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wwwordsmith
Joined: 20 Nov 2010
Posts: 11
Location: Knoxville, TN
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 Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2011 9:14 pm Post subject: General China Orientation |
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Hello everyone. I'm hoping I can get some general sense of the ESL teaching situation in China. I have a BS in journalism and considerable work at the grad-school level. I've been teaching ESL part-time for several years here in the U.S. Not even certified at present and would probably get only a cut-rate certificate (i-to-i maybe?) if I just had to.
Yes, I know China is a huge country with numerous provinces, "depends on the situation", etc. etc. etc. Nevertheless, I'm hoping for general guidelines from someone very familiar with the overall situation.
Am I likely to need a certificate to teach in the country?
Are there any particular provinces and/or cities that generally pay the most for someone like me?
Are there particular kinds of schools or other entities (gov.,biz) that generally pay well by China standards and that someone like myself might be able to secure work with?
Is flight there (and/or back) typically covered?
Do you think it likely to be paid enough to actually save money?
Anything you have to offer would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Wayne |
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dean_a_jones
Joined: 03 Jul 2009
Posts: 1151
Location: Wuhan, China
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| Posted: Sun Oct 23, 2011 1:47 am Post subject: Re: General China Orientation |
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| Am I likely to need a certificate to teach in the country? |
No, most schools will be looking for a passport from the right place and a degree. Some will want two years experience (either meaning you have held your degree for two years, or have some actual teaching experience under your belt).
| Quote: |
| Are there any particular provinces and/or cities that generally pay the most for someone like me? |
There are more expensive places (like Guangdong, Shanghai, Beijing) where the pay may be more, but so are the living costs. Otherwise, it tends to vary by job, and there are higher and lower paying jobs all over the place.
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| Are there particular kinds of schools or other entities (gov.,biz) that generally pay well by China standards and that someone like myself might be able to secure work with? |
Look for the threads on uni vs. private work for detailed discussions. Uni jobs will usually pay a little less, expect fewer hours, provide housing etc. Many supplement this work with private work on the side. Private language schools often pay more, expect more hours, and may or may not provide housing. As I said, there is plenty of debate on the merits of either on these boards.
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| Is flight there (and/or back) typically covered? |
Yes.
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| Do you think it likely to be paid enough to actually save money? |
Certainly, but beyond the obvious (location and salary) that very much depends on your lifestyle and habits, in particularly how much and where you drink (if you do), what type of food you eat (at home and out) and how much you want to travel and how you get around.
Do your research, know what is a good or bad salary/contract, know your city, plan well and you should be able to land a decent school that gives you the hours/pay you want and allows you to save and have a nice time when here.
Here are a couple of useful threads found on the first few pages:
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=91381
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=90934
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=89951 |
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Mister Al
Joined: 28 Jun 2004
Posts: 840
Location: In there
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| Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2011 7:03 am Post subject: |
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You could also look for joint foreign-sino programmes at universities that prepare students to study abroad in specialist fields. You could teach journalism, media studies etc. You can get more money as well.
You don't need a teaching cert but a BA/BS in any field and two years teaching experience is the minimum, legally. |
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big_big_bang_theory_fan
Joined: 10 Aug 2011
Posts: 105
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| Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2011 9:53 am Post subject: Re: General China Orientation |
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| dean_a_jones wrote: |
| Quote: |
| Am I likely to need a certificate to teach in the country? |
No, most schools will be looking for a passport from the right place and a degree. Some will want two years experience (either meaning you have held your degree for two years, or have some actual teaching experience under your belt). |
I guess someone doesn't actually know about the true PSB rule of now requiring an English Teaching certification of some sort. |
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big_big_bang_theory_fan
Joined: 10 Aug 2011
Posts: 105
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| Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2011 9:56 am Post subject: |
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| Mister Al wrote: |
You could also look for joint foreign-sino programmes at universities that prepare students to study abroad in specialist fields. You could teach journalism, media studies etc. You can get more money as well.
You don't need a teaching cert but a BA/BS in any field and two years teaching experience is the minimum, legally. |
Legally, that is no longer true. Ask the PSB. |
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dean_a_jones
Joined: 03 Jul 2009
Posts: 1151
Location: Wuhan, China
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| Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2011 1:01 pm Post subject: Re: General China Orientation |
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| big_big_bang_theory_fan wrote: |
| dean_a_jones wrote: |
| Quote: |
| Am I likely to need a certificate to teach in the country? |
No, most schools will be looking for a passport from the right place and a degree. Some will want two years experience (either meaning you have held your degree for two years, or have some actual teaching experience under your belt). |
I guess someone doesn't actually know about the true PSB rule of now requiring an English Teaching certification of some sort. |
OP--ignore this advice, and the one below. This poster is wasting your time. |
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xiguagua
Joined: 09 Oct 2011
Posts: 768
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| Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2011 6:13 pm Post subject: Re: General China Orientation |
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To give you another persons reply for back-up clarification:
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| Am I likely to need a certificate to teach in the country? |
No, but teaching certs can help get some really good jobs, but it's not required by any means. I've met people fresh out of high school 18/19 year olds teaching here.
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| Are there any particular provinces and/or cities that generally pay the most for someone like me? |
I second what Dean_a_jones said. Big cities pay more, but much higher cost of living.
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| Are there particular kinds of schools or other entities (gov.,biz) that generally pay well by China standards and that someone like myself might be able to secure work with? |
No idea really. High schools seem to usually pay more than Universities, but you also have to put up with huge classes filled with students that don't give a crap about English.
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| Is flight there (and/or back) typically covered? |
Yes, although some tend to not want to shell out the 100% airfare. Coming from the US is more expensive and a lot of contracts will have a set airfare price and it would require some negotiating to get them to cover all of it.
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| Do you think it likely to be paid enough to actually save money? |
Depends on your lifestyle. I save a ton of money here, but i'm in a smaller city and I don't require a lavish lifestyle to be happy. I've heard plenty of people say that it's impossible to save money here. By US or UK standards you won't be saving much, so if you just plan on staying for a year then you won't save much. It depends on you really, I know people who work all day every day doing privates making big bank, and I know people that blow all their money every month and have 0yuan in savings.
I don't do privates and I save plenty.
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Miajiayou
Joined: 30 Apr 2011
Posts: 283
Location: Nanjing
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| Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2011 7:28 pm Post subject: |
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| Am I likely to need a certificate to teach in the country? |
No.
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| Are there any particular provinces and/or cities that generally pay the most for someone like me? |
Yes, in the East. IMO, the low cost of living in other provinces doesn't usually make up for the severe reduction in pay. I can live on 2k, with an adequate social life, in Jiangsu while making 10k. If I can live on 1k in the middle of nowhere while making 5k, where does that leave me?
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| Are there particular kinds of schools or other entities (gov.,biz) that generally pay well by China standards and that someone like myself might be able to secure work with? |
Private colleges. Don't be scared off by the idea of students who were too "stupid" to pass the Gao Kao. It has an extremely high failure rate and many of the students accepted into private colleges only failed by a small margin. My private college students are more willing to debate and discuss and just have fun, while my university students only wanted to drill pronunciation and ridiculous vocabulary. A successful product of the Chinese education system is sometimes a scary thing to behold.
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| Is flight there (and/or back) typically covered? |
Yes.
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| Do you think it likely to be paid enough to actually save money? |
I've saved much more than I ever did back in the US. |
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Bisis
Joined: 13 Jun 2011
Posts: 9
Location: Shanghai
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| Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2011 10:56 am Post subject: Re: General China Orientation |
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| wwwordsmith wrote: |
Are there particular kinds of schools or other entities (gov.,biz) that generally pay well by China standards and that someone like myself might be able to secure work with? |
Everyone else seems to have covered the other questions pretty well so I thought I'd chime in here. Outside of International schools for licensed teachers, the highest paying jobs are at private English language training centers. These are for profit institutions for kids or adults and can afford to pay higher salaries. The work load is typically heavier than a foreign language school or university.
With your "years of part time ESL experience" I could help you land a job at any of the above mentioned types of schools, regardless of teaching certification. Feel free to contact me if you'd like some assistance. |
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PandaPandemonium
Joined: 01 Oct 2011
Posts: 54
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| Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2011 2:59 pm Post subject: Re: General China Orientation |
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| Bisis wrote: |
| wwwordsmith wrote: |
Are there particular kinds of schools or other entities (gov.,biz) that generally pay well by China standards and that someone like myself might be able to secure work with? |
Everyone else seems to have covered the other questions pretty well so I thought I'd chime in here. Outside of International schools for licensed teachers, the highest paying jobs are at private English language training centers. These are for profit institutions for kids or adults and can afford to pay higher salaries. The work load is typically heavier than a foreign language school or university.
With your "years of part time ESL experience" I could help you land a job at any of the above mentioned types of schools, regardless of teaching certification. Feel free to contact me if you'd like some assistance. |
Bisis, can you please tell, is there any chance for a non-native to get a job in an international school? Or any high-paying private center, for that matter |
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