Job Discussion Forums

[chryanvii]

I have just started my new job at WEB, in a new location, after teaching at 3 different universities in China [fulfilling each contract]. WEB was also my first job in China before transitioning to university life.

Although this was a personal choice, mostly because I ran out of time on my residence permit while searching for the "ideal university job", I feel a little discouraged about my idea to make a change.

Outside of all the normal benefits you get from university, such as utilities paid for, free rent, etc., I feel like I am going around in circles with my life. What good would it be to go back to teaching at a training center after gaining all this "actual" teaching experience? And what happened to all the adults? Isn't this the reason I left university life behind in the first place: to find more active students, instead of trying to entertain even younger students?

I wanted to see if I could get some insight from other people who may have made the same changes in their life [or similar]. How did it feel for you? Did it also feel very awkward? Did you never look back at university after making the changes? Did you consider going back to your home to find a "real" career while you still had the chance, instead of allowing yourself to go in complete circles? [I have an awesome degree in landscape architecture, but unfortunately never developed any skills]

You may ask: why do I never stay in the same place for more than a year? I am an idealist, and I give myself a "one year formula" to check on my happiness. If I am not happy, I continue to search for a job [and a place] that I think might be suitable for me, at least for the most part. Once I find it, I hope to stay for a long time. However, only after I leave each post, do I look back and see how great I actually had it before.

[chinatimes]

I don't think it matters. I have been to good language schools, and I have been to good universities. I have also been to the bad versions of both.

I have taught university students, high school students preparing to go to university, and younger students in a private setting who were much more enjoyable teaching than the university students at a university.

Some universities don't appreciate the efforts of the teacher and don't even want grades to be given or reported. I felt discouraged when I found out my students and I "landed" on our goal only to be told "money talks, student pay up your tuition, teacher shut up and make sure they stick it through the year".

At a language school, you can have students who are seriously studying English because they are going to go to university. They haven't reached the goal. You can teach university students and business people because they are working towards a new goal and might get paid a higher salary if they succeed.

To be honest, as university students, they are lazy, usually come from rich parents who paid their way, and then in class they just play with their tablets and cell phones while you try to present your lesson.

I assume by WEB, you mean Web International?

You know this is a big school and not all language schools are the same? The bigger the school, the more you will have to fit in with them. With that said, if it is a very big school like EF and Web International then it often depends on the branch, the exact location and who the current manager is.

You could have a good experience or a bad one. Seeing as you mentioned "going back" to a language school, you probably already have some idea of working there.

It sounds like you actually liked your university teaching experience, so why not get a job at a training school where a lot of students go who are either 1) going to university, 2) university students, or 3) just out of university looking for a job or at a company and need to improve their English

It's either that, or you work at a language school and teach rich parents' kids who will not care what you are "teaching" so long as you play, sing, and give their child special treatment. Be ready to be pulled like a rope in a tug-o-war.

[Denim-Maniac]

My situation isnt identical to yours, but perhaps similar.

I started by working in a vocational college teaching students aged between 16 - 22. Not so different from the university setting I think.

I now work in a training centre teaching adults.

And I think why the heck would I ever want to go back to the college / university environment? I feel its easy to be swayed by the prestige of working in a university, but the vast majority of EFL jobs in Chinese universities are probably not real EFL teaching jobs, and they dont always require a great understanding of methodology or subject matter. So I view the vast majority of those jobs as a huge backwards step from the training centre environment that I work in.

Generally speaking, I think if you are serious about making a go of EFL, you need to be in the training centre environment, not the university one. Real transferrable EFL skills are more likely to come from training centre work that university work IMHO. In my class this morning I taught an inductive (and communicative) grammar lesson focusing on present perfect cont and present perfect simple. A very very simple bread and butter lesson in EFL really ... but how many people working in university settings ever teach such lessons or possibly even recognise tenses and how to teach them?

I realise there are exceptions ... on both sides, but if you really want to gain 'skills' and 'experience' I think you are much more likely to find them working in training centres with small classes of motivated adults, streamed by ability, who expect results.

[Banner41]

[GeminiTiger]

It really depends on where, when and with who.
Everything by chance in China.
That said,

I believe that training schools hold the very best and worst of what China has to offer, while Universities offer a slightly higher overall experience on average. Of course that is just my personal bias.

As for those who claim "your making a difference" while teaching in a training school, you certainly can also "make a difference" wherever you go with the right attitude.

[tangal]