Single Mom with Child Teaching in China..??

[kimjude68]

I may be offered a position in an international school ( which appears to be respectable), but am worried about taking my son along with me. He is only eight, and will be able to attend to school where I'll be teaching. But I still have concerns...Anyone have the same experience or advice? Is this terrible judgement on my part?

[BrandeX]

International schools are fine. You're pretty fortunate I guess if they let your child attend there for free while you work. Some of them have tuition over 100,000 rmb.

[anonymoose]

If I were you, I'd carefully check out the teaching quality of the school before you commit to sending your son there. I used to work for an international school (for chinese students preparing to go abroad for university), and I certainly wouldn't have sent my own children there (not that I have any yet). The school I worked at had a good reputation, but of course, only the good side is shown to prospective teachers and prospective parents alike. The reality is that wages, whilst often good by local standards, do not compete very well with teaching in the west. Thus, many foreign teachers tend to be long-term China dossers simply because they lack prospects in their own country. Also, being an international school, Chinese teachers are usually required to speak English. But any Chinese person who both has good English and is also competent in a subject area will usually be able to earn significantly more in a company, and thus the Chinese teachers tend not to be the most competent either.

Of course, this is only my experience at one school, and it may well be different at other schools. I'm not trying to dissuade you from going this route, but would just advise you to get as much info about the school as possible first (preferably from unofficial sources) so that you can make an informed decision.

[HedgePig]

Hello kimjude

It's difficult to comment without what knowing what your concerns are or anything about you or your child's background. However, assuming your son doesn't have any significant health or learning problems and assuming he's moderately well adjusted, I think he'll probably cope with the change fairly well because young kids are generally very adaptable. Yes, China is likely to be very different from where he's coming from, in many ways - some good and some bad. But he's likley to settle down quickly (probably more quickly than you) and the experience will probably make him a more well-rounded person.

I think that China is generally a fairly safe country, although the traffic might lead you to conclude otherwise. Hiring an "ayi" (maid) is cheap compared with the US or Europe, so as a single working mom this can be big help.

Regards

HedgePig

[roddy]

I used to work for an international school (for chinese students preparing to go abroad for university), and I certainly wouldn't have sent my own children there (not that I have any yet)

It is important to distinguish between genuine international schools, which will have mostly (maybe only) foreign students and teachers and teach a foreign curriculum, and the Chinese 'international' schools which are simply private schools (and in China that doesn't mean you get higher standards) with the word 'international' in the name.

[Lu]

If it's a real international school, with expat kids in it, I wouldn't worry too much. Perhaps you can gather some information from parents there?

It also depends on how long you are going for, I think. One year in a not-so-great school is not really a problem, five years might be.

[anonymoose]

It is important to distinguish between genuine international schools, which will have mostly (maybe only) foreign students and teachers and teach a foreign curriculum, and the Chinese 'international' schools which are simply private schools (and in China that doesn't mean you get higher standards) with the word 'international' in the name.

It's true that there is an important distinction, but the school I worked at did have foreign teachers and a foreign curriculum, the difference being that the students were all chinese. I guess it is easier to get away with lower standards in this case because the parents don't know what to expect and therefore are easy to fob off. But from what I can gather, the wages offered at 'proper' international schools are no better than what we were getting, yet we found it extremely difficult to get qualified and competent teachers. That's not to say that there weren't any, but the proportion of incompetent teachers was large.

Anyway, as stated in my first post, the point is not that the school kimjude68 is planning on going to is necessarily bad, but simply that she should do some thorough research first just to make sure.

[kimjude68]

Thank you for the advice! The school consists of a mix of Chinese and American ( along with Australians, I think) teachers, and the curriculum is American. There are a mostly expat students. I will try to find out about the school's overall quality, but - as I am finding - this is quite difficult. It is associated with LDI and affillitated with a large organization called International Schools of China, with missionary purposes. The pay is not so great - 8000 RMB..I think. Housing is included.

The main concern I had was taking a young boy to China, and was wondering if anyone did the same at some point. I suppose there are many factors to consider. He is very bright, adaptive to change, and healthy. I have just read some scary posts on this site recently about schools in China and was needing others' perspectives on a major decision. I appreciate all the help!

[flameproof]

I would talk to some (some implies plural) teachers working there. Preferably females, even more preferably a mother. If the school hesitates to give you some contacts then I wouldn't go there.

[BrandeX]

The real international schools near me, are as mentioned, not for Chinese and it is illegal for them to attend. You are not permitted to attend unless you are a foreigner - curricculum are essentially 100% english. Teacher salaries I am not sure about, but I think they could be up to$40,000 USD a year, maybe a bit less or more. I get over half that at just a training center.

Here is an example of 3 real international schools here in GZ. I personally work with children from 2 of them every day in a private training center we have set up dedicated to teaching international school students in the evenings. They are 100% Koreans.

The one in the private community where I live:

http://www.clifford-school.cn/eng/

Our other students attend here:

http://www.utahloy.com/gz/index.htm

One more example of a real intl. school in my city:

http://www.aisgz.edu.cn/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

Edited January 6, 2009 at 02:18 AM by BrandeX

[simonlaing]

Ok I substitute taught at one of these for awhile when I was studying Chinese back in the day (yes I am still studying Chinese, though part time)

Some things to consider , monetarially it is a good job. The jobs I saw for Teachers with an education degree ranged from $25,000 -80, 000 USD a year plus housing and round trip plane tickets. Food is very cheap in China so you can bank almost all of the salary.

So things to consider about the school and if it will suit your son.

Some schools though with the main language being english have large ethnic majorities. In Nanjing that one happens to be Koreans which in middle school late primary school are a bit cliquey and stick together.

Although you are in China, the actual level of Chinese that you child will be expected to master may be minimal.

The School's other parents are mostly Expat's who often come on 1 to 2 year contracts so his friend may move away and you have to get used to making new friends as they come along.

Also because of this students often come in at different levels and although schools will say they teach to the International Baccalareate or US college entrance the levels will vary and lots of students are allowed to slip by.

The teachers in that school that I was at were often going to trainings like for 1/3 of the teaching semesters and the kids were given busy work and asked to do it with help from me the substitute. These were great for the teacher but I felt kids were getting a bit of a shaft.

The Chinese elementary schools although busy can be good until middle school. If you want you kid to get good chinese you may want to think about it. In late middle school and highschool the Chinese classes are oriented to the college entrance exam and things like Gym, learning and fun are phased out.

Good luck,

Simon:)