Job Discussion Forums

[glimmer]

Hmm, not much feedback to my post in the General Asia forum so I'll ask here. :)

I'm a recent graduate looking to teach adults (over 18) in China. Are there any particular institutions or agencies I should approach?

[glimmer]

I'll take the loud silence as a "No".

[MGreen]

If you look on the thread, you see a few names (I think Anda always post links about this question, clark.w.griswald has info on recruiter/schools...), plus do a search (this question has been asked and there's probaby a sticky too), and check out the job board for China.

If you want to teach adults, look for universty positions, maybe some language mills, and language training centers.

[The Voice Of Reason]

....

[Anda]

Business English for older adults and Universities for young adults. Teaching adults however can present problems as quite often older male students will sometimes try to tell you how and what you should teach. Asian students are used to having a group leader so don't think you are going to be easy street with adults.

Business English isn't for beginners who don�t have a business background.


So try for a job with a university.


Most institutes will have you teaching all ages.

[Neilhrd]

Teaching adults in china is generally not for beginners. Most of the time you will be trying to overcome years of ingrained bad habits, study skills and vocabulary, or lack thereof, mis-pronunciation etc caused by inept teaching in Chinese middle and high schools. No matter what qualifications they claim to have in English you can't assume that the students know anything, not even the difference between he and she or how to use and in a sentence. It is not easy having to fill in the gaps in students' knowledge which your textbooks assume they already know.

What makes it worse is that everyone, schools, Chinese teachers, students themselves and the parents of university students have been ldeluding themselves for years about students real ability.

Most schools wildly overrate their students' abilities. On average a Chinese high school graduate needs at least 3 years to rise to IELTS 6.0 standard or TOFEL equivalent. But the average school promises to do it in 12 weeks and blames the foreign teacher when reality comes calling.

Inappropriate teaching material is almost universal. I say inappropriate not just in the sense of being at the wrong level linguistically but also because most textbooks, or at least those written in proper English, are imports which assume a reasonable, adult level of general knowledge. This does not exist in China where the averahge university student has the general knowledge of a typical British 10 year old and often the personal maturity and study skills to match. The result is that you will often be faced with teaching topics in English of which the student has no knowledge even in Chinese. It can be done with patience, and quadruple the normal teaching time, but schools are unaware of the problem and you never have enough time.

This problem also applies to business English in China. Competent textbooks are almost impossible to find outside of Shanghai, Beijing or Guangzhou. What is more few schools have any CALL facilities or resources library and those that do often have no idea how to use them. In addition the students are usually rich kids whose parents are in business but who think daddy's money grows on trees. They generally have no knowledge of or aptitude for business but are studying it because they have been told to.

You will also generally have to spend at least your first year in any adult school or university in China trying to educate the clowns who run the place about the ABC of running a school. This can be dispiriting especially for novices.

My advice is start of in primary schools where the kids are generally bright, eager to learn and well disciplined and learn the ropes before you move on to teaching adults.

[Anda]

"In China where the average university student has the general knowledge of a typical British 10 year old and often the personal maturity and study skills to match"

I just wish my 4th and 5th year college students were that good, but they're not.

I currently use material written by Western kids as young as ten and it goes over well.

A paragraph from a short story I used this week:

7th graders story by Malika
My mom woke me up yelling: �Rosalind, wake up!� *Bang!* �Ouch!� I yelled as I hit my head on the bunk above. I had to share bunk beds with my sister, worst luck. Her name is Beatrice. Let me tell you about her. She is 15 years old. She always eats diet food and drinks low calorie stuff. She isn�t skinny but tries to be. She puts on makeup every second of the day, and always gets �F�s�. And if you are thinking I only have to put up with 1 sibling, then you�re wrong. I have 3 sisters and 2 brothers. One of my sisters as you already know is Beatrice and the other two are Lily and Lillian. They are both twins plus they have the same characteristics. First off, they are both 10. They always wear pink everything and they are always really annoying. They blame other people for cheating but they cheat off other student�s work themselves. They are not smart and they usually get D�s and F�s. Anyhow the two brothers I have are Josh and Jake. They�re also twins. Unlike my three sisters, they are smart. Well, not really but at least they get B�s and sometimes A�s. They are both thirteen years old and most girls say that they are �cute�.

[glimmer]

Thanks for all the information folks.

I'm not a complete beginner as I've had some experience teaching adults and young adults from China and other Asian countries.

Not interested in teaching young schoolchildren as I have no background or experience in child education and am not prepared to learn.

[Anda]

I've taught in South Korea for over eight years and now here for a year and a half. If you are going to teach young adults here in China then you will find little difference from teaching children except that they have less interest in study. One thing I do find here in China is that you can think things are going well with a class and then they seem to turn off study and then back on, after a while again. I did not have this problem with Korean students.

Teaching Asian students that are in the West you will find is quite different from teaching them here. For one thing most students don't use English outside of the classroom and many don't want to use it inside the classroom for that matter. Young adults here are interested in Soap Opera subjects� full stop. So this means that you need to get suitable material for your classes otherwise you will be faced with blank faces.

[glimmer]

[Anda]

Japan is Western in many ways and very different from Korea and China. It is not a friendly place at a street level and expensive to live. Wages have sat still for a long time there. The students take so wining over and some areas in some cities are nowadays not safe to walk about.

Japan is very clean; however it is not my cup of tea. I'd take Korea or China any day of the week over it people wise.

There is a need to adjust to the local culture no matter where you go. I am well liked by my students and held in high regard by the college that I work for. I am however warning about what to expect and prepare for. It is no good turning up with material suitable for Western adults. Young people here are just not worldly and have let sheltered lives. The work ethic is not strong in the young people here and you will find that most say university students have not worked for a living at any stage in their lives.

Here in China youth are not supposed by law to be employed until they are eighteen. So most of your students have no idea of what to expect after they graduate. Only 30% of graduates will in fact get a decent job, the rest will end up on low pay. Despite this they are non competitive and here is your problem.

[glimmer]

I'd actually like to visit all three countries - also want to improve my Mandarin, Japanese and Korean language skills.

Would prefer to start off in China or Japan - having trouble deciding which though

[glimmer]

*Bump* OK, ended up going to Korea. Didn't work out. Now looking at China again.

Any good places for short contracts teaching adults - 3 or 6 months? I'm not sure I can commit to one year.

[jimoin]

What went wrong in Korea?

[glimmer]

PM me if you really want to know.