Job Discussion Forums

[qiezi]

So here�s the deal � a few years ago I taught English at a kindergarten in China. I think it was a pretty standard experience with a school that treated me okay and got me a business visa. Best part was that I met my boyfriend at that school and we decided, when our year was over, to go teach at a different school. We interviewed a few places and finally decided to go with a well-recommended recruiter. Neither of us has our college degrees but the recruiter said �Don�t worry, don�t worry.� They got us a lovely job at a small college teaching oral English and they totally forged him a bachelor�s degree so he could get a Z visa. I got a city issued work permit since my partner had a Z visa. I was sort of nervous about that whole set up for a while. I certainly wouldn�t do it again, but all in all, a nice experience as well.

Now I want to go back to China to teach again � either at a Kindergarten or a Uni. I�d like to have a job where my employer won�t jerk me around (I consider the fact that I had 2 positive experience in China a total fluke). I�ve got experience being a teacher�s aide for ESL learners and leading my own environmental ed classes in the US and have former employers who will vouch for me but I still don�t have a degree. I put my resume up on Dave�s with a little note in the cover letter explaining about my unqualified nature � but all I got was a ton of generic emails from recruiters encouraging me to send the front page of my passport and a copy of my degree or invitations to come and work for English First. (No thanks, kids).

So what I�m looking for are some job leads � from schools that can work their way around teachers with no degrees � (I have heard of places doing it legally) or folks who�ve had a positive degreeless experience in China. Also, I wonder if anyone else has had a degree forged by a recruiter. Is this a normal thing?

[tw]

I am quite certain a degree is not necessary for teaching kindies (correct me if I am wrong vikuk). The best thing to do is apply to any and every job you are interested in. You didn't say if you prefer any particular location, so I can only assume that you are willign to teach anywhere and everywhere. Poorer and more remote areas are more willing to hire FT's without a degree and able to get them a Z visa. I'd definitely give such places as Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Henan, and Shanxi a try but if an employer in say, Qingdao can get you a work permit even without a degree, then hey, even better.

[william wallace]

nil?

[Vo Rogue]

[therock]

Since you have no degree, try applying to schools in the west, central or north of China. These are considered the less desired places to work in and I am sure you can find a school that is desperate enough and will find a way around the rules.

Also remember desperate school in the less desired areas of China doesn't necessarily mean bad school, it could mean that they are having trouble finding a foreign teacher who is willing to work in such isolated conditions. Unlike the desired areas Beijing, Shanghai, eastern and southern provinces where if a school is desperate you would need to be a little suspicious.

[william wallace]

china

[qiezi]

Thanks for the advice. I'll keep an eye out for more remote postings. It's interesting that you would comment on the more remote areas being more desperate for teachers. I talked with a school in Western Sichuan who would not have me as a foreign teacher because they felt that there were so few foreign teachers in that area that one sans degree might make the school stick out and bring unwanted scrutiny (by the local gvt or whatever). They could also have been giving me a face saving brush off however. If I find a good one, I'll let you know.

[SnoopBot]

Stay away from Beijing the market for teachers is saturated and the no-degree rule seems to be now enforced.

They seem to be checking visa issues and degree's now at some of the private schools K-6.

(You can view my other post when a friends school was raided last week)

Experience I think is more important here, stress the fact you taught before at this same level.

I would deal directly with schools if possible for a job, what about returning to your old school?

(Do you have a copy of your old FEC? Include this when you're applying for job positions.

The other posters here are correct, I actually saw the software program that is used to create fake degree qualifications for FT's in one of the Chinese teachers office.

This software package is a black market product that has a vast template of various university degree certificates.

It was made from real copies, a Font program matches the Font so the pertinent details are created for the user.

I'm not telling you to do this, I'm just letting you know the Chinese have a way around this requirement.

[qiezi]

I wouldn't go back to my kindergarten because they couldn't get me a legal visa and because, in the end, i felt a little bit jerked around. i'd teach at the uni again but i don't know the right way to go to the recruiter we used and say "hey, remember how you forged my boyfriend a degree? could you do that again for me?" i was under the impression that it was his quasi-legal z visa that allowed me to get the work permit.

cruising the want ads on dave's i found this gem: http://www.eslcafe.com/jobs/china/index.cgi?read=17946 which i think i'll check out in more detail.

[SnoopBot]

[SnoopBot]