Teach English in China

Hi,

my brother going to do his Beachelor-Degree in 2 month. If he passed it he would like to go to china and worke there as a teacher. Right now, she is looking for an organisation. Does Some one have Experience with teaching English in China?

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 1

Findlay6

A friend of mine teaches in China.

You can either go in with a PGCE, but you'd need a relevant degree in English to get onto a PGCE course and you may have to complete your NQT year in the UK. This would allow you to teach anywhere in the world too.

or you can get a TEFL qualification (which is what my friend has) All info is on their website, including jobs. http://www.tefl.org.uk

Reply 2

Sportycb

Original post by abumarvin

I have been teaching English abroad for 3 years and I have been helping others get into the industry for the past 18 months. Thus I have learnt a lot about the industry and how to get jobs all around the world (as each country is slightly different, with different requirements).

As someone has mentioned you need a TEFL certificate. This is when it gets confusing as people and companies are misleading as they often refer to TEFL as it is one organisation when it is just the name of the industry. I have received multiple e-mails and tweets saying they are doing 'THE TEFL Course' or even more confusing when they say that they have tried contacting TEFL. My reply is; "what/who on Earth are you talking about".
In reality there are literally hundreds of courses run about about 20+ organisations, from cheap courses on Groupon up to the CELTA. All varying in hours, structure and price.

Luckily for your brother China is the least fussiest country in the world for qualifications as they are so desperate for teachers. That being said and probably for similar reasons you need to be very careful as teachers in China has the most negative reviews as it is such a mixed bag. I have not taught in China myself but I will PM to help you get in touch will many people who I know have. They have had positive experiences and will be able to help you or your brother find the best jobs.

Reply 3

remiremi

Apply for a working holiday Visa and go to Taiwan instead

Reply 4

SilverMay

Hi,

I taught English in China for 3 years, 2011 - 2014. It was only supposed to be for one year but I loved it there. I got TEFL certified through TEFL England. I worked firstly in Yangzhou near Shanghai and then in Kunming near the Vietnamese border. I feel I was lucky in my jobs because I had heard many horror stories before I went but both of the schools I worked for were very good. They well organised with visas and pay and also had supportive staff members both Chinese and Foreign.

If you need any advice feel free to contact me.

Reply 5

Kolya

Original post by abumarvin

Advise him to be careful. In general, you need two years of work experience post-graduation in order to get the proper working visa. If organisations are making promises to the contrary, he should ask some serious questions about how it is possible.

Reply 6

ron_trns

Original post by Snow Child

Is it?

Quite clearly.

To get a job in TEFL in China, in the three big cities at least, you need to have an undergrad/Bachelors degree, a recognised TEFL or teaching qualification, and a minimum of 2 years teaching experience, post-graduation. These are the requirements to get sponsorship for a proper working visa and residence permit. I lived in China and taught there for almost 4 years.

If you go for a TEFL qualification, Cambridge CELTA or Trinity TESOL are internationally recognised.

In China you could go for TEFL jobs in mainstream schools where you'll teach classes of 60 ish pupils with very little guidance or support. Or you could join a corporate world and teach every age, in small groups or 1:1 through companies such as EF, Wall Street English, Berlitz etc....to name a few.

Or you could get lucky and land a job in a desperate international school with just a TEFL. If you have a PGCE don't accept anything less than a job in an international school.

Those are only the requirements in the big cities as you say, it varies provincially, only the degree is absolutely required. I am surprised you would recommend anything like DELTA/CELTA living in China. Nobody gives a damn what you have in China, if we were talking about Korea or Europe, yes. Go with the Cheapest TEFL cert for China, it doesn't even effect your pay.

You won't get a real international school without a PGCE and often post NQT experience, certainly not in Shanghai, GZ, BJ etc... Even in the tier 3 cities the international schools won't even entertain you without a PGCE. The pay jump from standard ESL teacher (700+ pounds/month) to international school teacher 2,000+ is insane, basically anyone seriously considering it as career should have a teaching cert. Oh and for the record international schools rarely hire English teachers anymore, it's usually subjects they hire and they pay more for STEM type subjects (5,000 kuai/month more).

Just to note the way China/Korea/Vietnam are progressing I'd really expect the requirements to get higher by the time your brother graduates, university jobs in Korea now require 2 years experience, not so long ago you could get work easily in the big cities with no experience at all and it was easy to get a place at an international school. These days with horrible pay in the UK may teachers have moved to China and it's starting to get competitive. Now you need a notarised degree too (just like Korea) and the wages haven't gone up in over half a decade... Still if he loves it don't let me stop you.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 7

ron_trns

He's teaching in China, they are considering implementing their own programme to replace certificates, right now there is no point in doing an intensive CELTA course. Worst case he can do it later inside China, it's not valued at all in China. No real international school hires those without PGCEs and looking in all the relevant websites such as echinacities and school websites very few international schools are hiring non subject teachers and the pay is always less. Looking through hundreds of adverts the real international schools I see advertising positions for non PGCE holders is exactly 0. That's literally hundreds of schools, likelihood is you aren't in a real international school buddy.

Although I do agree things will change in the coming years - for the worse. Lower salaries and higher requirements Korea style. Also it's pretty much a fact China is where all the beginners go so it is on of the easiest countries to get in to.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 8

TEFLJobs

Original post by abumarvin

All of the organisations in China we work with are well established. They are either public (government) schools or big private education groups that have branches all over China. Please get in touch.