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Chinese girl wants to teach English in China, crazy?
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julianne.yue

Joined: 25 Apr 2013
Posts: 14
Location: USA

Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2013 5:59 pm Post subject:

doogsville wrote:

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.

Thank you! I'll keep looking Razz

Thank you on the travel industry tip, but I'm not planning to step my foot in it, lol.

julianne.yue

Joined: 25 Apr 2013
Posts: 14
Location: USA

Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2013 6:06 pm Post subject:

xiguagua wrote:

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.

Thank you xiguagua!

Actually I am US Citizen, so I have US passport. I was referring to I look 100% Chinese. Razz

Do you mind me asking where do you teach in China, I have heard location makes a big differences in China? and what do you mean by a training school? Like a school where students go there to learn English only?

I know, you are so right about market myself differently, that's the part I'm not so sure about. I don't know if I should tell people I'm a foreigner, or a Chinese that was grow up in America? Question

julianne.yue

Joined: 25 Apr 2013
Posts: 14
Location: USA

Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2013 6:14 pm Post subject:

johntpartee wrote:

Quote:

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?

Yes.

I don't mean to be rude but you are not a "fluent" writer of English; you might have a better chance teaching Chinese in other countries. When I told schools in Mexico, India, and Indonesia that I had come from China, they all wanted to know if I could teach Mandarin.

Haha, you are right, I'm much better in conversation then perhaps write a paper.

But students in China have near perfect grammars, and what they are lacking of is speaking fluently.

I know, but if I do go back to Asia, it will be ShangHai, China since my fiancee is there, that's why I'm not looking else where.

Thank you!! Razz

julianne.yue

Joined: 25 Apr 2013
Posts: 14
Location: USA

Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2013 6:16 pm Post subject:

Denim-Maniac wrote:

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.

Thank you! Razz

Even though I don't agree on everything you've said, but I appreciate the suggestions!

Last edited by julianne.yue on Fri Apr 26, 2013 6:25 pm; edited 1 time in total

julianne.yue

Joined: 25 Apr 2013
Posts: 14
Location: USA

Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2013 6:17 pm Post subject:

choudoufu wrote:

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.

Wow, never thought of this, but its a great idea!!

julianne.yue

Joined: 25 Apr 2013
Posts: 14
Location: USA

Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2013 6:24 pm Post subject:

vikeologist wrote:

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.

Thank you, I have a US passport. Will this make any difference?

julianne.yue

Joined: 25 Apr 2013
Posts: 14
Location: USA

Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2013 6:30 pm Post subject:

Non Sequitur wrote:

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.

Thank you, actually I'm new to Dave's website.

julianne.yue

Joined: 25 Apr 2013
Posts: 14
Location: USA

Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2013 6:34 pm Post subject:

Kysorb wrote:

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.

so.. are you saying getting work permit is the hardest part?

well, I don't mind racists that much, I mean, hey i'm in America, right? lol

julianne.yue

Joined: 25 Apr 2013
Posts: 14
Location: USA

Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2013 6:35 pm Post subject:

MisterButtkins wrote:

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.

sorry, I'm Chinese with us passport. lol

julianne.yue

Joined: 25 Apr 2013
Posts: 14
Location: USA

Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2013 6:35 pm Post subject:

haleynicole14 wrote:

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. Cool

Thank you for sharing that with me!! Razz

Kysorb

Joined: 30 Jul 2010
Posts: 253
Location: Beijing

Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2013 11:41 pm Post subject:

julianne.yue wrote:

so.. are you saying getting work permit is the hardest part?

well, I don't mind racists that much, I mean, hey i'm in America, right? lol

I am saying the schools who will be most interested in you are not the TEFL foreigner mills because you don't look different and sadly many parents have a stereotype of what a western person is and should look like to teach their child.

There are training schools who don't have foreign teachers but rather just hire Chinese English teaching majors. If you're qualified and fluent in Chinese they might want to have you. Your problem with this however will be that these schools probably never bothered to apply for the license to hire foreigners, since they didn't think the needed it and will ask you to work on the wrong visa. The police will probably never come to these schools to check for visas though since they don't hire foreigners.

wangdaning

Joined: 22 Jan 2008
Posts: 3154

Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2013 12:19 am Post subject:

julianne.yue wrote:

Kysorb wrote:

so.. are you saying getting work permit is the hardest part?

well, I don't mind racists that much, I mean, hey i'm in America, right? lol

If you think there is racism in the US you are in for a shock in China. If you are set for Shanghai I have no advice other than Shanghai sucks. I admit only visited once, but the people I met up with said, with a straight face to my wife, Sichuan is dirty and worthless (well, there is no money, etc). My wife is from Sichuan and we both live here, so this really turned me off of Shanghai (which is also dirty).

It might help more to know what the person your meeting up with does. You could get a teaching job, but not knowing Shanghai, don't know how good of one. I know my employer would treat you the same as anyone, but, again, not in Shanghai.

Denim-Maniac

Joined: 31 Jan 2012
Posts: 1238

Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2013 2:18 am Post subject:

julianne.yue wrote:

Thank you! Razz

Even though I don't agree on everything you've said, but I appreciate the suggestions!

Welcome. Best of luck in your intentions. Be aware that Chinese students tend to have awful grammar though, and poor listening skills, and under-developed top-down reading skills, and lack an awareness of appropriate vocabulary. And a lack of speaking practice. Wink

Dont be fooled into thinking they just need someone to speak to.

Lancy Bloom

Joined: 23 Nov 2012
Posts: 126
Location: Hong Kong

Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2013 3:55 am Post subject:

Dear Ms. Yue, Why don't you go to Taiwan. They love Americans and their schools are repected internationaly. They want and desire people like you. You will make twice the money. If you go back a few years you will see a story about the number one cram school in Shanghai. It was the first of it's kind. The owner ran with the money and over 40 teachers never saw their money. This will not happen in Taiwan. You could also get a degree in Chinese that you could use in America. But if you like having people approach you hundreds of times a day with hot celphones, computers and watches, Shanghai is the place to be.

roadwalker

Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Posts: 1750
Location: Ch

Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2013 4:21 am Post subject:

Lancy Bloom wrote:

Dear Ms. Yue,
Why don't you go to Taiwan. They love Americans and their schools are repected internationaly. They want and desire people like you. You will make twice the money. If you go back a few years you will see a story about the number one cram school in Shanghai. It was the first of it's kind. The owner ran with the money and over 40 teachers never saw their money.
This will not happen in Taiwan.
You could also get a degree in Chinese that you could use in America.
But if you like having people approach you hundreds of times a day with hot celphones, computers and watches, Shanghai is the place to be.

I call bs on that. I've never been to Taiwan beyond the airport at Taipei, but I am under the impression that Taiwan is full of human beings. To expect that all Taiwanese business people are strictly honest and that there are no crooks is naive to say the least. Perhaps their laws are better or better enforced. I don't know. But I do know you could get cheated anywhere. Also OP is going to Shanghai with her boyfriend, presumably to be with or at least close to him. Let's stick to Shanghai.

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