Teaching English in China, learning Mandarin/WingChun

[Perfect Nachos]

Hi!

Ok, well i've read a bit on the forums so far and had a look around the net for information regarding teaching English in China. I just wanted to get some advice on The best way to go about it. I'm aware of the TESOL courses, but i've read somewhere from a blogger that its not greatly needed, is this true? Also, I was wondering about wages, i've seen around 6000RMB/month, is this a fairly livable wage?

I'm currently learning Wing Chun here(Australia), and was hoping to continue it when i'm in China. The availability of (decent) Wing Chun schools will greatly influence where I want to stay.

Currently i've learnt a small amount of Mandarin, and currently learning some characters(zhongzi...?), and am hoping that living in the country will significantly increase my Mandarin speaking skills.

Well, any advice would be really great, i'm planning to head there in January 2008.

Kind regards,

Nick

[madizi]

Do you beside 6000 RMB also get free apartment to live?

[roddy]

See here for discussion on the value / otherwise of TESOL courses.

[kdavid]

What is 'Wing Chun'? I'm assuming its a dialect of Chinese? Are there any real benefits, professional or otherwise (job demands, etc.), for learning a dialect other than Mandarin?

[madizi]

It is a style of martial arts. You find more here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wing_chun

[ydong]

hi,

i guess you are in china for quite a while now...however, since i saw this thread, i will tell you what i know about the salary (6000rmb/month).

6000 is definitely a great price if you were teaching in a city which is not Beijing, GuoZhou, HangZhou, ShangHai, etc. if you were in the cities mentioned, then 6000 would be enough to live but not quite enough for enjoying your life.

[CheukMo]

I'm interested in doing the same thing, except I want to learn Cantonese and Wing Chun in HongKong or perhaps Shenzhen. I have no idea how difficult it is to be able to do that.

謝謝,

卓武

[zozzen]

the most renowed wingchun teachers base themselves in hong kong rather than a mainland china where shaolin performing martial arts are far more popular. try to search 溫鑑良 who has redesigned many skills in wingchun. instead of pursuing only the beauty of each position, he put more focus on real fighting and make him one of the best known master in that stream. he, along with 梁成, is also in hong kong.

[zozzen]

the most renowed wingchun teachers base themselves in hong kong rather than a mainland china where shaolin performing martial arts are far more popular. try to search 溫鑑良 who has redesigned many skills in wingchun. instead of pursuing only the beauty of each position, he put more focus on real fighting and make him one of the best known master in that stream. he, along with 梁成, is also in hong kong.

if you have a proper qualification, you can pick up an english teaching job in hong kong too. salary can be a few fold more, also the cost of living.