hey hey Everybody :D
Im coming to Kunming in the middle of next month (December) after longer travel ....
and I think to stop for 6 months to learn Mandarin.
so I would like to ask you some questions :D
1. anyone could recommend some good not expensive mandarin courses?
2. I would like to teach English or social science. Any suggestions how to start it ?and how English teaching works
in Kunming?
I have been teaching English in Indonesia for almost
3 years. I have masters degree in sociology , if that matter.
Thank you very much .
Any ideas more than welcome
Keats (see listing and advertisement here on gokunming) for studying Mandarin. Note that 'learning' Chinese isn't finished after only 6 months, but I suspect you know that.
I would recommend TenWest. Albert Wang will create a program that will work for you best. He is very honest and just a great person. He has an ad in gokunming and their phone number is 087165747722
COol . Thanks .
Yeap i need much more time. 6 months is just for start.:)
It might be better to get a job with work visa and study in your free time. That is legal. Working on a study visa is not and they have been tightening up on this. You would be expected to comit for a year.
If you arrive on a student visa you will have to seek clearance from you school before working. They will give you a set amount of hours and confirm this with the school you plan to teach with.
Exceeding that arrangement could land you in hot water, and the hours are not going to be anywhere near long enough to mean you can support any sort of lifestyle. Essentially you will be studying Chinese and teaching to make a bit of pocket money.
If you're only planning on staying six months then that would probably be the way to go.
Would be much better financially if you were to get a job on a work visa, have a set income, accommodation, insurance and then use your free time to study a bit of Chinese in your free time. Some employers will even offer free Chinese classes as part of the package. However, this option is going to require a years commitment to an employment contract, which may be a bit long for you.
Mei's Mandarin / Robert's School is worth a mention as they both teach Mandarin to foreigners and English to Chinese. Easy location, close to Foreigner Street (WenLin Jie).
Tigertieger and Napoleon !!!: thanks a lot for wise advices :)
it make sense but I wanna focus on mandarin ... and from September look for package job on work visa. I have tried to learn by myself ... hard , time consuming and very very slow progress heheh
but money is an issue for sure :( I need to pay my life in order to learn mandarin and I can see that can be hard.
legal issue sounds
I suppose I will figure it out soon in Kunming:)
Do you think working part time on student visa is very risky ?
Ocean: thanks for info about schools , for sure Im gonna check it out :D
If you do work illegally and get caught, no school will have your back. They will disavow you. Another option is tutoring which is much safer. If they ask, just say you are doing a 'language exchange' Ha.ha. or she's my girlfriend or classmate. You get the idea. Many put ad on here offering their services.
Schools have to keep records of attendance, and they do keep accurate records. Two years ago the police started going through records and cancelling student visas. One student had only been on a couple of long weekends travelling with his girlfriend.
The lesson is that you do not need to be caught working to get your student visa cancelled. If your visa is cancelled, you will be asked to leave the country.
If you use the the tutoring option mentioned above, make sure your attendance at school is 100%.
