My partner does this for a living (not in China) - she teaches business people English through an agency and earns a good European living wage. I've also met a fair few people over the last years who have been teaching English in various far-flung countries. So...
...if you want to do this as a proper job to change around your life, then I would strongly recommend that you get a recognised qualification (as a poster above recommended I would check if the qualification you get in China would be accepted elsewhere). She went back to the UK for a while and did hers at a uni over there and, despite having a degree in languages, she didn't find the course easy at all.
...if you want to do it as a way of earning some money while seeing a new culture and country, then the way you suggest sounds like an option. I did that kind of thing (not language teaching, but random jobs) for a number of years in a lot of countries and it's more a question of being open to opportunities and where they take you.
Note that some people who have taught in 'exotic' places end up getting jobs in the equivalent of Stoke (rather than an interesting or otherwise exciting city) because nobody otherwise wants to go there.
...if you want to do this as a proper job to change around your life, then I would strongly recommend that you get a recognised qualification (as a poster above recommended I would check if the qualification you get in China would be accepted elsewhere). She went back to the UK for a while and did hers at a uni over there and, despite having a degree in languages, she didn't find the course easy at all.
...if you want to do it as a way of earning some money while seeing a new culture and country, then the way you suggest sounds like an option. I did that kind of thing (not language teaching, but random jobs) for a number of years in a lot of countries and it's more a question of being open to opportunities and where they take you.
Note that some people who have taught in 'exotic' places end up getting jobs in the equivalent of Stoke (rather than an interesting or otherwise exciting city) because nobody otherwise wants to go there.
