Job Discussion Forums

Babala · Joined: 28 Jan 2005 Posts: 1303 Location: Henan

tw, I can't say I appreciate the fact that you are making out that so many of the white teachers in China are not qualified. You made the statement that "many white teachers do not have a degree". How do you know this? Did you take a survey? A while ago I posted a thread in the Off-Topic forum asking posters what their degree was in. Almost everyone had a degree with only about 3 that didn't. There are back-packer teachers who are hired just because they are white. They are not at good schools. A good school looks for a qualified applicant, that means degree and TEFL. I have a good job, I also hold a degree and a TEFL certificate.

tw · Joined: 04 Jun 2005 Posts: 3898

Babala · Joined: 28 Jan 2005 Posts: 1303 Location: Henan

To be honest, I really don't care who has a degree and who doesn't. I know that if I was a Chinese parent with a child in university, I would want my child's teacher to be a degree holder.

tw, the reason I have made a big deal out of this is that on numerous posts you keep crying discrimination. I merely tried to point out that your chances would improve greatly if you were a degree holder. Look at the job ads, do they not ask for degree holders with TEFL? Many people have given examples where Asian heritage teachers have gotten jobs. If you are having so much trouble, I would say it's not your Chinese heritage, it's your lack of qualifications.

njstone9 · Joined: 17 Jul 2005 Posts: 5 Location: UK

Just been reading this thread with interest, as I have been trying to get my girlfriend a job in the same area as I am going to be working - Zhuhai.

She is Indian, but with mixed blood. She has Chinese-looking eyes but thick hair, i.e. very beautiful!

However, every single school she has applied to has either rejected her on a phone interview (accent), or stopped communicating after they discovered her nationality (quite amusing considering how initially delighted they were to find a teacher of her quality advertising on the net!), or not bothered replying.

Even some schools I used to work for... who have hired some Indians in the past... have rejected her.

She has two masters degrees and two BAs, one of which is in Education. She has 10 years teaching experience and she is a native speaker - actually her Hindi is not even fluent. Now, it has to be frustrating when you know that all those narrow-minded language schools are hiring teenagers who know next to nothing about teaching, who will quit at the drop of the hat, do barely any lesson preparation, and generally mess about. In fact, quite a lot of so-called "teachers" are like that, and quite a lot of them don't have real degrees either.

As people have pointed out, it is the white face that sells, not the ability of the teacher. Ha ha, remember that all Westerners come from America, have blue eyes and blond hair and eat hamburgers as their staple diet!

I've known teachers from Australia and the States who were great teachers, who ended up leaving China because they got so much hassle from parents - they had Malaysian and Thai backgrounds, but were born and grew up in the West.

As it happens, the only option my girlfriend and I have is for her to just come and then go round all the schools, and hope that one of them is looking for professionalism, not pale skin.

With crossed fingers and baited breath,

Nick

cujobytes · Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2005 1:01 am Post subject:

Zhuhai is spoiled for choice at the moment.

tw · Joined: 04 Jun 2005 Posts: 3898

dialogger · Joined: 14 Mar 2005 Posts: 419 Location: China

If there are any native-English-speaking ethnic Chinese or other Asian ethnicities out there who cannot find a job teaching in PRC, pleae feel free to PM me.
All recruitment is a wish list whether in China or the West.
It is probably a bit late in the season to be looking for a job for the fall semester but you can at least get ready for February/spring.
This invitation holds only if you are flexible on location and not hangin' out for a corporate trainer role in central Shanghai.
An interesting observation for ABCs is that it is better that you DON'T speak Chinese.
A student (Chinese) told me that she didn't like being taught by an ABC colleague 'because if I get stuck in English I can always go to Chinese. If the FT doesn't have any Chinese I've got to find the English from inside my head'.