Private Teaching

[nevin]

I'm moving to Beijing from Seoul. I've spent the last three years in Korea, two of which I have been teaching private lessons at students houses. My main reason for coming to Beijing is to study but I would also like to teach privates to earn money. What is the situation like in China? First is private tutoring legal? Is it easy to get jobs and do you have to go through a recuiter?

Oh, I'm also curious about occasional and one-time jobs such as voice acting...

[phbriggs]

Yes it is possible to get legal private tutoring in China. What is normally easiest (to get the visa and residency permit) is to get a teaching position at a local school. The school will arrange the documents. The school will require you to teach around 12-16 hours per week. The rest of the time can be spent doing private teaching/tutoring.

Just get permission/approval from the school when you are ready to do some private work.

[roddy]

The guy's said he's coming to study, so the advice about taking a light teaching job is irrelevant.

There's plenty of private work, particularly if you are happy to take the less popular stuff (ie travelling to the outskirts of Beijing to teach in business parks, or teaching very young kids, etc. It's not legal to teach on a student visa, but unless the school you are working for happens to run into trouble with the PSB while you are on the premises, it's very unlikely you will have any trouble.

There's no need to go through a recruiter - it might be worthwhile if you find it brings in regular work, but inevitably they will take their cut. Any of the usual classified ads sources will give you plenty of choices - thatsbj.com, expat magazines, noticeboards in cafes, etc.

Roddy

[phbriggs]

Sorry OP and Roddy....will read more carefuly next time.

Agree with Roddy that it is easy to come by.