China - TEFL in China
China is one of the major countries where English teachers are in demand. It attracts teachers from many English speaking countries and teaching English there is big business.
The country's English language teaching industry is estimated to be worth over 2 billion USD with more than 300 million Chinese studying English.
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Overview
The current demand for English teachers is high in China. Universities, language schools and private companies are all looking for certified ESL instructors.
Required qualifications vary greatly. There are schools that will consider only candidates with at least a BA in English Language or Linguistics and a TESL/TEFL Certificate plus one year teaching experience. Others will consider applicants with just a willingness to undertake a TESL/TEFL course at their own expenses and in their own spare time.
The ICAL TEFL Certificate is accepted in China.
Though a degree is not always necessary to be hired, your visa options without a degree will be limited and you'll have to do frequent visa runs. Native English speakers are preferred by far.
Although you will sign a contract, Chinese school owners may well not view it as concrete as you may do and there may well be times when you'll be asked to do additional hours or make other changes. Keep an eye on this and if you feel you are being taken advantage of, it may be time to move on. But don't worry, there are plenty of jobs available and once you in the country you'll be able to scout about and find out what's available and where the best kinds of jobs are.
Finding Work
Although there are a couple of big chains of schools in China (English First and Kid Castle) there are thousands of smaller, independent schools. Some of these advertise online but many do not. One common approach by teachers is to come over to China on a tourist visa and then walk into schools until they find work.
Alternatively you may choose to use one of the agencies, however you should never pay an agency to find you work.
Unfortunately there are still many schools in China where appearance counts far more than substance. If you are a white, blonde female you can pick up work very easily. Then a female. Then a white male. Then everyone else. This is not always the case but often it is like this.
Paperwork
You will need a passport which expires at least 15 months after you plan to leave the country.
You will also need to get a Z-Visa. This must be obtained before you get to China and will cost about $200 USD. Some schools will reimburse this amount. See www.visarite.com for more information on this and what documents you need for this.
A degree and a TEFL Certificate.
Once in China, you will need a Residency Permit and a Foreign Expert Certificate (and the school usually helps with these).
Having said this, a number of teachers work in China on a tourist visa and make plans to leave the country to visit Hong Kong or Korea every so often to get it renewed.
Working Conditions
It is impossible to generalise, but a typical job may be something like this: the school will teach students from very young (around 4 or 5 years old) to teenagers; each class will have between 15 - 20 students and be 2 hours long; most schools have good resources (but check); with younger students there may well be a Chinese teacher in the class as well to help out; you will work between 15 - 25 hours per week including the weekends.
There are cases of some jobs making teachers work 30 or 40 hours per week in the classroom but with there still being a lot of work in China if you end up in a job like this you can always leave the school and try your luck elsewhere.
Salaries
Salaries vary accordingly but generally one can live quite cheaply in China, as some employment contracts for English teachers include free or subsidized accommodation, airfares (paid at the end of the contract) and free basic health care.
Some contracts will also include a gratuity (around 15%) if your performance and conduct during the period of service has been satisfactory. A cash incentive (5% to 10 % of basic salary) can be offered to those teachers who reach a minimum of years of continuous service. Foreign teachers on a one year contract are not subject to taxation. If they stay longer than one year that then they will be taxed at a very low rate, less than 2%.
A typical starting salary for 15-20 hours per week could be around 4,500 CNY (700 USD, 400 GBP, 450 EUR) from which you can save around half and live reasonably comfortably (if frugally). However, better money can be had with private lessons which can pay between 20 - 35 USD per hour.
The bottom line is that working in a school in China does not pay well in comparison to places like Vietnam or Korea (however, China is catching up and this is changing) and unless you are careful you won't be able to save a lot of money. Having said that, living is cheap and you can enjoy yourself on the money you make.
One word or caution, don't change RMB to USD in a Chinese bank as the exchange rates are very poor. Best to do this out of the country.
Private lessons are a useful earner in China. Typically you might charge about 100 Yuan (15 USD, 9 GBP, 10 EUR) per hour.
Being a "Teacher"
Looks also count! In China many schools prefer their teachers to "look" foreign. In those schools, if you happen to have an Asian face you'll be less preferred than a black face which is less preferred than a white face.
In Chinese society being a teacher is a respected position and you will be expected to live up to that standard. It is, for example, not good to go out drinking till the early hours and be seen drunk by ones students or their parents. (Far better to take a ride over to the next town for a night out!)
Culture Shock
One of the biggest issues with living in China (and many other countrires, for that matter) is one of Culture Shock. It is very different from most Western countries in terms of social interaction, food and, of course, language. Making some generalisations:
For example, the Chinese tend to be less assertive than Westerners and it is sometimes difficult to know what someone actually means; sometime's it's not a good move to confront others head on but rather work out what people mean by reading between the lines.
Other common cultural differences include:
- Curiosity. Unless you're in a major city where foreigners are common, you will attract attention. People will stare at you, come close to check you out, see what you're buying and listen in to your conversation. Take this all with a pinch of salt and carry on; there's no malicious intent here, just pleasant curiosity.
- Shopping. Sales people are pushy and seeing you are foreign will try to charge over the odds. All you do to avoid this is shop around. Oh, and a few words of the local language will tell them you're not a gullible tourist.
- Looking Down. Generally Chinese people tend not to look people in the eye as Westerners are apt to do.
- Face. This is an important concept and causing someone to lose face is best avoided unless you mean it! One way in which this can manifest itself is a class staying silent because no one wants to give an answer in case it's wrong and they "lose face". Likewise they may not ask for help or clarification about something they don't quite understand.
- Formality in Class. Classes in China tend to be more formal with more respect given to the teacher.
Notable Schools in China
External Links
Qualifications - real life examples of what is needed to teach in China
Visas - an exposition on the different visas to teach in China
