Job Discussion Forums

[twizzler1]

As with most teachers on Daves, I have had experience at teaching various student levels and I was wondering which level most other teachers prefer.

As for myself here is the breakdown.

Uni....... I have no experience at this level, but the standard of high school English leads me to believe it iwould be a frustrating and onerous task for what usually is a poor salary.

middle / high school......usually 50 plus students to a class, of which 5 or 6 students may actually take English seriously and try their best. The rest look at it as a time to catch up on their homework and just can't be bothered to try and imptove their English.
However, the bond that can be made over a semester does make this an enjoyable experience.

Elementary........Fun to teach, simple English sentences and phrases and introductions of grammer rules. Can be a lot of fun

Kindergarten....... Up to 30 naughty children learning the English from scratch, from one word answers to small sentences. Very hard work keeping their attention.

My preference...... Although elementary is probably the easiest to teach, I must say my prefernce is kindergarten. I know I'm crazy !!!!
The children are a clean blackboard....... and if taught correctly with lots of games soon love their English lessons. They are easy to motivate (what they will do for a sticker) but for me the best part is seeing their confidence and character emerging. It makes you feel like you are really helping them to shape their future at such an early age.

Over to the forum for your views and preferences.

Twizzler

[Non Sequitur]

My day jobs have been uni/college with only summer work with very small kids.
I love the buzz of excitement you get from the little ones and if like me you've had parents/grandparents sitting at back, you know if you're getting through.
If they get a handle on the language at that age, just think. In 10 year's time some FT in a uni or vocational college is going to thank us for it - or not.

[twizzler1]

Exactly. Also,they are like little sponges, soaking up so much information. They are still learning their own Chinese language, so the English is being absorbed at the same time.
Kindergartens ........ hard work, but I think this is the area where teachers truly can make a difference.

[askiptochina]

[Non Sequitur]

My kindergarten exp (summer work) was with a school in a small town and the owner was a gifted and enthusiastic teacher.
I taught at a Kid Castle school in Dalian for a few weeks - not good but a lot of the the kids had issues - aggression etc and were at Saturday morning class to divert them.
That said I learned a few things there about teaching. I also learned the rip off mentality of franchise owners towards FTs.

[mandu]

I love teaching kindergarten children.nursery classes are my fav.Iam not very good at teaching children that are older than 6 years of age.

[sistercream]

Kindergarten was fun when I was younger - and still had some cartilage in my knees so I could jump up and down and do lots of physical stuff!

As I get older I prefer primary, but my all time favorite classes were first-generation-to-tertiary-education ethnic minority teacher trainees: they really valued the opportunity they had been given and were keen as mustard.

[Miles Smiles]

If you teach for a university or college that has an established English major program, it can be a lot of fun and quite gratifying. The classes aren't ALWAYS huge.

Depending upon your qualifications and experience, the pay at some universities can be better than you might think. In my town, the local language mill pays 9,000 rmb per month for 25 hours class time plus fifteen hours office time. That's forty hours per week.

I make 8,000 rmb per month for 16 hours maximum per month.

But no, you won't pull down the mythological salary range of 20,000-50,000 rmb per month at any university under normal circumstances.

Kindergarten and primary schools MAY pay significantly more for a couple of reasons. First, it is very demanding work. Second, there is often a high turnover in the lower grades among inexperienced western teachers; many assume that because the students are so young, the demands are lower. Many don't stay in the job for long. This is true even in my home country. People will major in early years education, only to find out on their first job that it isn't easy to manage small children.

It can be as frustrating as herding cats.

[mightylakarose]

i agree. kindergarten is the way to go. they may be naughty but you can't expect any child to sit still and be lectured to. keeping lessons physical keeps you feeling young and the children are still young enough that they don't have all of the stereotypical misperceptions of foreigners. they treat you like a teacher and sometimes a surrogate dad (since many fathers are in different cities making money).
teaching at a 3rd tier college was the polar opposite. no respect whatsoever from the students as they would rather twiddle their phones or do chinese homework in class.

[Non Sequitur]

Making money away from home on weekends?
Making whoopee more like.