Job Discussion Forums

[Chancellor]

[Chancellor]

[nickpellatt]

[arioch36]

Just to put the record straight, to legally work in China as a teacher you need a B.S. degree (some Canadian 3 year degrees can suffice). In the past, this was a requirement that could be ignored at will. This is becoming less and less the case, especially with the Olymipcs. Quite possibly the trend will continue after the Olympics as well. We'll have to see.
I definitely won't enter the entire tired argument about; yes there ae good teachers with no degree. Reality, degrees, every passing year, become more of a basic requirement.
Teaching at a college or high school in, China more often then not, without a BS, will garauntee you that you will being working at the worst of the worst for the type of school that has no standards and will be more then ready to cheat you.
Kiddie schools were traditionally an exception (not that the schools wouldn't try to rip you off). Many provinces in China are stepping up enforcement evn with kiddie schools of no BS degree, no work visa. And more and more people with improper visas are geting caught and punished. China isn't quite the haven for teaching illegally as it used to be.

Check out the China forums

[naturegirl321]

[arioch36]

Nature Girl

[Madame J]

[Marcoregano]

[FuzzX]

I suppose I should add that you need to balance your lack of degree with your ability to sell. Anyone who has previous sales experience knows what I'm talking about. I just sat through a board meeting with my father with about 20 people who all make over 7 figures, few if any of them possessing much education beyond highschool.

You can acomplish anything you want simply by knowing how to sell yourself. The one thing most teachers 'forget' here is that the ESL field is really about SALES, how many students you get into the classroom and then your ability to provide excellent CUSTOMER SERVICE which keeps the customer, in this case 'the student', coming back for more... I can get any job if I can show the DOS that I can raise the number of students coming in to class and keep them there. A degree MAY help you do the customer service job a bit better but there it is no substitute for real live classroom experience.

My best advice, be prepared to go it alone because you'll make the most money teaching privately as long as you remember to always SELL your students on english.

[csfek]

I try to look at the whole degree vs. no-degree issue from a student's perspective: If you were learning a language or any other subject, would you want a teacher who only had a high school diploma and maybe a four-week course or a teacher who had actually been to university and gotten a degree? I know which one I'd choose. It's not fair to the students (who often pay a lot of money to learn English) to have an unqualified teacher.

[naturegirl321]

[FuzzX]

[csfek]

I'm not saying that people who have degrees are automatically better teachers; however, going to university and getting a degree shows that a person values education, and I happen to think that that's an important quality in someone who purports to be a teacher. I actually don't think that having a "random" degree qualifies someone to teach English. It's obviously much better to have a degree that is related to the subject you are trying to teach. I think students want a teacher who is educated, qualified, has a lot of knowledge of the subject, and is able to effectively and successfully explain the finer points. At least, that is what my students want.

[CMorrow]

I have an Associate Degree in Early Childhood Education as well as Global TESOL certification. I spent 6 months of 2007 in Northern China teaching English to preschoolers...my question is this - is an Associate Degree 'worth' anything in any other country other than China?

[Serious_Fun]