Job Discussion Forums

[nickpellatt]

I know there are a few shouts of 'troll' and your other thread has been locked, but Ill try and offer some sensible advice if possible. To be honest, whilst you have mentioned a few times about how you have 'seen and done it all', your ideas about EFL and living in another country are miles off the mark. What you have done and experienced before is worlds apart from life in China, and your expectations are wildly unrealistic IMO.

China can be a difficult country for some people (others love it of course, me included) but if you have any expectation of it being like the US, and also have zero interest in making an effort to learning the language, you are more likely to fall into the group of people that find it intolerable. If Chinese people talking loudly in supermarkets in the US can annoy you Im not sure you are ready for neighbours setting fireworks off outside your apartment at 4am or motorbikes on the sidewalk beeping at you for being in their way. There are 1001 things in China that are unlike any other country, from what you have posted here I reckon its not for you. The likelihood of finding one place and staying there is also a bit of a long shot....embracing the ex-pat lifestyle in EFL doesnt mean playing golf or tennis at weekends (whilst banking lots of money) and living in a gated community. Its more likely to mean sharing a crappy apartment with poor heating and AC and enjoying 1997 internet speeds.

I cant help but wonder about your motivational blog thing? This is a wild guess but I was wondering if any success you have had with this (and motivational speaking) has led you to think you might be able to turn you hand to EFL and motivate students to learn etc? If so, I should point out its a really different skill set for teaching EFL, and the transition might be harder than expected. Regardless of how successful you have been in one career, you would have to learn from the start again, and previous experience or ideas might harm, rather than help you.

I did my teacher training with a bright guy who used to run sales seminars and he failed his teacher training because the set up was so different. Hosting seminars, teaching native speakers, and motivating courses are very different to teaching non-native speakers, and in an EFL environment, teachers are meant to do less speaking, not more. (20% of the lesson being teacher talk time is the aim)

I cant answer in your initial thread due to its locked status, but my best suggestion would be to take a CELTA course as this is something you mentioned and its the first step in EFL qualifications. Many MA programs look for people with initial EFL qualifications and experience anyway, so doing a CELTA is the first step IMO. It will give you a chance, in a fairly safe environment, to see if you can turn your hand to teaching, and if its something you want to do.

Forget the Middle East for now....in terms of experience and qualifications required you are probably years away from going there, so concentrate on somewhere else first. I hear its also pretty difficult living there too and people only go for the coin, not for anything else, which may not fit in with your lifestyle choices.

The other thing to do, and this could be tied in with a CELTA or similar, is actually travel to some places. You might consider teaching training in Thailand, and take a few months perhaps before and after to hit some SE Asian countries and get a feel for the places and try to develop some understanding about what it might be like to live there. You may be experienced and wise in your previous working spheres, but you sound naive when it comes to travel, sorry. In my limited experience, people who expect to teach EFL, work little, earn much, whilst making no effort to learn the language and want their country of work to be similar to home arent going to get far. Some travel and some experience in the countries you are interested in might help you to reset your ideas and goals and if you can do that, then your chances of finding some joy in EFL are far more likely!

[mat chen]

This has to be a Chinese poster. They are like the millions here who tell me how they only make 2,000 rmb a month and then later tell me how they saved 70,000 last year.
There is no English teacher in China making 20,000 rmb a month.

[mister_kot]

Sorry Matt, but my buddy easily makes 20,000 per month.

He's got a primary school job that pays 10,000 and privates that pay at least another 10,000.

He works over 40 hours a week, but he bought an apartment, crappy first car, a proper diamond ring from Canada for his wife...

He's made some stupid decisions (lending large amounts of cash to people with no credibility) but because he makes the dough, it's not such a big deal.

He's very well connected (been here 7 years) so people call him all the time offering him various types of work: teaching, recording listening tests, writing text books...

If you have a strong work ethic, you can make money in EFL in China.

I'm the lazy friend who just gets by...

[nickpellatt]

The OP in this case has zero experience though, no related qualifications (yet), and an unwillingness to learn the local language. And he wants to enter EFL to work less not more. Add to this his point that he is worried about Chinese people speaking loudly and I dont think we have a likely candidate for a 20k a month job.

Those jobs may exist, but they are few and far between. Not realistic to discuss them for a newbie. Not realistic for many who arent newbies either IMO.

And hey, its cool to be a lazy friend! Thats who I am too!

[naturegirl321]

[vikeologist]

In many places, a native speaker could ask for 200 an hour and have enough students to fill up 25 hours of privates a week. The issue then becomes logistical, finding the students, retaining the students, and the fact that one needs a main job for visa purposes.

So, doable, but pretty stressful I'd imagine.

[tomhume89]

Mat, maybe in Xiangtan and Hunan one can't make 20k, but other jobs in GZ, BJ,SH etc could get over 12-15k. Then add in the odd private lesson.

Anyway, no idea if the post was true or not, but definitely doable.

[daCabbie]

Here we go again.I will beat the horse a little more. 'My friend' and 'possible' are the answers we always get.

SHOW ME THE MONEY! Anything is possible. It is possible to make 100k a year in the EFL industry. It is even possible to push into the millionaire range. Ask the Crazy English guy or Sun Moon.

It is also possible that I will sprout wings and fly away.

The OP has disappeared and no one has stepped up with any proof that its a reality for them. Yes there are always exceptions. But the math says that on average ESL teachers, in China, are making about 5-6000rmb. I hear your screams. You make more, great. I said average.

My years of experience says we all will die one day. I hope this thread dies soon.

[TexasHighway]

daCabbie wrote:

[7969]

[rogerwilco]