Job Discussion Forums

[william wallace]

nothing to say.

[struelle]

I've noticed similar trends in Shanghai. The market no doubt continues to grow, but it's being saturated with too many players. Something like 1000+ language schools in town, according to the latest 'That's Shanghai' mag.

The more time I spend here, the more I notice that the Chinese market behaves whimsically, especially with language learning. Maybe because it's in the developing stages, but there are so many unpredictable factors can cause the market to turn this way and that. The English market and China at large is in a maze, sort of like a boat being tossed around by the waves. Expected the unexpected, as the saying goes.

Steve

[kimo]

I wasn't here in '96, but just in the last few years I've noticed some change. The trend is to look for quality teachers, people with experience and not just faces. I get that from three sources, 1) a recent conversation with someone high up in foreign relations waiting to have a meeting with someone all the way at the top 2) a recent article in a tiny weekend paper (not CityWeekend) which also mentioned that the city government would try to remedy this situation by weeding out unqualified people 3) a rigorous interview I just came from. They all said many students and parents are starting to catch on and are demanding more than just a white face for the money.

As far as finding jobs, those that want the face only keep running the same ads over and over in the same rags and rarely are they very good jobs. For the PT I checked out today, I came across it using the local vernacular on the web. They wanted experience teaching and in the real world as well as a short demo.

[Roger]

The TEFL market in China has always been extremely whimsical. There has never been any real popular interest in the language - all those classes full of adults were the result of wishful thinking: the government indoctrinated people they would make tons of money if they knew better English... so they paid, paid and then paid some more - with the results that we all know: zero effectiveness. Now, most adults have turned their backs on it. It was a fad, nothing than that.
These days, training schools are agents, no longer schools per se. They loan you out to public schools who are not allowed to hire direct. Thus, we are no longer catering to adults but to teenagers. And this will fade away soon enough as well, that's for sure...
Corporate clients? That market has always been overrated as well. Most in-house classes last a short while, attrition is much higher than in classes of self-paying adults. Here too, effectiveness is questionable, and if our clients find out they are wasting funds they will not hesitate to apply the scissors.
Yes, changes have been occurring. Weeding out of unprofessional teachers? that's not the objective - though it may happen as a by-product. The new trend, as I see it, is for schools in anglophone countries to set up shop in China. An ever increasing number of already established overseas-owned or overseas-coowned schools report admitting local students (which is a special privilege not really approved by the state organs). Bilingual and English-medium schools are on the upswing. I read yesterday that Dulwich is going to invest in six school throughout China in the next few years.
They will require teachers of a different calibre.

[Horizontal Hero]

I left Beijing 6 months ago because the market was so lame. I couldn't scrounge any job for more than 8000RMB, and in Beijing with a spouse that just isn't enough to save any real cash. Taxis, rent, any expat bars etc. will eat up that money like it was never there. And I have much better teaching creds and experience than most teachers in China.

There was a crash in the market after SARS, and it probably hasn't picked up. I know a manager at Wall Street there who says that they are actually retaining staff long-term for the first time ever, as there is nowhere else for them to go!