[deleted]

[Guest]

[deleted]

[mackie1402]

The thing I'd ask myself is if I didn't have this job, would I still be able to survive and pay for another year in China?

Without the job and benefits, you'd need to pay for rent, bills, living costs such as food, going out etc. If you work out your costs, can you afford it?

Without the job you'd need a visa. The best option would be to study like you say. That would bump up the costs for that year, too!

 

If money isn't the issue however, I'd definitely go for the year of studying. If you want to get to an advanced level but not spend more than a year here, it's probably the best way to go. It's easy to fall into old habit when you stick with the same routine. I've been doing that for years! Every year I say to myself how to improve/study harder etc, but I fall back into my routine and nothing new really happens. I believe a new environment and schedule, such as studying,  would be a great push in the right direction.

 

If you can't survive a year without earning a living (I know I couldn't!), I'm pretty sure students can work part time. Not too sure if that's still the case? You could always get some part time work while studying, doing a few private classes on the weekends (I say weekends and not evenings as I'm sure they'll be filled up with homework).

 

Perhaps you could opt for a home stay type gig? Live with a local family and play with their kids in English, then study during the day. Most kids are either at kindergarten or school that time anyway.

[Guest realmayo]

On 20/01/2017 at 11:16 AM, Napkat said:

I imagine the progress in Mandarin would be immense

Up to now you've been fitting in study around a job, and presumably you've had to be disciplined and motivated in order to see good progress with self-studying Chinese. My only advice is that if you choose to study in a Chinese university for a year (which I did some years ago), you will have to be just as disciplined and motivated with self-study: turning up to classes and doing homework won't be enough to see big progress in a short time, you'll have to find time and energy to fit in your own work too, perhaps find a language partner, that kind of thing. That's to say, Chinese university is no magic bullet. Not that you suggested you thought it was. (Of course BCLU/Tsinghua might be better than most universities, I've no idea).

[Angelina]

Don't renew your contract, stay in China. 

 

Either find a really good new job or apply for a scholarship to do a full-time language course. If both plans fail, go to Germany or France. 

[abcdefg]

Quote

Option 1: Renew my contract for a second year. Wage increase by 1000 RMB/month to make 9500/month (pre tax) including accommodation, utilities and other perks for low, low hours (10-11 hrs/week including planning time). Handy for cash, and would net me a valuable second year of working experience in China.

 

I would pick option one, hands down. Renew your teaching contract and keep studying on the side. Working not only gives you ready cash, but it gives you useful life experience. This is a particularly attractive option in your case because the job does not sound very demanding, requiring only 10 or 11 hours a week total.

 

Chances are extremely good that even if you were enrolled in full-time language study at a good university or private school, you would still waste 10 or 12 hours a week. So instead of stopping work, I would think hard about how to maximize the return on your after-work study hours.

 

Don't mean to sound paternalistic, but additionally, since you are still in your early 20's, this route would give you a little more growing-up time. Do you have hobbies and extra-curricular activities that involve the use of Chinese? If not, developing some would help fill out your overall language-learning landscape.

[LinZhenPu]

How about part time formal study around work?

[Guest]

[deleted]

[stapler]

Wow. You're getting paid $150-$200 an hour? And you only have to work 10 hours a week? Why would you quit job like that?! Huge money and heaps of time to study Chinese sounds ideal.

[abcdefg]

Agree with Stapler. Sounds like you have a very sweet deal. Don't be in a hurry to move on and abandon it. The future is unpredictable; the past is gone. All any of us really have is the now.

 

Gym workouts can be solitary or not. If you partner up with some Chinese guys you may learn weight lifting vocab, names of muscles, body parts, etc.

[Angelina]

This job means you are paid ok for not much time spent working. 

 

Are you sure you can't find a new job you enjoy? Don't forget that if you manage to find a job you truly like, you will talk to your coworkers in Chinese, on topics you are interested in. This is much less stressful than what I am doing (studying alongside Chinese students), but you are going to have all the benefits I have, plus money. 

 

Can you find a new job? Is there anything you are interested in? 

[Flickserve]

11 hours ago, Napkat said:

 

I have been considering that - I think from this semester it's something I'm going to pursue. I don't know anything about potential night classes or where they are though, so I'll so some digging around over the next week.

 

 

In a nutshell, I think you're right. I spent the last semester doing side-work after school to pad out the extra time, and I'll probably continue with some of that next semester, too - the cash is too nice (alongside Chinese private study that is, which I have a whole thread dedicated to).

 

Don't worry, I appreciate the advice. The main two hobbies are language exchanges and the gym, so at least one of those fits the bill. I'll try to find a larger variety of things if possible and/or things that would force me to use Mandarin more often.

 

It is time to spend some of that time meeting people doing other things. Something like martial arts perhaps?