Jobs in china besides teaching

[my_china_adventure]

Hi,

I am currently in China as an English teacher but am not really enjoying it and dont know if teaching is what i want to do but I am here for 1 year. I have no degree and I cannot speak Mandarin does anybody know if there are any other jobs foreigners can do, or am i stuck teaching?

Any reponse would be appreciated

Thanks

Kymberly

[phbriggs]

Not having a degree, and possibly not having too much experience in the business world (from your age), opportunities will be limited. If you have particular skill which can differientiate you from the mass of locals, try and find work using those skills. It is also likely, unless you are skilled and the Chinese need you for those skill, you will be only offered a Chinese type salary which could be as little as 10-20% of your teaching salary.

It may be possible to get other jobs using your English language (such as recordings, adverts etc), but these jobs possibly will only eventuate after you are known within a city.

Enjoy Zhenjiang and the vinegar.

[roddy]

If you are only planning to stay for a year then to be honest your chances aren't great - there are any number of TEFL teachers who've been here for a few years eager to move out of teaching, and they're going to be queuing up for the same jobs. Add in no degree and no Chinese, and I'd say your wisest choice is sticking with teaching for a year and making the most of it - you might not enjoy your job, but there's plenty more to life than working.

If you really want to try something else, then try and make contact with local TV stations or newspapers - they might want a novelty foreign newsreader.

Roddy

[libertango]

I have a similar desire. Though, I do have US undergraduate degree in Philosophy. I enjoy teaching but it is not something I would want to do for a long time. I have been in Zhengzhou for about 2 months now. I plan to live in China for a indefinite amount of time. My Chinese is a little less than fluent, but I'm improving everyday and can communicate well with people who don't have strong accents.

My current goal is to improve my Chinese by living here, and then get a job in document translation after a year or so. I don't know it thats really a plausible option or not.

Contacting the local TV stations is a good suggestion.

[Harvey]

In Japan a lot of the people over teaching do get tired of the teaching life after a whlie. Many of them stop in order to work in foreigner bars. I think it's a good idea, you get to meet lots of people, and get a lot of opportunities to practice Japanese as well. Or in your case Chinese.

Is this something possible in China?

[trevelyan]

Are you unhappy with teaching, or just your job? I don't think the degree is that much of a hang-up aside from problems you might have with visa paperwork, but if you can only commit to be in China for a year and can't communicate in Chinese you're not really a great bet for foreign companies expanding in the domestic market.

So there are probably jobs out there, but they'd probably require you to spend more time working than what you'll find in teaching. So I'd try exploring other ways to make yourself happy before writing off the entire English gig. My suggestions are:

(1) use administrative means to minimize your actual teaching committments, maximize the English proficiency of your students and try to adjust your schedule so that you don't waste time between classes. 3 hours of teaching is not 3 hours of teaching when its spread out over 6 hours between 10am and 4pm and you can't go anywhere.

(2) take active steps to make your classes more personally interesting. Teach short stories/poems/skits that you enjoy, so that at least one person is having fun in class. It can take time to prepare this sort of stuff, but when its done you can coast on previously prepared material and classes become a breeze.

(3) figure out if you're happy where you actually live. It makes a huge difference working in a major city and working in the suburbs of a major city. There's no need to get stuck in a teaching job if you don't like the place you live and end up lingering around the school. If there is no place you like to go and nothing that really interests you when you're not teaching, then consider moving.

Also -- if your school/pay blows you can try and find work elsewhere. Wherever you are there is doubtless another school nearby that would hire you part-time, or be interested enough that you could get a sense for what their classes are like. And you may be able to find local tutoring jobs too. Its still teaching, but at least one-on-one, so more interactive and mentally stimulating.

Goopd luck!

[my_china_adventure]

Thanks everyone for your posts, Im no longer teaching in Zhenjiang I've moved to a city about 1/2 hr out of Nanjing to a kindergarton, I think that will be much more enjoyable and once ive settled in I might try and find some bar work in Nanjing, as I did that for a year back home in Australia and enjoyed it, once again thanks to all who posted.

Cheers

Kymberly

[Joanna]

Hi, while most of you are looking for English teaching jobs, may I suggest that you can work for the hotels in China. I am a recruitment agent and there are hotels in China came to me for expatriate staff. The salary is not bad ranged from USD$500-750/month (net after tax). You will also be provided with food and lodging free. While you can get polish your Chinese with local staff, you can have something as pocket money, and the living standard is great as you will have food in the coffee shop and a single room in a well furnished staff quarter.

Please contact me at tecqual@yahoo.com.hk for further enquiry. I have 2 hotels in China and 1 hotel in Hong Kong looking for somebody like you - native English speakers and can speak a bit Putonghua.

Joanna

[Marchia]

I've just finished my degree over here (Medan-Indonesia) and wish to study mandarin in Shenzhen, but i have no information about studying there and how much it will cost. Well it will be better if i can get a part time job while learning, to support my living cost over there. I'm currently working at a Bank as an Account Officer (been 2 years in this company), and i speak mandarin also (though i'm not really good at writing). i'm kinda fed up with my life here and wish to get a chance to live in China. If anyone have a way out, please contact me m4rch14@yahoo.com.

Thanks a lot.