Job Discussion Forums

[mrthingy]

So, I'm pretty much set on moving to teach English as a foreign language, but have a few questions that I would like answered before moving forward. Pretty sure I'm going to be heading to Beijing as I want a big city with expat community to ease me in a little.

What is a decent wage for Beijing? To help you judge what I'll need I'd want the school to sort out accommodation, should be alright without too much western food (I cook a lot of Thai now), would like to have a couple of nights out a week. I would also like to be able to save some money and go do a little exploring every now and then. There seems to be a huge variation in pay in adds I've seen. I have no experience teaching and am coming from a completely unrelated job but have worked in environments that involve a lot of contact with non English speakers if that has any bearing on what I should be looking at.

How do you avoid the dodgy employers? Somebody suggested look at the email address but most of them seem to be to a gmail account. I read that you should try to talk to some other teachers at the school, but I have no idea how to contact them. I have no teaching experience so would really like to make sure the first job is somewhere that will give me pointers and help me out at first so I need a decent place, not just one that isn't a rip off. I don't want to pay for any courses incase I get out there and discover that the living in China thing isn't for me, if it goes well for a year or two and I've got a bit of money saved I will consider some kind of TEFL course but for know I would like to find somewhere that will give me a hand with the basics.

Also just so I have it clear in my mind, what will I need to sort out before making the move to China? I know there's the visa and immunisations, what else? I'm trying to work out in my mind what sort of date of jobs I could start applying for by working out how long all this takes, and how much it will cost.


Thanks


Edit: I do have a degree

[tttompatz]

No TEFL cert, no degree and no experience = no chance of legal employment in China as a teacher. (degree or TEFL + 2 years of experience are immigration/visa requirements.)

.

[Zero]

Might get a job at a language mill, but in Beijing, based on what you have written, I would expect savings of exactly zero. Going out in Beijing is very expensive. I would steer clear of Beijing, but that's just me.

[denise]

As to how to get in contact with current teachers, ask during the interview. If the interviewers are hesitant to give you any contact information for their teachers, that's a big red flag. And if you do contact their teachers, keep in mind that you may only be getting access to the ones that the interviewers think will give a positive review.

If the school has a website, look at how professional it is as a clue to how professional the school is.

And getting a TEFL certificate after you teach for a couple of years--sure, it's doable and there are people who go that way, but it's kind of backwards. A TEFL certificate is an entry-level qualification. Without it, the jobs that you are eligible for are basically the bottom-of-the-barrel types, so if you are worried about ending up somewhere dodgy, you're only increasing your chances of that happening by not getting the standard entry-level certificate. Yeah, you may find out that living/teaching abroad isn't for you, but if it's because you ended up at a dodgy school,...well, that could be avoided by being more qualified.

Getting through a TEFL course after you've taught for a while will be harder than it would be to take the course first. Those courses are designed for people with absolutely no teaching experience whatsoever. If you go in with a year or two of experience, you will basically have to forget everything you've been doing and re-learn everything. The key to success in a TEFL course is to do exactly what the instructors tell you to do--a task made more difficult if you already think you know what to do.

d

[naturegirl321]

[Glenski]

As much as this is the newbie forum, I would suspect most answers would be found easier in the China forum.

[mrthingy]

[naturegirl321]

[tttompatz]

[denise]

Some places may accept the experience instead of a certificate. I was thinking more in terms of your first job, which could well determine whether or not you like TEFL enough to continue/get certified/finish your first contract. The issue is this: you're minimally qualified at the moment, so your chances of getting a dodgy job are that might higher. If you get a dodgy job, you might not stick around long enough to get a certificate and find a decent job.

People often come here and ask similar questions, and what it comes down to is "How can I get the best offer while putting in the least effort/money to get trained?" Sorry to put it so bluntly, but that's the underlying issue when folks start looking for jobs knowing that they are skipping the step of getting a certificate. I know those courses aren't cheap. I had to save money for two years to pay for mine.

The best you can do in such situations is hope to get lucky. It does happen... Just do your research carefully on the schools that you apply to.

d

[nickpellatt]

There isnt much you need to do prior to travel really. You will need to save some money to get you through until the first pay day, and you should also save some money for an emergency get-away if things dont work out. Travel/medical insurance might be worth looking at too. Other than that, not much else to sort out really. a VPN to make sure you have unlimited access to certain websites that might be blocked might also be worthwhile.

Really, I dont think there is much to sort out that would mean delaying any move.

I wouldnt look just at Beijing though. If you end up being the only foreigner at the school, settling in may be hard, even in a city with lots of other foreigners. By the same token, a city with less foreigners, but a large FT team working for your employer would probably make things easier.

I dont know how strict the TEFL cert thing is. I do know people working in China without one. Degree is more important I think...but things change quickly in China and vary from place to place too. One good thing about your previous experience with non-native speakers is I would hope this has taught you to pace and grade your speech effectively. This is a big issue for lots of newbies.

As far as dodgy schools....well, its a bit hit and miss really. What I may love, you may think dodgy...I get the impression that happens a lot when I read reviews on the forum. One mans meat, another mans poison etc. Of course, there are some real no-brainers to look for. If someone has had problems getting paid then thats a real red flag! As far as getting in touch with current or ex teachers, ask the employer to provide you with contact email addresses. If they refuse...move on as that should set alarm bells ringing

[mrthingy]

Again thanks for the replies.

What about doing a course TEFL in China? Is there any good ones that workout a bit cheaper than in the UK?

[tttompatz]