rooms there are. Hotels are very cheap so it really isn't an issue if they can't fit in.
7. Does the computer have all of the basic functions?
(XP, XP Offic, photo/music program, MSN, Skype, Yahoo)?
Does the internet work consistently?
The computer you will have will vary from school to school.
You MUST have DSL or cable internet. In my first school I had just a standard computer, cheap speakers etc but all software worked fine along with msn etc. My last school I had a wiz bang computer with awesome speakers etc. Once again all software worked fine and the computer I'm using now is mid way between both and all software works fine.
BUT...............Lets talk software!
Iif you have a copy of XP in English and XP Office in English...burn them and bring them both.
Most of the time your computer will have XP etc, whether it will be in English in another question. Usually it is doubtful that it will be in English. In most small rural areas or schools where they've never had a foreign teacher before your computer WILL have XP in Chinese. Most times they have no access to an English version.
I always make sure I find somewhere to burn a second copy of my English one and give it to the school for the future.
Unless your school has had a foreign teacher before and that also depends on whether that teacher used msn, yahoo etc, and your computer will not be set up for it. Remember you're in China and they really don't know what we use. When I go to a new school I always 'format' the computer and begin fresh.
I use a site called www.filehippo.com to download everything from.
Eg: virus, spy ware, cleaners, msn, yahoo chat, google chat etc.
It's all there and it's all free and free from virus.
So what your computer doesn't have you can always get for free from filehippo.
My only advice is to bring a copy of XP and XP Office.
I'm unsure how long you will be here but my second advice would be to bring some sort of memory device.
You are going to take a LOT of photos and I mean a LOT! Everyone does so I hope you have a digital camera. I made things easier by buying myself a new mobile phone that has a good camera in it. Less to carry!
My latest phone/camera is the awesome Nokia N95 8GB!
Yes, that's 8GB of room for MP3's and photo's for when I travel!
You can either have your photos burnt onto disk at a Photo Lab and they are everywhere here OR you can buy or bring a little hard drive. As I'm here for along time I got myself four tiny little palm sized 80 gig hard drives for identical back ups. If one becomes corrupt I still have the other. All of these I purchased here in China.
Like I said, you WILL take a lot of photos here if you plan to travel and you don't want to loose your colourful memories.
8. What is the cost of living like?
I will most likely end up grocery shopping 70% of the time (local food), eating out 30% and going out for drinks approx 2X a month.
After that, will there still be room to save?
The cost of living in China depends totally on what you are like as a person and what you want your life to be like here in China. I haven't cooked since my arrival three and a half years ago.
Of course several times when Chinese friends dropped in we all cooked huge feasts, well...really, they cooked and I talked. You will be paid ?000 Yuan a month and a normal lunch will cost between 3 to 10 Yuan and a dinner the same. It depends on what you eat and where you eat.
They have what is known as 'fast food' here in China. Not 'our' type of fast food that isn't good for you but a buffet type thing. The food turn over is almost instant so the food is usually very fresh and hot. I usually have this for lunch which costs me between 5 to 7 Yuan. This includes an egg, fresh beans and vegetables, meat etc. You point and they serve. So that is one Aussie dollar. For dinner I have noodles or fried rice or soup etc. Depending on where I eat and with who it can cost from 3 Yuan to 20 Yuan.
A total of between 50 cents to 3 Aussie dollars.
Beer...a bottle of beer costs 2 to 3 Yuan. A total of 50 Aussie cents. The same bottle of beer in a club can cost you anywhere between 10 to 20 Yuan. This is what I mean by it depending on you and what type of person you are.
So all up out of your ?000 Yuan you will spend 300 to 500 on living costs a month less if you cook at home and less if you eat at small market noodle stalls like I do when I travel.
I don't personally see the point in cooking when 'I am in China'. Food is so so soooo cheap and it is delicious. You will find out just like everyone who comes to China, the Chinese food we get at our Chinese Restaurants at home is nothing like what you will eat here. It is cooked different and tastes a lot different. In most cases better, in some 'not better'. It took me two years to find a place that serves a 'sweet and sour' sauce as 'we' know it. Everywhere else it has been mainly soy sauce with some other 'things' but to me it wasn't 'sweet and sour' sauce at all.
Bills and living costs: In most schools you will have no bills.
Not even your large water bottle will cost you. Of course if you make calls from your home phone you will pay the bill along with the bill for your mobile phone but you will not have electricity or water or gas bills etc.
If you have a mobile phone, bring it as most of them will work here in China. When you get here the school will organise a new SIM Card for you and you'll soon be mobile again. Texts to overseas countries cost around 1 Yuan...around 0.20 Aussie cents. Text messages within China cost around 2 Mao or...nearing free to us.
9. Travelling...
You will have around three to four months a year off to travel.
In some schools, nearly 4 months due to exam revision. I eat healthy but cheap so I save my money to travel this huge and beautiful country. China is considered the most difficult country to travel mainly due to the language barrier...BUT...that depends on where you travel. There is a spectacular Back Packers Trail that begins in Yangshuo/Guilin. You then train it across to Kunming (Yunnan). From there you can go south to the Xishuangbanna or north to Dali, Lijiang and Zhongdian (Shangrila).
All along the trail you have sections of each town that are for 'US', the western tourist.
In these places you can eat anything you get back home. There are many, sometimes too many hostels, all are friendly, inexpensive and 99% of the time can book your on going bus or train ticket to your next destination. They can also book little one day/half day tours, horse treks and treks like the Tiger Leaping Gorge etc in the area around where you are. Most will even do your laundry for next to nothing.
This is the main Back Packers Trail for one reason.....it is extremely beautiful.
I call it a Back Packers Trail as that's how I usually travel but in these places you will also find wealthy tourists who are happy to hand out their money on little day tours etc. I just hire a bike and do it all myself. You can also hire bikes all along this trail. You will also meet other western travelers all along this trail so in the end you actually never travel alone and you will share costs, nerves, beers and fun with many people just like you.
Chinese trains are excellent.
You usually have three choices that all cost different amounts.
If you can not book in advance in some most cases you will stand. If you can then you have a seat with everyone and have a great time. Or you can book a sleeper. The less expensive is a compartment without a door with six bunk beds, the more expensive is a compartment with a door and it has four bunk beds. I usually book the cheaper one. You are safe and will be looked after by the Chinese. If I am traveling for several nights I then book the more expensive.
Chinese buses....HHHhhmmmm!
There are several types. The newest is the 'Long Distance Express'. Beautiful and clean. Next is the 'Long Distance Sleeper Bus'. Sometimes you can fit into the bunk bed! It is a bus full of bunk beds. I love them and have had heaps of fun traveling around China. Many hate them. They smoky, people play mp3's on their phones without ear phones, they talk, they make phone calls...all night! ('they' being the Chinese). Sometimes you may get a good one where the driver won't allow smoking, but 99% of the time it's as above.
Local buses.....if you're in a little town they are usually inexpensive and can get you to almost any town in the area.
Inner city buses...don't expect a line and when the bus comes, run with the rest of the Chinese and push your way through the door to get yourself a seat. I usually stand back, watch and laugh myself silly at how they behave. I then have to stand but it's worth it!
10. Music...
Bring some sort of MP3 or MP4 player. I have a 40 gig iPod and a very small set of speakers. Usually your computer will have a set of good speakers you can plug your player into. Buying music: you will be surprised at the selection of western music CD's, VCD's and DVD's you can actually buy here.
Movies...this is China!
A DVD will cost you 1 Aussie dollar and you can get almost every movie you can thing of! Usually before it is released in your own country. Now days I can buy a DVD and it will have upto twenty movies on the one disk. When I first arrived in China in 2005 one DVD disk had either one movie or two or three. What's next?
11. China...
To make it simple...
You will be paid very well
Everything is cheap along with the transport which can get you anywhere you want to go in China
(with a little patience).
You will be safe and very well looked after.
You may not end up teaching in a place as beautiful as Yangshuo but everywhere you go in China you will find beauty. To me the Chinese people are the friendliest and most beautiful people I've spent time amongst in my travels. I feel very much at home here and will stay for many more years.
Sadly though, some people just can't handle China. They find it too dirty or too loud or simply not a society they want be part of. I've only met a small amount of these people and some of them I could tell upon first meeting them that they should maybe teach in Japan or a western country. Another loved it but after a year her patience and tolerance began to fade and her desire for carpet and roast dinners won.
When it comes to teaching you will have a lot of help.
You will feel nervous at first and it may take several weeks for you to find 'your style' but that is normal for any new job anywhere in the world. Once you get the hang of it maybe like me you'll love it more than anything you've done prior. I have a heap of stuff like lesson plans I can send you once you settle in. Buckland's also have a lot of 'stuff' they can offer to help your first few weeks pass by with fewer nerves.
And lastly, Buckland's really are a perfect choice when it comes to working in China. They have a great contract and have been doing this for a long time. If your school tries to take advantage or doesn't understand something you're asking Owen will be on the phone to them instantly.
Now it's up to you to decide!
So think about when you want come to China.
That is if China really is where you want to live and teach. For the next term?
How long do you want to stay?
Do you want to teach children or teens?
Do you want to teach in the north or the south?
The north really is different to the south.
Most don't believe it until they have lived in both.
Food, colour, the people...all are different.
I now leave you with your thoughts!
I hope I have answered some of the question that may have been racing around your head.
Beers N Noodles to you...shane
Click here to visit Bucklands Home Page
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