Job Discussion Forums

[Bilobrkster]

Hi all

I'm a 30 year old Croatian, holding a Masters degree in Maths and ICT education (Nov 2006) and a CELTA certificate (Aug 2013).

Currently I'm teaching Maths in a high school (lycée) in France in French (not my native language) and it's not bad. I like the system and my kids are not too misbehaved. The thing is, even after 4 years of studying the language and living/working here for almost 8 months, I still can't think in French. I still translate back and forth from my native language or English. More quickly than before of course, but still, it's not too simple sometimes.

English however comes naturally to me. What to say, when to say it, intonation, idioms, everything. Of course, China is ever so interesting so I decided to give it a go.

What advice could you give me? Which establishments to avoid, which regions or even cities, which recruiters...

How big of a salary would my degree(s) and over 7 years of work experience in primary/secondary/university level fetch?

Are classes of 40-50 high school kids the norm or an exception? I have worked with more, 70 in fact, but they were university students, 20 year-olds with no self-discipline issues.

Thanks in advance for all your help.

[Non Sequitur]

Sorry to rain on your parade, but I don't think a Chinese school would require anyone to teach Maths in English. They have umpteen teachers who can do it in Chinese, which is their only requirement.
That said international schools may have a requirement but they can get native speaker English teachers of the subject.
The only ray of hope would be a prep for overseas study course aimed at students intending to do science/maths-related degrees in the West.
Be interesting to see what other ideas emerge.

[Big Worm]

You can 100% get a job teaching math in English in one of the many deals that prepare Chinese for western unis. They want foreigners to teach int'l curriculum like igcse, ap, ib. Salary minimum 15k, for math, stick to your gums and get at least 20. Always a high demand.

[Timer]

Recruiters aren't all bad, you just need to be careful with them. Only use recruiters that get paid once by the school. Don't use recruiters that take a cut of your pay, or require you work for them instead of directly for the school. Don't let them bullshit you either.

Directly contacting schools is better in theory, though often you can't get a hold of a person who speaks English, contact details on websites are outdated, your emails and documents get lost, etc.

Personally I prefer public schools as I feel I'm less likely to be screwed by them, but some people like private training schools. Depends what kind of lifestyle you want. In general, public school is Monday to Friday, daytime work, training school is at night and on weekends (the times when people are off work/school).

No concrete idea about class size, but I hear it's pretty big in highschool. 40-50 like you said.

[Big Worm]

If they can really actually teach high level hs math then he'll be fine. Good math teachers are the ones they make exceptions for...and possibly chem/physics.

[Bilobrkster]

Okay. First of all I'm a guy and I'm 187cm tall I don't know if that makes any difference though haha

Secondly, @BigWorm - when you say "high level hs math" what exactly do you mean? I have taught Maths at the university level... Also, I like the salary you mentioned

@Timer - I am a bit afraid of teaching 40-50 adolescents. I've taught a class of 35 kids before, but once these guys start to chatter with each other in Chinese, it could all go pear shaped discipline wise. Also, I think I would prefer working in a public school, at least as far as the work schedule is concerned. I like my weekends

I am aware that my biggest drawback is not being a native speaker, but I'm rather encouraged by the fact that a countrywoman of mine recently got a job in Changchun as an EFL teacher, having only taken an online course (not CELTA) and never having taught anything in her life, so I guess it IS doable, it's just a matter of contacting the right recruiter...

[Big Worm]

Well, the jobs available would be teaching Chinese HS students who are preparing to go to the west for college. To do that they take AP, IB, A level, etc exams. You would have to be able to teach that. As I'm not a math teacher, I'm not 100% but I'm guessing up to calculus.

Also, some of the kids in these programs are not even joking around. If their teachers don't know their stuff, they will complain and you will have a tough time. Which is why I say if you can REALLY teach it. I've seen quite a few try it and realize they were in over their heads. But I'm sure YOU will have no problem.

[jibbs]

I taught some high school students math in China. It was good as they were a quiet class, so it was pretty easy. The math was easy enough, mostly stuff they had done before, just not in English, so they had to learn useful words like "asymptote." Ha. Well, they went on to finish high school in Canada, so that was the reason. It was easier than any other thing I taught there. It always sort of seemed curious to me how students seem to take math more seriously than most other subjects. Either they were interested in it, or just good students overall, or had a struggle to grasp either the content or the language. Anyway, that's the kind of job you'd want I guess, an international program where students intend to study abroad.

[eihpos]

try Dipont. I met a couple of people who worked for them and one was a maths teacher.. or maybe it was Chemistry..
Anyway, they were happy with the package and had amazing apartments.

[nomad-ish]

There are bilingual schools that look for foreign teachers to teach certain subjects, namely, math, science, and English in English. Of course, the kids still have Chinese math class and Chinese English class too. PM me for details.

[Non Sequitur]

[Hatcher]

I teach sciences and am getting emails everyday about teaching sciences or math at int schools. Ask for a high salary because there is low supply and high demand.

[Non Sequitur]

[nomad-ish]