Job Discussion Forums

[coledavis]

Hello. I'm CELTA qualified, with TEFL experience in my home country (multilingual classes) and in Russia, but am thinking of working for six months from sometime in January in China just to experience the country. I've seen lots of job advertisements essentially for newbies, qualified and unqualified, and am wondering what I should expect in my position. My experience and preference is for teaching adults and adolescents. As well as pay and conditions, any suggestions about schools would be welcome.

[alter ego]

A lot of factors involved, but I'd say the three important ones are:

1) do you have a B.A. or above?
2) where are you planning to live/teach?
3) how much money do you have in your moving/job search budget?

There are plenty of teaching jobs in the big city where I live (Shenzhen), but if you're only looking to work for 6 months this will probably limit your job search to schools that are less reputable, have high turnover, etc. You might want to consider teaching young learners, i.e., kindergarten and private preschools, as they seem to be desperate for foreign teachers and might not care if you disappear after half a year.

The other thing is the visa issue, which others here might be able to give you some solid advice about.

[coledavis]

BA and more. No, no kindergarten for me. No preference geographically, although not huge cities. I have no intention of 'disappearing'; it would be an agreed period.

My question was primarily, however, about pay and conditions for a well-qualified person as opposed to a newbie.

[Laurence]

@coledavis:
There are a couple of types of university positions which you might like to look into:

- Some universities offer a 'bridging' program, which prepares students for study abroad. This is often done in collaboration with a foreign university, and often referred to as a 'joint venture' program.

- Some foreign universities actually operate campuses here in mainland China. I know that Ningbo, Hanghzhou, Suzhou and Zhuhai all host foreign universities and you will most probably find more if you look around. Positions are likely to be for subject teaching, not strictly EAL.

The workload of these types of courses would probably be on the heavier side,

but then so would the pay : )

But if your goal is to experience the country, why not take a 'newbie' post with light hours, low pay, a free apartment and long holidays?

Actually, I think it's quite hard to get into non-newbie territory (over 15000 per month) unless you have spent time on the ground, so to speak.


Let us know what turns up for you ~

[alter ego]

[coledavis]

[The Ever-changing Cleric]

[coledavis]

1 x BA and 2 x MSc.

[The Ever-changing Cleric]

[coledavis]

Thanks, folks.

[alter ego]

Sorry my advice was so basic. It sounds like you could easily teach English in China, it's just a matter of finding a school that would hire you for six months for the right pay and conditions. Good luck!

[coledavis]

[jamesmollo]

Hi there. I don't think it is realistic to get a high paid teaching position for 6 months, you can get a residence permit for 6 months, however. Who wants a teacher that's only going to stick around, while sight-seeing, for such a short time?
You might as well come on a business visa and teach privately, gives you the freedom to travel when you want.

[coledavis]

I just wondered what would be a reasonable salary to ask/expect, not whether or not I would get rich, nor whether or to set up a business. Simply, how many thousand of them thar Chinese roubles should I expect per month.

[The Ever-changing Cleric]