Job Discussion Forums

[mehrlin26]

Me again. At the rate this place is going, there should be a Newbie forum for this place relatively soon.

My question is this; What about teaching adults? I notice a lot of the entries on this board are for teaching children and young adults. What are the rates of pay, working conditions, etc. for adult ed?

[Paul Barufaldi]

I prefer teaching adults since the classroom discussions tend to be a heck of lot more interesting. Not only is their English improving, but relevent ideas and knowledge are being passed back and forth during the conversation on topics such as jobs, economics, culture, etc -not to mention that you get the chance to develop some real world 'guanxi.' The rate of pay salarywise, I believe, is about the same. But the experience is far more rewarding for the teacher.

Regarding freelance teaching, in Beijing I will do outside adult classes for no less then rmb 150 per hour, more if I can get it. One Kuai less than that amount, or the mention of teenagers, and I just outright refuse. There's plenty of other part time work, so why sell myself short for anyone?

Best of Luck

Paul Barufaldi

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

I hate teaching adults.

Constant talking.

Rudeness.

Sleeping in class.

Cell phones going off.

TALKING on their cell phones in class.

Everyone wanting individual attention.

Students smoking during my lessons.

[Roger]

I too find CHinese "adults" far too childish, and their English too under4developed to be able to enjoy lessons with them.
Those that attend a training centre class usually are motivated enough to do work; however, they come with wildly differing English levels and too much optimism on their own English conversation skills.
Many actually come out of - boredom!
But at least they may be interested, and thus, cooperative., The majority, unfortunately, get their company to foot the bill, and in that case, English lessons go down the drain.
I enjoy kindergarten classes the most.

Interestingly, pay at many kindergartens is even better than pay for adult classes. Of course, you can pick up a well-heeled private student that forks out 200 to 300 an hour. In my view, the most interesting and interested ones don't have so much money... those who can afford to pay you are the arrogant, ignorant upstarts!

There. My opinion. I had a number of such upstarts and I feel I know them. I am always willing to meet the more sophisticated, cultured and refined CHinese adults.
But where are they?

[Paul Barufaldi]

I'm a little surprised at what I'm seeing here. Sure, I can relate to the complaints about cell phones and overly eager students. But I find a much higher degree of apathy and disinterest among the middle school/high school students. Also, I have to strongly disagree with the other posters on this thread about the character of adult Chinese students. I've met many fine people -with varying levels of English, sure, but fine people nonetheless. I suppose within any population, you're bound to run across a few nitwits (take these boards for example!) but I think it's wrong to characterize all or most adult Chinese students as being childish, arrogant, rude, etc... The majority of mine are interesting people who conduct themselves with a reasonable standard of civilized behavior. Not that certain cultural/idealogical differences don't exist, they do. But these also make for great classroom debate when approached in an open and respectful manner.

[latefordinner]

There are far more children's classes because that is the market. Parents are paying for their children's education, not their own. (Apologies for stating the obvious)

I've had both extremes teaching adults; the over-grown spoiled 20-something children, and the genuinely eager and curious. The first adult class I had was one of (if not _the_) worst classes I've ever had. One class, I brought in the kites that my grade 2 class had made and coloured to show them. "Children 7 years old can do this. What can you do?"
That class spooked me for a bit, but the next time I was given the adult classes I had a great time. I taught people who were genuinely creative, curious and insightful. I am still in touch with some of them. One is my girlfriend. Just goes to show...

[senor boogie woogie]

Hola!

Chinese people from middle class to rich families mature at a much older age than in the United States.

I have found that Chinese are not willing or really do not have an opinion about the most mundane things. The people wake up, eat breakfast, go to work, come home, play computer and go to bed. I taught very few married people, it were newlyweds without children.

I like www.iteslj.com when it comes to prepare for classes. Iteslj is good, but it will only be good for about three monthes or so, unless your school has that kind of turnover in programs. IELTS is excellent to teach too to advanced, even if these people are long out of college.

I helped to teach a wonderful young woman here in Hangzhou who went from almost nothing to 65-70 percent fluency in language in about 4-5 months. Seriously. I used to dislike her in my English corner group because she could not say anything to the point when she left our program when I could make intellegent conversations with her, she speaking excellent English, her problems were the nouns. She studied. She read. She was PRO ACTIVE in English corner conversation.

The only way you learn a language is to study, to read and to associate with those who know the language you are trying to learn. This is why some of us have taken up to four years of a language in high school or college and only know enough to get by in a foreign culture, we don't have the exposure to native speakers. Chinese don't either. My Chinese is s h i t because i do not study like I should. I'vve had the exposure here, which puts me ahead of my collegues in Chinese class.

A long story short, tell your adult students : READ (English is easy to read next to Chinese), and SPEAK in class or English corner. It's their money after all.

Senor