Job Discussion Forums

[danfournier]

Ni hao folks,

I was wondering if some of you know of (or can recommend) good places to teach "Business English" in China (especially in the Guangdong province or southern China)? I am currently a professor teaching business studies in a college in Canada. I am considering expanding my horizons by sharing my business background with motivated students (late high-school/pre-university, college/university, adults, or corporate sector) who want to learn English but more specifically Business English. I have a strong preference for China or Costa Rica but am open to other places.

Have any of you taught Business English in China?

And can you tell me what the going salary, benefits, and conditions are for such "Business English" positions?

Are there any ESL portals (besides this one of course) that deals specifically with "Business English" (especially for China & Costa Rica or Latin/Central/South America)?

Any input or feedback on your experiences or info would be most appreciated.

Thanks in advance to all you kind folks!

[in_asia_bill]

If you are looking for motivated students then I would go elsewhere if I were you. Students here pay to pass their tests and exams, or just rely in their parents' influence. And what's 'business English'? How is it different from any other type of English?

I am interested in why you call yourself a professor. I see on your website that you teach at a post-secondary and pre-university 'college', so it is not a university. I also see that all you have is a Bachelor's degree, and that there is no mention of any publications. I thought the title of professor was reserved for those that had been awarded it by a tertiary institution, and I thought you normally needed numerous (more than 50?) publications.

[clark.w.griswald]

Dan assuming that you are looking at teaching English to business people then probably the private training institutes might be your best bet. Pay will vary according to the number of hours that you are teaching. The adult students are generally motivated as they are paying themselves, but there are some exceptions where their companies send them to study so you will likely find some students who may prefer to be elsewhere.

If you are looking at teaching a business course in English then I assume that your target is college or university aged students and therefore you can look at uni's in the area that you want to be. Pay will probably be much lower, but then so will the workload with probably 14-20 hours a week of contact teaching time. The students may be a mixed bag though!

I am not aware of a website specifically aimed at teaching business English but there are other EFL forums. There are a number of users here at Daves who teach both of the categories I mention above so hopefully you will get some informative responses here.

[Plan B]

[in_asia_bill]

Ditto the above. We found steady and regular work on our first day here in Shenzhen. It took about 3 hours. Still want to know why you call yourself a professor though.

[Zero]

There is a program in Xiamen (southern China) in conjunction with Keuka College (in New York state) where you may be able to teach topics such as finance, human resources management and career development to the tune of about 20,000 yuan a month. From what I understand, you need at least a masters, and an MBA is preferred. I also hear the workload is quite heavy.
If you PM me I can connect you to more information.

[tw]

I do believe that the word professor is a generic term commonly used by people who teach in Canadian post-secondary institutions regardless of their level of education. However, I also believe that colleges would usually only hire people with at least a Master's degree.