The questionnaire is designed to give us an idea of what you are looking for in a contract. There are many jobs available but it is no good sending you to the north of China if you hate cold weather or no good sending you to a kindergarten if you prefer older students. This will help us to find a suitable contract to fit with what you want.
Please fill in all areas and it is best if you can number your preferences.
You can download the Questionnaire or contact lily@kauzenfun.com for more info.
Weather: China is a large country, from its north bordering on to Russia where winter temperatures can get down to -40C to Hainan Island, a tropical island in the south. We basically break it into 3 areas with hotter being the south, average the middle and colder being in the north where you will experience temperatures below -0C through winter.
Hours: This will generally determine if you will work at a government school or private language school.
Government schools are generally where you will work Monday to Friday during the day and have holidays during public holidays as well as school holidays. Government schools can have bigger class sizes and if starting a contract with a government school in September, the beginning of the school year in China, you may have a 10 month contract and be unemployed during the 2 month summer break. This can be a good time to do some travelling or pick up some extra work at one of the many summer camps. Generally work hours and therefore pay, are less, often 15 to 20 hours (class time). Private tutoring is usually ok as long as it doesn’t interfere with your contract hours. Often apartments are on campus and services sometimes paid for by the school.
Private language schools are where you will generally work evenings and weekends and also through the winter and summer camps. You generally get 1 or 2 days off during the week as well as the Chinese public holidays. All National Holidays (these are National Day, Dragon Boat Day, Mid Autumn Festival, Ancestors Day, May Day). The class sizes are usually smaller, work hours and therefore pay, generally higher often 20 to 25 hours. Private tutoring is generally not possible. Apartments are usually in the general community and services paid for by the teacher.
City: This is probably the hardest preference for us to match so it is usually better to mark the “Doesn’t Matter” box unless there is a special reason that you want to go to a certain city. Also in my experience smaller cities are often a better experience than large ones. I should explain that more, in bigger cities there are generally more foreigners so you are just one of many. In smaller cities there are less foreigners so local people tend to treat you as special. I have had many amazing experiences in smaller cities or villages just because I am foreign, things like people wanting to take my photo, people giving me food, people wanting to help. Some amazing things can happen particularly if you smile at the locals and try to communicate with them.
Student Age: Generally government schools are set ages and private schools will have a mix of ages.
Length of contract: All schools prefer 12 month contracts (10 month for government schools that start in September). This is because of the large expense schools incur to get a teacher organised and to the school. (see “Background Information” on Warnings sub page for more explanation)
Couples: Two people travelling together whether they are a couple or friends is good. Many schools want multiple teachers so two together means less cost to them when it comes to apartments. Also couples are usually more stable and likely to stay longer and they tend to handle culture shock better as well.
Please make sure you fill in the blank lines at the bottom if you have any special requirements. Please do this even if you have spoken to us about this. We talk to many teachers and many people become involved in this process so if your special requirements aren’t recorded it may not be considered.