Teach English in China...go with/wo a company? & bicycles

[mb-king]

Hi guys

im looking at doing some teaching in china this coming year as i graduate in the summer 2013 with an english degree. I have seen many programmes online and seen this TEIC.co.uk who had a chat in our university. I have been talking to a freind who lives and studies out in a Chinese uni. After chatting i found i may be able to get paid more money by finding a school/university out there myself however this would mean i probably wouldn't have the support from the company's that are out there.

Is this a wise move? I think I would also need to do a TEFL course or something before I can even think about teaching out there.

I'm a native english speaker too.

I have also seen a few threads already mentioning bicycles etc and there are probably hundreds more.

http://www.chinese-f...es-in-shanghai/

http://www.chinese-f...rands-in-china/

My main hobby is cycling and would want to continue this whilst im out there as i think i would go crazy otherwise, i'm looking a buying a fairly descent road bike and would be keeping it in my room and only using it for recreational rides(so hopefully greatly reducing the chances of being stolen) I cant seem to find anywhere google or google.hk to locate stores and prices(I'm 6"3 so may have to be a order in jobby)

I hear Giant is very popular...and would be bringing it back on the flight home.(i assume you can add this on the flight as an extra-some of the schools pay your return flight at the end of the contract so hopefully an extra bike wont matter)

i'll keep trawling and looking for some aditional information but advice would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers

[kdavid]

After chatting i found i may be able to get paid more money by finding a school/university out there myself however this would mean i probably wouldn't have the support from the company's that are out there.

I didn't read up on the company you mentioned, but you can peruse eslcafe.com to see what schools are offering on average.

It's important that you look at net compensation, and what I mean is salary + benefits - headache.

For example, a school offers a high salary, but nothing else. While the dollar signs are attractive, schools which offer a lower salary, but handle more of the essentials, such as visas, medical insurance, finding and furnishing an apartment, etc. can save you a lot of headache.

There are a wide variety of offers out there, including TESOL training + teaching contract programs (i.e. they train you, give you a certificate, and then work with a school they've introduced you to).

As for cycling, I'm sure it's possible, but I'd be weary about the roads and traffic laws here. Like everything else, I'm sure it varies greatly from city to city, but here in Harbin, no one cycles on the streets. Your best bet would be to find a park/track devoted to this purpose.