Job Discussion Forums

hermes3x · Joined: 27 Dec 2006 Posts: 22 Location: TX (For Now)

So, my brief story. I took a year of Mandarin at Tulane in 2000. I had lined up a job at Sichuan Daxue through some friends of mine, pending my graduation from school. I was looking forward to going, teaching English, learning Chinese, being cool. However in March of 2001, my father suddenly passed away and I decided to stay in the States. Between then and now all hell broke loose. I was able to put it back together and FINALLY have sufficient resources to go to finish learning Chinese. However, I don't know what the hell to do. I have a BA (w/ a double major in Philosophy and Spanish), a CELTA (but no teaching experience) and drive.

I've been chasing my tail: I don't know whether to go to Taiwan, go to China, or say to hell with it and go to New York City. This decision is based on the fact that the Olympics seems to be wreaking havoc with foreign teaching communities in China.

So, anybody got any advice? My primary goal is to learn Mandarin. I'll teach English to do that. Should I try for the Mainland in September or wait it out until mid october? Or should I just go to Taiwan?

h3

Orrin · Joined: 02 Apr 2005 Posts: 206 Location: Zhuhai, China

The truth is that you don't need to speak Chinese to teach in China! In fact, most institutions don't want you to speak Chinese in the classroom. Students (or their parents) pay large sums of $$ to study English; not to listen to some laowai's rough Chinese.

shenyanggerry · Joined: 02 Nov 2003 Posts: 619 Location: Canada

The Olympics end just before the fall semester. Hopefully things will calm down then.

vikuk · Joined: 23 May 2007 Posts: 1842

arioch36 · Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 3589

william wallace · Joined: 14 May 2003 Posts: 2869 Location: in between

Sent ya a PM.
Cheers, Very Happy

WW

vikuk · Joined: 23 May 2007 Posts: 1842

arioch36 · Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 3589

Which is why I said ... legal right to hire ... invitation letter. If the school gives him the invitation letter, he will have no problem. Have yet to hear of a problem getting a z visa with invitation letter in hand

I am thrilled that it is harder to work here on the wrong visa. But then, I have never intentionally worked here illegally. let those who don't take the teaching seriously have a greater difficulty coming here. that is a foreign "teaching" community I can do without. It will make my professional life here better.

Teatime of Soul · Joined: 12 Apr 2007 Posts: 905

I agree with arioch36.

If you are going to work for a SAFEA licensed scool, they should have no problems hiring you.

Good Luck and hope you join us here soon.

A'Moo · Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2008 5:51 pm Post subject:

vikuk · Joined: 23 May 2007 Posts: 1842

North China Laowei · Joined: 08 Apr 2008 Posts: 419

To the OP,

I am aware of a rather decent opening in ChengDu at the moment at a rather reputable institution. It was offered to me repeatedly but frankly all of those earthquakes and threats of floods caused me a great deal of concern and I have demurred on the offer.

In contrast to what other posters have written, yes, the market here is rather convoluted at the moment, but in cantankerous ways to say the least, some provinces are still "hot" areas for employment, albeit with more difficult visa requirements -- Guangdong being one in particular -- and in another parts of the country, it is still very, very much business as usual.

Sichuan because of the magnitude of the recent disaster is a very particular case and yet I was surprised to learn that one university that survived the ordeal located in a city near the epicenter is still recruiting foreign teachers.

In spite of all, China remains an extremely hot job market, particularly for qualified FT's with two years experience and a viable degree, or at least a viable TESOL certificate.

amphivera · Joined: 05 Sep 2007 Posts: 27 Location: China

Well, it seems the OP's goal is not to learn Chinese for the benefit of using it in the classroom but for a larger purpose. In other words, teaching English is a means to an end (mandarin acquisition). And considering how an english teaching job is reasonably easy to secure, will get your foot in China and give you a starting point for your studies, I can see how it sounds like a sweet deal.

However, I'd look very closely at your teaching hours, teaching environment and benefits because I'm not sure your Chinese is going to improve all that much if you're teaching full time. I don't know if you plan on enrolling in Chinese courses or studying the language on your own but having to "think," "teach" and "operate" in English for a good chunk of the day is going to hamper your progress. You might find it benefiicial to throw a few Chinese phrases in your classes to aid your teaching but at the end you aren't going to be able to "practice" your Chinese on your students the way they'll want to practice their English on you.

This goes without saying but I'd try to shoot for a University job with low hours and some kind of benefit that would allow you to get Chinese lessons on a regular basis. I'd also go somewhere where the accent is pretty standard.

But if you REALLY want to improve your Chinese, I'd wait for the Chinese Government Scholarships (administered by the China Scholarship Council) to open up again (the deadlines for the 08-09 program have passed so you'd have to wait until next year's March-ish deadline) and go study seriously at a University. You'll still have time for a part time job but you won't have your job (English) taking over your life and can even eliminate it from your life if you are disciplined enough. Of course, this is a moot point if you've got tons of loans to pay off back home.

In any case, good luck!