How to pick a teaching job in China

[guanfei]

How to consider a job offer teaching in China:

Nearly every job offer in China is different and to those new to the game perhaps it should be made clear how to consider one job offer from another. I hope this guide can help to do just that. I will attempt to make it as short winded and clear as possible. I will make some assumptions and generalizations; it is your responsibility to read the contract clearly to check if the situation is the same as what is typical.

Some jobs in the same city will offer 10,000 rmb a month while another may offer as low as 3,500. The reality is that after looking at the details of such an offer the 3,500 rmb job may actually be the better choice for the teacher.

Consideration: Private school versus Public schools

Private Schools (Training centers usually for children and sometimes adults)

Private schools usually pay upfront salaries between 7,000 and 12,000 rmb per month, however they will expect the teachers to work on the weekend and evenings, the teaching hours usually are 20-25 hours per week and often they will require the teacher in the office another 15 hours for preparation and presentation. Private schools usually do not offer any free housing. Furnished housing can cost 500 in a small city up to 2000 rmb in a large city depending on your comfort level. Electric, water and Internet (if you have a computer) will cost you extra. Private school teachers do not enjoy long winter or summer holidays and often have to work through regular holidays because it is considered the busy time. Though private teachers work more hours they always live away from the school and during their limited free time they are truly more free than any public school teacher. It is also quite possible that a private school teacher is going a nicer apartment than that of a public school teacher.

Private schools are ran by people who have a direct interest in the profit margins. Some foreigners will be seen as an asset the owners they do really well in private school market and can increase their salary to overcome what can be hard in public schools. To start working in a training center all you need it seems is to be is a foreigner with a high school degree to be considered. Of course higher qualifications are recommended.

Public schools (Elementary, Middle and Senior School or Colleges and Universities)

Public schools have a lower monthly salary usually 4000 to 7500 per month. The contract hours will usually be for 14 to 20 hours per week and perhaps 2 hours of English corner. Depending on experience you could easily teach 16 hours for 4000 or 16 hours for 6000. The schools do not usually require foreigners to work evenings or weekends. The exception is the weekly English corner and also near a holiday you may be required to make up some classes on a Saturday or Sunday. Public school teachers enjoy long winter and summer holidays and usually receive some salary during the winter holiday. Pubic school teachers will also receive a free furnished apartment and about a third the contracts include free electric utility, another third provides a small utility allowance of around 300 rmb and finally one third of contracts require the teachers to pay their own utility bills. Schools usually provide housing to a teacher 11 or more months for a year contract.

Public schools are bureaucratic institutions with well-established hierarchies. They generally have a lot of pride invested in their school the teachers and administration generally have been with the school a long time. Most public schools require bachelor degrees. Generally these schools have little interest in their foreign teacher and will want you to successfully complete your contract and not have trouble, because that wouldn’t generally be good for them or the school. Paying up the required bonuses and airfare is not a serious problem but the teacher should be prepared to deal with the laziness of the school administrators and long waits are infamous in China.

Consideration: Airfare and bonuses

Schools are always tricky when it comes to airfare. They will usually offer to reimburse the costs of your flight once your provide them with receipts and tickets. Schools will often throw fits at the cost of your flight and if it two-one way tickets or a return ticket. Every detail must be agreed. Sometimes the school will offer to buy your return ticket for you and sometimes they require you buy one before they can reimburse you. Other schools will offer as low as 6,000 rmb for a years contract to cover airfare. The difference between a 6,000 rmb and 12,000 rmb airfare reimburse is respectively 500 per month and 1,000 per month on a 12 month contract.

Holiday and travel bonuses add up. A months salary in the winter and or in the summer along with travel bonuses could easily range from 5,000 to 20,000 rmb over the course of the year depending on the contract.

THE MAGIC FORMULA: How to figure your real salary for a year contract

(Monthly Salary * Paid Months) (+Airfare) (+Holiday Pay)(+Travel Allowance)

Now subtract (utilities and housing paid per month *12), (divided by number of weeks to work in a year), (divided by hours worked per week).

Important notes: Paying utilities will likely cost you 3000 to 6000 rmb for 12 months, if you are paying housing you should expect to pay another 6,000 to 24,000. My best guess is the average cost for both is around 2,000 per month

Public teachers work 40 weeks a year about while private teachers work 48 or more weeks a year they also work far less hours so figures in a lot below.

Common College Job:

4000*10 (+8000) (+4000) (+2200) = 54,000 per year

(–0) (/ 40) (/16) = 84 rmb per hour adjusted for bonuses and living costs

Common Private Job:

8000*12 (+8000) (+4000)(+2200) = 110200 per year

(-2000*12) (/48 ) (/30) = 59 rmb per hour adjusted for bonuses and living costs

Consideration: Cities

The age-old question, especially in China is what is better a big city or a small city. Well, it really isn’t so simple. It’s very complicated, big cities will cost more for daily life generally and entertainment surely, but they also have the best shopping and access to foreign brands anywhere in China. Small cities are cheap to live in and generally boring however you as a foreigner will certainly be more interesting to the local people. Perhaps the most important thing is that if you have to provide your own housing in a large city you will certainly pay a lot more for a lot less of a house. The pollution level of a city is something I always want to know and is the first thing I research when looking at a job offer, I also want to know about the foreign community and cultural interests. Some teachers will want to know about the entertainment and dance clubs if that is your thing you should definitely go to a large city. Searching google.com with the city name and keywords like ‘foreigner’, pollution, expat and searching yahoo for images often will give you a good idea of what you can expect.

Consideration: Climate

A word of warning, south china does not heat classrooms and none of the buildings have insulation, winter does indeed make most of China cold for sometime and you will likely be teaching in a unheated building when the temperature is right around freezing. The students will be wearing jackets and so will you. Your apartment is likely to only have a single ‘air conditioning’ unit in the bedroom this unit can both heat and cool the air. It can be effective, but sometimes it is not, it certainly won’t help you in the living room and if your paying utilities, it is always expensive. I’ve been told north china has some heat in the classrooms, but I wouldn’t take that for granted. Coastal cities are as a rule milder in both winter and summer then cities inland at the same latitude in can make a big difference between a miserable or comfortable seasonal change.

I’ll edit this after some feedback; I hope some first time teachers can find it helpful. Please feel free to leave comments. ;)

Edited July 9, 2010 at 05:58 PM by guanfei

[gougou]

Nice write-up!

Question on the salary part: don't you guys pay taxes? And who pays 8000 RMB in utilities?

[Mandyding]

I think most foreigners with bachelor's degree would prefer to teach in a university, regardless of money, teaching in a good university is an honor, and no doubt, teaching in a university could fercilitate his staying in China in many ways. Two ex, one of my foreign teachers in univeristy is Indian American (American born in India), he does antique business in China, he says being a teacher helps his staying in China, coz teachers are respectable and of course teaching in a college means more holidays for him to run his own business. and the other foreign teacher, Im sure he loves his teaching in university more, he married an Chinese English teacher in our college, and he took a part-time job in new oriental school in shanghai. He says new oriental school pays him more even he only work on his spare time, however he prefers to teach us coz students in private schools speak aweful English. Once I checked the new oriental website, many foreign teachers should know this school, it maybe the most famous private school in china, guess what, I saw this teachers picture. The school use him for pormotion, coz he has a bachelors degree of literature.

Beyonde salary, one should take consideration of your future, teaching in public schools must be helpful for your career, and living in campus with better English level students must be an enjoyable thing, For the choices of cities, teaching in big citys means more job choices, coz there are more private and public schools in big citys, if you want to make extra, it is easier to find a part-time job in big citys.

[guanfei]

Nice write-up!

Thanks

Question on the salary part: don't you guys pay taxes? And who pays 8000 RMB in utilities?

Foreign teachers pay taxes but the schools do the paperwork for the teachers. I honestly think a lot of this tax money disappears but that's just the conspiracy theorist in me.

[simonlaing]

I think this is good write up.

Some other things that can make or break a teaching experience is the quality of the housing that Universities and School provide (private schools usually have you do it yourself); and the type of students you're teaching espicially in the upper levels.

If you have a cramped hotel room in a guest house of a college can be difficult not only to feel like you're home but in case people come to visit. Some places are annoying about security and you might have to hop a fence to get back late at night (these are rare). I enjoyed the jobs with the full 80 sq meter apartment with two large bedrooms, Kitchen, bathroom and even dining room. Being located downtown versus in a suburb campus can also be huge as most bars and restaurants are located downtown.

On the types of students you teach these can be important in whether you feel you're actually teaching something or it is a going through the motions frustrated situation.

This is not always connected with the prestige or size of the school. Teaching a small group (8-15) of motivated English majors in 2nd or 3rd tier city can give you a great Peter Hestler-style feeling of accomplishment and connection. Whereas teaching large (40-80) oral english classes to spoiled private non-english university rich kids whose parents pay triple tuition to allow them to go to this Big city university without passing the Entrance exam is something that can be daunting at best and soul-sucking at worst.

The Irony of these classes is they are usually a short 90 minutes a week for 60 students. The back two rows may even try to sleep (it's what they do in their politics classes.)

I also think that these days many more classrooms are heated in the South with strong AC units. So it depends on the school and the city. There are much fewer dust storms and blizzards in the South as well for those who don't like the ultra-cold weather. Some places in the South near the river can have damp cold though which takes getting used to, and lots of AC/Heating units.

I have a question for the OP, I had some one recently tell me of a Job they got in Nanjing working for a private school 40 hours a week for peanuts 4,500 not including housing, (he doesn't have a BA) but I didn't know how to explain that a job is a job, but as teaching jobs go it sounded like a pretty crappy one.

How do you toe the line?

have fun,

Simon:)

[CharlesLi]

I have a question that the op didn't really address - when taking into account the number of hours per week, is it the total number of hours spent in the institution or is it only the total amount of actual teaching hours.

Common College Job:

4000*10 (+8000) (+4000) (+2200) = 54,000 per year

(–0) (/ 40) (/16) = 84 rmb per hour adjusted for bonuses and living costs

Common Private Job:

8000*12 (+8000) (+4000)(+2200) = 110200 per year

(-2000*12) (/48 ) (/30) = 59 rmb per hour adjusted for bonuses and living costs

i.e. for the college job, would the '16' represent the total amount of hours 'worked' or the amount of hours taught?

I'm asking this because my contract states that I will work 40 hours a week and have a minimum of 20 formal teaching hours.

As you can see there is a huge discrepancy between the two