eion_padraig wrote:
> Man, have I ever assimilated. You should see me push my way onto elevators,
> subways, and buses. I can hock a loo is like no one's business. I know how
> to scream at ???? like a native to get what I want. I know not to drink
> cold water because it will give me diarrhea. I realize non-smoking signs
> are merely suggestions. I give ??to my neighborhood guards so they won't
> hassle me when I don't have my pass card.
>
> My Chinese friends tell me,”????????”

I hear you! It's taken me more than a year to fix my China behavior. I have really controlled my spitting and pushing. It's still so strange to encounter so many polite smiling English speaking people here in our new Asian country. Seems like a distant dream, China.

No union no advocacy. We are at the mercy of the schools and the admin and the owners. It's only fair that we have this forum to air our issues. Seriously, teachers are really vulnerable. Right now, as we sign our new contract, what avenue to we have if we don't agree to all of their terms? Things are changed, slightly, but changed. Salary raise does not keep up with local pricing but, how can we address this? We can only negotiate so much and then it still makes no difference. You may say, leave. Sure, sounds easy. Vote with your feet. But, we have kids, we feel settled. We want to be overseas but that shouldn't mean that we put up with any more unfair treatment than anyone else. So, we make compromises and suck it up and move on or stay. Such is the life.

aussiegrover wrote:
> Hi Guys,
> My husband, (currently Head of Maths/Science), and myself, (currently Lead
> year 3 teacher and Literacy/Numeracy Coach) have many years of experience
> in Australia. We are wanting to get into international education but will
> be bringing three littlies ages: 7; 6; and 3 with us. We have registered
> with teacherhorizons but are not getting any bites. We knew we'd be up
> against it with three kids, but we have a huge amount of teaching and
> leadership experience, as well as excellent references. I have some PYP
> training but hubby doesn't. He currently teaches HS Maths; HS Physics; and
> HS Chemistry in Australia, but would love to get into IB as he is very
> excited by it. Should we pay the money and sign up with Search? (We've
> heard that in our situation they may not be overly helpful - due to the
> three kiddies). Also, is it too late to secure something for September?
> Are we just wasting time, as some have said on this site or do we
> legitimately have a chance to get a decent package somewhere and pick up
> IB; or British or American curriculums? We would need a safe,
> family-friendly location, and access to maid or other home help if both
> working, but other than that, not too fussy.
> We really appreciate your advice and time,
> aussiegrover

Look at The TES. tes.co.uk they don't just have uk curriculum adverts they also have I.B. For example, Jerudong in Brunei just advertised. We were offered a job two years ago from them and we're a Math teacher with a trailing spouse and three small kids. Malaysia is also good. We know at least two other teaching couples with three small kids that are working there.

So, you speak Chinese? Good. I did like some things about Wuhan, the traffic wasn't one of them. I went there often on for conferences. Things have improved a lot since.
I would say it's a second tier city in China. People are used to seeing foreigners, it's a popular part of the cruise up and down the Yangzte River and three gorges. The food is great!
Wuhan has had a long tradition of foreign educators coming. Princeton has a program there, for example. Did you ever read Iron and Silk? That was the eighties of course, things have changed. It has an old foreign consession area there, from colonial days. It's HOTTER than hell in the summer, worse than Nanjing in my opinion.
It's not Guangzhou but then again it's not Guizhou. Speaking of Guangzhou, there's a high speed train. Takes 4 hours from Wuhan to Guangzhou South station. The it's an hour by subway to Tianhe and the embassy district, but it's a good route.

Hope that helps!

Just FYI. Living anywhere outside the tier 1 cities is a big challenge. You'll really need some language skills. Think about arriving early and getting oriented and get some language learning going.

Suz

asjwr19 wrote:
> My wife and I are a teaching couple with a two non-school aged children.
> How likely is it that a school would offer me an initial teaching contract
> knowing that my wife is a certified teacher, acting as a trailing spouse
> for a year?

Yes, in my experience.

Zhuhai International School
Dulwich Zhuhai International High School

What about Zhuhai International School? They have just started their DP year and have been running the PYP and MYP already. I really like their current head and have worked for him before. However, I've seen negative reviews of him on the paid side that I can't really speak to. Nice thing about Zhuhai is that it's cheaper than the big three cities and it's close to Macau. On the other hand, it's boring as hell. But, you've a family to entertain you as we have. The singles were a bit lost for nice entertainment. The population is quite small, 1.4 million. So, a bit of a village. Macau is great. We called it Hong Kong lite. We did a lot of our shopping there, much more trustworthy than China as far as fake and tainted goods go. Also, imported groceries were cheaper. You just need a lot of pages in your passport if you go every week like we did.

expatteacher99 wrote:
> I question the accuracy of some school's listings on Search. The Search
> profiles for other schools we have worked at in the past tended to be
> slightly inaccurate. Some schools seem to be too optimistic with their
> estimated savings potential, while others seem to be too conservative with
> their estimates. It is a difficult thing to quantify since it depends on a
> teacher's particular lifestyle.
>
> We work for Aramco now and can tell you that the salary figures and savings
> potential listed on Search aren't even close to being accurate. I am not
> sure why. It might still be the case that schools in China are comparable
> or even better but I think it may be difficult to compare using only the
> information provided on the Search website.

This is a very bad business especially since it's a huge consideration when deciding which schools to apply to. Also, what other inaccuracies are there? Housing, moving allowance, health insurance, etc.? What is the oversight used by Search?. Do they just take the word of the schools? Seems kinda deceptive.

While living in Shanghai, I was the trailing spouse, popping out babies and not able to work full time. So, I subbed at a couple of the international schools, needed a degree but no teaching cert required, and it was a fab way to make a bit of pocket money. They paid around 125USD/day. Here in Malaysia, the pay for subbing sucks so I'm not interested.

I think this would be an interesting discussion. There are livability issues as well as money and bennies. I would like to see others weigh in. How you live in China greatly determines your savings. Without Chinese language skills you can and most likely will pay more for stuff as you will no doubt frequent places where the staff speak English, who are paid more. We saved a lot in China, family of 4 on one income, in Shanghai. Chinese language skills were key.

My 2 cents is....if you want to do IB and you want to do China find a city that's a bit easier (expat friendly) to live in like BJ or, my preference, Shanghai. Or, do you have other criteria? What's your situation?

Many schools prefer after certification teaching experience, just FYI. I have many former colleagues and current friends studying an online PGCE through both University of Nottingham and Sunderland University. Both are accepted certificates. However, you should already be in a school so that you can complete the practical elements of the course.

I think the lifestyle you go for makes a huge difference. I've met families that made more than us but they spent most of it. I think the big difference was the ability to operate in Chinese. We learned Chinese and we used it all the time for shopping, getting around, communicating with everyone. It made life more convenient. People who can't communicate in Chinese often end up shopping at the import places and eating at expensive restaurants where the staff speaks English and they often avoid checking out more local fare. It's very hard to live and assimilate in China without being able to speak some Mandarin, or in Shanghai, some Shanghaihua and Mandarin. Of course Guangzhou and Cantonese. Otherwise you are even more on the outside looking in. Of course, all foreigners are on the outside to a certain extent no matter how long you live there.
To sum up, learn the lingo and that will facilitate your living. If you're outside the big three cities, it's even more crucial.

Wow, that's discouraging. Besides the American experience, those credentials nearly match my partners. Yikes!