Job Discussion Forums

[zandmoloney]

Hi, I'm interested in working in a bi-lingual school, I've been teaching in a buxiban enviroment for two years and would like a new challenge.
I've been studying Chinese for about a year and I would like to try teaching in a bi-lingual school. Does anyone know much about these?
With a university degree and a CELTA am I qualified enough or do I need a teaching qualifcation?
How good does my Chinese need to be?
Do they provide any training?
How difficult is it to find a job?
If you could help me with these questions I would be most grateful.

cheers.

[markholmes]

You want to teach Chinese to the Chinese?

[TaoyuanSteve]

My guess is that OP wants to work at one of the schools that employ Chinese speaking foreigners. A typical cram school consists of a foreign teacher team teaching a class along with a local teacher. However, there are some schools that occupy a niche in the market that demands only foreigner taught classes; and these schools employ foreigners with the local language skills and experience to handle what would normally be a co-teacher's responsibilities.

I've known of a few schools like this, so I'll answer OP's questions and comment:

Qualified? Formal qualifications are as per the usual cram school job. A degree is needed for work permit purposes; that's it.

What level of Chinese? That's hard to quantify. You should expect that they will require a level sufficient to be understood by your students. You will need to know the sort of classroom Chinese that your coteachers use regularly (hope you've been listening). You will need to be able to translate what you teach and provide explanantions; as well, you will need to be able to communicate with parents. For the job, fairly competent listening and speaking skills, as well as practical everyday conversation skills, are valued over textbook learned Chinese. OP should have a sense of whether or not s/he could cut it.

Training? The ones I've seen have provided training. The schools often employ very distinct teaching methods and sometimes high discipline tactics. Training is usually needed before a teacher can teach in that style effectively.

Find a job? These schools are a niche product where English schools are concerned, so they are fewer and farther between. Occasionally, ads come up from these places, though.

A word of warning: they are often not worth all the extra effort and responsibility. Remove your coteacher and the effort required to teach a class goes up exponentially. Everything that was once your CT's job is now yours including marking, discipline, communication with parents, taking criticism from said parents, extra help, telephone teaching etc. Though they often tantalize teachers with higher hourly wages, those wages are for class teaching time and do not include time spent marking etc. Taking time off also becomes impossible as you're the only teacher for that class (your co can sub for you in a pinch in a regualr school). Factor in all the extra unpaid duties and responsibilities and you'll find your real hourly wage is as low or lower than the typical cram school, but you're working much harder.