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| Little Cities can offer more | ||
| Having had a great experience in Suzhou in 2003, my wife and I decided to take a teaching position in a small by Chinese standards, city called Zhaoqing in Guangdong Province. What it lacks in size, it makes up for in convenience and natural beauty. For serious shopping there is nearby Guangzhou but we can find all the western products we need right here, like pasta, yoghurt, non-sweeetened bread, cheese, breakfast cereal etc. Zhaoqing is a quaint little city surrounded by beautiful lakes and mountains. The 7 Star lakes, Dragon Lake and nearby Dinghu mountain are famous attractions which will not disappoint the average tourist. Teaching at CAS (Canadian American School) has been a pleasure. Apart from having better than average facilities like a large gym and olympic size pool it is situated at the foot of the mountains overlooking the city. The apartments are a little small but we have TV with English channels and computers with internet access. The salary and conditions are adequate, although having students from wealthy families does make teaching a challenge at times. Having had classes of 60 in a government school however, we have been pleased have class sizes of 20 or less. A big advantage here is that there are about 8 foreign teachers on staff so plenty of opportunities to share experiences and travel together. The school recently took us and the senior students to Shenzhen "Happy Valley" theme park for an outing. Overall, I would have no problem recommending this school to any prospective teacher as the school is seeking teachers for the next semester, starting in September. Gerard Denaro Brisbane Australia g_denaro@hotmail.com |