My Recommendations on Teaching in Rugao...don't do it.

I’m not going to write a lengthy explanation of why I don’t think you should work for Happy Goal or Web in general.  I’m just going to list the things that shocked the hell out of me and pissed me off and you can decide if you want to put yourself through it too. (It kind of turned out a bit lengthier than I meant it to.)

Truths:

-       The pay is incredibly low, even for Rugao.  There are schools down the street that charge 1/3 or even ¼ of the price that Happy Goal charges, and their foreign teachers get WAY more money.

-       They lied to me about where I was teaching.  They said I would be teaching in Nantong, but I’m in Rugao and no one can tell me why Rugao is “a part of Nantong.”  Nantong is ONE HOUR away from Rugao.  And Rugao is just a completely different place.

-       There isn’t much to do here.  There are a few site-seeing areas that can be done in like, two days.  There is a movie theater.  There is shopping.  And there is an Olympic Stadium with exercises to do, but it’s a ways from the school.  The bars kind of suck.

-       If you sign a contract for the kid’s side, YOU WILL work on the adult’s side too.  They offer to pay you extra money per class, but it’s not really worth it.

-       Working on the kid’s side, you will have to attempt to teach American aged 2 and 3 year olds a very specific, very intense (for that age) list of vocabulary.  And if you let them be kids and run around (yeah the two and three year olds) the parents get mad because you aren’t disciplining them.  There was one student in particular that I finally said I refuse to teach him, so I stopped teaching him (he couldn’t speak very much Chinese so…) – that was not a fun experience, but if the parents have money to put there kids here, expect it.

-       Before I started, I asked what age group I was going to be working with.  I prefer 7-10 year olds and I don’t want to teach any younger.  They told me that of course I’d be working with 7-10 year olds, but would it be okay if I had a few younger students.  I stupidly said okay, and now I have one 7 year old, and the rest are younger.  Just know that you will be working with really young kids.

-       MOST IMPORTANTLY!  They said that certain things (like my visa) would be paid for in the contract.  However, that is conveniently, “not what they meant” when they wrote it.  They meant that they would cover my residency fee.  It took a lot of arguing but it is sort of getting paid back (but not in full).  They also make you pay for your doctor’s fees once you get here for the residency permit - which as far as I could find (on the internet), it is the only real expense for a residency permit.  MAKE THEM PAY FOR THAT.  And make sure that when and if they send you off to Nantong for work and stuff a billion times for paperwork, that they PAY for your bus ticket, and make sure that they will do that before you go. 

-       This job is a lot of sitting on your ass (and showcasing your English abilities in front of huge live audiences), but you have to be good with the kids or the parents get upset.  The kids are great, your coworkers will be amazing, but if you want to work in Happy Goal Rugao (because you are crazy or stupid or just want to ‘have a try’), I don’t recommend it.  It’s doable…MISERABLE, but doable.

-       OH AND! This is the most frustrating part about BEING IN ANOTHER COUNTRY.  You really don’t have any opportunity to go ANYWHERE.  Like seriously.  If you are my poor, unfortunate replacement, you will have to work T, TH, FR, SAT, SUN.  Saturday and Sundays are NEVER OFF.  And you only choose between MWF for your days off.  So you don’t get consecutive days off to go anywhere or enjoy anything.  It can be quite miserable and frustrating. 

Maybe a little bit about the job:

- You are required to be here 5 days a week, 32 total hours, Sat & Sun non negotiable.  You have to do AT LEAST one demo every time you work, maybe more.  Which means there is a very specific song and dance sequence you have to do in front of all the different parents.  I'm warning you now, in Rugao some people put their kids through the demo so they can see a foreigner, which if that's your thing, then great.  You can either follow the already written lesson plans, or create your own following the basic guidelines.   I actually have a lot of fun with that, but that is a small drop of water in a lake of "no thank-you."  Your Chinese co-workers are great, and you may or may not have one other foreign teacher that you sit next to.

I

I

I'

-       Also looking at this job online – they are advertising for Shanghai…so appliers BEWARE.

I'm baaaaacccck!

A view of Shui Hui Park from outside the entrance.

So for the first time in what feels like forever, I decided to write a blog post today.  Then I stared at the screen for an eternity, browsed Pinterest (‘ve finally figured out the navigations of that), searched this, watched that, then flipped back to my writing.  What do I write about?  It has been almost a year since I wrote any blog, and I feel like I have so much to say (and yet nothing of great import) what do I say?

In April, I moved to teach in China and that has been really interesting.  Honestly, I love the people where I live – they are super friendly, really inclusive and a lot of fun to be around.  Interestingly enough, it’s a lot easier to make friends here than it is in the United States.  My one of a handful of problems, however, is the language barrier.  My friends here definitely have a good grasp on English, but every once in a while you can see their eyes kind of gloss over as their comprehension fails them.  And that’s much more than I can say for my comprehension of Mandarin.  I mean it’s a lot better than when I first arrived here nearly four months ago, but it’s not conversational level by any means.  If the school where I work would have kept their promise, I’m sure my comprehension would be a lot better.  But everything I’ve learned, I’ve taught myself.

Time is sure flying though.  I am almost to the point where I have just two months left, which is kind of a pity because I’m really starting to rock as a teacher (even if the kids can’t see all the hard work and thought that I put into everything).  After months of dilly-dallying, I finally have the SMARTBOARD program installed in my computer.  And let me tell you, my lesson plans have improved significantly.  The kids love learning by games, and I’m kind of able to create mini-computer games that they play.  I mean they’re not super advanced, but they are still a lot of fun and make them think.  Kind of like the super simple, yet thought provoking, computer games like Reading Rabbit – again maybe not quite that advanced, but I think I could come up with something really similar.

However, I am really looking forward to going back home.  I miss my friends and my normal life there.  While I am definitely making the best of this adventure and enjoying the culture, I just miss home.  It’s pretty natural.  And of course with there only being two months left, I’m starting to freak out.  While the pay here isn’t wonderful, it’s good for here, and it is a job.  I’m, once again, starting the process of job hunting and it sucks.  I feel like I will be perpetually in a state of looking for a job, but I am hoping this next one is one that will stick for a while.  Well, I think that was a good re-introducing-myself-back-into-the-world-of-blogging-for-now update, right?

#China #Rugao #adventuresinchina #Mandarin #languagelearning #esl #tefl #tesl #smartboard #teachingabroad