Teaching jobs in China

[Mick]

I taught for three years (university level). I didn't particularly enjoy it. For me it was simply an avenue to better things. Teaching at the university level wasn't challenging enough, nor was it rewarding. I would much rather teach somewhere like New Oriental, where students are there because they want to be, not because it is a gen ed requirement. I very much enjoyed learning the Chinese language, partially because it was challenging, but also because it got me out of teaching English!

 

EDIT:

 

I put a lot of time into my lectures, preparing various materials for my students. They didn't want to be challenged - that was the big problem. My overall impression of Chinese students was that they were quite lazy and wanted to be entertained by the foreigner rather than be taught a skill that could benefit their careers. Games and movies were the things that equated a "great class" from the students' point-of-view.

 

Not all universities are created equal work and accommodation wise. I found my initial employment through a friend who worked over there. Through him, I met several Americans whom I networked through to find other employment opportunities. I did not go through a service like the JET program of Japan.

Wow, Kyle. My experience teaching at the university was the polar opposite of what you describe. The vast majority of my students were highly motivated. Maybe it was due to the fact that I taught only English majors (Literature and Advanced Reading) and post-graduate Journalism majors working on their Masters Degrees. Li taught other undergraduates and, for the most part, they were also well-motivated.

 

The place where I encountered the highest number of non-motivated students was when I taught English to employees in private companies. Many of them had no interest in being there. After about two years of doing this during semester breaks, I refused to take these gigs anymore.

[Guest Pommey]

Ok I guess Jin let the cat out out of the bag

 

yes we are moving to the middle kingdom, I have my post grad cert in education (PGCE) from the UK and TEFL, so we got quite a few offers, in the end we accepted Beijing university.Z visa is done, estate sale soon.

 

Very interesting thread on different experiences, is this in any way related to your teaching styles and qualifications or rigid pre-determined curriculum ?

 

Had you ever been a teacher before ?

[slw268]

Ok I guess Jin let the cat out out of the bag

 

yes we are moving to the middle kingdom, I have my post grad cert in education (PGCE) from the UK and TEFL, so we got quite a few offers, in the end we accepted Beijing university.Z visa is done, estate sale soon.

 

Very interesting thread on different experiences, is this in any way related to your teaching styles and qualifications or rigid pre-determined curriculum ?

 

Had you ever been a teacher before ?

I was allowed to teach "Conversational English" and "Social Writing Studies".

Both my own itinerary.

I flat-out refused to teach a predetermined curriculum.

My style was warmly embraced by both faculty and students alike.

So for me it was style. I also have credentials.

However, I think credentials get you the job not determine your style.

[jbray]

I suspect much of it is related to previous teaching experience... I had none, and I think it made a big difference. I've been taking some masters courses in education this year, and would for sure do things differently.

[Kyle]

I did have previous teaching experience before heading to China. The school basically gave me a crappy book and said "Go for it" I loosely and I mean loosely taught from the book. I mostly added alternate materials to my lessons from credible sources which made the class more engaging. It's unreasonable for the students to care if the administration doesn't care.

 

I taught MBA students and English, was simply a required class in the curriculum. Never again.

 

I do like teaching - so if I do teach again in China (doubt I will though), I'll probably teach at an English preparatory school, like New Oriental. I would have loved to teach in the English department, but they also wanted me to teach things like business english and finance. I was an extremely capable teacher and all of my supervisors begged me to stay - many students did as well - I just simply hated it. I like my classes to be very engaging and with English majors I suspect that they would have been.

 

Plus for the amount of time spent preparing lectures (I didn't wing it) I really didn't feel the school was paying me what I was worth.

Edited April 5, 2010 by Kyle (see edit history)

[Guest Pommey]

Ok I guess Jin let the cat out out of the bag

 

yes we are moving to the middle kingdom, I have my post grad cert in education (PGCE) from the UK and TEFL, so we got quite a few offers, in the end we accepted Beijing university.Z visa is done, estate sale soon.

 

Very interesting thread on different experiences, is this in any way related to your teaching styles and qualifications or rigid pre-determined curriculum ?

 

Had you ever been a teacher before ?

I was allowed to teach "Conversational English" and "Social Writing Studies".

Both my own itinerary.

I flat-out refused to teach a predetermined curriculum.

My style was warmly embraced by both faculty and students alike.

So for me it was style. I also have credentials.

However, I think credentials get you the job not determine your style.

 

 

not so sure about that Steve, theres a big difference fom a amatour teacher to a professional, style is developed over time and experience, in this I accept I am the novice as I have never taught in china, but with 15 years of university/post grad teaching behind me hoping I can adapt my style to work there.

more important is not your style but your expertise,knowlege in teaching methodology and fitting this to your students to help them become motivated and automomous learners

 

Just dont use IPA ,trust me on that.

Edited April 5, 2010 by Pommey (see edit history)

[slw268]

Ok I guess Jin let the cat out out of the bag

 

yes we are moving to the middle kingdom, I have my post grad cert in education (PGCE) from the UK and TEFL, so we got quite a few offers, in the end we accepted Beijing university.Z visa is done, estate sale soon.

 

Very interesting thread on different experiences, is this in any way related to your teaching styles and qualifications or rigid pre-determined curriculum ?

 

Had you ever been a teacher before ?

I was allowed to teach "Conversational English" and "Social Writing Studies".

Both my own itinerary.

I flat-out refused to teach a predetermined curriculum.

My style was warmly embraced by both faculty and students alike.

So for me it was style. I also have credentials.

However, I think credentials get you the job not determine your style.

 

 

not so sure about that Steve, theres a big difference fom a amatour teacher to a professional, style is developed over time and experience, in this I accept I am the novice as I have never taught in china, but with 15 years of university/post grad teaching behind me hoping I can adapt my style to work there.

more important is not your style but your expertise,knowlege in teaching methodology and fitting this to your students to help them become motivated and automomous learners

 

Just dont use IPA ,trust me on that.

Steve agrees with you.

What I meant was that to get a job in the first place you need credentials, but that style comes with experience.

[Randy W]

Ok I guess Jin let the cat out out of the bag

 

yes we are moving to the middle kingdom, I have my post grad cert in education (PGCE) from the UK and TEFL, so we got quite a few offers, in the end we accepted Beijing university.Z visa is done, estate sale soon.

 

Very interesting thread on different experiences, is this in any way related to your teaching styles and qualifications or rigid pre-determined curriculum ?

 

Had you ever been a teacher before ?

 

 

Just for a heads up, Rob, the estate sale folks told me they needed a minimum of $6000 of stuff to come in my house for a sale. It might work for less, though, if you hauled your stuff to them.

[Guest Pommey]

Ok I guess Jin let the cat out out of the bag

 

yes we are moving to the middle kingdom, I have my post grad cert in education (PGCE) from the UK and TEFL, so we got quite a few offers, in the end we accepted Beijing university.Z visa is done, estate sale soon.

 

Very interesting thread on different experiences, is this in any way related to your teaching styles and qualifications or rigid pre-determined curriculum ?

 

Had you ever been a teacher before ?

 

 

Just for a heads up, Rob, the estate sale folks told me they needed a minimum of $6000 of stuff to come in my house for a sale. It might work for less, though, if you hauled your stuff to them.

 

Randy, this is NM is a add in the paper and word by mouth.

[Randy W]

Ok I guess Jin let the cat out out of the bag

 

yes we are moving to the middle kingdom, I have my post grad cert in education (PGCE) from the UK and TEFL, so we got quite a few offers, in the end we accepted Beijing university.Z visa is done, estate sale soon.

 

Very interesting thread on different experiences, is this in any way related to your teaching styles and qualifications or rigid pre-determined curriculum ?

 

Had you ever been a teacher before ?

 

 

Just for a heads up, Rob, the estate sale folks told me they needed a minimum of $6000 of stuff to come in my house for a sale. It might work for less, though, if you hauled your stuff to them.

 

Randy, this is NM is a add in the paper and word by mouth.

 

 

Sure - I thought you meant bringing in the professionals. The 'estate sale' folks ( as I call them) will come in to your home, stage a sale, and clean it out and write you a check.

 

What I call 'Garage sale'-type things work the same everywhere.

[rogerluli]

 

not so sure about that Steve, theres a big difference fom a amatour teacher to a professional, style is developed over time and experience, in this I accept I am the novice as I have never taught in china, but with 15 years of university/post grad teaching behind me hoping I can adapt my style to work there.

more important is not your style but your expertise,knowlege in teaching methodology and fitting this to your students to help them become motivated and automomous learners

 

Just dont use IPA ,trust me on that.

 

Good news considering how Jin feels about America... Hope you'll have time to bone up on your spiling before you get to class though...

[Guest Pommey]

 

not so sure about that Steve, theres a big difference fom a amatour teacher to a professional, style is developed over time and experience, in this I accept I am the novice as I have never taught in china, but with 15 years of university/post grad teaching behind me hoping I can adapt my style to work there.

more important is not your style but your expertise,knowlege in teaching methodology and fitting this to your students to help them become motivated and automomous learners

 

Just dont use IPA ,trust me on that.

 

Good news considering how Jin feels about America... Hope you'll have time to bone up on your spiling before you get to class though...

 

 

Gosh , thanks Roger

 

If only we could all be such as a smart a@# as you

[Randy W]

Rob, best wishes for you and Jin. I hope it all goes smoothly. If I can help with anything, I'll be happy to - let me know.

 

Will you be living in Beijing? Do you have housing at the University?

[weiaijiayou]

I think they actually pay one of the students in each class to go up to the teacher at the end of the period to complain about how they couldn't understand what was said - Could they please speak more slowly? and provide a list of vocabulary words?

 

Overall, however, I would rate the students here as excellent and interested in learning what I can.

 

There's an aspect of this that I haven't seen mentioned - kids at the university level may have six years or more of English in their background, but it's all from Chinese speaking teachers. They may have a better working knowledge of English than some of us (at least enough to pass their WRITTEN English exams), but they are lacking in intelligibility (both to understand and to be understood by a native English teacher). That is where WE come in.

 

Out of, say, 100 students, maybe 2 or 3 can carry on an intelligible conversation with a native English speaker. These are usually the ones who learned their English from movies - they can learn from constant repetitions of English spoken by native English speakers, with the cultural situations that will make them be more comfortable around us. I've seen this several, times, including one guy in Thailand. How else can you get such intense, one-on-one tutoring?

Any class in China usually has one student (called °à³¤ "banzhang", which I would translate roughly to something like "class leader") who mediates between teacher and students. When other students need something (e.g., they miss class and need to know what happened) they often just contact the banzhang.

Edited April 6, 2010 by weiaijiayou (see edit history)

[Randy W]

I think they actually pay one of the students in each class to go up to the teacher at the end of the period to complain about how they couldn't understand what was said - Could they please speak more slowly? and provide a list of vocabulary words?

 

Overall, however, I would rate the students here as excellent and interested in learning what I can.

 

There's an aspect of this that I haven't seen mentioned - kids at the university level may have six years or more of English in their background, but it's all from Chinese speaking teachers. They may have a better working knowledge of English than some of us (at least enough to pass their WRITTEN English exams), but they are lacking in intelligibility (both to understand and to be understood by a native English teacher). That is where WE come in.

 

Out of, say, 100 students, maybe 2 or 3 can carry on an intelligible conversation with a native English speaker. These are usually the ones who learned their English from movies - they can learn from constant repetitions of English spoken by native English speakers, with the cultural situations that will make them be more comfortable around us. I've seen this several, times, including one guy in Thailand. How else can you get such intense, one-on-one tutoring?

Any class in China usually has one student (called °à³¤ "banzhang", which I would translate roughly to something like "class leader") who mediates between teacher and students. When other students need something (e.g., they miss class and need to know what happened) they often just contact the banzhang.

 

 

- or - monitor is what they're called here. One of my classes has two, since there are two different levels.