The 3 books I have coming are "Teach Yourself Teaching English as a Foreign/Second Language", "Practical English Usage", and "Learner English: A Teacher's Guide to Interference and other Problems (Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers)". I will probably save the "Teach Yourself" book for the plane ride and the "Learner English" book for when I arrive in Guilin (I will spend a week or two there processing paperwork). The DVD book set wasn't available when I looked but I see it listed now for around $50. Perhaps I will buy it later. It was "Learning Teaching: A guidebook for English language teachers" which was expensive. In fact, it's almost $200. Even used it's almost $90.

Yes, they do encourage analysis. I think the material the course provides is pretty standard material and the tutors they contract out are professional educators with lots of experience, even if it's just a faceless ESL certificate program that's almost indistinguishable from the other millions. What did make me trust it more than others is that it has in-class experience certificate courses available at many many locations worldwide; at least it separated it from the masses.

It's possible that I might teach for some time. With a mechanical engineering (with aerospace minor) degree, however, I don't see me making a career out of it unless I simply fall in love with it. The main purpose for living in China is to master the language via immersion and study. However, unlike what I would call the "stereotypical non-serious English teacher" (who may only teach in China as a means to an end and treat his job without seriousness or professionalism), I want to make sure that what I do for the students is excellent. Even if I don't make a career of it, I want to be the best teacher that I can be. I also recognize that it will be an invaluable life experience that can teach me so many things; it's a great investment of time, in my opinion. I certainly will maintain contact with the school in Anhui, thanks for the suggestion.

I hope you are well and thank you again for your excellent response. I really appreciate it!

Justin P.