Job Discussion Forums

[GZ]

Hello everyone,
Here is another non-native English speaker (Chinese American) who is seeking English teaching positions in Guangzhou(GZ) or Shenzhen(SZ). I am looking for permanent positions with public schools in GZ or SZ (no interest for private language training centers, sorry).

Education gained from the USA:
Bachelor Degree: (Major) International Management / (Minors) Asian Studies and Economics
Master Degree: Master of Art in Teaching English as a Foreign Language

Experience:
I have taught ESL to middle school students and adults in Guangdong province last year.

Please let me know if anyone here has any info about any openings in GZ or SZ, you will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks everyone! ^_^

GZ

[Roger]

I think it is helpful to you to inform you that we are not discussing any PERMANENT JOBS here - almost anyone here has one-year contracts renewable upon expiry.

I suggest you submit your CV in the appropriate board (Dave has a special one where you can post it for free). I am not sure Chinese employers will jump with joy at seeing a fellow Chinese looking for an English-teaching job, but you can try.

[Chris_Crossley]

[tw]

[Babala]

GZ, you said you were Chinese-American. Which country is your passport from? If you hold a Chinese passport I would say getting an ESL job will be almost impossible. If you hold an American passport then I think you will do fine. From what I know, there is alot of competition for jobs in the cities you mentioned.

[tw]

[tofuman]

GZ, It is nice to see a Chinese-American who is actually qualified to teach English. Since you appear to be more than a Chinese imitating a Black wearing a head band and break dancing, you should be able to find a job in a REAL school.

A lot should depend on your accent and your level of English mastery. I knew a Filipino who had a master's degree from an American college, held a management position in a company, and spoke horrible English.

In a case such as yours, assuming that your oral English is excellent, you might want to try a reputable recruiter who can vouch for your skills. The recruiter can help place you in a setting that is actually concerned with quality education, rather than just looking for a white face

Being bilingual is a real asset to those institutions that truly want to benefit their students.

[Roger]

[tofuman]

Roger,
Why let your constricted social agenda obscure your good sense? I don't see the word "accent" anywhere in my post. Do you see the word "accent" there? If so, please show it to me. Or are you again MISREPRESENTING my position, and then responding to something that I did not say? Are you so devious, or are you just careless? If you love straw men so much, perhaps you should trade in your inflatable bed partner for a scare crow.

There is much more to spoken English than one's accent. In the particular case to which I referred, *his syntax, especially when under stress, was a mess. And I most often conversed with him during those times.

*
Filipino: male
Filipina: female

[Alex_P]

To answer the first part of the reader's inquiry, if he will be so kind as to forward me his private e-mail, I will put him in touch with various persons that may be able to assist him.

Regarding this issue, I find myself strangely concurring with Rodger. Language skills are learned and acquired skills; they are not genetically transmitted at birth and do not qualify one for automatic entry into the Burker's Peerage of the Landed Gentry Speakers of the Queen's English. I abhor some of the postings that I have noted on this site -- America, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and most of the English world is a world of immigrants, of those who did not speak English as a native language but who through education and simply residence acquired, in some cases proficiently and in other cases not so proficiently.

Language skills are a "soft" science as opposed to a "hard" science and "normative" comments on a "correct" grammar", an "understandable" accent, etc., etc., are simply, in my opinion, left-over middle-class prejudices from the last century. In many cases, they are the vestiges of Imperial British snobbery ("received pronunciation", "refined received pronunciation", etc.). A language skill set that is spoken and understand is a sufficient skill set.

Indeed, some of my best professors of the English language in the United States have been "non-native" speakers whose command of the language far outshone that of the rest of the faculty. There recently was an article on the front page of the New York Times noting that the majority of undergraduate lecturers in English in the United States are "non-native" speakers whose TOEFL scores and GRE English Section scores far outstripped those of their fellow American assistants (for the GRE).

I have taught here in China with non-native speakers and in many cases they have been brilliant. And in some cases they have suffered egregiously at the hands of their fellow "white" in all cases foreign teachers who complained vociferously about their "strange" accents until in some cases the Chinese management terminated their contracts. In one case, a very, very brilliant Hungarian-Australian that I worked with was terminated from the middle school where I worked in Chengdu because the other "white" foreign teachers complained about his "accent" and "grammar". He eventually positioned himself, Ph.D. in English and all, with one of the leading Chinese universities, where he is thorougly revered.

I think we should put all of these white, teaching-English-in-China-by-birthright attitudes to sleep permanently. They shame us all and make us look curiously provinicial to the Chinese.

[tofuman]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/24/education/24assistant.html?incamp=article_popular

Perhaps this article makes my point. It describes teaching assistants at major U.S. universities whose oral English is incomprehensible to the students with whom they are supposed to communicate.

"There recently was an article on the front page of the New York Times noting that the majority of undergraduate lecturers in English in the United States are "non-native" speakers whose TOEFL scores and GRE English Section scores far outstripped those of their fellow American assistants (for the GRE). "

Strange that I missed this article since I read that paper nearly every day.
Could you provide a link?

[Alex_P]

[tofuman]

Oooohhhhh. The PC police have arrived. Should we line up up against the wall or spread eagle on the ground? Hear the sound of choppers overhead and the snarl of police dogs? Grab a trash can lid to protect yourself against a taser shot. Put a wet tshirt over your face to ward off the pepper spray. Careful, they might shoot, most likely with the bean bags first. Ooooohhh

[Jolly]

I think a few folks on this thread need a vacation!



GZ, there is some good advice here if you wade through all the jumble. Nothing is impossible in China. Good luck on your quest! You are certainly qualified to teach in China!

[GZ]

Thanks Roger, I will post my resume to the right place ASAP.