Job Discussion Forums

ChineseDwarf · Joined: 03 Oct 2013 Posts: 16

So I will have an interview soon, my first one while looking for jobs in China.

Anyone have tips on how the interview will go? Will it be similar to a interview in America? Any common questions to look out for?

Also any good questions I should ask them?
I am trying to make a list of questions to make sure I don't forget to ask anything I want to know about apartments, living conditions, vacation pay etc etc.

rogerwilco · Joined: 10 Jun 2010 Posts: 1549

If they seem interested in hiring you then you should ask for the contact info of the current foreign teachers.

teenoso · Joined: 18 Sep 2013 Posts: 365 Location: south china

They may ask you to give a short 'demo ' lesson , so have something prepared. Or they may ask a general question about how you would go about teaching spoken English to a group of undergrads/businessmen etc.

Ask whether accommodation is shared or single occupancy , if that is important to you. And check whether you have any 'commutes' to work, to other offices or campuses . Some unis have multiple campuses. Some language schools need you to teach in their clients' place of work. It can make a big difference to your workload and working time.

jm21 · Joined: 26 Feb 2008 Posts: 406

Yes...ask about commute times. One place mentioned that starting next school year I would need to commute 1 hour to a different campus, get up at 5:30am or something like that to catch a bus....didn't sound appealing. Not every day but some days...enough for me to forget that job.

You can probably get a lot of questions about apartments handled before the interview.

Big Worm · Joined: 02 Jan 2011 Posts: 171

What curriculum are they using (make sure they have one).

How would the school handle it if a student complained that you were too boring/not serious enough/too fat/not handsome/not from the country they want to study/have wrong color eyes...

Why is the pay so low.

Can you send me pics of the housing.

Harbin · Joined: 19 Feb 2013 Posts: 161

vikeologist · Joined: 07 Sep 2009 Posts: 600

Once I asked, 'What are you looking for in a foreign English teacher?'

ippollite · Joined: 13 Mar 2013 Posts: 31

The two questions i WISH i asked:

1. Whats my commute? Turns out i have a 2.5 hour commute on a wednesday each way. Fortunately the stick me up in a hotel Wed night otherwise itd be 2.5 there, 2.5 back, then all over again on thursday. I get home sometime around 8pm. When they told me upon arrival that id be in two schools, my reaction was "no bother, ill just find a place between them and cycle". No no. Cant do that. The 'city' is about 120km across. Its more like a prefecture. These kinds of things, i didnt really understand before i came. I mean, i looked on maps, but just kinda assumed the distances without checking. Dont make that mistake.

2. Whats my schedule? I dunno, im maybe spoiled because i spent many years teaching in korea and japan. But i figured this being a public school gig itd be much the same thing. Schedule is 28 classes/week. This is allegedly on the LOW side compared to the other people working in the office.

If i knew either one of those two, i would honestly have just stayed in Thailand for a few more months. I had a job lined up anyway since it was the start of the new term in october by the time i got this visa. Which reminds me of another thing... jesus, the visa! what an ordeal. You can only do it in your home country, which is fine if you live there, but the paperwork took almost a month to get in the first place - byebye credit card - and then came the "must be done in your home country" bombshell. Thats an extra 250 quid and 2 weeks right there. The embassy itself were AWFUL. They kept refusing it on the most stupid and arbitrary grounds. I really was staring into the money abyss by the end of it. If id have known that as well, id have stayed in thailand.

Oh, and i might as well get all my moaning out in one go just so i can let it go: Upon arrival they told me i wouldnt be teaching middle grade only (all my 7 years of teaching have been elementary/middle), but id also be teaching 2 days at senior high. Grade 2. If i wanted to teach senior high i would have applied for a job teaching senior high. For goodness sake.

So two serious deal breakers, 1 real pain in the nuts visa process and 1 not exactly a deal breaker, but just one more annoyance.

The company have been nice though, i should add that. But its a busier schedule than i was expecting, teaching the wrong grades, and with a ridiculous commute on a packed train-->bus two days a week. Ive been told you get used to it. Kinda hope i do, because the visa process tells me if nothing else, that i wont ever be applying to come here as a tourist after this. So this is the one chance to see the place. And realistically you need a couple of years of holidays/weekends to do it.

There we go, rant over. The kids are amazing as well, so despite the job being a bit intense (hello coteachers who do nothing in your class but sit at the back writing reports on your class or marking homework), i can see me making it through to at least next june for epik.