moving from sydney to china

[markg]

Hi,

I just wanted to see if anyone here had some advice i could use.

My partner and I are planning on moving to China in mid-late June this year. We are hoping we can stay for a year. We hope to study Mandarin, work, and move around while we are there. We both have a lot of teaching experience. I have a phd in sociology, and have taught in both an academic and college context. My partner has also taught in universities, and has a Masters degree in health. Neither of us have a TEFL or TESOL qualifications.

I guess we have a couple of questions. First, about visas. Our ideal plan would involve entering as a tourist for a month, then entering into language school to study mandarin for a term, then finding some work. Is it possible (and is it easy) to enter China on a tourist Visa and travel about for a couple of weeks, then to enter school and change visa to student, and finally to then change to a work visa? Can all of this be done on the mainland without exiting china? Or is it far more complicated than this?

Regarding both study and work, is it best to have a school and a workplace lined up before leaving Sydney, or is it feasible/practical to organise this once arriving in china? If our ideal plan (as above) is possible, it would seem that organising school and work later would be best. However, perhaps what we would like to do and what is possible is not the same, and so maybe we need to rethink... straight into study, then work?  Straight into work?

 

Are there any good language schools you would recommend? Alternatively, are there any common hitches, drawbacks or scams (with schools) that we should be wise to.

Regarding work, other than teaching English, what work opportunities are there (even with our lack of mandarin)? We are planning to study mandarin for a while, but we have no illusions that we will have any real ability with speaking in the time that we are there.

This is perhaps getting ahead of ourselves, but is it possible to get time to travel a little while working (let's assume teaching english)? Alternatively, what is the process like for changing employers - in so far as visas and ease of finding work in china is concerned?

We have not yet decided on where we would like to study and work. We have been considering Wuhan, Kunming, Chengdu, Chongqing, Guangzhou, or Shenzen.

Thanks for any assistance, suggestions or tips anyone can provide.
Cheers,
mg

 

[markg]

I now realise how silly this post is!