Foolish or Brave

[Laminebean]

Hey All,

Just wondering if anybody could tell me if i have been foolish or brave, or perhaps you can think of a different word. I have decided to leave to Beijing (from London). I fly in 3 weeks and have bought my ticket and got myself a tourist visa. My main aim is to find a job teaching English and learn Mandarin at the same time. Now, I have a Bachelors but do not have any teaching qualifications or experience. Would it be considered unwise to follow in my shoes or do you think its a brave opportunity? How easy would it be to find a job out there? And will it be easy to make friends (the Chinese can be quite xenophobic, understandably)?

I have no friends or family in China although I will be travelling with my girlfriend who speaks Mandarin pretty well. Ive done a bit of research on the city but there's nothing like a strangers' opinion on the matter to really bring honesty into the equation.

Feel free to reply whatever is in your mind.

[phbriggs]

Degree is the minimum legal teaching requirement (do not teaching experience as the Chinese beleive that a degree shows that you are educated enough to teach). Teaching is relatively easy, providing the school provides some assistance. If they don't, ask.

Easy to make friends. In China to have a western friend would be like having Prince Harry as a beer buddy. Having a western friend shows success and status.

If you have problems after arriving in Beijing, contact:

Geoffrey Weymouth or, Miss Guo

Premier Ocean Business Garden

Building A / 612

Jia 6 Hao, Guangqumenwai, Zhongshili nanjie,

Chongwen District, Beijing 100022

People's Republic of China

Phone: +86 10 8775 8197

Fax: +86 10 8775 8856

They should be able to arrange a teaching position within days, in readiness for the start of the school year (early September).

Say the Briggs's gave you their details and they will look after you.

[trusmis]

I don't know about living in China, but I do know about teaching languages.

You manage a language, it doesn't mean you are able to teach it.

Your answers to learners will be of the type: "it's so, because it's so", but there's a more deep answer. And your students are studing that kind of things so surely know more about it than you.

You can be a perfect conversation teacher. Hardly anything more.

[大肚子]

trusmis: without (honestly) wanting to sound patronising, it's obvious from your post that you really don't know about living in China. Trust me, a significant proportion of, if not most, schools and universities here just want a conversation teacher. A token white face for the prospectus who won't make any waves by making unreasonable requests (e.g. a syllabus) is perfect for especially the private schools. The students would also be only too happy to have a fun, stress-free 1 or 2 hour period in the middle of their insanely overloaded weeks. Besides which oral English teaching is so neglected here, and even when it's not it's not the teachers oral English is often just above remedial (though younger teachers in the cities are getting much better), that advanced questions rarely become an issue, except from other teachers. Just getting the students to use the past tense and articles correctly is enough of a chore, as is basic pronunciation.

Not that I went down the conversation/culture teaching route myself (I regard it as a waste of time when there's so many serious remedial errors needing correction even at university level) but it really is very, very easy to go down that route. There's almost no oversight of foreign teachers, largely because most administrators just don't care about it. As for what's best for the students, whilst a proper syllabus and a targetted approach would be ideal given the English learners:foreign teachers ratio here in China it's better to have something than nothing at all.

Laminebean: to answer your original post, you shouldn't have too much difficulty finding a job if you have a degree, especially in Beijing. One approach, if you're outgoing enough, is to just head down to one of the districts (Haidian would be best) and find a bar with plenty of foreigners. Then just strike up conversations until you find someone teaching at a decent university who could help give you an introduction. As for the Chinese being xenophobic, unless you're Japanese or, perhaps, living in a remote town in Gansu province, that's really not an issue. As far as westerners are concerned they're only too happy to meet you, though the friendships can sometimes be on a very (to western eyes) superficial and machiavellian level.

I would note, however, that Beijing really isn't, in my opinion, a particularly great place to live (as much as I love it to visit). Freezing cold in winter, scorching hot in summer, sandstorms in between, smog all year round and a pretty frentic, in your face way of life. You might be better off, depending on your personal preferences, considering a more comfortable city like Dalian, Qingdao or Kunming. All of them have good universities and schools needing foreign teachers.

[yorkie_bear]

Wonder what your degree is in?

I think you've made an exciting move to up sticks and go to China. What will your girlfriend be doing when you are over?

Although it's true I only lived in Beijing as a student, not a teacher. But I loved it there. I'm not sure I would move back there to work - but that's only because I'm a bit spoiled now!