Job Discussion Forums

[carken]

Has anyone taught an SAT prep course for senior middle school students? If so, did you have a curriculum, develop your own, or how did you approach teaching the course?

Also, since this is more highly specialized and since I'm a certified Englsh and ESL teacher, shouldn't this position pay more than just an oral English teaching position?

Thanks,
Carken

[SnoopBot]

I t should pay higher but this is China. You might get a whopping 200 rmb extra a month.

When you say Certified , do you mean a State Teaching license in the USA (Public Schools) or a MA Ed TESOL graduate (University).

Anything less than this it is hard to find a higher paying position.

However, you could use the experience and set up your own private SAT teaching in the future.

[carken]

Thanks, Snoop. I have a B.S. Education, certified to teach grades 1 - 12, Secondary English, and E.S.L. all levels. Yes, it's a state certification. I'm a retired teacher with experience both in the U.S. and in China. I've taught at the school in China that's in question, and this is a position that may come available. I was only wondering if I might expect much more than I was getting when I was teaching oral English there.

Right now I'm in the U.S.. but coming to China in July to do a four week teaching stint.

[SnoopBot]

With those qualifications I would look at a better international school where you can use your full potential.

You will find most Chinese schools just want an entertaining White face to entertain the students and most work is done by Chinese teachers (sometimes with dubious English abilities too)

If it is short time, it should be no problem, the experience of being in China will offset the lack of flexibility in the classrooms.

Some places actually desire a low qualified entertainer with little experience, they can easily control your methods and get you to do it "their way>"

Sometimes a well-qualified teacher will see the problems and for the benefit of the students , try to change some method and use modern teaching techniques.

Thus, the management becomes unhappy as $$$ is the prime conern at too many of the training centers. The students actually learning is at the bottom. I worked for a place like this in 2003, it was not fun at all.

I suggest you find a good position with a school that will welcome a real-qualified teacher with experience such as yourself.

DO NOT pick a school that doesn't demand to see your qualifications or doesn't care about your ability other than the fact you're "a foreigner."

They will use you only for window-dressing for the paying parents to see.

At the school I taught in (saturdays) I was put sitting at a desk during odd times and told " this is where foreigners must stay" between classes. Of course later I found out this was in the hallway where parents came to pay their kids tuition or inquired about classes.

They could squeeze as much as possible from the paying students by saying, "Look at all the foreign teachers we have hired."

The sad fact was, we only taught for a few hours on Saturday and not all students had a Native English teacher.

These situations will get to you after awhile, so my suggestion is be VERY PICKY don't go for the outfits that will hire anyone.

Good luck,

PS I would LOOK into area as your prime concern. Pick a beautiful place that offers you the best experience, maybe others can guide you to good cities. I've only taught in Beijing since 2003.

(Good weather, scenery and the ability to travel aqround.)

You're retired just like me, so long hours and top pay should not be as important as quality time enjoying what China has to offer.

Choose low hours and location to start.


:

[waxwing]

[carken]

No, I'm not wanting to work the huge amount of hours required by a real international school. Being retired, I have the earned blessing of retirement, etc. I'm thinking this SAT course would be a case of really teaching to the test, and I could teach everything except math and science.

Well, thanks for your input, and you've given me things to think about. I don't often post, but I read this every day.

Carole

[SnoopBot]

[carken]

Snoop,

Yes, a key word was "middle school", but it's senior middle school - - 10th - 12th grades. I've taught at this school before and it's a key school in the province.

I really do appreciate your comments and pointers. Thanks so much!

Carole

[SnoopBot]

Ok that makes more sense grades 10-12 . I was thinking of grades 7-9.

You should get a higher pay but often they try to cut corners with costs and this comes often from teaching salaries.

Some people can get a higher wage and have an ability to haggle over salary issues, some places just won't budge.

Since you already know the school hopefully no problems will arise.

Sometimes, they will have a FT do benchmark TOEFL teaching/ testing and if the students do poorly the blame is placed on the FT's for the low scores.

The school found their scapegoats (The foreign teachers) this technique is used in Thailand and sometimes in China too.

Those jobs are not good because it is expected that the students will fail, you're only hired to get the blame for it.

It sounds like your school is not this type of outfit. I had a job offer to teach science (physics) and found the ESOL jobs paid the same as most of the science positions. You would think they would pay higher because more work is involved (I was going to build a physics lab too they had nothing)

Some of the business subjects pay more if you can find the correct institution to work for. The rest are almost the same pay as generic ESOl.

I will note: Beijing Chinese teacher salaries are near or at the same level now as many foreign teacher salaries. So the excuse we make 10 times more than a Chinese teacher is BULL.

My wife is a Chinese teacher,and she was earning the same wage as the NET's teaching Summer Camp. The same at the universities and New Oriental School pays their Chinese teachers a higher wage than their NET's get.

The salaries in Beijing have not gone up, actually some have dropped since 2003 when I first arrived. Often having a good background and advanced degree gets your more work at the training centers with little increase in pay.

I don't think it will get any better anytime soon.

[China.Pete]

"(S)ince this is more highly specialized and since I'm a certified Englsh and ESL teacher, shouldn't this position pay more than just an oral English teaching position?" - Carole

Language schools will pay 10,000 per month for EILTS/SAT specialists (part-time work may also be an option). International schools will offer 20,000 per month for certified teachers. Chances are, if you're working in a regular high school or university, the students are paying extra fees for the international study prep. Such fees could amount to a relatively modest charge covering the extra cost of a foreign teacher, or they could be considerably more - tens of thousands extra per student per year is not unheard of.

I say all this because if your school is one of the latter, and they are still only offering you the same 4,000-6,000 per month as any other ESL teacher, either you or your students - possibly both - may be getting ripped off. So I believe the answer to your question concerning pay is, yes, you MIGHT be able to command a premium for specialized teaching. Whether you get it or not will, as others have said, depend on the school.

[waxwing]

Just a quick apology - I thought you were talking about looking for a job, not a job you've already arranged. Hence my rather nonsensical post

Interested to hear more about SAT programs.. are they often offered at language schools, ChinaPete? And where can I read about the content and structure of SAT? (for professional development.. also want to learn more about IB!)

[Leon Purvis]

I coached verbal SAT prep to children of immigrant Koreans for four years in the U.S.. Much of my curriculum came from the Kaplan and Barron books. I photocopied the practice tests and the students practiced taking the tests.

In addition, I taught many of the test-taking strategies found in the Princeton Review.

There are several vocabulary books which you can use in teaching vocabulary. One book which comes to mind is "Word Power." It includes short tests for each unit.

I used the Latin and Greek prefix sections in both the Barron book and the Kaplan book. I made flash cards and used them in class.

I have seen both the Barron book and the Kaplan book in China.

My students were enrolled in the sixth through twelfth grade. The highest scores came from the students who had been in the program the longest and who also received additional tutoring.

Cram courses are a waste of time and money unless all that the student needs is exposure to the test to learn test taking skills and to help to lower his anxiety level. Except for that, cram courses are pointless, and getting involved with such an organization will merely set you up to be the scape goat for explaining why Meischeng didn't make it into Harvard.

[China.Pete]

"Interested to hear more about SAT programs. Are they often offered at language schools?" - Wax Wing

Don't know how common they are. As Leon suggests, some such offerings may be in the line of cram courses, more useful for teaching test taking skills than much actual content (unless you include memorization of reams of prior test questions as "content"). From my experience, you're apt to find some of the more academically oriented courses offered in the international programs that are proliferating in colleges and high schools.

[naturegirl321]

[Shan-Shan]