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jyl2011
Joined: 07 Dec 2011
Posts: 33
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 Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2012 7:32 pm Post subject: Master's degree / University teaching in China. |
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Hi there. I've got a couple of questions relating to job prospects in China and was hoping I could get some pointers on these forums. Thanks in advance!
First off, I was curious as to the best way of finding university roles. Can it be done from ones home country or is it a lot easier being on the ground?
With the following set of qualifications, what do you reckon my prospects would be?:
- BA in English Literature and Italian Studies
- MA in International Relations (Diplomacy)
- TEFL (Just 50 hours)
- Around 1 year collective teaching experience with young learners abroad.
I've travelled China extensively and I loved it. I am aware however that teaching out there is a bit of a mixed bag. I'm also aware that teaching youngsters just isn't suited to me. I suppose my overall aim is not to teach, but to break into China (Asia) in another fashion. In order to do this I reckon it's important to pick up regional experience and pick up the languages in the process.
Cheers for the advice! |
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johntpartee
Joined: 02 Mar 2010
Posts: 3258
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| Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2012 7:40 pm Post subject: |
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You can do it from home or from here. It sounds like you're financially solvent, so you might be better off coming over, you'll get a better idea of the situation (administration, housing, etc.). Your qualifications are more than adequate. You write like a native speaker; are you Caucasian?
Last edited by johntpartee on Thu Sep 13, 2012 8:23 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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jyl2011
Joined: 07 Dec 2011
Posts: 33
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| Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2012 7:46 pm Post subject: |
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Thank you for the reply.
The aim is not immediate, but just something I will be looking at in the near future. Financially, my situation isn't brilliant at the moment, however hopefully it will pick up and I can save a little in the near future.
I am from the UK and yes, Caucasian.
Do you know of any good resources for finding university positions in China. Is it best to search the university websites individually for employment opportunities and apply? Is it possible to break into the university market in cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, or would that require further experience and publications etc?
Cheers. |
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MisterButtkins
Joined: 03 Oct 2009
Posts: 1221
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| Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2012 8:19 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| pick up the languages in the process |
You're never going to 'pick up' Chinese. It's just not that language. Maybe if you live here for 10+ years. Or if you live here 3+ years and study everyday, which I wouldn't consider 'picking it up'.
Where did people get this idea of 'picking up' languages, anyway? Like you're really going to learn any language well without any serious studying. |
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jyl2011
Joined: 07 Dec 2011
Posts: 33
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| Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2012 8:24 pm Post subject: |
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Well as you can see, I added some brackets in which I wrote Asia. I also made language into a plural, so, was in no way limiting this to Chinese. My statement was very general, sorry about that. I lived in Korea for around a year and my Korean is pretty decent now. By making this fluent, I'm sure that would also help me find employment in China too.
Cheers. |
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twilothunder
Joined: 09 Dec 2011
Posts: 442
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| Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2012 11:33 pm Post subject: |
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You should be aiming at subject teaching jobs with a masters degree, but International Relations might be a hard sell.
(Western) History is taught at some international schools, but I've never seen Politics or Comparative Government on a curriculum.
If your MA included a significant Political Economy component, you might be able to dress yourself up as an Economics teacher and get an international school gig that way. |
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RPMcMurphy
Joined: 22 Aug 2012
Posts: 90
Location: Australia
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| Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 12:58 am Post subject: |
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| johntpartee wrote: |
| You write like a native speaker; are you Caucasian? |
Caucasian isn't used much anymore, and the poster would get a shock to see which races it actually includes. I think he means "are you white?" This is critical when applying for jobs in China. As for writing "like a native speaker", I could give you a long list of brilliant English writers who are/were not native speakers. Try Wittgenstein, Desai and Conrad as starters. Writing and speaking are totally unrelated macro-skills. |
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ecubyrd94
Joined: 25 Aug 2011
Posts: 77
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| Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 4:26 pm Post subject: |
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| twilothunder wrote: |
You should be aiming at subject teaching jobs with a masters degree, but International Relations might be a hard sell.
(Western) History is taught at some international schools, but I've never seen Politics or Comparative Government on a curriculum.
If your MA included a significant Political Economy component, you might be able to dress yourself up as an Economics teacher and get an international school gig that way. |
Are you suggesting that international schools hire MA holders with no teaching license from their home country (don't recall seeing the op has this)? If so, which do this? |
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louislouis
Joined: 27 Jun 2012
Posts: 8
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| Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 7:01 pm Post subject: |
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| ecubyrd94 wrote: |
| twilothunder wrote: |
You should be aiming at subject teaching jobs with a masters degree, but International Relations might be a hard sell.
(Western) History is taught at some international schools, but I've never seen Politics or Comparative Government on a curriculum.
If your MA included a significant Political Economy component, you might be able to dress yourself up as an Economics teacher and get an international school gig that way. |
Are you suggesting that international schools hire MA holders with no teaching license from their home country (don't recall seeing the op has this)? If so, which do this? |
Agreed, nonsense.
OP, you asked a similar question on the Japan forum. Check the regs. You need 2 yrs (legally) to work in China. There may be ways around this, but that's for you to find out. Get some verifiable exp elsewhere - another year or so somewhere else (not Kindy) - and try again for uni positions. |
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twilothunder
Joined: 09 Dec 2011
Posts: 442
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| Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2012 12:13 am Post subject: |
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| louislouis wrote: |
| ecubyrd94 wrote: |
| twilothunder wrote: |
You should be aiming at subject teaching jobs with a masters degree, but International Relations might be a hard sell.
(Western) History is taught at some international schools, but I've never seen Politics or Comparative Government on a curriculum.
If your MA included a significant Political Economy component, you might be able to dress yourself up as an Economics teacher and get an international school gig that way. |
Are you suggesting that international schools hire MA holders with no teaching license from their home country (don't recall seeing the op has this)? If so, which do this? |
Agreed, nonsense.
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Plenty do, if there's a position that needs filling.
Look at the list of staff at SCIE, for example:
http://www.alevel.com.cn/teachers/
Many are Masters-holders in their subject but have no PGCE/QTS. |
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roadwalker
Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Posts: 1750
Location: Ch
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| Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2012 3:39 am Post subject: |
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| jyl2011 wrote: |
Well as you can see, I added some brackets in which I wrote Asia. I also made language into a plural, so, was in no way limiting this to Chinese. My statement was very general, sorry about that. I lived in Korea for around a year and my Korean is pretty decent now. By making this fluent, I'm sure that would also help me find employment in China too.
Cheers. |
If you meant that becoming fluent in Chinese will help you land a university position here, that's probably not true. It may help you communicate with people in those universities, and help make your daily university life smoother, but universities already have people that can teach English and speak Chinese. Most of the English faculty, in fact. They want native speakers mainly for oral English but also for teaching about cultural and literary aspects of our cultures, as well as writing. We are as close as most of the students will get to an immersion learning atmosphere, so speaking Chinese could be considered a negative.
You might consider becoming a language student in a Chinese uni if your object is to learn the language. You could probably pick up income either at the university, as an oral English teacher, or in town at a language mill or by giving private lessons.
Check Wikipedia for areas in China you are considering and follow links to education in that area, and finally to universities and they will often give school websites. From there, you may find contact information. China tefl dot com also has direct contact links. Some are dated in either case, so it may take patience to get to the right people. A few universities regularly post jobs here on Dave's. |
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