Job Discussion Forums

[raven15]

In December I graduated with a master's degree in Civil Engineering (on top of a B.A. and B.S.) I have been in China for the last four months teaching English at a small college in Shandong, because I didn't want to go directly into the engineering field after seven years in school. I decided to teach for another year and sent my information out to several recruiters. One of them responded with an offer to teach Civil Engineering at a small college, Hunan City Uiversity in Liyang. The offered salary is 6000 RMB.

Does anyone know about teaching civil engineering in China? Since I consider myself an "expert" in Civil engineering, which is a specialist teaching field anyhow, I would expect higher pay than normal. Does 6000 RMB sound right in Rural Hunan? Is it too low? Or is the recruiter probably trying to play me into a much different job? I intend to ask some questions first, but any background information would be appreciated.

I don't know why they would want an American to teach civil engineering anyway. Not only do we use a different measurement system, we have an entire different way of teaching and different building codes. And judging by the buildings and plumbing I have seen we also have much different views on what constitutes "good engineering practice."

Barring that I am also looking at a college in Urumxi. Anyone know average salary at the far end of the world?

Thanks,
Corbin

[raven15]

At least, does anyone know anything about teaching in Urumxi, or Xinjiang Province in general? They are offering 3500 which seems too low, but any other knowledge would also be appreciated.



Of course, I wouldn't mind knowing the going rate for engineers in Hunan either .

[evaforsure]

[Jati]

Go for it: teach engineering. After one year of teaching English, and several years of teaching IN English, I picked up enough Malay to where I began to teach engineering subjects (fluid mechanics, hydraulics, hydrology and environmental engineering) IN Malay (I am in Malaysia).

You should get paid more and, probably, respected more highly. If you can stay long enough in China, make it your goal to teach engineering in Putonghua.

[roadwalker]

Yes the recruiter could be yanking your chain. On the other hand, many Chinese unis like to have foreign English teachers teach their expertise in English. Don't expect to make substantially more, or any more, than you would strictly teaching English subjects. They don't have the budget for it in most cases.

The other consideration is you may be handed a schedule and told "teach engineering." You could end up with a class that has some background in engineering and knowledge of a few engineering terms in English, or you may be teaching Engr101. These non-English major classes are often slapdash and little thought is put into how they fit into the overall education scheme. Might be fun, and useful especially if you are considering teaching engineering in the future.

[raven15]

Alright thanks. That was very helpful. Unfortunately I just received a call from the recruiter saying something like "the school is busy giving final exams and maybe you will hear from them in a week, maybe not."

So looks like it is out of consideration for now (and so, maybe, is the recruiter). But your replies were very useful!

[kungfucowboy83]

i would think teaching engineering would pay quite a bit more than teaching english, usually teaching math or science does.

[raven15]

So I finally heard back from the university, midway through my hunt for other jobs. Unfortunately for the college they turned on the half of my brain that contains an "=" sign and I started thinking.

Teaching engineering is great, but it brings with it the burden of being an actual academic subject. I'll have to develop notes, sample problems, homework, tests etc. that would simply not be necessary when teaching spoken English. A sample problem will probably take 15-20 minutes to demonstrate in class, so just think about the time it would take me to develop and check it. Plus, will I understand the textbook I will be using? My guess is no. Will the students understand me when I say "vector" or "liquefaction" or "install transverse rebar every 6 inches?" OK I can convert to metric, but, Yah right. Given that no one here cares less (said mildly) about enforcing quality control or building codes, will they care anyhow?

Anyways, I'm gonna refigure my requested salary based on the equivalent wages I make. I want the same hourly rate as I do teaching English, but every hour in class will take about 1.5 extra hours outside class. So I want.... 15,000 for 16 hours teaching per week (=38 hours of total time per class). Of course, money is money and if I spend that time developing problems I won't be spending as much anyhow so I may settle for 12,000. But I don't think the university knows what they are asking for. And I seriously wonder if the marketing department consulted with the engineering department.

The university said I can teach whatever subjects I want. On the face that seems great, but then it also seems like they don't really care.

[nickpellatt]

"The university said I can teach whatever subjects I want"

that would suggest to me that they just want you to teach English ... You may be given classes of engineering students .... but be expected to just teach English to them, rather than teach engineering in English.

[raven15]

Quite possible. I was in contact with an English teacher from there and the place does exist and living conditions are decent. I'll see what they have to say.

[waxwing]

[wangdaning]

They might just want engineering English. Teaching the students jargon. That sounds like it would be a pain in the @$$ to me. Unless of course they had a proper textbook.

[raven15]