Job Discussion Forums

[StephPoet]

Does anyone know if teaching privates in China is as vigorously prosecuted as in say, South Korea?

[tw]

[Roger]

You mean moonlighting ? It is illegal unless your employer allows you to earn on the side (and why should he?).
From the manner in which the original post was framed I would say the poster is after leeching students! And yes, it is sometimes prosecuted - with dire consequences for you, buddy!

[Mideatoo]

Reading between his lines, I cannot perceive the smallest A-wall Roger; thought he might be a poet and that can be confusing�

My employer can care less about what I am doing during my off hours, actually he is very pleased learning that I making pocket money on the side.
Therefore I also teach legally for a private center, they pay me 140 per hour (which is the minimum if you are a pro.), 7 hours per week.

It all depends on what your contract says. Just talk to your boss.

[junkmail]

[Volodiya]

Roger, what you wrote, pardon me, seems a bit of a muddle, with the message being, "You'd better not do it". I'd like to offer another point of view, if I may.

English teaching is not the most highly paid line of work in the world, yet many of us manage to make a living, secure a retirement, and enjoy a respectable standard of living. If we don't work in the Gulf states, how do we do it? With extra work, of course. It can be second jobs, or private instruction- all of which can be done, perfectly legally, under the laws of the countries in which we live, including China.

When you're already in the country, with permission to work, its not really very hard to do it legally, in every respect of the word. Taxes in China are not especially high, as compared to the rest of the world, and they are calculated on your income, as reported by your various employers, and your declared self-employment income, as elsewhere in the world.

People who think it is unduly complicated probably just haven't bothered to look into it seriously.

[Roger]

[SimonM]

If you mean moonlighting (I think you mean moonlighting) it really depends. My school used to say NO except for private, self-driven tutoring. Now they say YES as long as you do it only on your own time. Right now I am working for two schools regularly (one six days a week and one three days a week) and do occasional guest spots in two others. I don't make a big deal about it with my host school but my liason has actually suggested moonlighting to earn extra money while I await my paycheck so it's not like they are too concerned either.

To be blunt the only reason my school is even employing me before September is because there was a big screw-up regarding when they needed me. Some people did a runner in Feb. In April my school said they needed a new FT ASAP. It took until June to get the visa and by then the schoolyear was over but they didn't think to ever tell me: by the way we don't need you until September so I showed up half-way through June expecting to be working by the end of one week. They scrounged together a summer-school class of middle school students for me and I have fun bouncing between teaching them very advanced material (they are fast learners with years of prior ESL learning) and teaching children how to say "Hello, how are you?" "Fine, thank you!" and "What colour is the bike?" "The bike is red".

Other schools will give you the heave-ho (and fine you 500-2000 USD) if you moonlight. Talk to your liason, discuss it with the school as a 'theoretical situation' before you do anything they will find out about.

[tw]

My last employer hired a fellow to teach full-time at the university's second campus -- fully aware that he was under contract with an elementary school.

So, rules are meant to be broken. Actually, personally I wouldn't even ask the employer for permission. As long as your moonlighting job doesn't interfere with your contract job, e.g. time conflict, I don't think there is a problem.

[Volodiya]

Roger wrote:

[robert45]

I think the strict legalities depend on your visa status. But it is surely possible to make money teaching privates lessons. If you're already in China and are interested in finding students, you could create a teacher profile on:

XXXXXXX MOD EDIT

[virago]

Robert44,

Stop blatantly promoting your website.

[KES]

I don't know about teaching privates. However I'd think teaching captains or majors would be more lucrative.

[coming soon]

I got this private teaching gig while waiting for my normal classes to begin. Before saying yes, I insisted that the private school take me over to the psb to clear it with them. They were hesitant at first but they ended up doing it anyways.