Irish, need advice

[joickstick]

ok so
im an Irish guy, new to this.
want to get a job teaching english in China, in January.
basically, what i need to know is:

1. is it a bad idea looking for a job for january start? ie. when school is halfway done and its usually 1 year contracts? i want to have the job set up for then so im starting looking now.
2. is there a big variance in quality of jobs you can get? well i assume there is.. how do i ensure i get a good job?..is it to do with experience or the interview or how you sell yourself or what?
3. ive a good degree from a good school and im doing a 6 week tefl course. this is enough right?
4. is there much opportunity to learn mandarin? ie. do you know of people who swap english lessons for mandarin 1:1?
5. is there many jobs in universitys? are they better and how do i get a job there?

thanks folks,

andy

[gfell]

1. is it a bad idea looking for a job for january start? ie. when school is halfway done and its usually 1 year contracts? i want to have the job set up for then so im starting looking now.

Now would be a little early to start looking for teaching jobs starting in January. Whilst you may come across some jobs recruiting for a January start, the majority of schools and employers advertise up to 2 months before.

University jobs tend to advertise more in advance and so do government sponsored jobs. Schools in the past used to advertise much more in advance, but then teachers recruited would change plans leaving the school to re-advertise positions. Now is August, and if you want to start in January, that is 5 months away - a lot can happen in this time.

Best would be to apply up to 2 months prior.

1. is there a big variance in quality of jobs you can get? well i assume there is.. how do i ensure i get a good job?..is it to do with experience or the interview or how you sell yourself or what?

Good question. To find a good job means 2 things:

1. to find a good school and
2. ensure you are also a quality candidate.

Good School: ask to speak to current and past teachers. Checkout the school's website and black lists. Search in google and try to bring up other info on the school.

You as a quality candidate: Educate in yourself. Improve your skills, strive for excellence, improve on your resume, get quality referees and references, maintain a level of professionalism in your life, spend at least 1 year in a teaching contract etc...

Am sure you have the idea now on finding a good school. The saying "Birds of a feather flock together" I think is very true. Be the best you can and the forces of nature will eventually find a good school for you. Sorry if I was getting a bit too philosophical.

3. ive a good degree from a good school and im doing a 6 week tefl course. this is enough right?

Perfect! Great to hear it.

is there much opportunity to learn mandarin? ie. do you know of people who swap english lessons for mandarin 1:1?

Really, you don't need to swap English lessons as many would be happy to just speak with you in Chinese. Language exchange is tried by many, but in the end, it fizzles away due to time constraints. You teach English for 1 hour and then the Chinese native teaches you Chinese for 1 hour. In theory it sounds good, but is not a long-term solution.

Best would be to find a Chinese friend or aquantance that is willing to teach you Chinese once a week for 90 minutes or so at their home. You would of course pay them, but it would be cheaper for you to do it this way rather than enrolling in a Chinese language course.

Many cities also have community culture buildings where volunteers teach foreigners Chinese for free.

Also, Rosetta Stone has some good Chinese learning software to get you started off with the basics.

# is there many jobs in universitys? are they better and how do i get a job there?

Most university jobs pick and choose and are quite fussy and can afford to be so due to the amount of applicants they get. You would first need teaching experience before you can have any hope of getting a job in a university. Do a search on "university" in the http://www.aacircle.com.au/forums/te...lish-in-china/ forum to find out what a university job requires.