Job Discussion Forums

kzprivate · Joined: 13 Aug 2009 Posts: 24

Hi,

I have a Chinese background and I am very interested in teaching english in China. I am Canadian with native English speaking accent.

Can anyone tell me whether it is easy for me to get a job as a foreigner teacher in China? I just have this idea that maybe Chinese people favour westerners.

Thanks!

happigur1 · Joined: 25 Jul 2009 Posts: 228 Location: USA

Hey- This topic has been talked about previous: http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=74542

shoo-fly-pie · Joined: 30 Jul 2009 Posts: 26

Recommended reading:
http://articles.latimes.com/2007/oct/29/business/fi-teach29

Due to today's economic conditions and more competitive ESL job market, I think Los Angeles Time article is probably more true now than in 2007, and the article certainly reflects what I consistently witnessed during my five years in mainland China (2003-2008).

englishgibson · Joined: 09 Mar 2005 Posts: 4345

china's not the same as it used to be. even 6 years make a difference. sure that there're employers seeking the advertisement with "beautiful white faces" on, but there are increasingly more and more employers interested in such individuals as our OP above...if they speak both languages especially. this applies to educational insitutions for high school grads or older ones, not early young learners where many or all employers still prefer the "beautiful white faces" in classrooms. let's keep in mind that nationalizm is running really high in china and employers are increasingly worried about what we teach or how we treat our students. futher more, there're quite a few employers in education that are well connected to the government and "returning" overseas chinese are a good sign too. these kinda employers also believe that such employees will be more politically correct as well as easier to work with.

cheers and beers to our views and experiences on

The Ever-changing Cleric · Joined: 19 Feb 2009 Posts: 1523

kzprivate · Joined: 13 Aug 2009 Posts: 24

rel · Joined: 02 Apr 2005 Posts: 25

Id recommend public universities for employment. The new school semester will soon be starting so it will probably be more difficult to land a position now.

alohahapa · Joined: 22 May 2009 Posts: 26 Location: HCMC

Hansen · Joined: 13 Oct 2008 Posts: 737 Location: central China

Racism is rampant in China, no question. So is jealousy. Most ABCs, CBCs know that mainland Chinese resent them. Perhaps they do hate a Chinese with a leg up on them more than they despise a foreigner.

The returning Chinese, many, if not nearly all, are returning because no opportunities opened up in the country where they were educated. The lack of ethics and innate dishonesty of most Chinese would be a liaility to any foreign company which hired them.

alter ego · Joined: 24 Mar 2009 Posts: 209

You can find many teaching jobs in China, some might be hard to find, some might be easy to find, and a lot depends on where you choose to live and what levels you want to teach.

For example, there's a huge demand for kindergarden teachers in the big city where I live, which includes young learners ages 3-6. There are also private language schools hiring Chinese teachers (including ABCs and CBCs) here. Some of the jobs are good, others are not so good.

A lot also depends on your personal attributes and abilities, including your looks, personality, and job skills. I've met some incredibly charming and communicative Asians who speak perfect native English. I've also met some angry, bitter, and resentful teachers of the same persuasion.

It's easy to choose fear and hatred, and to use words like racism, jealousy, resent, and despise, and to make statments like this:

The Ever-changing Cleric · Joined: 19 Feb 2009 Posts: 1523

JZer · Joined: 16 Jan 2005 Posts: 3898 Location: Pittsburgh

The Great Wall of Whiner · Joined: 29 Jan 2003 Posts: 4946 Location: Blabbing

I have some very good Korean-Canadian, Japanese-American, and Filipino-Canadian friends teaching in China and all are doing ok.

Hansen · Joined: 13 Oct 2008 Posts: 737 Location: central China

Apparently I failed to write clearly. It must be that because FTs can't be so dumb.

To put it another way, mainland born Chinese who go abroad for education and then return to China often return because the country in which they were educated will not allow them to stay. When they file for a visa extension, they are deported, rather than extended.

As for the lack of honesty and ethcis inherent in mainland Chinese, I'm not going to argue that point. If your experience here has been different than mine, good on you.

After six years, I still experience lying, fraud, and dishonesty coming from students, clerks, school administrators, and so on. I don't expect it to change except to get worse.

sharpe88 · Joined: 21 Oct 2008 Posts: 226

Sorry there is no ABC or CBC "accent". Everyone who speaks a second language may have their primary language influenced by it to a small extent, but saying you could pick out an ABC or CBC on the phone is ridiculous. Could you pick out the adult child of a British or Lithuanian immigrant as a non-native speaker? Highly doubt it. A speaker's accent is almost always of the locality they were raised.

Nor is there anything ridiculous about learning a British or North American accent as a standard. An easy analogy is there are many variations of Mandarin but learning standard mandarin (not beijinghua) is most useful.