Job Discussion Forums

[carolynne]

Hi all,

I live in Spain and I love my job and Barcelona�s just fantastic. I have no intention of moving to China but for three month every year I am unemployed. So I�m thinking about coming (going) to China/Korea/Japan to do a short term summer teaching post. Do these exist? What�s the story regarding visas for UK citizens?

I�ve been in England for the "summer" one to many times and I feel like something different, something exotic, something Asian (oh, and most importantly, somewhere warm).

Ideally I�d like to go to Shanghai or Macau, or somewhere in Taiwan. (But I�m not opposed to the idea of Korea, Japan, Thailand... Asia in general.) I�ve got about 2.5 years teaching experience, with many summer camps!
( Maybe too many?)

Any advice is appreciated, thanks!

[kev7161]

Summer camps are pretty much what you can get in the summer. Most of China is definitely warm (HOT!) in the summer. Camps can run anywhere from 2 weeks to 4 weeks and some pay decently (the one I've done the last two summers paid great!) while others . . . well, look and look before deciding. In most cases summer camps will NOT pay for your airfare or visa. They'll ask you to come on a tourist's visa because you are only here for such a short time. Most will give you boarding of some sort - - often shared with another teacher, sometimes in a hotel room (and usually not a GREAT room). Most will also feed you. The one I was at for the last two summers had some pretty bad food. Some will give you a stipend on top of your salary and then you just pay for your own food. A lot of them will offer some local tours that're included in your compensation.

All-in-all, summer camps can be hell, but it's such a short period of time, it will be over before you know it. Many kids are put there by their parents so parents don't have to watch them for 4 weeks while they are out of school. If you land a decent one (again, like where I was . . . etc.), then it's much more than a boring, old English mill camp, but at some you can be teaching all day and all night. You're bored, the kids are bored, and the organizers are gleefully counting their money. Many will ask you to come prepared with a suitcase full of games and other teaching materials and they may or may not provide you with a text to follow. The texts are quite often geared toward a regular 10-month school year, so it's hard to seriously use them in a looser, more casual summer camp experience. If you can come prepared with the aforementioned games, music, competitions, (cheap) prizes from your home country, pictures, magazines, and a lot of ideas, then you'll be the most popular teacher in the camp!

Start looking for advertisements around May.

[Steppenwolf]

Rare are the camps that last three months!