Job Discussion Forums

keinnon · Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 6:17 pm Post subject: china tefl wannabe enquiries

Greetings!
My first post on Dave's.... I've been cruising about the cafe for about a month now, accumulating tidbits, picking up the occasional but and noting your lack of coffee. Fortunately I've a few months before I head to China so I'll ween myself of coffee (more of a tea drinker anyways).

Seriously now folks:
After all my perusing of threads I'm still muddling about in the very early planning stages. A few factoids to acquaint you with me and my situation...

I'm a 50+ male, have a BFA - visual arts; just winding down my graphic design biz; 20 years theatre experience (on/back stage; pro/am); 5 years as a radio DJ/programmer; have taught high school art (not a certified teacher though) and various workshops (mostly photography) and am a certified kayak guide (talk to people a Lot!).

I'm in mid-life and pondering change. My partner, seeing my consternation, asked me "Whatever happened to your teaching English overseas dream?". Once I got over the fact she wasn't ushering me out the door enthusiasm set-in. Leading me here.

Thus far:
1. I'm thinking China (that's why I'm here and not on the Newbies forum)
2. I'm thinking Zhuhai (it's coastal, as I am; it's considered 'green' by Chinese standards; it may be a good place to acclimatize?)
3. I'm thinking of taking a TEFL course there (I think the course will help me get in the groove and make some connections).

I've committed to kayak guiding next summer so I've lots of time to plan ahead. My main questions at the moment are:
1. Zhuhai? any info on the place and schools (for both me and later teaching positions)
2. I'm wavering on whether to take the training in China or here before I leave. (I live on a small island and would have to commute to town for a course, which doesn't excite me that much, however.)
3. I'll be guiding until early Sept. so I may be looking at a Feb. job start. Is that going to be a problem?

Although the future is unwritten I can see myself doing this for a number of years and would like to think I could move around a bit (getting a CELTA at some point or getting some more uni in to advance to better paying gigs). I've no student loans to pay, am used to roughing it and have seen enough of the world to know that I live a very privileged life here.

TIA!

Anda · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 2199 Location: Jiangsu Province

I'm only guessing but I think if you want to use a kayak where you are thinking of then you will probably find a lot of pollution especially plastic and paper. You don't sound broke so come over and have a look around. Grab yourself a local Chinese youth with reasonable English to speak Chinese for you for you and do a trip further down the coast. I must warn you but that it gets hot the further south you go. The province of Jiangsu is a maze of canals but a lot of pollution again, interesting however more so than the coastline.

http://www.gwpchina.org/EChinaGWP/Publish/EventDetail.aspx?DisplayOrder=0301&SpecialTopicID=b943000d-c698-409e-891f-4e59e23489d4&SpecialDetailID=b621af78-ca9d-45a5-b1be-f28aae923e98

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

keinnon · Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 10:03 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the link Anda. I suspected that the mouth of the river might contain a few pollutants, but I may eventually bring a folding kayak along. Priority would be my computer and assorted attachments, however. I'll probably leave some packed boxes at home and have my partner either ship 'em to me or bring 'em over when she comes visiting.

I've pretty much decided doing a TEFL course is a good idea, but now I'm wondering whether to do it here or there? Anybody have any recommendations on where to take a course; preferably a school that's not just a recruiting agency? Doesn't have to be in Zhuhai, that's just a place that struck me as a good possibility (I love seafood, so that was a factor in my choice of cities too).

Anda · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 2199 Location: Jiangsu Province

When you if you have a place lined up you can get a special rate from certain commercial Post Offices in Oz for printed matter, books and the like. So send that way for teaching matter plus reading stuff.

We have a number of courses for people who are interested in gaining internationally recognized teaching qualifications from Cambridge ESOL as well as exciting opportunities for teachers to develop their language and teaching skills

http://www.britishcouncil.org/hongkong-english-general-examination-academic-purposes.htm

Ahchoo · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 606 Location: Earth

Here's some info about Zhuhai.
http://zhuhai.expat9.com/

Anda · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 2199 Location: Jiangsu Province

This goverment lot have Teffl courses at certain times and it's cheap but it's in the countryside live in with not much to do.

Contact Susan Yao

8625 8333 5972

Jiangsu Education Center for International ExchangeJiangsu Education Service for International Exchange Jiangsu Department of Education 15 West Beijing Road, Nanjing, 210024, China ...
www.chinatefl.com/jiangsu/teach/jecie-4.htm - 8k - Cached - Similar pages

Jiangsu Education Center for International ExchangeHost: Jiangsu Education Services for International Exchange A: Teaching: ... Jiangsu Education Service for International Exchange ...
www.chinatefl.com/jiangsu/teach/jecie-center3.htm - 17k - Cached - Similar pages

China - Overseas Representatives - International Students ...Jiangsu Education Services for International Exchange 15 W. Beijing Rd. Nanjing 210024 CHINA Phone: +86 (25) 83335948 Fax: +86 (25) 83335957 ...
www.canterbury.ac.nz/intstud/osr/china.shtml - 43k - Cached - Similar pages

arioch36 · Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 3589

The plus side of doing the TEFL in country... Tefl courses in the home country lead you to unreal expectations of what the classroom will be like. This is the common complaint of all. If you just need a TEFL course to build your confidence up a little, brush up on your english then it doesn't really matter.

Sounds like your retired? So money will not be an issue. I would seriously suggest do a Tefl here, come a week early, have the TEFL course set you up with some guides for a couple of fdays of look around the country, do your tefl, take some more time off, and start teaching
Lots of courses everywhere

keinnon · Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 4:45 pm Post subject:

Cool. I think I'm on the right track. The more I read about Zhuhai the more it seems like a good initial landing/jumping off spot. And doing the course in country makes a lot of sense.

Going through the posts gives me an idea of schools to avoid, both for learning and teaching.

Anda: Mailing from OZ sounds easy enough. Bit of a side trip however... sorry, I forgot to mention I'm on Canada's west coast. I'll check at the PO here though.

arioch36: thanks for the confirmation! I'd never thought about guides. I gather that they're common? Makes so much sense, especially at the outset. Any idea of cost? "Retired", hmmm.... as an artist-type living in Lotus Land (the common name for Canada's west coast given to it by overly-hyper easterners ie. anyone east of the Rockies Cool

) I think I've been semi-retired for years. But, yeah, you're right, money's not a big issue. And I am looking forward to wandering a bit before I settle in to a job.

Thanks for all the links Anda. D*mn there's a lot of info out there! BTW that avatar of yours is very distracting. Good thing I'm a photographer; on the street I can put the camera between myself and such distractions! I can tell that the contrast between 'modern' China and 'traditional' China is going to be startling.

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

tefl or celta courses are useful for those who have no confidence. however, taking one of those courses in one country and then coming to china to teach is a waste of time. i did that (celta in thailand), and i wish i had just saved my money. none of those courses can prepare you for the conditions in the chinese classroom. further, the instructors on some of these courses havent even taught english in asia, and have no idea of what chinese classrooms are like. that was the case when i did a celta at ECC in bangkok. some of them were really ignorant of how badly their teaching techniques would work in china (i tried to tell them but they didnt want to hear that).

if you have decent time management skills, have a good personality, and a basic knowledge of english and how language works (helps if you speak a second language yourself) then you dont need tefl/celta. this cottage industry just keeps trying to perpetuate itself by telling esl teachers how much they need the training.... and its simply not true (reading the evaluations students give you at term's end will show how high your "teacher training" ranks in the scheme of things.

save your $1500 (money you might spend on some teacher training) and spend it on a nice holiday after your first term of teaching in china.

therock · Joined: 31 Jul 2005 Posts: 1266 Location: China

No need to do a TEFL or a CELTA certificate, just bring along your guitar and you will be fine.

The Voice Of Reason · Joined: 29 Jun 2004 Posts: 492

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

Anda · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 2199 Location: Jiangsu Province

I did 16 months of English teaching in South Korea before I did my English teaching certificate back home in Sydney Australia. The course was worse than unless for learning about teaching. It consisted of the old
Presentation practice production teaching method which is usless with real beginers and usless with better students. Try getting production from a student that is just starting.

Having said this the bit of paper is good when getting jobs even if you have the experiance and track record of teaching English behind you.

TEFLtastic with Alex Case � PPP (Presentation practice production)In PPP (presentation, practice and production), you present a language point, ... to say that modern so-called PPP classes, textbooks and teacher training ...
www.tefl.net/.../teaching/efl/teaching-methods-and-methodologies/ppp-presentation-practice-production/ - 44k - Cached - Similar pages

Guidelines for New English Teachers - What is PPP?PPP stands for Presentation, Practice and Production and is a prescribed standard ... She has also run her own TEFL training courses for new teachers. ...
ezinearticles.com/?Guidelines-for-New-English-Teachers---What-is-PPP?&id=722023 - 41k - Cached - Similar

SnoopBot · Joined: 21 Jun 2007 Posts: 740 Location: USA

What about Hainan Island? I am not sure how rough the ocean currents and waves are there but I'm sure you could enjoy your sport there much better than taking chances dodging floating PCB and Hepatitis B containers in a river.

I would look into that area which is like Hawaii.

peterberlin1980 · Joined: 17 Dec 2007 Posts: 9

I did a tefl course in Zhu Hai. This one
http://www.bootsnall.com/tefl/04-12/zhuhai-china.html
It was pretty good, after a year teaching in China the most useful aspect of this one was being pushed to prepare 100 emergency activities for flat classes, which have come in really useful. Be aware that in this course you will be teaching a lot to school children whose parents have paid for them to attend unprepared first-time tefl students' lessons, which is a bit unreasnable/unethical. Observing the other tefl students lessons was a real plus point though and picked up a lot of ideas from them. zhu hai the city is inexpensive, compared to shenzhen and guangzhou, air's pretty fresh, seas really dirty-can testify first hand after went drunken skinny dipping-, theres a great bar at wen hua guang chang were a pint of draught san miguel costs 5 RMB and the glasses are kept ice cold in the freezer. a good city to ease in to china on and a reasonable tefl cause re: above link