anyone taught English in China ??

I do computer programming. I hate it.

I have no degree. Just a couple of certificates and 13 years of experience.

I'm trying for a BS in Psychology from Excelsior. I'm thinking of maybe teaching English in china afterwards.

Anyone have any experience, knowledge with that?

Is China bloated with foreigners teaching English?
Is it crazy hard to get work?
Recommend a good city?

 

Do you know Chinese?

 

I can say

I am an American
and
Too expensive



That's all. I guess you're thinking a proficiency in Chinese would increase my chances?

 

Perhaps he was thinking it would make the job more enjoyable?

 

Hi James,

While my own experience with TESOL/TEFL is somewhat limited (I taught for a few months in an "Amnesty" funded program in the LA area in 1989), it is something I have explored in the past, and I have a number of friends who have looked at teaching English not only in China, but other Asian countries as well (including Japan and Korea, at significantly higher salary than is the case in China).

Here's what I know:

1. Generally, one needs a Bachelor's degree. I don't know if RA or NA would matter much in Asia. In Asia generally, though, "credentialism" is a factor, so having a degree can be important. On the other hand, I have been aware of more low-level type courses that will accept native English speakers as teachers at least short-term even without much qualification.

2. Getting some specialized TESOL/TEFL certification (in addition to the BA/BS) would be very helpful. There are a number of all-online courses (I took one a few years ago at "i-to-i" in England, but never used the certificate for anything), but the "standard" certificate qualifications are the Trinity College TEFL certificate, and the Cambridge CELTA certificate. Both take about 4-6 weeks full-time, and more part-time; the latter is more widely available in the US. Full MA courses are also available by distance, but mainly to those with a few years' teaching experience. More detailed info here: http://tinyurl.com/byb8b Another great resource (maybe take some of the ads on this with caution) is "Dave's ESL Cafe": http://www.eslcafe.com/

3. Bear in mind that the "novelty" of living and working in Asia (be it China or elsewhere) *will* wear off, and you *will* experience some degree of culture shock usually peaking between 9-12 months after arrival. Try and see if you can do some reading up on the psychological and, depending upon your inclinations and spiritual framework, spiritual means of dealing with this. Learning to speak the local language at least at a working level, and ideally beyond that, will help alleviate this somewhat. If you get a position, consider trying to spend some time in DIY language-learning beforehand. While some knowledge of the local language may infact make you more marketable, it will also help keep you sane!

That aside, I don't know how "bloated" the market is, but it seems I come across advertisements all the time. Dave's ESL Cafe (linked above) will probably give you some idea of this.

Anyway, hope this helps,

Peace,

Matt

 

Don't do it for the money. I taught in Japan for a number of years. Been offered jobs in China, but I didn't think the pay was worth it. Hong Kong pays very well, but you just about need a Master's in TESL because of the competition. In general though, it is not hard to get work, but as another person stated, you need at least a bachelor's. I don't even think you can get a work visa without it, much less a job. To avoid a lot of frustration, it would help to learn the language of the country you are teaching in too.

 

decimon

More importantly do you know English?

 

Reasonably well. Why do you ask?

 

Just a joke!

 

The reason I asked James if he knows Chinese is that it's hard to imagine teaching English to chinese people without first being able to communicate with them in some language. Such teaching can be hard enough when you share an alphabet.

 

decimon;

I agree with you which explains the silly question to him on my part.

 

Actually, it is not as hard as you might think for a properly trained TESL instructor. When I was teaching in Japan, it was forbidden to use any Japanese at all.

All of my Japanese courses I took were done without any English.

 

I have a friend who has been teaching English in China for about 8 years or so now. Her degree is in music and she used to be a band director...

She moves around to different universities every year or two, but always has several offers to choose from.

She speaks very little Chinese.

She loves the job and gets to travel around quite a bit. I do think that the university matters as she has enjoyed some much more than others.

clint

 

Okay. The thing defies me but I guess it is done.

 

I don't know about China, but I had two friends go to Japan to teach English. Both do not have degrees. At the time, they both spoke just a little bit of Japanese.

Here in Switzerland it is much more difficult (you will probably need a degree or at least some sort of certificate) to get a job teaching English.

Brandon

 

My recent Spanish learning has been conducted wholly in that language. It seems to be the modern way to use complete immersion techniques.

In the light of this I'm not sure if proficiency in Mandarin or Cantonese would be needed to TEACH English in China, but it would be a pre-requisite to have an enjoyable lifestyle on a practical level.

Dave

 

Did James ever inform anybody here whether he went to China to teach? And what effect his level of proficiency in Chinese had on his chances?

I ask because I am part way through an online TESL diploma, and I am weighing up whether to apply for jobs in China or in Korea. I speak minimal (Mandarin) Chinese* but am happy to study it (or Cantonese or whatever) seriously before going to China if it will improve my chances of getting a job.

*I speak minimal Korean too, but am also willing to study that if that might help me get a job in Korea. Currently I can remember a few words TKD-related terms for kicks, blocks, and punches, and several words for food (I'm a dedicated lover of Kimchi and Bibimbap).

 

China and Japan allow you to teach in private schools without a college degree. I have been teaching ESL overseas for the last 7 years. I will be teaching in China this, but finally accounting. My MBA has paid off.

 

I hope it doesn't look like I am flogging this resurrected thread to (back to) death but....

I taught English in Japan for a few years, but that was more than twenty years ago. Things may be different now, especially in other countries such as Korea or China, but when I taught in Japan back in the 1980's, proficiency in Japanese was NOT regarded as a good thing by many (probably most) employers.
The reason, as I understood it, was that the school management wanted to prevent the common situation where the teacher, exasperated by repeating the same thing over and over to a student who just could not understand, would solve the problem by switching to Japanese and quickly enlightening the student. The lesson would then continue.
But at the school where I worked, students were promised they would be spoken to ONLY in English.
That was perfectly fine with motivated students, or those who already spoke enough English to understand without recourse to their native tongue.
But it was more often a problematic case of marketing and business requirements butting heads with the reality of large numbers of poorly motivated students who basically could not understand very much in English, and who (despite paying huge sums of money to the school for lessons) did zero study between their weekly lesson appointments.
I don't know for sure, but perhaps teachers explaining things in Japanese to the students led to complaints from those students.
However, the fact was, many of the students were rather poor learners, and lessons often ground to a halt until the teacher said a few words in Japanese to get things moving again.
I broke the strict rule against speaking Japanese on several occasions, but sometimes there was just no other way. I was rapped over the knuckles for it once, but I think the office staff knew that sometimes it was simply unavoidable.
I am considering going back to teaching English in an Asian country, probably just for a couple of years, partly because I have fond memories of the time I spent teaching, and partly because I wish to master spoken Chinese and Korean (both if possible, but at least one of them) and I think teaching English whilst living there is the most practical way for an old codger like me to learn a new language.
So my question (after all that waffling) is: Do any members of Degree Info who have recently taught in China or Korea think it is better to not speak the local language if you want a job as an English teacher?

 

A friend of mine taught English in Korea for over 8 years (he had a BBA).. he went there not speaking any Korean and taught at regular schools. About 3 years into it he switched to a private school and made quite a bit more $ and increased his $ even more by tutoring... after 8 years there he still was not fluent in Korean - his bread and butter was speaking english and when he went out, his friends wanted to speak english to practice, etc.. so he never got the hang of it.