Guangxi Education Recruitment

Liuzhou is such a great city that we want to introduce it to the world. And, if you come and work for us, this series will also give you some ideas for what to do when you arrive. Part 1 takes a look at the heart of the city's clothing retail district... The Chinese love shopping! Their obsession outstrips even the most dedicated of British shopaholics and relatively small places seem to have a volume of shops far beyond what we're used to. Liuzhou has a few retail districts and lots of malls and, whilst most of these are fairly similar to what we're used to in the UK, 飞鹅路 Fei'e Road is something entirely different. Essentially a series of huge indoor markets, it's home to famous brands and thousands of small clothing stores and, particularly at weekends, is teeming with people in that way that only Asia cities seem to manage. At the end nearest the city centre, the more standard clothing stores prevail, including one which will be familiar to Brits: Uniqlo.

Rent in Liuzhou is cheap. Part 8 of our cost of living guide will tell you how cheap (here's a clue: it's really cheap!)... When we got here, I was staggered at how little rent is in this city and, coming from London, the availability of quality housing in great locations for such a low price continues to amaze me. Whether you want to live frugally and save as much as you can, or live really well and still put money away every month, this is the city for you. Let’s start high and assume you want to splash out - people in London spend on average 60% of their salary on rent; in Liuzhou, if you spend around a third of your salary, you can live in a place like one of these: new build on a modern estate, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a huge living/dining room, modern kitchen and one even has a chandelier! Both cost 4000元 (£455) per month. If you've spent any time in China, you'll know that building sites are a huge feature of any city. China is building new housing on an

When you're not working, how else are you going to fill your time? You could get out and enjoy the scenery here; there are so many beautiful parks and outdoor spaces in Liuzhou that we'll save them for another post. Today, in part 7 of our cost of living guide, we look at how much other types of entertainment will set you back... Everyone loves watching movies and you'll be pleased to know that going to the cinema in China is really cheap. Also, as every shopping centre has it's own multiplex, you're never far away from a screen. Prices range from 24.9元 (£2.84) for a regular screening up to 49元 (£5.59) for iMax. If you go to an early midweek screening, you might even manage to get a ticket for 19元 (£2.17). KTV is a favourite across Asia, and Guangxi is no exception. What's different here is the variety of price points: the shopping centres here all have KTV booths where you can do a bit of singing in between getting your groceries and you also have a ran

Smartphones are an obsession in China, more so than the UK even. They are simultaneously people's means of communicating, doing business and indicating their social status. In part 6 of our cost of living guide, we look at how much you'll be paying to use yours... You'll be pleased to know that using your smartphone is cheap in China: messaging, making calls, internet packages - all cost less than what you'll be used to paying in the UK. You'll also be pleased to know that the reliability and speed of 3g and 4g internet access here is superior. There are three main mobile phone networks in China: China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom. The three networks have shops all over the city, helpfully distinguishable by their boldly coloured shop fronts, so you'll never be far from some real life customer service if required. The message I get from almost everyone here is not to bother with China Mobile; although they are a long established company and have

In Chinese culture, lunch is when you eat big and Liuzhou very much abides by this mantra. We're going to focus primarily on the local staples of various 米粉 rice noodle dishes in this post, part five of our guide to the cost of living in Liuzhou... If you spend any time at all in this city, the locals are going to ask you your opinion of the local speciality dish: 螺蛳粉. The name of this dish definitely suffers in translation and the most common I've seen is "river snail rice noodles". I know this doesn't sound great but it really is a delicious meal. Snails are not normally included as standard, although you can add them if you wish. The spicy and sour soup is made from snails (hence the name), pork bones and other seasonings. As standard, your soup will come with 米粉 rice noodles and 青菜 green vegetables but the real joy is in the 配菜, which are various bits and pieces you can add to your dish. Among these are 腐竹 dried bean curd rolls, 花生 peanuts, 木耳 black fung

The Chinese have a saying about their three meals a day: 早餐要吃好，午餐要吃饱，晚餐要吃少 or "you should eat well at breakfast, eat your fill at lunch, and eat less for dinner" so, with this in mind, part four of our cost of living guide will explore breakfast options here in Liuzhou... If you want to eat breakfast like the locals do, you essentially have two options: the first is to visit one of the many breakfast stalls that pop up at the roadside all over the city between 5am and 10am every morning. The one pictured here is for commuters who pull up on their electric bikes to save time. At these stalls you can get 抓饼 spring onion pancakes, 包子 steamed buns with a variety of sweet or savoury fillings, 粥 rice porridge and 豆浆 soybean milk. These places are great if you're short on time and they're really cheap. My average breakfast from one of the stalls will only set me back 7元 (81p). The second option is 米粉 rice noodles. Rice noodles are a staple food for local people in

One of the advantages of living away from the biggest cities in China is the exposure we have to local minority culture and the chances we get to engage with traditional communities. These opportunities just don't come about in the big cities that so many foreigners tend to gravitate towards. We want to give our teachers a chance to learn about, and interact with, these groups. We're proud of the fact that we work with less advantaged groups and, as such, I'm really happy to introduce one of the partnerships we've set up. Starting in October, we will provide teachers free of charge to a traditional farming village in the mountains a couple of hours from Liuzhou. We first established this link last year and have undertaken two visits to the community already with a view to working together more closely in the future. The village is populated by members of the 侗族 Dong minority, and is a traditional farming community living in a historic 寨子 wooden, stockaded settleme

In this post, we want to introduce another of our partner schools, one that is quite different from the place we talked about in Part 1. This school is much larger, with over 200 students aged six to 18; it's based in a small town around 25km from the city centre and, as such, employs a different model in the way they go about teaching English. Whereas the previous school only employs foreign teachers, the majority of staff here are local Chinese, and the school uses foreign teachers once a month to give the students some exposure to native spoken English. These sessions may take place in the classroom but the school also organises special activities, such as playing laser quest, making soy milk or catching fish as pictured here. The purpose of all these activities it to encourage the children to use what they've learnt and engage in conversation with native speakers. The Chinese staff focus on grammar and book work, whilst the foreign staff are employed to teach and enco

At Guangxi Education Recruitment, we work with dozens of schools and training centres in Liuzhou. We work with all age groups, from kindergarten up to adults, and no two establishments are the same. Because there are so many different education providers, we're able to find you a role that matches your interests, experience and personality. In this post, we'd like to introduce just one of our partner schools and explain a little about the way things work. We're focussing on a smaller school, one that, at present, specialises in teaching children from age 4 to 8 and where classes are no larger than eight children. It operates in the evenings and at weekends and is based in a purpose built facility in the city centre. This school has chosen a curriculum aimed specifically at young learners, which encompasses multimedia, textbooks and flashcards and encourages an active and fun classroom experience. I'm really impressed with this scheme of work, particularly the way

The summers in Liuzhou are scorching hot, so you'll need plenty of liquid refreshment. We've covered your beer options already, so here's some info about how much you can expect to spend on tea and coffee in part three of our guide to the cost of living in Liuzhou... First off, tea. There are an awful lot of options in Liuzhou if you feel the desire to have a cuppa. There are also a range of price points, from places using powdered milk and flavoured syrups, where a large cup of milk tea will set you back around 5元 (56p), to upmarket establishments using varieties of tea brewed to order and fresh milk, where a similar cup could set you back up to 18元 (£2) or more. This being China, there are a whole heap of options available, and all kinds of goodies to add to your tea, but we'll save that for another post. I'm a fan of one of the midrange shops, Comebuy, where a 招牌奶茶 house special milk tea costs 11元 (£1.23) and their 乌龙茶 oolong tea 12元 (£1.34). Not being a

Summers in Guangxi are long and hot so you're going to need to keep your fluids up. Beer is scientifically proven to be the best way to do this so, in part two of our guide to living costs in Liuzhou, we're going to give you the low down on what's available and for how much. The most popular local brand is 漓泉啤酒 LiQ Beer and they have a few varieties including 漓泉1998 and 漓泉新1代纯生, which are their premier offerings. Whilst the taste is definitely not on a par with our British brews, these light beers are perfect for the long, hot summers and are a great accompaniment to evenings sat outside eating BBQ. A 500ml can of the regular stuff will set you back 4元 (46p) in the shops and a 500ml bottle of the premium types will cost 7元 (81p) in a restaurant. Liuzhou is experiencing a boom in imported beers and you can find many bars with a great variety of foreign brews. Of particular popularity here are German beers and a 500ml can can be had for 11元 (£1.28) in the shops an