Want to Teach in China?

I attended an ALESN seminar event on Teaching English in China recently. ALESN is a volunteer-run program that I am fond of who is focused on teaching Chinese and other Asian languages in New York City. All program and events are free and I encourage anybody who is in or near Manhattan to participate and take advantage of such a wonderful program.

While I do not have any plans to teach English in China, I thought I would collect information for those who were interested. The seminar was held on April 28^th, 2012 so all information should be more or less up-to-date at the time. After attending the lecture, I am sure that I would rather stay online with my little blog to entertain and educate my readers. I don’t think teaching in China is for everybody, but I believe it is for flexible educators who want a sense of adventure or a change of environment and of course, have a passion for teaching.

Our guest speaker is Bob Angles who is an ESL/EFL teacher since 1993. He is in semi-retirement, but would not mind teaching again if the right opportunity comes along. Mr. Angles spoke about the Chinese education system in China and not in Taiwan or Hong Kong, which has a different education system.

Historically:

In 1949, China reset their education system for all schools at the city/provential, state, and federal level.

Culturally:

Typically in Asian culture, a person is defined by their job, especially if that job has a distinguished and respectable title like a teacher, doctor, lawyer, president, etc. A teacher in China will always be addressed by surname first followed by the title, which for teacher is “lǎo shī ” in pinyin. Mr. Angles would be addressed as “Angeles lǎo shī” since he is a teacher by profession in all situations whether or not the addressee is his student or not. Even when he goes to the grocery store, a familiar acquaintance would still call him by his surname and then title. If Mr. Angeles is teaching at a university, then he would be known as professor Angeles  or “Angeles jiào shòu .”

Teaching in a Government-Run School:

The benefits package in a government-run school includes housing, airfare, healthcare, and vacation incentives. Back when the Soviet Union had a major influence on China’s education system, teaching contracts could not be negotiated and jobs were categorized in rigid job classification systems, but a lot has changed now. Contracts can always be negotiated. The worst that can happen is that an applicant may get rejected or the school representative may reject the request.

Usually, foreign teachers with a B.A. or B.S. degree will get an airfare incentive of a one-way trip. Foreign experts (those with a master’s degree) will usually get a round-trip airfare ticket. 

Every teacher is allowed a standard of one month of vacation which is usually the summer or winter vacation recess time. If a teacher was hired in the fall season, then the teacher would get the coming winter vacation off.

There are insurance benefits as well. Every teacher within the dān wèi receives the same type of health insurance. I will explain more about dān wèi in the “life” section. From the impression I am getting from Mr. Angles, the health insurance only covers basic health. Teachers who think they have a serious health condition or need more than basic health care should try to purchase additional health insurance elsewhere.

The wages at a public university are low. The pay would be slightly higher in big cities such as Beijing or Shanghai (or Guangzhou?), which would pay $1000-2000 dollars more. There are two classifications of teachers in government-run schools: Foreign Teacher (those with a Bachelor’s Degree) and Foreign Expert (those who have a Master’s degree or higher). A foreign teacher can typically make $6100 per month while a foreign expert can typically make $6500 per month. Those numbers were derived from the influence of the Soviet Union and can always be negotiated.

The big hiring season for the general education systems are next fall or around the time of Chinese New Year. Sometimes, there are summer jobs available. Chinese grade schools, both public and private, hire a lot of part-timers.

Workload:

The teaching contract would generally state that the workload is 12-20 periods a week. Each period is about 40-45 minutes. Bob recommends teaching 14 periods or less in order to spend quality time grading papers and having enough time to teach.

Schools like to give direction to the subjects their teachers are teaching, but will generally leave the teacher alone for the Oral English class. If English Writing is taught, there will be a lot of homework to grade. Phonetics may be taught as well. Mr. Angles was asked to teach subjects that he has little experience with such as British Culture and the History and Anthology of American Literature. I took a look at these bilingual textbooks, History and Anthology of American Literature Vol. 1 and Survey of Britain & America, which looked boring and old. 

Teachers do not need to speak Chinese as Chinese students should be already adept at speaking general English. Most students are too shy to speak and may need to be coaxed into speaking English.

Life:

Teachers live in their dān wèi units, which are life-influencing work units linked to the employer. Mr. Angeles describes his apartment as a two bedroom apartment with an okay kitchen, balcony, etc. The impression I have of the apartment is a decent apartment. There is also a doctor inside the dān wèi should a teacher feel sick. Teachers live on campus and work on campus.

China has all the basic items that one would need in his or her daily life for purchase so there is no reason for teachers to pack anything extra. According to Mr. Angles, the internet is somewhat censored in China. Spouses of teachers will have the option to also teach whether or not he or she has the credentials. Spouses can come to China on a tourist visa, which costs about $141.

Teaching at a Private School:

Private education sector consists of private training centers and private schools. The pay is about double more than a government-run school, but there are fewer benefits. Usually, an apartment is not part of the contract. Private schools and training centers are in the business to make a profit and their practices may not be honest. There might be instances where the school cannot make the payroll. In other words, as Heidi Klum, the host for the TV show “Project Runway” says, “one day you’re in, and the next day you’re out.” Mr. Angeles talks about a story where he was asked to hire some teachers for the private school where he was teaching. Mr. Angeles ultimately hired two teachers who flew over from Hong Kong to Guangzhou and Mr. Angeles was going to pick them up at the airport. Just before Mr. Angeles arrived at the airport, he received a call from the school that those teachers were no longer needed and the school had already hired somebody else. Needless to say, the teachers from Hong Kong were extremely upset since they packed everything for the move and were now homeless.

Teachers who work for government-run schools are forbidden to privately teach anywhere else such as a corporate training center, yet a majority of them do in secret in order to earn extra money. The law of China states that a person may only find employment within their dān wèi.

Requirements/Qualifications:

There are two departments that will be responsible for hiring teachers: The Bureau of Foreign Experts or Foreign Affairs Office and the English department.

Applicants should be at adult age and no older than 60 years old, though this too can be negotiated.

For international schools, teachers must have a teaching license and a foreign passport. International schools are filled with kids of diplomats and businessmen so they expect a higher quality of education as well as a higher reputation of the school.

1.       Resume:

In most cases, an applicant needs a bachelor’s degree. Applicants with a bachelor’s degree in education or linguistics or a Master’s TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) degree are most likely to be hired. Schools may explain that they need the bachelor’s degree in order to process the visa, but Mr. Angeles doesn’t think that is true.

Applicants should include a photo only if he or she believes it will help his or her chances in getting hired. According to Mr. Angles, Caucasian-looking applicants should include a photo. Including a photo when an applicant is non-Caucasian will hurt the applicant’s chances especially in the private sector.  It is a biased world even for Asian-looking people. Everybody expects a Caucasian teacher to teach English. I felt sad when I heard Mr. Angles recount a story about a Chinese-American teacher who went to a training center in China to teach English and the employees in the company were outraged because she looked Chinese. The Chinese-American teacher was born in the United States, had a United States passport, and didn’t speak any Chinese, yet her students created a bias that was skin deep.

Additional items to mention on your resume if applicable:

• CELTA (Certificate in teaching English to speakers of other languages) or DELTA (Diploma in English Language Teaching to Adults) certification is helpful to include in an applicant’s resume. CELTA and DELTA certifications derived from the U.K. DELTA is aimed specifically for experienced teachers who are already in the teaching field.
• TEFL (Teaching English as a foreign language) certification.
• Teaching assistant experience
• Volunteer teaching experience
• School Transcripts
• Having student teaching experience is a big plus.
• References
  Applicants who have no references should ask a teacher to write one.
• Medical Check
  For hired teachers, the actual physical is usually done in China. A representative from the school should be able to guide the new teacher through the process.

Recommendation:

Teachers with no experience in teaching in China should look for jobs in universities or state schools. The teaching contracts are standard contracts and the schools are not-for-profit. Trying to look for a job in the private sector is riskier even though the pay is higher. Teachers will have fewer benefits than in a government-run school and may be fired at any moment due to the school’s financial situation and private schools are more interested in profits than in education.

Two major websites that offer employment for English teachers:

www.eslcafe.com –The employer pays a fee to the website directly in order to post a job. There is no middle man.

http://anesl.com - The employer pays a fee in the case they decide to hire an applicant on this website. ANESL acts as the middle man who collects the fee prior to releasing the full information about the applicant and the full details about the school to the applicant.

Tips:

Applicants should not ever send money to anybody. It is likely a scam. Usually, the employer is charged recruiting fees. Applicants should be wary of anybody who simply asks the applicant to send all the applicant’s documents with the promise of helping the applicant secure a job.

One curious attendee asked Mr. Angeles if employers in China would do interviews over Skype. Mr. Angeles says employers in China usually try to verify everything on the resume or related documents by phone. A teacher can always bargain his or her contract with their employer once they arrive in China. Mr. Angeles recommends applicants to always speak positively when bargaining.

A Simple Explanation of The Actual Process:

1. The applicant answers the ad/letter.
2. The employer will send a hard copy congratulations letter informing the applicant that he or she got the job.
3. The applicant will accept (or reject) the job offer by reading and signing the contract before sending the contract back.
4. The employer will send a formal letter of invitation to the newly hired teacher.
5. By using the formal letter of invitation as proof of work in a foreign country, the newly hired teacher can now apply for a temporary Z visa. The newly hired teacher may need to get a physical, permit, etc.
6. The newly hired teacher begins packing his or her bags to begin his or her adventure in China.

That’s all I gathered from the seminar. Good luck to the teachers out there!