English Teachers in China

[Boringwaiting]

Anyone teaching English in China currently ? I have high school diploma and I will get a certificate of Teaching ESL training . Give me some information about it .Thanks

[change2marrow]

Anyone teaching English in China currently ? I have high school diploma and I will get a certificate of Teaching ESL training . Give me some information about it .Thanks

I just came back from living and working in China a few years as an ESL Teacher. Getting a job is pretty easy and plentiful, but its also easy to get into trouble if you don't know the ins and outs. Check out Dave's ESL website as a starter. They have forums about jobs, living and so on.

 

Do your homework and keep your wits about you.

 

Good luck.

[Robert S.]

Anyone teaching English in China currently ? I have high school diploma and I will get a certificate of Teaching ESL training . Give me some information about it .Thanks

I just came back from living and working in China a few years as an ESL Teacher. Getting a job is pretty easy and plentiful, but its also easy to get into trouble if you don't know the ins and outs. Check out Dave's ESL website as a starter. They have forums about jobs, living and so on.

 

Do your homework and keep your wits about you.

 

Good luck.

 

Would you mind giving a clue as to what is the most important thing to watch out for?

[blkowl]

Check out www.eslcafe.com there is a lot of great information on that site!

 

 

 

 

Anyone teaching English in China currently ? I have high school diploma and I will get a certificate of Teaching ESL training . Give me some information about it .Thanks

I just came back from living and working in China a few years as an ESL Teacher. Getting a job is pretty easy and plentiful, but its also easy to get into trouble if you don't know the ins and outs. Check out Dave's ESL website as a starter. They have forums about jobs, living and so on.

 

Do your homework and keep your wits about you.

 

Good luck.

 

Would you mind giving a clue as to what is the most important thing to watch out for?

[Boringwaiting]

Anyone teaching English in China currently ? I have high school diploma and I will get a certificate of Teaching ESL training . Give me some information about it .Thanks

Which city and what kind of school did you teach ? What about the pay ?

[hypoclear]

Money... money at the beginning, the middle and the end, it's all money. Remember you are going to a country where they counterfiet 1RMB coins which when I was there were worth $0.12 cents. I have heard of people buying american ciggs just so they could split the pack in half I.E. use 10 american ciggs add 10 of theirs, re-package and sell as american ciggs at hired price.

 

My wife does packaging design and one of the important things is to make sure that once a package is opened it can never be reused. I could go on but the idea is as others have said, watch yourself. You will be asked to do more and more with no extra pay. Find a place that has lesson plans already, no need for you to do that and basicly build thier business for them and low wages.

 

Try and find and American or Canadian school to start with. Also try private classes, I used the New York Times on line for some of my students, etc. Remember!!! you don't have your money until it's in your pocket and spent!

 

Hook up with some good people, watch out for the nutty ones and enjoy. I taught young childern and teens, which I enjoyed as they are experiencing a new and more open China but still have alot of the traditions of China, so if you can engage them in the class you will gain their respect. Also remember these kids are puting in sometime 50 to 60 hours a week on thier studies!! You can see where they are going to want to slack off in english class, but again child enjoy fun.

 

Mark

[change2marrow]

There are so many aspects to teaching in China.

 

Location: East coast of China often pay better, but you might get run ragged from town to town. Western China or as far as Sichuan area, the pay isn't as good, but the work load can be a little better and laid back.

Just because the company is in a major city, doesn't mean the job is in a major city. (From my experience)

 

One point is to contact an ESL teacher currently working for the company that you might be talking with. The more transparent a company is, the better you might feel about working for them.

 

Homework: Company, Location, School, other Foreign Teachers and their experience.

 

Company and School: How long and what is their experience in dealing with foreigners.

 

Location: Where will you live, what and where will the school(s) be located. Traveling.

 

Red Flags: Contracts, undesirable locations, no foreign teachers to contact, new schools that never had a foreign teacher, cities that never had a foreign teacher. And there's many, many more.

 

If you have good common sense, it will help a lot. When it comes to money the only person you can trust is yourself. That's what it's all about for the ESL companies, school or anyone else in China for that matter. Money!!! It rules everything there.

[jbray]

I was teaching English in Chengdu, Sichuan for 3 years. It was a great experience. But, there are a lot of things to watch out for...

 

I was making between 100 and 150 RMB per hour (about 10 to 15 hours a week). I taught every age group (kindergarten, primary school, highschool, college, and adults).

 

The name/s of the game are money, and control. The school wants to make sure they can control you. SO, it's best to work for more than one place (3 seems to be the best). If you work for more than one place, the school knows that you can/will leave if the don't treat you right.

 

Try to shy away from contracts. They are worth NOTHING. They don't help you, and can only hurt. If the school insists on one, make sure that there is nothing that is questionable. Make sure that it talks about sick time, holidays, and if there is anything extra that is expected (like English corners, or judging contests).

 

All that being said, teaching English was a wonderful experience. my first year, I was in a small town about 200 miles from Chengdu. I was the only foreigner around. It was so much fun. I was treated like a king. My students were excellent! They would actually share my lessons with other students. I knew becuase students in other grades that I didn't even teach were coming up to me asking me to clarify some things in my lessons (I mostly taught idioms). That was such a feeling of satisfaction... The school I was at, treated me so well. They gave me everything that they possibly could.