Teaching ESL in CHina

Hi All,

This is my first post on here after spending yesterday browsing the forums and researching teaching. I am amped to get over to China and start teaching within the year but know all too well that tons of research, negotiating and prep work needs to be done prior to departing the USA.  Any way, below I have a breakdown of my qualifications and wondered what type of ESL University work or within the Public School System is available and, more importantly, any feedback from experiences working in those areas would be beneficial.

I have an important interview for the Hong Kong government sponsored NET initiative  upcoming and know lots of people have experience with the scheme.  Links or insight in to the program's pros/cons and any other helpful stuff for a complete newbie would be helpful and provide clarity!  The interview was set up through Teach Away which I believe is a recruiter so I'm a bit skeptical but it seems legit after researching it. Lets hope I don't fudge the interview!

Qualifications:

age 26
US Citizen with passport (no visa yet)
BA in History from renowned US University
Master of Education at Elementary and Secondary levels
2 years full time teaching experience (5th grade)
5 years assistant teaching (part time - summers) for Special Education
No CELTA/TEFL but could complete one in the 6 months time I have before wanting to leave for a secured fall position!

Cities/areas of interest:

*Hong Kong
*Beijing
Guangzhou
Tianjin
Qingdao
*Fuzhou (and other Fujian province cities)
Guangxi province
Sichuan province

I know NET is only Hong Kong based but I'm also open to other options! I really would enjoy the city life of HK as a young single guy looking for adventure but I also have always enjoyed the Sichaun and Guangxi provinces and am excited about pursuing those if you all agree it is possible to live there without knowing any Cantonese or Mandarin in advance.  I highly doubt there are huge expatriate followings there, well outside of major cities, right? How are the employment opportunities for ESL teachers in the more traditional provinces? Any chance of international school employment there?

Any help about anything NET/Teach Away related or in regards to my other questions/posts on here would be EXTREMELY helpful for me right now! I have been looking at forums/blogs/google searches galore for about a week now and I'm slowly going insane but also loving it!

Thanks everyone!

If you're working with a recruiter...well, I don't know what to say.  Please read http://raoulschinasaloon.com/index.php?topic=6827.0

Also, not sure if you're asking about a school, or your qualifications, or seeking job leads, or what...so I'm moving this thread elsewhere.

Oh...and one posting of a given message is enough. We'll see it and help if we can!

OK...
Hong Kong is indeed "part of China", but it's still very much a separate case from Mainland China.

It's rather hard to find work in HK, especially in comparison with the Mainland.
- HK has much higher requirements and expectations; your MA in Education will help. Do you have an active teaching certification from the USA? That'll help a lot, too.
- HK has a higher proportion of English speakers, raising the competition level.
- Lots of people, including me, want to live and work in HK, also raising the competition.

Life in Mainland China can be relatively cheap, but HK has a cost of living (especially housing) second only to Tokyo. It's quite possible to find a "good" job there that doesn't let you live very well.

I'm telling you these things not to discourage you, but to let you know there will be tremendous differences.

Just a technical note...

In China, we're teaching EFL...English as a Foreign Language.
ESL- English as a Second Language- indicates learning English in an English-speaking country, such as a Mexican learning English in the USA.

Certain websites don't get this right (  ) but we do.

I think that like some of the South Korean programs getting teachers into their public schools that most if not all of the initial stage of NET recruitment is done by a select number of recruiters so if you wanted to become part of the NET scheme then you had to apply through a recruiter. I put this into a different category to our normal discussions of the serious short coming in using recruiters.