Job Discussion Forums

[hankpeters]

I heard that schools in China discriminate against Asian-American English teachers. Can anyone tell me if this is true, because I really want to teach in Shenzhen.

Both of my parents are from Hong Kong, but I was born and raised in New Jersey. I have a bachelors degree from Temple University in Education, and I am currently teaching 8th grade English in Pennsylvania.

Do you think that I have a shot?

[Newbs]

Hankpeters

I'm a skip (Australian of Anglo-Celtic background) so I can't answer your question specifically. However, every group here does experience discrimination at times. You can call it racism, prejudice, ignorance or any euphemism you like, that's not the point at the moment. There are, of course, many ABCs, BBCs, CBCs teaching here and at times I have envied them. They, presumably, don't get stared at when they walk down the street and don't get that annoying "Hello!" every 10 minutes. But, as soon as they open their mouth to speak, I bet they get some pretty strange reactions, so then I don't feel envious of them.

It's easy to go through life wishing that you were in someone else's shoes, because after all they have it better than you! When I feel sorry for myself in China I think of an incident that happened a few years ago. I was in Nanjing, which has a reasonable sized foreign student population. Walking down the main drag one day, I saw an African student, presumably, coming towards me. The Chinese lady in front of me, when she saw him, immeadiately did a 90 degree turn to avoid him. I thought, "You poor B*******. You must get that sort of reaction dozens of times a day."

Okay, I been judgemental and used a few stereotypes here, but quite simply there are always people in a better position than you and others in a worse position than you. China is challenging, its just that it will challenge an ABC in different ways to the way that it will challenge a skip.

Hope this is of some help.

Newbs

[Spiderman Too]

Many schools discriminate, but not all. There is an Asian-American foreign teacher at 'my' university.

Don't waste your time applying for jobs with private schools, universities & language centers, and public schools that are using a recruitment agent.

If you limit your applications to public universities which advertise direct then you will increase the probability of securing a good position at a reasonable salary.

Regardless of your heritage, with your qualifications and experience you would be selling yourself short if you were to accept one of the many 3,500 RMB per month positions.

My rule of thumb for a salary package is:-

5,000 RMB per month for;

No more than 20 LESSONS per week, i.e. 20 X 40 minutes = 13.3 real hours
Fully furnished apartment WITH computer & internet
Elec., gas & water totally free (high electricity consumption during winter)
Spring break travel bonus of 2,000 RMB
Full salary for at least 1/2 of the 3 months annual holidays
Return airfare

[Long ai gu]

I'm sure some schools want the blue eyed blonde haired forienger like myself. I took the place of an Australian of Hong Kong descent at a University in Guandong and he was screwing lots of the students I heard. He left on his own to take a job in Shanghai that his uncle landed for him. Don't worry about discrimination, it's a way of life in China. Hell, at least you won't be stared at by laughing finger pointers, you'll blend a little better than I do.

[lagerlout2006]

This is true all over Asia.. You will find something though. A friend of mine is Chinese-Aussie and finds work. Two things help him--he has an MA and speaks both Cantonese and Mandarin...He does say (no news flash, many say this) that some jobs are closed to him and some offers disappear after he sends a photo. With a degree and experience you should be fine. As for Shenzhen I don't know the market,,,

[dialectic]

Never know till you go for it

Im a half chinese canadian who was born here and doesnt speak chinese: cantonese or mandarin and im not a professional teacher

Just include a pic with each resume and there should be no probs

You could get creative too and highlight your talents by videotaping some of your lessons and then upload to a web site like 150m.com or 100free and then include the link on your resume ---just get a site with unlimited bandwith access and include lessons--10 short vids should due fine)


All the stuff you need to make a one page site can be easily obtained for free on the net: ie textpad, irfanview viewer for pics, cuteftp to upload, its easy to make a few tables and links to picture movies


http://www.w3schools.com/ has some lessons--

[Roger]

You might land that coveted Shenzhen position and be the only foreign national for a while until they hire a second one; if the second one happens to be a whitey you might find out that they are paying you less than him or her.

I noticed that they do hire Asiatics and Africans - but only if they can leverage their skin colour to their own advantage!