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I have recently posted about different cities. I was offered a position at Meten as they came to recruit recent graduates at a nearby campus. My questions are for those who live or have lived in Shenzhen:
1. How much is a decent studio/1 bedroom apartment? In USD or yuan (Rmb). As in nothing luxurious or fancy, but up to western standards?
2. Do you have to pay a few months in advance?
3. How much should one have saved uo before making the move if they are not to be paid for about 2 months?
4. What is the likelihood of finding a better job at a university or international school, or public kindergarten in Shenzhen? Basically anything sounds better than a 'trainning center' (English mills) from what I have read.
I have a BA and a Tefl, but no prior teaching experience besides working at a daycare as a teacher's aide as a work-study job in college. Which I do list on my resume.
People have answered you already in the other thread.
I am not a teacher.
The amount of monthly rent you have to pay depend on your location in the city, you can easily find a small room with toilet and shower or maybe kitchen too, with security guards downstairs in 2000-4000 RMB. If you have a specific area in mind, you can try to search the choices on the internet.
People usually pay at the end of each month, before the first month you may have to pay more.
Electricity, water and gas bills are cheap if you use wisely.
I would say you have to bring at least 10,000RMB for a typical American first moving to China.
Quote:
Originally Posted by deepwater88
I have recently posted about different cities. I was offered a position at Meten as they came to recruit recent graduates at a nearby campus. My questions are for those who live or have lived in Shenzhen:
1. How much is a decent studio/1 bedroom apartment? In USD or yuan (Rmb). As in nothing luxurious or fancy, but up to western standards?
2. Do you have to pay a few months in advance?
3. How much should one have saved uo before making the move if they are not to be paid for about 2 months?
4. What is the likelihood of finding a better job at a university or international school, or public kindergarten in Shenzhen? Basically anything sounds better than a 'trainning center' (English mills) from what I have read.
I have a BA and a Tefl, but no prior teaching experience besides working at a daycare as a teacher's aide as a work-study job in college. Which I do list on my resume.
I have recently posted about different cities. I was offered a position at Meten as they came to recruit recent graduates at a nearby campus. My questions are for those who live or have lived in Shenzhen:
1. How much is a decent studio/1 bedroom apartment? In USD or yuan (Rmb). As in nothing luxurious or fancy, but up to western standards?
2. Do you have to pay a few months in advance?
3. How much should one have saved uo before making the move if they are not to be paid for about 2 months?
4. What is the likelihood of finding a better job at a university or international school, or public kindergarten in Shenzhen? Basically anything sounds better than a 'trainning center' (English mills) from what I have read.
I have a BA and a Tefl, but no prior teaching experience besides working at a daycare as a teacher's aide as a work-study job in college. Which I do list on my resume.
1. You can find rooms for anywhere from about 1500rmb for a smaller room to 3000+rmb for a really big room with its own balcony and/or bathroom, both in a newish building (most foreigner-friendly rentals are in modern buildings up to Western standards.
If you want your own studio, figure 2500 to 3k if it's in a nicer area.
2. Standard procedure is one month rent plus one month deposit up front, so it will likely cost 5k to move into a room that is 2500/mo. If you get your own place, you'll Most likely have to pay a brokerage fee which can be 20 or 30% of the rent.
3. Like back home, as much as you can save, you should. Rent aside, I'd say you should consider saving at least 15k RMB before you come. You can easily survive on less than this, but keeo in mind you will also find yourself buying lots and lots of mundane things like bedding, dishes and kitchenware, lights, a space heater (apartments in south china almost never have heating and are often poorly insulated but it gets cold in the winter and spring) and fan, getting your phone set up, etc - the stuff you already have back home but never think about. You can get a lot of this stuff for really cheap, but in many cases its also an issue of knowing where to go and also convenience.
4. Training centers run the gamut from borderline-scams - both for the students and teachers - to high quality tutoring centers that pay well, are mindful of their teachers' Western sensibilities, and have a good curriculum. I'm a manager at a good training center and have few complaints, but I've certainly seen people get screwed by other centers. Pay can vary from 8k on the very low end, to 15k or even 20k on the higher end. It's a very mixed bag.
International schools and universities pay the best (a friend of mine teaches at the British school in GZ and makes 21k) but because of this they are quite coveted, and they also are in short(er) supply - there are only so many schools in any given city. Many times when a teacher leaves, they hire based on the recommendation of the outgoing teacher, so if you really want a job in one, you'd do well to figure out who in the expat circle has these jobs and buddy up to em.
Private, non-international schools (Montessori, Sudbury, Catholic, etc) come next. They can pay close to what an international school will pay, but generally you should figure more in the 15-17 range. A public kindergarten or primary school will be in the 12-16 range depending on your credentials, how the school is ranked (and thus, funded) and how many classes you'll take. Many public schools now partner with private learning centers, the latter of whom will basically contract out a teacher for a few days a week.
As Bettafish mentioned, your whiteness (or lack thereof) will be a big deciding factor in the ready availability of well-paying teaching jobs. Being a black, Asian, Indian, or darker-skinned latino native speaker, you'll have fewer open doors than being a Scandavian, Russian, German, etc who has a working command of the language. It sucks, but it's the truth.
I don't think you'll have an issue finding a job at all with your credentials, but the lack of experience will probably inhibit you at first. Dont expect to be making 15k/mo right off the bat; figure you'll spend at least six months in the 10k range before your experience and contacts can land you something more lucrative.
1. You can find rooms for anywhere from about 1500rmb for a smaller room to 3000+rmb for a really big room with its own balcony and/or bathroom, both in a newish building (most foreigner-friendly rentals are in modern buildings up to Western standards.
If you want your own studio, figure 2500 to 3k if it's in a nicer area.
2. Standard procedure is one month rent plus one month deposit up front, so it will likely cost 5k to move into a room that is 2500/mo. If you get your own place, you'll Most likely have to pay a brokerage fee which can be 20 or 30% of the rent.
3. Like back home, as much as you can save, you should. Rent aside, I'd say you should consider saving at least 15k RMB before you come. You can easily survive on less than this, but keeo in mind you will also find yourself buying lots and lots of mundane things like bedding, dishes and kitchenware, lights, a space heater (apartments in south china almost never have heating and are often poorly insulated but it gets cold in the winter and spring) and fan, getting your phone set up, etc - the stuff you already have back home but never think about. You can get a lot of this stuff for really cheap, but in many cases its also an issue of knowing where to go and also convenience.
4. Training centers run the gamut from borderline-scams - both for the students and teachers - to high quality tutoring centers that pay well, are mindful of their teachers' Western sensibilities, and have a good curriculum. I'm a manager at a good training center and have few complaints, but I've certainly seen people get screwed by other centers. Pay can vary from 8k on the very low end, to 15k or even 20k on the higher end. It's a very mixed bag.
International schools and universities pay the best (a friend of mine teaches at the British school in GZ and makes 21k) but because of this they are quite coveted, and they also are in short(er) supply - there are only so many schools in any given city. Many times when a teacher leaves, they hire based on the recommendation of the outgoing teacher, so if you really want a job in one, you'd do well to figure out who in the expat circle has these jobs and buddy up to em.
Private, non-international schools (Montessori, Sudbury, Catholic, etc) come next. They can pay close to what an international school will pay, but generally you should figure more in the 15-17 range. A public kindergarten or primary school will be in the 12-16 range depending on your credentials, how the school is ranked (and thus, funded) and how many classes you'll take. Many public schools now partner with private learning centers, the latter of whom will basically contract out a teacher for a few days a week.
As Bettafish mentioned, your whiteness (or lack thereof) will be a big deciding factor in the ready availability of well-paying teaching jobs. Being a black, Asian, Indian, or darker-skinned latino native speaker, you'll have fewer open doors than being a Scandavian, Russian, German, etc who has a working command of the language. It sucks, but it's the truth.
I don't think you'll have an issue finding a job at all with your credentials, but the lack of experience will probably inhibit you at first. Dont expect to be making 15k/mo right off the bat; figure you'll spend at least six months in the 10k range before your experience and contacts can land you something more lucrative.
Do you have a formal teaching qualification? if yes, you should try the international schools. But if you want exposure to "local" culture......
Will training schools provide more exposure to the local culture?
Ok, you may choose to disregard my advice but I think expats with TEFL certificate are somewhat common; you may try International schools, but the odds would be more in your favor with training schools. This is the part where you really got to do your research.
As for exposure to local culture, that is frankly speaking, difficult to answer. I think it would be better if you ask yourself how much of a culture shock can you tolerate.
Please don't take this the wrong way, but the more open-minded a person is, the easier it would be to absorb culture shock. I have personally seen expats flip out after being just a year away from their home country; for some reason, it is always the SME (Small-and-Medium-enterprise) businessmen/entrepreneur from the US or mid-level corporate executive that flips out, some would just retreat to an expat bubble; - high-level corporate bosses, academics and scholars tend to cope much better.
Training centre means having more contact with locals. Again, depending on the kind of training centre, you would definitely have more contact with locals.
I would only suggest that you keep an open mind, understand that every country and society is different, and not rush to conclusions, judgments or assumptions.
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