I know a couple that worked at IST. They said the money was excellent, with a huge savings potential, and the students were great. Largely Korean population, so not as international as some schools may be, but Tianjin isn't really a huge draw for expats.

Despite the money and the students, they got out after two years. Horrible pollution, and Tianjin isn't really an 'expat city'. There aren't a lot of expat friendly amenities available, and while it might not seem like a big deal initially, it can really start to wear on you after a while. We had briefly considered Tianjin, just to get IB experience, but we had already done several years in China and we started to feel ground down and exhausted. Much happier to be where we are now. That being said, if you haven't been in China before and really want that IB experience, it might be a good foot in the door, but go in with eyes wide open.

Chengdu
Chengdu International School (which is different than QSI International School of Chengdu)
Leman International School

Guangzhou
Guangdong Country Garden School

Xiamen IS
QSI Shekou
QSI - several locations in southern China

They frequently hire new teachers, but not for Eastern Europe. Everyone wants to go there. Teachers who have been with QSI for some time are offered Eastern Europe. Incoming teachers are mainly offered Kazakhstan and sometimes China. This is not necessarily a bad thing and if you stick around, you could perhaps transfer to Eastern Europe.

I was with QSI for a few years. It wasn't a bad experience. The money, once you add in all bonuses, is not bad and is tax free. Health insurance is excellent. And so on. All schools have their issues, of course, but QSI is hardly the nightmare some make it out to be.

Well, the people we knew really enjoyed working there and stayed for a few years. They helped open the school in 2010, so everything was new, very high tech, and shiny, and they were pretty impressed by the money and effort that went into the school. The kids are generally nice, polite, hard working, and all Korean.

They were extremely impressed with their high tech, shiny apartments in the new economic zone of Songdo (I think it's Songdo). The whole city is a new, planned city, which they thought was pretty fun, but there wasn't a lot to do.

They worked long hours, but seemed to love their jobs and were happy to be there.

I'm so sorry about your son. What a terrible time for you and your other son.

But... please listen. I don't recommend taking this job in Xian. It sounds like a dump and a nightmare. Pay the $30 for TIE Online. There are several last minute jobs listed, many in China, and you could get a much better deal. Any one of those listings that CDNTEACH mentioned would be better than Xian, especially the jobs that would put you in Guangdong, as you'd be near Hong Kong.

It sounds very much like your grief is causing you to need to leave the country for a while. Understandable. But don't let that grief compound into making a decision to work in a lousy location for ESL wages.

Juku is pretty common in Japan, as is buxiban in Taiwan and hagwon in Korea. All of my Japanese, Korean, and Taiwanese students attended almost every day after school, even though they were no longer living in their home countries. (If enough Koreans move to one area, someone will open a hagwon.) It makes for some exhausted, overworked children.

We interviewed with them. We weren't offered positions, but I know a few people who have worked there, so I have a bit information. What were you looking to know?

That's an experiment all right. An experiment in how much crap you're willing to take. Zibo isn't an international school; it's a local school with a few foreign faces to round out the staff. That's not necessarily a problem, but a 10k RMB per month salary is. Those are ESL teacher wages, and if you're a certified, experienced teacher, you can do better.

Beds in China are often very hard. We got a mattress at Ikea though, so it wasn't a problem. Mattress toppers can be bought in stores. Our apartment had a very small kitchen, but that's pretty common. I've seen "shower rooms" all over Asia, and while our apartment didn't have one, they're not uncommon. We paid our own utilities, but the school handled doing so.

Xian is a typical filthy, polluted Chinese city, with the added drawback that there's nothing to do once you cover the tourist sites in a weekend. I wouldn't take this job. Try TIE Online. Last minute jobs pop up all the time, and I'm sure you can find something better than this.

ETA: It took the school two weeks to procure our visas. Not sure why you have to wait a month.

Six checked bags is... a lot for one person. My little family of three is heading to the airport today with six checked bags and two carry on bags. But that's us.

Anyway, packing tips: roll your clothes. You'd be amazed at how much space you can create by rolling, instead of folding, your clothes. And then you can stuff picture frames and other tchotchkes in all the nooks and crannies. While you're placing your rolled clothes in the bag, line your shoes around the edges of the bag, soles out. I've been packing this way for years and it's always given me a lot of space.

As for toiletries, bring travel size toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, etc. Just enough to get you through the first few days before you can get to a supermarket. If you're female and you use tampons, bring as many as you can cram into a bag.

It would be helpful to know which country you're moving to, or at least, which region of the world. What you should bring changes depending on where you are going. (I'm going to have to buy a whole new wardrobe, for example.)

... you've never even been to those cities, have you?

Chengdu and Chongqing are "rural" in the way that Chicago or Phoenix are rural, simply because they're not NYC or Los Angeles. It would be great if Chongqing or Chengdu were like "rice farming villages." Then perhaps they wouldn't be so filthy and polluted, what with them being enormous cities and all.

Applying early to QSI won't really be helpful. First they arrange all of the transfers. From there, they start recruiting new teachers.

You're not going to get much location choice to begin with. You will likely be offered Kazakhstan, as those schools always have high turnovers. No one wants to stay in Kazakhstan. You might be offered China, but these days, many teachers leave Kazakhstan for China, so...

ETA: There are no QSI schools in rural China, by the way. There are other cities besides Beijing and Shanghai. Not being in those two cities does not mean you're in the sticks.

Do NOT attempt to do your fieldwork in a useless hagwon. I can't imagine any US state accepting that as valid fieldwork. Those places are never accredited, the standards and resources are a joke, and everyone knows it. A certified teacher would not be wasting their time in a hagwon when s/he could at least find work in a bilingual school or a real international school or practically anything else.

One of absolute requirements for fieldwork is that the school must be accredited by a valid accreditation agency. You will not find this in a hagwon. And your fieldwork experience would be a waste. You'd learn nothing useful. Find yourself a real school.

I have to agree with buffalofan on this. There is no ESL 'ladder'. You might become DoS at a language school, but that's really it. Teaching ESL is a dead end. Fun for a few years, but make a career of it at your peril (and this does NOT include licensed ESL teachers who work at international schools). And I say this as someone who did do ESL for two years, had a blast doing it, but also knew I didn't want to be 30 years old with no real career prospects and no chance to save for retirement.

There's a program run through the College of New Jersey where you can earn a NJ teacher's license and a Master's degree in three years. You do three summers of onsite classes in either Bangkok, S. Africa, or Mallorca, and during the school year, you do online classes. You have to arrange student teaching at an international school that will agree to either hire you or take you on as a student teacher.

It's a pretty good program. I know a few people who have done it and it might be worth looking into.

Clearly you've made up your mind on this. You're obviously fishing for an argument you can counter and hoping that people will congratulate you on your potential salary, which you mentioned four times in four sentences. Since you already believe that anyone who answers differently is "foolish" and that money is your end game, that's all the answer you need.

Good luck with your interview.

Thirteen of us are leaving this year. (Last year, only seven left, half of them transferring to other QSI schools.) That sounds like a lot, but four are transferring to other QSI schools, four are returning home due to their spouse's contracts ending at unrelated companies, and the other five are moving to different schools altogether.

I haven't heard one complaint about the school. Certainly no one has been *whinging*. The only real complaints I've heard are about the city, but no one is leaving because they can't stand the school. And even with our valid complaints about the city, I've yet to sit through any conversation where everyone just whines and complains about being here.

Incessant whining and bashing? Maybe you've just had the ill luck to work with extraordinarily unprofessional and negative people. Four years overseas, and I've never heard "incessant whining and bashing" of the schools I've worked at.