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Post by con's fly is open on Jun 8, 2005 12:29:39 GMT 7
Welcome, Jade! How's the costs of living in Xi'an? And how far will 4500Y go?
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Post by Jollyjunklass on Jun 9, 2005 7:56:04 GMT 7
Hi AJ,
I was searching the web today, and could not find an email for your school. In order to get it I would have had to go through a recruiter, and I don't think they are about to give it to me, although i did ask. No response. Does your school only deal with recruiters, do you have an email address for them, you could PM me if you want.
Thx, M
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Post by Lotus Eater on Jun 9, 2005 13:55:52 GMT 7
Cost of living in Xi'an is low - unless you want to hang out at Metro, Parkson, Ginwa, the Portuguese, Italian, Korean, Japanese, French and American restuarants,proper coffee shops, bars or the little deli's that are starting to pop up. Local food is great and there are plenty of really cheap dodgy places to eat.
How many of you are there to feed on 4,500? Only one - stay away from the above and it will last easily and at the end of the year you will have enough to travel with.
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Post by Jollyjunklass on Jun 9, 2005 14:40:52 GMT 7
Has anybody ever heard of Omeida Language College, Yangshou?
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Post by Jollyjunklass on Jun 11, 2005 13:20:02 GMT 7
Thx Newbs,
Hey guys,
Has anyone ever heard of Kid Castle Xian, or any Kid Castle will do. Also Haikou Union English Kindergarten.
Thx.
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Post by Lotus Eater on Jun 11, 2005 14:29:34 GMT 7
I was offered a job at the Kids Castle in Xi'an. About 16 hours from memory - BUT it runs after school, evenings and weekends!! Not what I want to be doing.
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Post by Jollyjunklass on Jun 11, 2005 20:21:21 GMT 7
Lotus, Do you know where the school is, have you seen it, is there anything around it, have you heard anything about it. Days, nights, weekends, weekdays, they are all the same to me Lotus. But, I'll tell you one thing, they have this guy corresponding back and forth with me. Claims he is from British Columbia. His writing is like that of a grade 9 student. He didn't know what a z visa was, 3 emails to explain that to him. I finally told him to, please, show his school my email, he did, they knew exactly what I was talking about. Hasn't used one capital in his emails, spelling mistakes galore, not that I'm perfect, but his emails go overboard. Very strange. The school probably is having a hard time finding someone because they chose him to do their business.
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Post by acjade on Jun 12, 2005 7:40:00 GMT 7
Millana: stay away from Kid's Castle. It's a sweat shop for tinies. They have white face policies and the kids there can recite english speeches til the cows come home but ask them a question ... er, say 'What's your name?' and they look at you blankly. The noise level in the school is unbelievable.
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Post by Jollyjunklass on Jun 12, 2005 11:45:45 GMT 7
Thx EJ,
I'm in the process of trying to get them to drop the roommate from the contract. So, I am glad you told me. I know they have their own cirriculum and don't stray from it, I just didn't know what was involved in the curriculum. I have communicated with the foreigner there and he just claims it's real easy teaching. I find him a bit of a dipstick and I want a little bit of a challenge. I have quite a few schools I'm going back and forth with, so if any of you guys know the schools I ask about, please answer. Thx again
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Post by acjade on Jun 12, 2005 11:59:52 GMT 7
Put down the dodgy Iranian foreign teacher Millana. Step away from Kid's Castle. It will bring you nothing but grief.
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Post by acjade on Jun 12, 2005 15:58:26 GMT 7
Welcome, Jade! How's the costs of living in Xi'an? And how far will 4500Y go? Transport is my biggest bill. It's a thirtykwai ride into the city and another 30 to get back. Could use the bus but it takes a lot of time and energy and you have to go through the whole process of watching your ass and other belongings. Sometimes I do catch the bus if I have all day but in this heat... fuggedaboutit. I usually have a little job on the side but not recently as I wanna work on some private projects and I find that after a while I'm totally fed up with dealing with Chinese English teachers who know diddly squat about teaching or english. You could say I'm a little jaded. 4,500 goes a long way some months and disappears faster than a single white man in China in others. A couple of times I've eaten my way through a 1,oo kwai in a month when I just can't leave another day without cheese and a decent bottle of red. Books are another kwai burner. And decent shoes. I don't have to worry about an apartment although we pay utilities and phone and water. But we ARE isolated. Siyuan is the boondocks.
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Post by con's fly is open on Jun 26, 2005 11:19:53 GMT 7
Hanzhou SCHM School: What up? I got an offer from these guys today. They teach kindergarten through middle school, offer "20 classes/ teaching class" , and boast of a big, swanky campus. They are private; the company also has a tourism sideline, and affiliations with several Western schools (haven't heard of the Canuck one). www.huameiedu.com/english.aspHanzhou's not Shanghai or even Suzhou, but it's roughly (I believe) in the area. They're offering 4000-5000RMB a month, the merit of which of course depends on the number of hours involved. Anyone heard of this outfit?
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Post by Jollyjunklass on Jun 26, 2005 12:25:04 GMT 7
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Post by con's fly is open on Jun 27, 2005 13:28:20 GMT 7
Millana, yer the best! Where's this gig of yours? It turns out that Hangzhou's too far from Shanghai/Suzhou, so I'll pass on my lead. I'm afraid my server couldn't find your link.
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Post by Jollyjunklass on Jun 27, 2005 13:48:26 GMT 7
Sorry Con, I just realized you said Suzhou. Mine was Haikou Union Kindergarten, she got great reviews and one bad. But the email from the bad one came from what I would consider a petty,,,,,, The other people said wonderful things. I did see an ad today, I applied for it. I don't mind if you do also and it is in Suzhou. I don't know anything about this school, but the cash is pretty good, I think any way. Check here, www.abroadchina.org/person/alltype.asp?t=1I have received a lot of good responses from this website, not through recruiters but right through the schools. If you haven't already, sign up here. All jobs, that I have applied to seem pretty okay with respect to this website. Haikou is also on this page and so are some other kindies. The Haikou women is easy to deal with, you will have no problem upping the ante.
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Post by Raoul Duke on Jun 27, 2005 19:06:09 GMT 7
There's been some ugly stuff on Kids Castle posted around here. They generally seem to go through a LOT of teachers. It's probably like other chains- mostly awful, with a few unpredictable better-managed bright spots.
I dunno, myself. I get as far as the first word- "Kids"- and walk quickly away.
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Post by Jollyjunklass on Jun 27, 2005 21:40:17 GMT 7
Yeah, I have heard a lot of negativity around Kid's Castle through research on the net. Raoul have you ever heard of Sino-Canadian CCBL Training Center. If you have could you let me know if there is any negativity surrounding it.
Thanks.
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Post by con's fly is open on Jun 27, 2005 23:32:38 GMT 7
Great link, Millana! I applied for a few Suzhou gigs there. I've put in over 4 hours pouring over job postings, and I want my mommy. So far: the Spoon, Millana's link, tesall; and I'm only a fifth of the way through Aisa Xpat. I can't even remember how many I've applied for. Is it just me, or are salaries going downward? I mean, 3500-4500 a month for 30 hour weeks... in Shanghai? I get paid tomorrow, so I can finally get a phone card and get some contacts from back home. It'll be sweet when this awful process is over.
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Post by con's fly is open on Jun 28, 2005 0:01:29 GMT 7
Just came across a great job ad: Canilx-Suzhou. They want a diploma, which will require some fast talking, but the job sounds choice. Anyone heard anything? Raoul?
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Post by Raoul Duke on Jun 28, 2005 0:49:48 GMT 7
I talked to Concrete by PM. The local Canilx seems a decent gig. Millana, I don't know the school. Most of these JV schools are dodgy in one way or another; the trick is to find out how they're dodgy. Yeah, salaries are going down. Perhaps preceded by a similar drop in the IQs of some of our countrymen back home. There's just too many damn foreigners here. We need SARS back. Gengrant! You seem to know something about Shenzhen. Please start a thread on it over on the Cities side!
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Post by burlives on Jun 28, 2005 10:05:18 GMT 7
I applied for that Canilx job about two weeks ago, and got an immediate reply asking how soon I could get there and get down to it. I said two weeks and that was the last I heard of them. They're still advertising and it's two weeks later. Not sure what that means.
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Post by Jollyjunklass on Jun 28, 2005 19:36:54 GMT 7
Con,
4 hours, try a month straight! Everyday, all day. I have 149 sent emails, just corresponding with schools. I am so sick and tired of it. Any day now, I think I'll just take whatever. I have been going back and forth with some of these people since May 29th. I will go take a look at my bookmarks and give you a few more links I have found worthwhile. Usually, if they are recruiters I don't respond and try to avoid the site. So the ones I give you will be dealing directly with the schools, for the most part anyway.
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Post by Jollyjunklass on Jun 28, 2005 19:57:04 GMT 7
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Post by Jollyjunklass on Jun 28, 2005 20:02:05 GMT 7
Hey Burl, Try and resend, if you really want it. You never know it may have got lost in the shuffle. If they don't respond they have probably changed their tune for some reason. But, make sure you try once more. Sometimes different people are opening the emails. Sometimes I get two peeps corresponding from the same school, more than one person may be dealing with the hiring process.
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Post by burlives on Jun 28, 2005 22:53:35 GMT 7
Canilx88? Ben? Benny?
Same email for every job.
Mailed twice. Details outstanding.
No longer care. Got a better job.
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