Hey Hey and a Big G'Day to you,
 
When deciding on something like 'going to China to teach' there are never too many questions you can ask so I will happily answer any questions you have about Buckland's. As I get many emails about teaching in China, below I have added a list of freguently asked questions and my answers.

To also help you understand the 'life you can live' here in China, here is my Travelblog address: www.travelpod.com/members/eddakath . It's full of thousands of photos and details of my many adventures here in China.
 
It is worth opening one for yourself 'IF' you decide to become a foreign teacher or travel overseas. One address for all your friends and family to catch up on your new awesome life anytime they wish. It's free and you can post and put as many photos as you wish. No more waiting for photos to attach to group emails.
 
A little bit on me so you can understand my answers better.
 
I have been teaching in China for almost seven years. I taught in Guangxi Province for a year and a half, Gansu Province for several months, Fujian Province for a two and a half years, Shaanxi Province for two years and I am currently living/reaching in Jiangxi Province. I have no plans on returning to Australia to live for a very long time as I am totally in love with China. This is actually my second time here in China as I was here nine years ago whilst traveling Asia.  
 
Hopefully you can trust the answers below.

1. Are you enjoying the teaching environment with Buckland?
Is it better, worse or just what you expected?

Click here to enter Bucklands Home Page

Buckland's really are great to work for.

When I was here many years ago I found Buckland's in Yangshuo and after returning to Australia I spent many years debating on whether to give up my life in Australia and move to China. So I spent a lot of time searching for 'Recruiters'. I found Buckland's to be the safest and best by far. You do hear of some teachers who have 'had a bad time here in China' but they are usually teachers who sign directly with the school and have no one to turn to for help.

Jennifer, Owen and Betts will ALWAYS be there for you.

No question is too small for them. If you do come and work with Buckland's you must remember this. They love to hear from you and NEED to hear from you otherwise they have no idea there is either a problem or that you are totally happy or unhappy. In fact I have so much faith in them that I have 'helped' several teachers from a horrible time and introduced them to Buckland's. So instead of the teacher going home angry and unhappy, they have stayed and had a fantastic time.

One ended up teaching on Hainan Island which is a beautiful tropical island.

2. Did you find the Training and Orientation Week helpful?

The training was great.

Betts is a very vibrant and fun trainer and has spent many years in China. You will receive many tips and hints on how to teach. You will even get to do practice lessons at one of the local schools. You will get to meet many new teachers whom you will keep in contact with for your entire time in China. You are all new and will need each other for help and a general chat from time to time.

I've been here before and had been in Yangshuo prior to returning.

Yangshuo is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to. It is a 'soft' way to be introduced to China. It is full of western tourists and has several streets that have only western type bars and eateries. It really is a most wonderful welcome. My advice is to hire a bike and get out into the fields and spend several nights eating away from 'West Street' as Yangshuos 'West Streets' are nothing like where you will be going.

Will actually teach in the Yangshuo area?
Doubtfully as there are only a few positions available.
But why choose Yangshuo when you have the rest of China to choose from!

3. Do you receive the promised amount of hours per week?
Are there many opportunities for overtime?

Its not actually 20 hours, it really means 20 classes or lessons a week.

Each lesson goes for 40 minutes. Your school can not make you work more than 20 hours (classes) per week. If they ask you to, of course you can but I think it is something like 100 Yuan per lesson they must pay you. I'm working 21 classes a week.

Your standard contract will be ?000 Yuan per month and it won't be less if you only work 10 or 16 lessons a week. I was once doing 16 in my first school and I know of one teacher who was doing 10 lessons at one stage. Normal though is 18 to 20.

Overtime...no chance.
The kids are sooooooooo busy with their school and extra school activities.

You could maybe tutor of course but I'd ask Owen or Jennifer if it is ok before doing it.   I only teach Primary School but if you were to choose to teach Middle or High school your eyes will be opened very wide. Their school hours and study is 100 times harder than ours in Western Countries. Some High and Middle schools have only half a day off per week and many students arrive home around 10pm to begin the following day at 7:30am/8:00am.

You will not become part of this and your hours are strictly 9 to 5 Monday to Friday.

Sometimes you may have to work a weekend, usually once a year depending on your school. But this is a good thing as it is usually attached to some sort of holiday. Let's say you have Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off as public holidays, instead of having the weekend free then everyone attending school on a Monday and Tuesday, you will work the weekend and have the week off including the following weekend.

4. It says in the contract that we are obligated to do special promotional work (sometimes during vacation periods). How often have you had to do this?  
Did it disrupt any travel plans that you may have had otherwise?

I have never had to do any promotional work since arriving and have never known of anyone who has had to. Depending on what it is I would also never allow it to disrupt my holidays. You must remember we are paid a LOT of money compared to everyone around us so the schools like to show us off. You will be taken to a lot of big dinners and sometimes your school may try to plan a weekend for you. This can also be a good thing as it is usually an adventure.

This will only happen once or twice anyhow so it is nothing to worry about.

5. Is the city as beautiful as it looks online? 
It seems like there would be a lot of outdoor activities.

That depends, are you talking about Yangshuo being the city you looked at online or has Buckland's already given you my Travelblog address and you're looking at my current city? If you're talking about Yangshuo, then it is actually more beautiful than it looks online.

Your chances of actually teaching in Yangshuo are very small.
You will be given a choice from a list of schools that Buckland's finds teachers for.

I'm not sure how much you know about China but I've taught from the very south (a few hours from Vietnam), to the middle north in a desert city (up near Mongolia), in the south east teaching in a beautiful coastal province (across from Taiwan) and I'm now in a small mountain city a few hours from famous Xian City.. My first town had less than 20,000 people. It was tiny and very very poor and the population was made up of farmers who had very little money. I was the only foreigner and it has been my favourite placement so far.

The children were so happy even though many of them had a dirt floor in their family home and had to come to school in sandals in winter.

What I am saying is, be open to and prepared to unpack your bags anywhere in China. Buckland's work mostly in the south where it is lush and beautiful. Don't judge where you will be going by the photos of Yangshuo. Visit my website and spend some time reading and viewing the photos.

China is probably the wolds most diverse country and most provinces are different.

6: How is the accommodation at the school?
Is it comfortable and are guests allowed? 

Your accommodation is very comfortable.

Very simple by our western standards but you will have everything you need. If something breaks it will be repaired a lot quicker than back home believe me. As being a foreign teacher you are treated as a 'special guest' in China. Sometimes like royalty. It can get a little too much as the Chinese sometimes don't know when to slow down or actually stop treating you so special.

Some schools offer huge three bedroom apartments and others like my first and favourite, a simple one bedroom apartment. You will have a western toilet but don't expect your bathroom to be like the one you have at home because it won't be. In fact it won't be no matter where you are in China unless you are very rich!

But you will have a western toilet!

One thing that is standard everywhere in China are the white tiles adn they are everywhere. You will not have carpet on the floor but tiles and much of the time tiles on the walls, so it can be a little cold in winter in the south. Most places will have some form of heating in either the bedroom or the lounge room or if your lucky both. Here I have both but the rest of the place is cold!

In Gansu and here in Shaanxi I have steam heating in all rooms.

Most of the time, your accommodation will be at the school. In China the schools also have apartment buildings where families live at the school and you will usually be in one of these. In my first school I was four floors up and also had many teachers and their children living around me. I taught many of the kids so we had a wonderful time watching DVD's and on birthdays etc. In my last school I was living out of the school right next to the town square. It was beautiful and only five minutes from school.

You can have guests and I'm sure the school will also treat your family and freidns to a huge dinner or two while they are here in China with you. Whether they can actually fit in your apartment will depend on how many rooms there are. Hotels are very cheap so it really isn't an issue if they can't fit in.

7. Should I Bring My Own Computer or Is One Provided
 
Wheather you bring your own computer is your own decision.
 
Every Bucklands school MUST provide you with your own computer in your own apartment. They must also provide DSL or Cable internet. For those who don't want to bring their computer and are happy to use the one provided, continue to read as there maybe another option for you and you may change your mind at a later date.
 
When I came to China four years ago I left my laptop at home.
 
Back then I knew I wanted to be here for along time but never really comprehended how secure my apartment would be. Your apartment will usually be on the school grounds and every school has a big gate and beside that big gate lives a Gate Guard who is there twenty four hours a day. Depending on which floor you are on, your windows will have bars on them and your door will have a big security door.
 
So if you do want to bring your laptop feel free to.
Your apartment will be very secure.
 
For those that don't as you will only be here for six months to a year your school computer will easily get you through. If like me you decide never to go home there are several options. One is to buy a laptop here in China like I did. It is much faster than any of the schol computers I have been provided with and also allows me to do many things at the same time. The school computers always ended driving me insane. I like to do more than a million things at one time on my computer; ie update my blog, play with photos and upload them to my blog, MSN/Skype/QQ, Word, Bluetooth etc.
 
All the school computers I've used don't really allow for all that attention at once.
 
My computer is my window to the outside world; ie family and friends and it is also my workbench where I create, update and play around with everything I do here in China. So I guess I expect a lot out of my computer, more so now than what I did during my first year here. I also got sick of 'starting again' each time I moved schools; formatting, updating, installing etc.
 
Now I just pack my computer and plug it in when I get to my new school.
 
For those who want to know what software etc can be found on the computer provided by the school, the next section deals with that...read on or scroll down.
 
Another option for those not wanting to bring their own computer and for those who don't want to spend a large amount of money on a new expensive laptop yet love their blog and expect to travel a lot, you can maybe think about purchasing one of the new nifty tiny laptops. Though they are small they pack a huge punch and they are also much faster and friendly for those like me who expect so much from a computer.
 
I purchased one last summer and take it with me whenever I leave my city.
If you don't have a wizzbang bigger laptop like me, when you return home from travelling simply plug the schools mouse, keyboard and screen into it and wallah you have an awsesome computer and a great workbench!.
 
Click here to read about my Nifty Tiny Traveller!

8. Does the computer have all of the basic functions?
(XP, XP Offic, photo/music program, MSN, Skype, Yahoo)?
Does the internet work consistently?

The computer you will have will vary from school to school.
You MUST have DSL or cable internet. In my first school I had just a standard computer, cheap speakers etc but all software worked fine along with msn etc. My last school I had a wiz bang computer with awesome speakers etc and once again all software worked fine.

BUT...............Lets talk software!

If you have a copy of XP in English and XP Office in English...burn them several times and bring them all with you. I only burnt one copy and after using it many times to make copies for other teachers and to format different computers it stopped working. I now have a beautiful 14 inch wide screen HP laptop but I'm running Chinese XP 2003.
 
All the English copies I find don't work and I can't find English Vista anywhere.

Most of the time your school computer will have XP, whether it will be in English in another question. Usually it is doubtful that it will be in English. In most small rural areas or schools where they've either never had a foreign teacher before or the last foreign teachers never thought of bringing English software so your computer WILL have XP in Chinese. Most times they have no access to an English version.
In the past I have burnt a copy of my English XP and given it to the school.
A lot of good that does me now!.

Unless your school has had a foreign teacher before and that also depends on whether that teacher used MSN, Yahoo etc your computer will not be set up for it. Remember you're in China and they really don't know what we use. When I go to a new school I always 'format' the computer and begin fresh.

I use a site called www.filehippo.com to download everything from.
Eg: virus, spy ware, cleaners, MSN, Yahoo chat, Google chat etc.
It's all there and it's all real, its all free and also free from virus so what your computer doesn't have you can always get for free from filehippo. My biggest advice is to bring a copy of XP and XP Office. I'm unsure how long you will be here but my second advice would be to bring some sort of memory device. You are going to take a LOT of photos and I mean a LOT! Everyone does so I hope you have a digital camera. I made things easier for myself by buying myself a new mobile phone that has a good camera in it. Less to carry!

My latest phone/camera is the awesome Nokia N95 8GB!
That's 8GB of room for MP3's and photo's for when I travel.
It also comes standard with a five megapixel camera!

You can either have your photos burnt onto disk at a photo lab (and they are everywhere here) OR you can buy or bring a little hard drive. As I'm here for along time I got myself four tiny little palm sized 80 gig hard drives for identical back ups. If one becomes corrupt I still have the other. All of these I purchased here in China. Like I said, you WILL take a lot of photos here if you plan to travel and you don't want to loose your colourful memories.

9. What is the cost of living like?

The cost of living in China depends totally on what you are like as a person and what you want your life to be like here in China. I haven't cooked since my arrival four years ago (I do cook breakfast...2 poached eggs!).

Of course several times when Chinese friends dropped in we all cooked huge feasts, well...really, they cooked and I talked. You will be paid ?000 Yuan a month and a normal lunch will cost between 3 to 10 Yuan and a dinner the same. It depends on what you eat and where you eat.

They have what is known as 'fast food' here in China.
 
Not 'our' type of fast food that isn't good for you but a buffet type thing. The food turn over is almost instant so the food is usually very fresh and hot. I usually have this for lunch which costs me between 5 to 7 Yuan. This includes an egg, fresh beans and vegetables, meat etc. You point and they serve. So that is one Aussie dollar. For dinner I have noodles or fried rice or soup etc. Depending on where I eat and with who it can cost from 3 Yuan to 20 Yuan.

A total of between 50 cents to 3 Aussie dollars.

Beer...a bottle of beer costs 2 to 3 Yuan. A total of 50 Aussie cents. The same bottle of beer in a club can cost you anywhere between 10 to 20 Yuan. This is what I mean by it depending on you and what type of person you are. So all up out of your ?000 Yuan you will spend 300 to 500 on living costs a month less if you cook at home and less if you eat at small market noodle stalls like I do when I travel.

I don't personally see the point in cooking when 'I am in China'.
Food is so so soooo cheap and it is delicious.
 
You will find out just like everyone who comes to China, the Chinese food we get at our Chinese Restaurants at home is nothing like what you will eat here. It is cooked different and tastes a lot different. In most cases better, in some 'not better'. It took me two years to find a place that serves a 'sweet and sour' sauce as 'we' know it. Everywhere else it has been mainly soy sauce with some other 'things' but to me it wasn't 'sweet and sour' sauce at all.

Bills and living costs: In most schools you will have no bills (some you will).
Not even your large water bottle will cost you.
 
Of course if you make calls from your home phone you will pay the bill along with the bill for your mobile phone but you will not have electricity or water or gas bills etc. If you have a mobile phone, bring it as most of them will work here in China. When you get here the school will organise a new SIM Card for you and you'll soon be mobile again.
 
Texts to overseas countries cost around 1 Yuan...around 0.20 Aussie cents.
Text messages within China cost around 2 Mao or...nearing free!  
 
10. Will I Get The School of My Choice?
 
How it normally works with any new teacher who decides to teach through an agency like Bucklands is you can tell them what you would really like....north, south, small, big, high school, middle school, primary school etc. They can only do their best to get you what you want or as close to. Most of the time they are 99% on the mark but there are usually many new teachers to place...thankfully most don't really care where they go...but for those like me, we usually get what we want.
 
I always want very small, very dusty, very green and I get it.
A very small town surrounded by mountains and rice fields.
 
My first school was exactly what I asked for and I stayed there for one and a half years. Tianyang town in Guangxi province. My favourite place. For those want to teach in a small village like in movie, no chance as villages don't have any money and we get paid higher than 99% of everyone in most places we teach.
 
BUT most places we teach are surrounded by fields and villages. Simply get on your bike and off you go. Most of what you see in my blog was taken from my bike.
BUT if teaching in a small village school is your dream then I am sure if you search on the internet hard enough you will be able to find a volunteer group that can help you.
 
11. Should I Teach In The North or The South?
 
For those who have never been to China along with those who may have been here but only for a short time, there is a big difference between the north and south of China.
 
I have lived in both and the four main differences (to me) are;
food, people, geography and weather.
 
In the north if I was to tell people what the main diet is I would say noodles of all kinds, breads of all kinds and fruit of all kinds. I actually have trouble finding places that will cook me fried rice and sometimes eateries that have rice at all.   In the south if I was to do the same I would simply say RICE, vegetables and meat. Why is rice in capitals? Because rice is the staple diet and along with your many bowls of rice you have a large list of vegetables and meats to choose from.
 
Most of them your grandmother would never have seen or heard of.
It is the differences in diet that makes the difference in the people.
 
Northern people tower over the southern people. In the south I actually look down on most people but in the north a large percentage of the population look down on me. It was quite intimidating at first but then it felt like being back in Australia where most people are taller than me.
 
There is a huge difference in the land and one that effects me a lot when I move from school to school. I prefer lush greens, be them bamboo forests or rice fields. I simply love riding my bike amongst anything that is green and the south of China is very green for most of the year. The further you go north the less green things become. The grass not only changes colour but becomes less and the moutains change in the same way.
 
Things just seem flatter in the north and to me not as colourful.
 
But that is wrong as there are mountain ranges everywhere and there is also beautiful colours and green grass, I guess it is a personal difference and the same kind of difference that allows one to choose between living in the north or the south of Australia.
 
Also just like the difference between the north of Australia and the south of Australia is the climate, but here in China it is the complete opposite. In the north it snows and is bitterly cold in winter and in summer the weather can be harsh and dry.
The further south you go the more humid the weather becomes. Winter offers no snow but it is not warm like in Thailand or the south of Vietnam. Summers are very humid and the further south you live the more tripical the weather becomes.
 
In the north the heating in winter is usually awesome and sometimes too hot.
I have to have some of the windows open even when it snows.
 
It's the water pipe heating, there is usually one in every room and here in the north of China it is the same in all classrooms, eateries, malls and stores etc. Even though it snows here and is freezing outside it is actually much warmer living here than in the south where there is no heating in most places. In the south, though it doesn't snow you are cold for many months.
 
In the north you can actually wear a tee-shirt when you begin class.
It is warmer inside than outside and not the other way around like in the south.
 
12. Different Levels of English
 
In one of my schools I simply wanted my schools address written in both English and Chinese. This was to make things easier for both Australia Post and China Post, along with increasing my chances of receiving my birthday present. It actually took over a week to get it. At first the Chinese English Teachers couldn't understand what I wanted. No matter how hard I tried they simply couldn't understand. Then when they began to understand no one wanted to write it for fear of making a mistake.
 
In the end an English Professor from the Teachers College got involved.
It took him two mintues to do.
 
Though I had four Chinese English teachers in that school I could only have a conversation with one of them. The others knew enough to teach from the book and say hello, good morning and how was your weekend. If the conversation went any further it became too difficult for them.
 
In other schools the Chinese English Teachers were awesome and I could all sit for hours talking with them and only have to explain certain cultural differences etc. It seems to be, the poorer the area the poor the English levels of not only the Chinese English Teachers but also the students. The richer the area the more After Hours English Schools there are and the more families that can afford them.
 
Salaries are higher therefore the better Chinese English Teachers
 
So when you are thinking about where to teach try not to make a decision based on salary, food or climate. Maybe make a decision based on, who and how many actually need you to teach them your Native English Language. In the poorer areas like where I usually teach I find myself teaching not only the students but I also find that I am teaching the actual teachers too.
 
Most bring a note book to class and when I begin teaching the new weeks words they sit with the students and write them down. During class I see them with their language dictionary finding out the meaning of half of what I am teaching the students.
They have no other way to increase not only their English abilities but also their teaching skills.
 
We teach in a completely different manner than they have been taught to teach.
The Chinese way is repeat repeat repeat and our way is much more relaxed fun.
 
13. Travel Travel Travel - Let's Go!

You will have around three to four months a year off to travel.

In some schools, nearly four months due to exam revision. I eat healthy but cheap so I save my money to travel this huge and beautiful country. China is considered the most difficult country to travel mainly due to the language barrier...BUT...that depends on where you travel. There is a spectacular Back Packers Trail that begins in Yangshuo/Guilin. You then train it across to Kunming (Yunnan). From there you can go south to the Xishuangbanna or north to Dali, Lijiang and Zhongdian (Shangrila).

All along the trail you have sections of each town that are for 'us', the western tourist.

In these places you can eat anything you get back home. There are many, sometimes too many hostels, all are friendly, inexpensive and 99% of the time can book your on going bus or train ticket to your next destination. They can also book little one day/half day tours, horse treks and treks like the Tiger Leaping Gorge etc in the area around where you are. Most will even do your laundry for next to nothing.

This is the main Back Packers Trail for one reason.....it is extremely beautiful.

I call it a Back Packers Trail as that's how I usually travel but in these places you will also find wealthy tourists who are happy to hand out their money on little day tours etc. I just hire a bike and do it all myself. You can also hire bikes all along this trail and you will meet other western travelers all along, so in the end you actually never travel alone and you will share costs, nerves, beers and fun with many people just like you.

Chinese trains are excellent.
You usually have three choices that all cost different amounts.

If you can not book in advance in some most cases you will stand. If you can then you have a seat with everyone and have a great time. Or you can book a sleeper. The less expensive is a compartment without a door with six bunk beds, the more expensive is a compartment with a door and it has four bunk beds. I usually book the cheaper one. You are safe and will be looked after by the Chinese. If I am traveling for several nights I then book the more expensive.

Chinese buses....HHHhhmmmm!

There are several types. The newest is the 'Long Distance Express'. Beautiful and clean. Next is the 'Long Distance Sleeper Bus'. Sometimes you can fit into the bunk bed! It is a bus full of bunk beds. I love them and have had heaps of fun traveling around China.  Local buses; if you're in a little town they are usually inexpensive and can get you to almost any town in the area. Inner city buses; don't expect a line and when the bus comes, run with the rest of the Chinese and push your way through the door to get yourself a seat. I usually stand back, watch and laugh myself silly at how they behave. I then have to stand but it's worth it!

14. Movies and Music

Bring some sort of MP3 or MP4 player. I have a 40 gig iPod and a very small set of travel speakers. Usually your computer will have a set of good speakers you can plug your player into. Buying music: you will be surprised at the selection of western music CD's, VCD's and DVD's you can actually buy here.   

Movies...this is China!

A DVD will cost you 1 Aussie dollar and you can get almost every movie you can think of! Usually before it is released in your own country. Now days I can buy a DVD and it will have upto ten movies on the one disk.

15. And Last of all, China Is For You!

To make it simple...
You will be paid very well
Everything is cheap along with the transport which can get you anywhere you want to go in China (with a little patience).

You will be safe and very well looked after.

You may not end up teaching in a place as beautiful as Yangshuo but everywhere you go in China you will find beauty. To me the Chinese people are the friendliest and most beautiful people I've spent time amongst in my travels. I feel very much at home here and will stay for many more years.

Sadly though, some people just can't handle China.
 
They find it too dirty or too loud or simply not a society they want be part of. I've only met a small amount of these people and some of them I could tell upon first meeting them that they should maybe teach in Japan or a western country. Another loved it but after a year her patience and tolerance began to fade and her desire for carpet and roast dinners won.

When it comes to teaching you will have a lot of help.

You will feel nervous at first and it may take several weeks for you to find 'your style' but that is normal for any new job anywhere in the world. Once you get the hang of it maybe like me you'll love it more than anything you've done prior. I have a heap of stuff like lesson plans I can send you once you settle in. Buckland's also have a lot of 'stuff' they can offer to help your first few weeks pass by with fewer nerves.

And lastly, Buckland's really are a perfect choice when it comes to working in China. They have a great contract and have been doing this for a long time. If your school tries to take advantage or doesn't understand something you're asking Owen will be on the phone to them instantly.

Now it's up to you to decide!

So think about when you want come to China.  
How long do you want to stay?
Do you want to teach children or teens?
Do you want to teach in the north or the south?
The north really is different to the south.
Most don't believe it until they have lived in both.
Food, colour, the people...all are different.
I now leave you with your thoughts!

I hope I have answered some of the question that may have had.
Beers N Noodles to you...shane

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