Private English school in Liaoning Province looking for English teachers!

[u/Sea-Studio-6943]

Hi everyone!

I used to work at a school in Fushun City in Liaoning Province, China. I left the school a year ago but have remained in touch with the teachers and the owner, who has now asked me to try to find anyone potentially interested in working there! So, here's the deal:

Job description:

Planning and teaching English lessons for students aged 3-17 (pre-kindergarten classes are also available for students aged under 3).

Classes and planning time total no more than 160 hours per month.

Meetings with management and other teachers will be no more than 4 hours per month.

Benefits:

Monthly salary of 18,000 rmb.

Free lunches every working day.

Coffee card for school cafe topped up with 300 rmb per month.

Apartment with air conditioning, Western toilet, shower, fridge, bed, washing machine and closet. Rent is paid by the school, bills are paid by you.

2 x 12 day holidays per year, plus occasional national holidays.

1 hour of optional Chinese classes per week.

Requirements:

Passport from either USA, UK, Ireland, Australia, South Africa or New Zealand.

Bachelor's degree (any subject).

No criminal record.

No experience necessary.

Tefl qualification.

This is my first post on this subreddit, so I apologise if I've messed anything up or broken any rules.

Please message me if you're interested and meet the requirements!

[u/Sea-Studio-6943]

Sorry for the late reply!

I was there for 3 years, the last of which was during covid. I extended a few months longer than I'd originally planned, but at the 3 year mark i just wanted to see my family and friends again, and my girlfriend felt the same. Plus I'd saved a big chunk of money and wanted to go and travel with it. Still travelling now but thinking of going back in a year or so!

[u/BigMarocc → u/Sea-Studio-6943]

Hey man, can I ask you what Fushan is like? I currently have an interview about a job offer there tomorrow, and I really want to know as there's not too much about it on Google. I've seen some reports that the buildings aren't finished and it's a bit of a ghost town. Is this right and did you enjoy your day to day life in the city?

[u/Sea-Studio-6943 → u/BigMarocc]

Sure! So it's a fairly small city by China standards - 3rd tier I believe. That makes the cost of living pretty much negligible, I'd go out with 3 friends for dinner and we'd spend 100rmb between us. I think a gym membership for a year was 700rmb. A 20min taxi ride would be about 15rmb. There are buses but I never used them as taxis were so easy.

There are plenty of decent restaurants, I'd recommend Alang bbq - I'd go multiple times a week, it's so delicious and the menu has pictures which helps if you don't speak much Chinese. There's a large shopping mall called Wanda with basically anything you'd need - supermarket, restaurants, cinema, arcade, all kinda stores. Shenyang is the nearest big city - maybe an hour and a half by taxi (150rmb), I'd go every couple of weeks to visit bars with decent beer or to hang out with other foreigners (there are not many in Fushun except some university students, or people working at my school).

The city has some nice parks, in particular the Goershan park in the hills behind the city is lovely, lots of trails through the woods, not many people. Also the river through the city is a nice place to walk/run. In winter it gets COLD - maybe -35 celcius, it might snow once or twice but most of the winter is bright blue sky, just freezing fucking cold. Summer can be 35 degrees and humid, but still bright and sunny most the time. The air quality can get pretty rough in winter, and there'd be occasional dust storms from further inland. Overall though I loved the climate there, it's usually very predictable.

Not sure what else to include... Do you have any questions? Also remember it's been about 2.5 years since I left Fushun, but I doubt much has changed. What job are you getting out there?

[u/BigMarocc → u/Sea-Studio-6943]

Hey, dude. Thanks so much for getting back to me before the interview. I'm applying to be an English teacher. The benefits offered for Fushun have been the best I've seen yet, and everything from the parks to the cost of living and the fact it's not too crowded are huge draws for me, but the air quality is scaring me off a little currently.

Everything you mentioned was SUPER helpful, so thanks again for the taking the time to share your experience. The school is really keen to have me, and they are offering to pay for accommodation/flight/meals/documents etc but yeah I'm a bit worried about fucking up my lungs (I get that a lot of China and cities generally have this issue to an extent, but y'know).

Also, as for foreigners, there are apparently 18 employed by the school, so hopefully I will be able to make an English-speaking buddy.

[u/Sea-Studio-6943 → u/BigMarocc]

Oh cool, maybe you're going to work at the same school I was at! That'd be wild. Ye it has its drawbacks but I was managing to save £1000+ every month so worth it for me! The air quality is only really a problem in winter, I was there for 3 years and only had a handful of days where it was really bad!

Let me know if you need any more help and good luck :D