Help! I'm thinking of moving to China

silentnoise
 January 13, 2010, 04:07 PM posted in General Discussion

Hi, need some advice.  I've decided to take a gap year off work and want to move to China to improve my Mandarin but also would be interested in earning some money while there by teachng English or doing a similar type of work.  (Unfortunately my profession is psychology and my Mandarin isn't good enough to do anything in that area).

The sort of things I need help with are:

(1) Any good websites that list English teaching jobs in China that are reliable and accurate?

(2) Any good websites for searching for accommodation?

(3) Any tips on how to make the move and things I need to consider?

Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Cheers.

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pretzellogic
 January 13, 2010, 05:12 PM

you're on your own as to the accuracy and reliability of the following website, but I have seen it and other websites that outline teaching jobs in China.

http://www.tefljobs.cn/Province/Teach_In_Beijing.asp

Just curious why you're not going whole hog and just going to a Chinese university to study mandarin fulltime for a year or 2, then getting a job in the psychology field in China? I know 2 medical professionals that did just that, although they weren't psychologists.

Regarding the temporary accommodation, it might be helpful if you discussed where you want to live in China, being a big place and all. Weather a factor? Ease of getting a job a factor? Want a sexy big city to live in? or are you willing to live in a small hamlet somewhere (small hamlet casually defined as a place with between 50,000 and 2 million people)?

And regarding the things to think about; I think aside from the culture changes, and whether or not you like Chinese food (I don't mean the stuff you get at restaurants in the US, which is fine by me. I mean what Chinese eat at home day-to-day). If you do the teaching English thing, plan on being poor when you go back to your home country. Are you moving your family, or just yourself?