Job Discussion Forums

Smitman · Joined: 16 Sep 2006 Posts: 14 Location: Guangzhou, China

Hi again guys,

I've finally found an option that I think may best suit my aspirations in China, and would love to hear feedback from all of the experienced teachers. I am thinking about doing the Bridge-Linguatec online TEFL certification http://www.bridgelinguatec.com/ and job placement service, which will only cost me about 900-1000 USD total. It will guarantee me at least two job offers and the placement fee is completely refundable if I am not placed within 3 months. I also get a TEFL certification.

Now, I understand that everything depends on one's qualifications and such, so I think I need to state quite a few things before assumptions are made. First of all, I have a few years' experience working with children of all ages (over one year of professional tutoring and small classroom teaching at a tutoring center), and a B.S., as well as being born and raised in the USA. I figure the certification that's not hands-on may be enough, since I already have classroom experience and am prepared to handle classes of my own. Also, I am asian-american so my appearance is not at all caucasian. Ideally I want to do TEFL as a career, maybe get certified a few years from now in CELTA if I can afford it by then so that I can maybe teach in Spain, but the initial investment of 1000USD does not seem too bad.

Of the options I've considered, I've thought about finding a job on my own (which I have been doing for about three weeks now), and have had some success even without my TEFL cert, but have been shot down a few times when I sent a passport photo showing my non-caucasian face. Recruiters are generally quite expensive, and paying 1000USD for a placement fee to get placed teaching in a job without a TEFL certificate included does not seem worth it. Getting certified here in California costs over 2000USD a pop, and no guarantee of getting hired in China.

I may have left out some information that might be valuable for you guys to know, but as of the moment, this is all I can think of. If any of you FT's have any kind of input at all, I would very much appreciate it, and to some of you FT's that have been oh-so-helpful in responding to my previous posts, I thank you very much for teaching me enough about China TEFL jobs to come up with this somewhat-informed option.

--Smitman

7969 · Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 5782 Location: Coastal Guangdong

Smitman · Joined: 16 Sep 2006 Posts: 14 Location: Guangzhou, China

Hmm, I've talked to information representatives regarding Bridge-Linguatec services and they seem pretty legitimate. They said that I'm not going to have to actually get rejected a certain amount of times or anything, but they would do the work and job searching and there is non-refundable money commitment. I searched for the legitimacy of this company on the boards, but could not find many regarding their job placement service. What do you think? I don't think I can be too terribly picky about the jobs I find at this point, since I really want to get over there and start teaching already, haha. Many thanks in advance.

Itsme · Joined: 11 Aug 2004 Posts: 624 Location: Houston, TX

So let me get this straight.

You tried getting a job on your own, with no tefl certificate and, you were shot down because you don't have a white face.
What makes you think that a certificate will decrease the shot down rate?

If a school that is looking for a P.E. teacher has to choose between "big mama love," weighing in at 250 Lbs but with a PHd in sports science, or Billy bob Joe, having good physical fitness and a B.A. in computer science, which do you think the school might choose?

You wrote that you had some success. Why didn't you take the offers? I don't see how they can guarantee a job when they are not the ones that will be employing you. I also don't see how companies can justify charging "only" $1,000 for a certificate. How long is this course?

Perhaps another way of approaching the problem would be to make a topic on Dave's asking if there are many non-caucasian English teachers and how they were able to avoid being shot down.

Smitman · Joined: 16 Sep 2006 Posts: 14 Location: Guangzhou, China

Thanks for the concern and help, Itsme. I think there are some things I need to clarify though, listed below, so that things are more... uh... clear?

Itsme wrote:
"You tried getting a job on your own, with no tefl certificate and, you were shot down because you don't have a white face.
What makes you think that a certificate will decrease the shot down rate?"

Well, it's like this: All the jobs I apply to are jobs that some no-namer asian guy without a TEFL certificate is applying to, despite references or qualifications. However, the way I see it (possibly due to being brainwashed from their advertising), bigger more reputable TESL/TEFL companies like Bridge has a less out-of-the-blue and a more we've-given-you-good-teachers-before kind of relationship with schools, and therefore their recommended recruits would be considered that much more (hypothetically).

"I also don't see how companies can justify charging "only" $1,000 for a certificate. How long is this course?"

The program is like 300 bucks for a certificate alone, and the guaranteed completely-refundable job placement with a few classes thrown in is like 600 or 700. So it's 1,000 for the certificate AND the placement, with only 300 being non-refundable. The cert can take from weeks to months depending on how much time per week I put into it, but it's approximately 50 or 60 hours as I've been told.

"Perhaps another way of approaching the problem would be to make a topic on Dave's asking if there are many non-caucasian English teachers and how they were able to avoid being shot down."

Thanks for the idea, and I've already posted a topic regarding this a few weeks ago: http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/job/viewtopic.php?t=43806&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=
Many replied with going through recruiters, and some helpful advice was to stick with it and keep trying harder. I took all of this into consideration and given my lack of patience and connections I decided that this Bridge-Linguatec might be good if I don't find a job myself soon.

"You wrote that you had some success. Why didn't you take the offers?"

Sorry for the misunderstanding. By success, I meant schools interested in hiring me. They would send an email back asking for more information and that I seemed like a great candidate. However, "success" is a inappropriate word because for every one of these emails I replied to with my photo attached, I never got an email back again, ever. This only happened to me about 4-5 times now, and was the reason why I posted my "Asian-american woes" post earlier.

tw · Joined: 04 Jun 2005 Posts: 3898

Hendahu · Joined: 27 Apr 2006 Posts: 69

Do not pay for this service. There are many. many jobs in China. With experience you do not need a certificate. Plus $1000 US is a lot anyway for that service. This site has literally hundreds of jobs, plus there are placement services that will place you for free. Never pay....

Itsme · Joined: 11 Aug 2004 Posts: 624 Location: Houston, TX

Ok

I think that I understand where you are coming from. It only seems reasonable that one with more qualifications should get the job. This only works when 2/2 people agree on this.
This is based on the assumption that the people hiring actually care!

I think that the market is changing in that direction but is still at the point where the schools do not have anyone who knows how to get into direct contact with foreigners and so hire Chinese people to do the recruiting for them. So, you are no longer being recruited by the schools but by the recruiters hired by the schools. What makes you think that the recruiters know anything about education? Is it possible that they are just businessmen/women who know how to speak English and how to use the internet to find foreigners?

For some reason, the Chinese may prefer to hire caucasian people to teach English, regardless of whether or not he/she is a better English speaker/teacher than a non-caucasian person.

I don't really know what advice to offer except keep trying. Perhaps this service is your best option. It wouldnt hurt to ask for some legal advice concerning the refund before paying the money.

Good luck

no_exit · Joined: 12 Oct 2004 Posts: 565 Location: Kunming

You can get a job without a TEFL cert in China. Don't pay money to get the cert in order to get better jobs, get the cert if you really think you'll learn something from it.

Does this cert offer any practice teaching? Is it entirely online? If you're going to pay good money for a TEFL cert, then don't just go with any old course simply because they offer a job placement (for an added fee at that. Never pay money for someone to "place" you in China), take one that you think will benefit you as a teacher. If you get a reputable TEFL cert then you'll be able to use it anywhere, not just in China, in the future if you so desire. I'd really reconsider paying that much because you've been frustrated in your job search. There are posters on this board who "look asian" who have found good jobs, so don't give up hope. I know of several employers who don't choose teachers based on looks, so PM me if you'd like some contact info.

Good luck, but think hard about spending that much money, which will seem like a lot more once you're actually teaching in China.

China.Pete · Joined: 27 Apr 2006 Posts: 547

The $300 for the TEFL Certificate is too low. The $700 for the job placement is too high. For $1,000, you should be able to get an internationally recognized certificate. For a non-affiliated TEFL program (no built-in marketing fees, just the training), expect to pay around $600. (See http://www.winfieldcollege.com/tefl/tesl_distance.html for an illustration of this.) The job placement service is worth just about $0.

Trust me, when I say that Chinese schools have few if any hiring standards that would make any sense to most Westerners. While some schools may have a "whites-only" policy, others hire overseas (especially Singapore or Hong Kong) Chinese, Nigerians (though probably at lower wages), and people from non-English speaking European countries. While a white face may be an advantage, it's hardly essential.

Shan-Shan · Joined: 28 Aug 2003 Posts: 1074 Location: electric pastures

englishgibson · Joined: 09 Mar 2005 Posts: 4345

Nice coming Shan-Shan, and I kinda agree with ya there.

zombie_chris · Joined: 10 Jun 2006 Posts: 26 Location: Umeda, Osaka

From one of my interviews a couple of weeks ago, I did a demo class in front of 700 pupils with a guy from Sudan - a former British colony, so the dude spoke fluent English. On the way to the school, they asked the guy if he could say that he is from America rather than Sudan...course he answered that the kids would be able to tell if he was from the US or not Laughing

I was subbing at another school in Wudaoko in Beijing, and there was another Afro-American guy who had been teaching in BJ for three years, and had started his own English tutoring business in China.

My ESL misadventures have been catalogued in another thread here, but I know of at least one other teacher here who is doing quite well for himself without even a degree, let alone a TEFL qualification. I had eight interviews in seven days when I arrived here three weeks ago without TEFL. I had the opportunity to watch other, more experienced teachers run a morning kindergarten class, and learnt a lot in just one day in terms of teaching technique, as well as stocking up on games for the kids to play.