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Teaching English In China {China Shark's Thread}

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Joshua Smith:
Do it up putting caution to the wind! I agree with Stuart, you're doing so well right now not because of a lack of risks you've taken but quite the opposite. All the risks thus far have proven to have been paranoia at best. What's one more notch in the risk factor belt? Just make sure you have a plan B and you'll be golden, Michael. I'm so happy for you but also jealous at the same time lol. Does that make me selfish? :icon_cheesygrin: Months and months before I can see my lady. :-/

China Shark:
Guys, the Shark just reached his 6 month mark now in country. So many things have happened in such a short period of time. For those guys on the fence about living and teaching here, there is so much opportunity for English teachers here. A brand new International school just opened up a new chain in and around Shenzhen. In fact my supervisor and one of the teachers I work with are jumping ship to this school called Pattison, company has all the standard perks yet is restrictive in the sense they monopolize your time so you can't freelance at other places. I don't even worry about work anymore because my skills as a teacher have improved dramatically. I can pick and choose jobs now because of experience in teaching as well as performing really well in my demostration classes for the clients. Now I teach an intermediate BEC Business English Class once a week for 5 hours, an intermediate BEC Business English Class Tues and Thurs from 7:00 - 9:30 pm. I teach a beginner adult English class for 4 days a week, ten hours total. I also teach a beginner adult class for twice a week for two hours for another small training center. For one week I make 2,300 rmbs for 22 hours work. $360. which is plenty of cash to live on here. When my regular job starts back I'll double my salary easy, $700. a week was more than I was taking back home in America $45,000. So it is viable for the resourcefull and street smart guys. Never coming back is the way I see it. My students buy my dinners all the time, get personal rides home as well as taxi rides. They view me like I'm the greatest teacher alive, and I really love doing it, best gig ever had. Even have toyed with going back to school to complete my Masters in Education possibly. Shenzhen University is a really respectable university, one of my friends attends there. I have opportunities here that I never could have imagined back home. Kind of surprised that how many guys are considering doing this now. When I started this there were one or two guys on the official forum that might have just mentioned teaching and living as an option. Damm, I think I started some kind of tread here. I know Rob and Josh are doing it after discussing things with them. I've actually been toying with the idea of eventually opening up a school one day with a fellow expatriot from America. Also, a matchmaking/translating service is also on the back burner. Not to mention exporting business of some kind or another. No, exporting out of China has never been attempted what I am talking about. There are so many Chinese brands of clothing here that I can buy for next to nothing and resale for at least twice what I would pay for it. Right now the world is my oyster, funny thing I was with my exgirlfriend the other night and she is really into palm reading and claims I will be very wealthy as well as live a really long life. Must be why shy is begging and pleading to come back even after I stated I'm not going back to America to live.
Sorry, guys I hijacked my own thread yet will digress back to the original line of thought. Mods don't screw around and omit anything because it will make it disjointed and unreadable if you do so. I'm an artist don't desecrate my work. Enough rant for one day. If nothing else I'm an amusing distraction, right?
China Shark Mike

phil:
Thats great information...I wish he could post more on this. Is there a chance that he will be back on the site?

Seems like a tremendous resource to others here what with the whole living in China and actually earning a living thing. We're not all bringing wives back to the states are we? Maybe there is someone else on the board who's over there working....looking or already married there that could possibly continue this discussion.

Has any one of the apparently plentiful IT guys here looked into work in our industry over there with a Chinese company or an American company with offices there. I'm a 21 yr IT veteran primarily a Network Guy (Microsoft and Novell) who has done darn near everything.....last gig was a Enterprise Data Center Job that had 100 remote networks connected. Mostly I worked on about 40 SQL Servers and the associated nightly jobs/storage/backup hardware. Lots of web and ecommerce also.

How about English language computer classes or training, I wonder if that's potentially an option.

Please forgive me if Technical talk or job talk is verboten on this board. Just trying to find a way to make things work, find a traditional Chinese wife, and live over there.

I got about 15 yrs until I can retire......if there's even a Social Security to send anything out at that point.

Thanks
Phil

brett:
I wondered about teaching IT as well. But a guy I work with who has a Chinese wife says that English language teaching is far more lucrative.

I want my Chinese lady to live in England for a while, but I am coming round to the idea of moving East at some stage.

Is this Chinese requirement for English language teachers likely to be a long term requirement? I work at a Uni so it would be easy for me to get the necessary qualifications. I also have postgraduate education, so I guess that would help as well.

I think my other option would be to wait for the global economy to recover, then find an expat IT job in Hong Kong or somewhere.

phil:
Sorry...I can't resist.

That's an impressive resume Phil....why do you want to work for Computer Junction in Syracuse?

Well, I'm really fond of eating and sleeping indoors, and I would absolutely love the opportunity to be supervised by a 23yr old who's never used a computer for any purpose other than playing a game.

:)

Thanks

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