Hi!
I'm a Colorado native recent-ish college graduate (December 2012) with a CELTA Certification. I have about 1 year private ESL tutoring experience (a Chinese student, no less) and one year Teaching Assistant experience at a private elementary school for students with Autism Spectrum Disorders. I have also studied abroad in Spain, Germany, and Mexico. I would feel comfortable teaching lower level courses in either German or Spanish (I tutored my German host sister in Spanish), but I don't have any certification nor am I a native speaker of either, so I don't know how helpful that would be.
Unfortunately, none of this experience (except for the CELTA and subsequent volunteer work) is "post-graduation". I should have graduated in 2011, but instead took some time off before getting my act together.
I'm a bit nervous the lack of two years post-graduation experience is going to be an issue, but I've also been working since I was 14 and through college (5 years in Academic Technology Services) so I have a strong resume.
My goals for going to China are to have another immersion experience, hopefully learn some Mandarin (I studied a year in college), and ideally travel a bit. I've committed myself to a year stay in order to get past the blocks of culture shock before I make a decision, but I might be interested in staying longer if the year goes well. Long term, I hope to get into international business (ideally in tech) or translation and localization services. I was in the application process for Project Management positions in San Francisco, but I realized I wanted to travel more before I dive into a long term career. Additionally, I hope that Mandarin and experience in China will help me land the kind of job I want. So, essentially teaching is a way for me to afford to get the experience I want.
So far the cities that are high on my radar are: Kunming, Shenzhen, and Qingdao. I'm open to other suggestions, but Beijing and Shanghai are pretty big for me. I'm a city girl, but that city is Denver, so as long as there is SOME night life/culture, I don't mind being in a "small town" by Chinese standards (i.e. a city the size of Denver, haha). I also wrote my senior thesis on Urumqi, but it's not exactly an ideal location to travel from.
I have no idea what kinds of schools to apply to, so for now I'm basically going off of location, salary, and whether or not I fit their requirements. Halp?
My biggest concerns regarding location are:
1) Making enough money to pay my student loans (~$200/month) on top of cost of living and a bit of savings to travel. I'm not expecting to live like a Queen (or an American...) and I don't mind cutting costs elsewhere to be able to afford to travel. I do have a good amount in savings for the flight over, settling costs, etc, but I'd prefer not to dig into the rest except for emergencies.
2) Ease of learning Mandarin (as opposed to Cantonese).
3) Ability to travel both inside and outside of China.
4) Air quality - and yes, I realize the irony of saying that while I consider Shenzhen (or China in general
). I have very bad sinus issues/recurring sinus infections that have required surgery, so I don't want to tempt fate. I'm planning on bringing a stash of sinus rinses and antibiotics.... </GrossNoseTalk>
Anyway, as you can see I'm very long winded, so I'm going to shut up and continue to poke around the forums. Any and all advice is welcome.