Job Discussion Forums

[julianne.yue]

Hello, everyone.
I can speak and write English and Mandarin fluently, but is it true Caucasian Americans will have a better chance of find a job than Asians?

I am 100% Chinese, is this a plus for me? Some people told me it is since I am bilingual, therefore I can teach younger children.

But many people have mentioned, Caucasians are much more welcomed.

1. I will be going to Shanghai, China toward the end of this year (around October/November). Do you guys know the best way for Asians/Chinese to find a teaching job in China as most of schools do look for Americans.

2. What are the chances of landing a teaching job in China? I know it is very easy for Americans, how about Asians?


I also run into a problem with English First company, which they only gives out work permit from age 24 to 55. I am 22, turning 23 (born in 1990), will this be a problem when it comes to obtaining work permit in China? Or only English First requires to be at least 24?

Here is just a little bit of my background:

Chinese
Bachelor Degree
TFL Certification
I am a certified interpreter (does this help? )
Going to Shanghai, definitely

I am not looking for a fancy job, with outstanding salaries, around 10,000 to 13,000 with/without housing, which I think its reasonable.

Thanks for all your helps in advance!

[hilena_westb]

The issue here is what is the reason to come to China? Certainly you can find high-paying jobs with your background in the U.S. Chinese teachers in China are expected to be Chinese citizens teaching in schools as native Chinese. It's unlikely you will be hired.

Home is your real bread-and-butter on this.

[julianne.yue]

[rogerwilco]

A possible problem is that you will not be viewed as a "real" American, or as a "real" Chinese person .

Chinese students already have many Chinese English teachers to teach them English. To learn how to speak English with an American or British accent, the students and parents want a foreign face.

It might be easier for you to find a job in one of the more remote areas of China. I think that Shanghai will be one of the most difficult cities for you to find a job due to the very high number of available foreign faces already there.

If you do find a job in Shanghai, then you might find yourself in a position of having to accept a lower salary.

[julianne.yue]

[doogsville]

Honestly, I would forget teaching English. All of the Chinese English teachers I know earn about a third of what I earn, and that's without any help with housing etc. They all work much longer hours too. Play to your strengths. If I were you I would be looking for a foreign company that is either doing business in China or want to do business in China. Find someone at home who will sponsor you to go live in Shanghai. You are a certified interpreter, so go interpret. I'm sure there are opportunities for you there.

The travel industry in China is taking off like a Long March rocket right now. Last year Chinese tourists spent m72 billion US dollars abroad last year http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/17/chinese-foreign-travel-surges

There must be opportunities for bilingual American Chinese folk like yourself in the travel industry, helping people go on holiday in the USA. Why restrict yourself to teaching? The world is your 牡蛎.

Teaching English will probably not give you any more opportunities to reacquaint yourself with China than any other job will. Just find a job, come over, and take it from there.

Good luck.

[xiguagua]

The above is not always true. At my school most of the Chinese teachers teach LESS than me. They do about 8-10 classes a week and salaries are roughly the same, but they also get bonuses that I have no chance to receive and they work at training schools and other part time work.

OP has an American passport? You said you're 100% Chinese, so that leads me to believe your passport is a Chinese one. I think it makes a huge difference here, Chinese passport = no chance to get a job as a "foreign" teacher because you said it yourself, you're 100% Chinese. American passport would make it slightly easier but it depends on how people view you. If you show up, you speak fluently, you read and write fluently, your face looks Chinese.......they will not treat you as a "foreign teacher"

You could get a job at a training school, but even then in most peoples eyes you will just be a Chinese that speaks English well, and there's plenty of those in China. Obviously you probably speak better than most, but that doesn't really make a difference in the eyes of others.

You're gonna have to market yourself differently, it would probably be easier for you to get a English teaching job as a Chinese teacher than a foreign teacher.

[johntpartee]

[Denim-Maniac]

There are currently two ABC's working at my school teaching adult students. Both are ethnically Chinese, but from America and holders of American passports. As a result they are employed as foreign teachers on the same basic package available to anyone at my school.

They do have native English speaking skills though ... which you dont seem to have judging by your posts. Im not convinced your English is good enough to work as a FT in my place ... but Im sure it would be enough to work as a Chinese teacher of English. That involves lower level students, more teaching hours and a lot lower salary though.

Im sure you'll find something, but I do think your age, ethnicity, English skills and the need to find work in ShangHai will count against you. Work as an interpreter might be better / easier etc.

[choudoufu]

i read somewhere there are around 100,000 westernfolks living in
shanghai. much easier for them (or perhaps their spouses) to land
those western-face teaching jobs.

but you're bilingual.....why not teach chinese to the foreigners in
shanghai? plenty of them are looking for teachers or tutors, but
they find the local chinese are very 麻烦. most simply don't know
how to relate to fur'ners, and are only able to teach using the
'traditional' chinese methods.

[vikeologist]

There's 2 types of English teachers here.

Foreign teachers, who unsurprisingly are foreign. most have nationality of a country that has English as a first language. However, from what you've said, it sounds as though you are a Chinese national.

Of course there are many, many Chinese English teachers, and your superior level of English will be an asset, but there are qualifications that Chinese English teachers are expected to have.

I've no doubt that you'll be able to get a job as a teaching assistant at a language mill, (teaching children).

If you have a Masters in English language or Literature, then Unis may be an option.

However, this side of things is outside my area of knowledge; probably outside most people's here.

Where do you want to work?
-Language mill
-Uni
-Public school
-International school

Chinese English teachers are perceived as poorly paid. Lots of Chinese people want English teachers though, and if you have Chinese citizenship, you won't have as many restrictions on part-time and private work.

As for your salary expectations; I'd guess wildly unrealistic, even for shanghai. (I'd guess that as a teaching assistant in a language mill you'd get about 2,000 in Shanghai to start off with, though mills tend to raise TA salaries relatively quickly once they've proved themselves). You may be best just going completely freelance.



If you do have a US passport, then you could become a foreign teacher. Yes, it will be much, much harder for you to obtain an FT job. Not absolutely impossible though.

The age thing depends on the province, or in this case local Shanghai regulations. It's entirely possible that Shanghai does have such a rule, but that would be for FTs.


depending on your nationality, it's a completely different ball game.

[Non Sequitur]

These people might be worth a look.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_International_Studies_University
Promote yourself as near native Mandarin/English and get an application off to them.
You can spend too much time chatting on Dave's when at this time of year you should be getting those applications into the pipeline.

[Kysorb]

I think the hardest part is the schools where you will be more in demand wont have a licence to hire foreign workers and sponsor their visa correctly

There are many Chinese citizen only schools that might pay you quite well and you won't run into the racism that you will find at many schools who are hiring foreign teachers.

The visa would be the issue there and honestly your going to need to look for them on Chinese job sites not TEFL sites.

[MisterButtkins]

I'm still not clear on if you are Chinese or American. Where's your passport from? If you have a Chinese passport, you might consider just getting an office job with an international company in Shanghai. You have a much better chance of doing that than teaching English for any kind of decent salary.

[haleynicole14]

When I taught in Hunan in 2010, there was a Chinese-American girl who was starting at the same time as others in our foreigner teaching group. So it is (or at least was then) possible to get a foreign English teacher job as a person of Chinese ethnicity. Her job was at a public high school. She didn't speak Chinese, and that was a problem for her I think, because like other people said she wasn't immediately recognized as a foreigner or as a Chinese national.

Good luck with your search.