Moving to China to Teach

[thebowrests]

I am beginning to think about living in China. I here that there is a shortage of English teachers in many places in China. I am an American and English is the only language I know. What would I need to do if I was to become a teacher there? What is the typical pay? and what other careers are there that I should consider? B.T.W. I am in the structural engineering field here in the states. Thanks for any input.

David

[megoizzy]

Hi David,

As a native English speaker with a college degree, you'll have absolutely no trouble getting a job teaching English in China. Schools are always hiring foreign teachers from native English speaking countries, usually for starts in September or January/February (as the Chinese school system runs on semesters, just like the States).

The first thing you need to do is find a recruiter or job listing that sounds good. You need to decide where you want to work (small town vs. big city) and then search sites like eslcafe.com, echinacities.com and other ESL websites for job listings.

You might also want to consider getting a TEFL certification, which you can do for minimal fees online. And you'll want to make sure your resume lists some teaching experience, even if it isn't English teaching. Though most schools don't care if you have that experience, they need your resume to show it so they can get you the necessary qualifications for your visa and residence permit.

As a structural engineer, you might also be able to find work as a professor of engineering in China. You'll want to research relevant universities that have engineering departments and see if they are hiring.

The average pay for foreign English teachers in China right now ranges between ¥3000 (in rural areas) to ¥10,000 (for lots of hours teaching in a kindergarten). A typical university teacher teaches 12-16 hours a week for ¥4000-5000 per month. This is about $550-750. Schools also provide free housing, sometimes meals and other ammenities, so the salary is really plenty for living and enjoying life in China (it's twice what the local teachers make).

If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask!

Cheers,

Megan

Edited September 6, 2009 at 03:47 AM by roddy

[Xiwang]

The information about job prospects and pay above applies mostly if you are Caucasian. If you are Asian American or African American, you will find it much harder to get a job.

If you are White, you may be able to get a teaching job just by virtue of being a native speaker. However, regardless of your confidence level in English, I recommend that you at least take an intensive English grammar course so that you will be able to explain grammar to your students using the correct terminology.

I think that everyone who uses the English language should take a grammar course, not just teachers. Unfortunately, in your original post, there are at least six things with which a prescriptive grammarian would likely take issue.

[Erbse]

Hello David,

I'm not an English native speaker and could already spot a few mistakes in Your post, but that doesn't matter at all. In fact You are perfectly qualified as an English teacher.

Read on in this thread for my full reply: http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/312-civilized-people-vs-barbarians64#2

If You could do something with engineering in China that would be a whole different story. You could earn more and would do something real for Your career.

[anonymoose]

Erbse, are you German by any chance? Usually we don't capitalise the first letter of second person pronouns in English.

[Lu]

Neither do the Germans :-p

[Erbse]

Right, I'm German and I think it's impolite to talk to someone with a lower case. I make an exception in official documents though... just to keep my supervisors happy.

By the way... are all Chinese characters lower case or upper case?

[anonymoose]

Neither do the Germans :-p

Well, according to this Wikipedia page they do, or at least they used to until recently.

By the way... are all Chinese characters lower case or upper case?

Chinese characters don't have cases, so this is not really a question.

[Erbse]

Yep, the wikipedia article says it all.

[xianhua]

But such politeness may not always be appreciated:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8234637.stm