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What You Will Receive
Stipend
The stipend will range from 4,000 to 8,000 RMB a month depending on the
school, your teaching load, experience, degree, and major field
of study. The
stipend is certainly not a large sum when converted to U.S. dollars. However, compared with
the U.S., the living expense in China is
very low. This means that with free lodging
provided by the school, you can live quite comfortably with, say, 5,000 RMB
a month. (Click
for the current exchange rate between U.S. dollar and RMB or Chinese
Yuan.)
Lodging
Most schools provide free apartment (or guest house) for the teachers from
abroad. The apartments have one or two bedrooms, are furnished, equipped with private
bath, heating water, microwave oven and refrigerator. You can dine
very inexpensively at the students' dining room or teachers' dining room.
If you want to spend more money, most likely you will find a wide
selection of restaurants
near the school.
Airfare
Reimbursement
Some schools will reimburse one-way international airfare, and some schools
may reimburse round-trip international airfare.
Travel
Allowance
The central government or the school itself may pay 2,000 to 3,000
RMB as your travel allowance after a year of teaching. Increasingly,
the travel allowance is paid as a
special reward for good performance.
Medical
Care
The school infirmary provides free medical care for minor illnesses. (This
does not negate your need for Travel and Medical insurance which
ESLweb will
help you obtain before your departure for China.)
Part-Time
Jobs
In the evenings and on weekends you may want to add to your income and
experience by doing part-time jobs as a private
English tutor, magazine editor, ad page writer, etc. With China's
booming economy, often, such part-time
jobs are abundant in large cities where businesses earnestly explore
international markets and need all the help they can get in English. It is not unlikely that you will
make more money from the part-time jobs than from the regular teaching job
at school.
Respect and Hospitality
By tradition, Chinese
have high esteem for teachers. No matter if you are a
primary or high school teacher and no matter which grade you are a teacher
of, if you are sociable, you can
expect the students to
respond to you warmly. Probably the students and their parents will treat you
like a "celebrity". Be prepared that you may be invited to
family celebrations and dinner parties
by the students and their parents.
Travel
On weekends and holidays you can travel to
historical or scenery sites not far from the city. In winter
and summer vacations you can travel across the country or to remote
regions. (After Fall and before Spring semester, you will have
two months, January and February, to travel. After Spring and before Fall
semester, you will also have two months, July and August, to travel.)
Learn
Chinese
Obviously, it will be a good opportunity for you to learn Chinese. Most likely,
your students and colleagues will be very willing to help you.
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