Job Discussion Forums

[CNexpatesl]

I'm looking to secure a good, high paying job for the Spring term. I know now's the time to be applying.

Anyone have any tips for landing public, high school, or subject teaching positions? I'm mainly interested in Shanghai or Beijing.

[hdeth]

That seems to be the fastest growing area. It's not hard to land a job as long as you have the right qualifications/credentials. See tons of advertisements for them. Some subjects that are easier to get teachers for (literature, history, psychology, etc.) might be hard to find but math and science positions are easier to get. Seems like stuff such as literature and history are usually taught by someone already on staff who's reliable.

[CNexpatesl]

Do you mind PMing me where you're seeing advertisements for them? I haven't seen many actually.

I've had a couple interviews for high paying jobs already, but I failed the demos. I'm honestly not sure what they're looking for. I prepared a quick slide/powerpoint for them, and tried to engage the practice students and get them talking about the subject. But no - "Sorry, you failed." One school actually told me they wanted me to be less serious and joke around more. And this job was aimed at teaching high school students for god's sake...

[hdeth]

[Shanghai Noon]

I failed one such interview. I showed up unannounced, only had three PPT slides in my demo, and I'm pretty sure I completely bombed the exam. I never heard back from them. I'm not even sure they knew who I was. The other two I applied for, I got. Try to make your students and the attending staff laugh and have fun. Satisfy the students' needs and explain things clearly enough that the observing administrators can understand you too. Don't plan and script too much. They will think you don't know the subject matter.

[Guerciotti]

Demos. Hahahaha I have performed so many.

I failed one - "death by powerpoint" he said - because I used a short powerpoint, while failing others because they want PPTs for everything, and I just used the whiteboard. Jiminy. You can't know what each one wants. Now I ask.

I have not used a PPT this semester, partly because I teach four different classes and I don't have time to PPT everything. To be honest, I am quite happy just using whiteboards. My demos will be whiteboard-based this time. I'm not making a PPT for a demo. But maybe I am wrong.

Shanghai Noon makes good points. Don't plan too much, engage the students. Though in practice, in class, students 'engage' when they're damn well ready, not when it looks good for a demo. Yes, you can ask direct questions of your 'students' in a demo and in class. I do think that's important for concept checking.

Anyway, here's to hoping everyone finds the position they want, or at least something!