Job Discussion Forums

[ssimmons]

Hiya,

I've been teaching in Budapest for almost a year now, and I was thinking of eventually heading out to China to give it a try there. Maybe next year, maybe the following, I'm not quite sure yet. But there is one thing that has been weighing on my mind a little.

If I go to teach in China, preferably Beijing, although who actually knows, would I have to teach adults or children? The reason I ask is that right now I only have experience in teaching adults, as I currently work for a private language school and that is primarily all I have taught. And personally, I like teaching adults. I've never had to worry about disciplinary problems and they all want to learn and have paid for it themselves, so I know they are dedicated. With children in school, I know this isn't always the case, plus there are some disciplinary actions that are usually required.

So, does anyone have any information for me? I've researched the forums a little and found that most people say that universities or public schools are better to work for as they're more secure and have less hours, but I'm still curious as to if there are any good private language schools out there that specialize in adults. Thanks again.

[Brian Caulfield]

Check out Wall Street . They seem to have the biggest private language school in Beijing . They specialize in buisiness English .

[Plan B]

I teach adults only here in Zhuhai in a private language school. Very easy. Very appreciative students. Very little business English.

Schools such as mine do exist throughout China. There are much more opportunities to teach adults here than in say, Taiwan and Korea.

I came to China in the same situation as you - I had never taught children. My first job at a private language mill required that I taught children at weekends. At first, the idea was daunting, but I quickly found my feet. Teaching children can be unrewarding - depending on your personality, but it is not a totally different kettle of fish. It requires a shift towards classroom management, and an acknowledgement that you can expect most of what you "teach" to fall on deaf ears - obviously depending on the age and circumstance.

Don't know much about the situation in Beijing. Have you got your heart set on it? You might find more opportunities in the SEZ's (Special Economic Zones).

[Roger]

There are two kinds of adults in China:
No. 1 - the self-motivated ones that also pay for their own English tutoring.
These can be serious and interesting people to work with - though there also are some that delude themselves as to what it takes to become proficient at English (you get the occasional oddball that asks you to make a 45-year-old guy an English speaker in 3 months even though he hasn't had English at school...

No. 2 is the sponger that gets free tuition offered by his state-owned enterprise employer; it's become very fashionable for companies to hire FTs to get their staff to speak English...what an illusion!
Don't forget that the students will be your superiors while the boss of the company will foot the bill; if the feedback is not positive their boss will discontinue your employment.

And you should not expect Chinese adults to be as dedicated and mature learners as Hungarian are (I suppose).

[vikdk]

From that last post looks like Chinese adult learners don't differ so much from any learners around the world - pay yourself so you make sure you try an get something out of it - a freebie, well it' s bit of a holiday

Don't worry ssimmons, if you can handle the cultural differences here, it aint that bad - dont get unduely put off by some of the hypernegative stuff in these forums, since there's a bit of stranded flotsam here

[ssimmons]

Thanks for the replies. Good point that I shouldn't expect the adults to be similar. Different cultures and all that.

The reason I am so interested in teaching in Beijing is that I would eventually like to work for the US State Department and I love politics. What better place to be in China that the political center? Or if anyone has any other ideas on what would be equally rewarding to me, I'm all ears.

[Super Frank]

Volunteering in the villages would probably be very rewarding, help the youngsters there get a foot on the ladder, but I know you didn't mean that. Most of my classes are with children, some as young as two that can't speak Chinese yet, and I love it if I have an adult class, I can sit down and try to connect with them (most have been learning English for a couple of years). I don't want to act like a clown really, which is required with young learners, I was itzy bitzy spider for a whole class the other day, but I feel strangely elated when the classes are over.