Job Discussion Forums

[Stomper]

Ok this is entirely subjective but what is the best teaching experience in China?

Universites have less hours, an almost adult student base and a good schedule, however looking at salary levels they really don't pay so well.
I know many people teach privates on top, but since many Uni's are out in the sticks are these privates actual students at the university?

Training centers pay much better and if you choose wisely you can only teach adults, but the schedule and hours can be a killer. You exist just to teach at the center and little else. No time to study Chinese or take on privates.

Government high schools and middle schools seem to pay better than Unis and although the schedule can be challenging and the class sizes bigger, you do get evenings and weekends free to pursue other interests.

It is very much "horses for courses" but from ppls experiences what gives the best balance of schedule, hours and salary etc?

[Non Sequitur]

'Out in the sticks' doesn't mean the same in China as it may elsewhere.
That is other than Lushun near Dalian, where 3 (and counting) city schools have been dumped into a small seaside village.
The big unknown for a newb is how you are going to react to life in China.
This means going for least downside for your first gig, rather than trying to optimise everything.

[Stomper]

Lived in China before....
Went down the training center route...wish to avoid that again.
The work life balance thing just didn't fly.
With my commute I was clocking 60 hour weeks..ugh!

[Non Sequitur]

Hours go hand in hand with pay of course.
Live and teach on the same campus and standardise your commute by doing weekends at a language school.
Long variable commutes and last minute no shows, are a killer for privates ie one or two kids IMHO.

[water rat]

You seem to have a grasp on the situation here. You have summed it all up succinctly, and you have lived here. So you really ought to know better than to ask such a naive question. How can anyone answer? You have to make your choice. Which type of school-situation will you go for? What type of climate and city size will you choose? The rest is just a matter of luck. If it were as simple as being able to answer your question there would be no Dave's ESL Cafe. You know that China is vast and that one high school in a certain city may be a very different ESL working situation form another half a kilometer away. Why ask?

[Simon in Suzhou]

A big factor for many is vacation time. A university will give you 3-4 months off a year compared to 5-10 days a year at training centers. Many people want to travel, write, or pursue other interests which just aren't feasible at training centers. Quality of life is not just cash in the bank.

[Non Sequitur]

[water rat]

[Stomper]

I know a lot of a person's experience is down to blind luck..
But we can balance the likelyhood of good luck by making the correct choices at the outset.

I dropped lucky with my 1st school, pretty much by chance. But now I hear that place has changed radically and is on its last legs.

The second place wasn't my cup of tea, but was all that was available in that area (Long story).
I asked the question as I'm trying to canvass opinion from ppl with more experience than me. What has worked for them and what hasn't...how to find that happy medium.

[katia04]

It depends on what you want. Another downside to a lot of uni jobs is that they lack structure - sometimes the deans will just say "Teach them x, y, and z" or "Make sure they can do this" and give no further instructions. If you have more experience, this isn't a problem, but if you're really new it could mean you have a difficult year ahead of you; even a good CELTA certification only goes so far. I taught at a training school my first year - terrible experience, hated both bosses and still do, but the upside of it was that the lessons were very structured and I learned a lot about how to teach. Now I am at a university with a boss that I like much better, and able to choose what and how to teach (double-plus: boss makes the students earn their grades, and doesn't tell me "pass everyone" the way the language mill did). For me now, this is perfect, because I have a lot of independence, but if I'd done it my first year, it would have been awful because I wouldn't have any idea of what to do. My advice for absolute newbies is training school for year 1, then unis/public schools after that. Just make sure you do thorough research beforehand.

[Bud Powell]

I agree with katia04. The OP asked about TEACHING experiences. Vacation isn't teaching. (Yes, I know, there are those who are in China for reasons other than teaching).

A university that has an English major program is the best bet, provided that the FT has what it takes to keep a class engaged in more than busy work and can provide more interesting personal content than telling jokes and teaching students profanities. (It happens).

If one can talk to the students about what THEY are studying at the moment, and can provide a little more than what their Chinese books and teachers are teaching them, he can be a good university teacher. All teaching jobs require creativity; I believe that the university position requires a bit more creativity simply for the fact that the teacher is given more freedom. The structure of a language center is a good way to learn how to structure a class and a curriculum, but it gives the teacher less leeway in the what and how department.

By contrast, the university position (usually) gives the teacher a lot more leeway. (Unfortunately, this freedom is often the undoing of many unqualified university FTs. They don't have the resourcefulness to make the classroom experience interesting or meaningful).

If the OP is well-read (Chinese English majors I've taught tend to have a pretty good background in western literature), can think on his feet, and is creative, he'll do well in a university class room.

I don't think one can say that it is universal that universities require appreciably fewer hours. I've taught 18-20 hours and three subjects in some universities. The preparation for a schedule like that can be a killer, especially when one is teaching western history AND writing.

As many others have stated, the OP must weigh his personal agenda for being in China against what the various teaching situations have to offer.

One thing to take into consideration when working for a Chinese university: if one lets it be known that he has special interests or a minor in something unrelated to language, he may find himself teaching a class in that subject. That may be a good thing or a bad thing.

[Voyeur]

The Chinese ESL market is still far from an efficient labor market. Conditions and contracts vary considerably. Even for veteran teachers, it can be quite hard to know if your job is above average or not.

Teaching at Uni. is generally something I try to avoid because I do not want to teach English to a large class. But I know some uni. teachers who teach only English majors with classes capped at around 20-25 students. OTOH, most of them had to work up to that and did have to teach freshman English 'conversation' classes to 70+ students at a time.

If you can get them, the international classes at top ranked high schools tend to be good jobs, with higher pay than universities and similar schedules. However, the work can be more demanding as in many cases you will have to teach IELTS, SAT, or TOEFL and either know how to teach them or be capable enough to figure it out quickly.

[Walsh]

I pretty much agree with water rat here. It will all come down to personal preferences. I like university work because it gives me a lot of free time and students I can socialize with. I don't have the patience to teach primary school kids really.

[Non Sequitur]

[JellyRoll]