Job Discussion Forums

t-doo · Joined: 07 Feb 2015 Posts: 7

I've searched and found contradicting info about this. Perhaps it depends on the city/province you live in.
I would prefer to live in a tier 1 or 2 city. Possibly Wuxi or Souzhou. Quite honestly I'd rather live in Shanghai, but I assume that good teaching jobs are quite competitive there.

I have a bachelors degree in physical ed. and several years of teaching primarily elementary aged kids. I have experience with middle school too, but not a lot. I've taught business english....but those were not legit jobs.
I'm also currently working on a cheap online tefl course.

So, do I even qualify to teach English at a Chinese Uni? Keep in mind that I would want to live in an area where there is enough demand to pad my income with privates.

Cheers!

hdeth · Joined: 20 Jan 2015 Posts: 583

It sounds like you are certified to teach phys. ed in the US which should mean a bachelor's degree? If so, you're more than fine for teaching at a uni. If you actually have teaching certification in your home state then the sky's the limit basically. Do you not like teaching phys ed.? If it's something you enjoy I see jobs pop up more and more wanting qualified phys ed. teachers for high schools. Pay is pretty good.

t-doo · Joined: 07 Feb 2015 Posts: 7

My degree is actually a concentration in Sport Performance. I'm not a certified teacher. My biggest regret in life. Will go back in a year or two to pick up the post baccalaureate in a year or 2 from now to pick up my teaching license.

So where does that leave me? Do universities hire those to teach English without being a certified teacher? Or would high schools hire someone like me to teach phys ed?

All but one of my 7 years of teaching experience was in S.Korea. I also had one year of working as a substitute teacher in Canada.

Timer · Joined: 24 Oct 2010 Posts: 173 Location: China

jimpellow · Joined: 12 Oct 2007 Posts: 913

You are more than qualified to teach at a university in a tier 1 or 2 city and to meet the current z-visa requirements, unless you have something like a mark on a criminal background check or you cannot prove two years of experience through letters of recommendation.

Universities have on the whole low requirements for teaching English, as does China on the whole. The tougher requirements are based on the recently overhauled visa system (based on the South Korean model) and then amplified (more is always better) and convoluted Sino style.

If you are not tired of teaching South Koreans, you may want to focus on Dalian, Qingdao, Yantai, Lianyungang etc.. They are swamped with Koreans and you can easily build up a privates business at rates (from what I have heard) which will exceed what Chinese will-can pay.

Angel.Ro · Joined: 09 May 2015 Posts: 59

hdeth · Joined: 20 Jan 2015 Posts: 583

jimpellow · Joined: 12 Oct 2007 Posts: 913

"You don't need any proof of past work experience. From what I've seen the majority of Chinese blatantly lie on their resumes. Every place has a probationary period where they figure out whether you work or not."

I agree with this in the sense that most Chinese employers could care less as long as they have a foreigner for class, and have the out with the probationary period.

I think where this is coming into play is more recently with the visa requirements. I know after the change they were supposed to call and confirm with the z-visa applicant's past employers to verify the two years experience. But I don't think it took them very long to figure out that asking Chinese speaking bureaucrats to actually be able to call around the World to verify, as well as having the inclination to do so, was not the way to go. That is why it seems the more anal jurisdictions increasingly want to see dates on letters of recommendation so they can do the math.