am I too old??

[piglet]

Hi all

I am a 50 year old ex pat Brit. Have been teaching in the Middle East for a LONG time and am now looking to change scenery.Curious to know if I can get a job in a Chinese University at my ripe old age.

I have 26 years teaching experience and an MA.

Also would my husband (not a native speaker) be able to get work of some kind (teaching too??)

thanks all.

[liuzhou]

No problem with your age.

What are your qualifications?

[piglet]

I have an MA in comparative lit (BA is from UCL London, French and Spanish) , teaching cert from International House London, and also from Jerusalem and I have 26 years experience teaching EFL in high school and other places....

[roddy]

You're probably massively overqualified. There aren't any stats on this kind of thing, but the average DOS in an Chinese English school, assuming they have an overseas DOS, will have a TEFL cert and a few years experience. The actual teachers will have even less experience and may or may not have a TEFL cert.

The only place you're going to be able to make full use of the skills you have is probably teaching English majors at a university with a good foreign languages faculty. The inefficient and profit-motivated private sector will quite possibly drive you mad, and a lot of the state sector teaching involves going through the motions with non-English majors taking compulsory English courses.

Would you consider international school teaching? That's probably the most appropriate fit.

I think overqualification and finding the right job is a greater worry than your age. You may find some places don't want slightly older teachers as they are less malleable and easy to bully than recent graduates, but frankly you don't want to work in those places anyway.

Roddy

[gato]

Have you seen these ads?

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/12-horse-horse-tiger-tiger-slang-and-idioms413

English teaching opportunity at Beijing Language and Culture University

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/12-horse-horse-tiger-tiger-slang-and-idioms447

Teaching in XiaMen , the most beautiful city with a good package!

[piglet]

thanks all but how about University? what are the different kinds (there seem to be masses of different ones)I am still at the "feeling my way "stage. International school sounds good, tell me more.

I know all about "going through the motions" its exactly like that over here (Israeli High school) Kids do whatever they want, parents and bosses bully you to let them pass and the whole thing is a farce.

So I really just want a change of scenery and thought that Uni teaching would be the answer to that.

Gato I will check out your links but I also feel totally ignorant as the names of the places don't mean a lot to me yet.

Which part of the country should I look at if we assume I want somewhere not bitterly cold (26 years in the sun I am spoilt now!)

Don't mind a big city or a small one

How about hubby??

[wushijiao]

There are three types of universities in China:

1) Public. These are generally prestigious, and of high quality, but low money.

2) Private. These schools are of lesser quality, but more money, often under dubious circumstances.

3) Sino-foreign cooperation. Often schools in the West will partner up with a well known public university in China, and they will create a small sub-school with an English/business focus. You can also make decent money at these places, but the quality may vary.

I have actually taught at all three types of unis in China.

As far as location, you might want to get a Lonely Planet, or some other guide book, to help you understand the cities and sights of interest in whatever location you are thinking about. Of course, as you go north in China, the winters get colder. But, they generally don't have heat in building in the winter south of the Yangtze. So, paradoxically, a winter in Shanghai might actually feel colder than a winter in Beijing.

[Language Guy]

Well put, Roddy.