tell me about teaching in china
- Thread starter kakuma
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maomao
普費斯
dolly's gal said:
Not necessarily. I was planning to do a PGCE after my degree and teach here but the state of the British education system and housing market has convinced me that my best chance of settling down and working as a teacher is in China. I'm not really planning on coming back to the UK.
maomao said:
Why not do a PGCE and then come out here and earn a small fortune teaching at an international school? That's my plan... Go back in 2008 when I've saved enough dosh to see me through it, do PGCE, teach for another year or so in Engalnd and then come back out here, hopefully get a job at one of the top schools in Shanghai - salaries 30,000 RMB per month and up.
maomao
普費斯
RenegadeDog said:Why not do a PGCE and then come out here and earn a small fortune teaching at an international school? That's my plan... Go back in 2008 when I've saved enough dosh to see me through it, do PGCE, teach for another year or so in Engalnd and then come back out here, hopefully get a job at one of the top schools in Shanghai - salaries 30,000 RMB per month and up.
Well, the main problem is that my degree (Chinese and Linguistics) doesn't lead straight into a PGCE for me. I don't want to do primary so I'd have to do a few more units before I could go into an English PGCE. At the moment I'm still skint from finishing my degree and living in London I'm just about keeping up with my debts, not saving anything at all. Add on a few personal problems and I'm just feeling like I'd be a lot better off out of London right now. I've been completely sober of everything for about a month now and the thought of getting out of the country is the thing that's really holding it together for me right now. Since I made the decision at new year I've been a lot more positive about everything.
I'm actually seriously considering going to Wuhan at the moment and feeling a bit guilty about not answering your PM when I was here as maomao2, it got wiped when I got this account back and I can't remember what was in it.
No probs. I am now in Dalian actually. What job are you looking at in Wuhan?
Actually, with a Degree partly in linguistics, you could do worse than look into working for ACE (Anglo Chinese Education). They are an organisation affiliated to UK Universities, and the positions are teaching English for Academic Purposes to students who are going over to the UK to study. Their salaries are much more comparable to those of International schools than your average Chinese TEFL job - 20,000 and upwards.
It's definitely worth thinking about. Google for ACE/Northern Consortium.
Actually, with a Degree partly in linguistics, you could do worse than look into working for ACE (Anglo Chinese Education). They are an organisation affiliated to UK Universities, and the positions are teaching English for Academic Purposes to students who are going over to the UK to study. Their salaries are much more comparable to those of International schools than your average Chinese TEFL job - 20,000 and upwards.
It's definitely worth thinking about. Google for ACE/Northern Consortium.
maomao
普費斯
RenegadeDog said:
I know you're in Dalian, it's a beautiful city, but I have two ex girlfriends there so it's a pretty scary place for me.
I have an old colleague and an online friend in Wuhan and I've been reading about the place a lot. I know it's an inhospitable climate and a long way from anywhere but that's kind of what I;m looking for at the moment. Just looking for teaching jobs at the moment. I used to make about 15,000 in Bejing teaching full time and running a small company (going in to companies and teaching English to the staff) with a friend so I'm pretty confident I can make a decent living there. I don't need to be earning millions from day one, more trying to improve my quality of life. I'm pretty chinesified
so I don't really need a big ex pat scene and I'm happy working for Chinese people.I might ask you for a bit of info about Wuhan nearer the time though.
It's not so much the climate in Wuhan (boiling in summer, a bit like London in winter) as the general greyness of the place. There is a real lack of blue sky. That's what I love about Dalian, the blue skies most of the time and the mountain view from my kitchen. Makes all the difference.
Still, there are a few good bars/clubs in Wuhan. Blue Sky is a pretty good place.
I'm actually out in kaifaqu rather than dalian centre. It's quiet here with not much of a bar scene, although that suits me with the baby really.
Still, there are a few good bars/clubs in Wuhan. Blue Sky is a pretty good place.
I'm actually out in kaifaqu rather than dalian centre. It's quiet here with not much of a bar scene, although that suits me with the baby really.
(and ta ninj for the OP)Come to Taiwan, mate. It's got all the benefits of China (Chinese culture/customs, language, food etc etc) but it's more westernised and therefore has a higher standard of living.
Yep, it's pretty good here in Taipei. Send me a message if you need any more info.
Oh yeah a good website for checking out schools in both China and Taiwan is www.buxiban.com
Yep, it's pretty good here in Taipei. Send me a message if you need any more info.
Oh yeah a good website for checking out schools in both China and Taiwan is www.buxiban.com
purves grundy
ambient clown remix
Nice one. If that's your plan, choose your PGCE course carefully - there's not that much call for someone who's taught business and economics and citizenship, as I found outRenegadeDog said:Why not do a PGCE and then come out here and earn a small fortune teaching at an international school? That's my plan... Go back in 2008 when I've saved enough dosh to see me through it, do PGCE, teach for another year or so in Engalnd and then come back out here, hopefully get a job at one of the top schools in Shanghai - salaries 30,000 RMB per month and up.
international house do a distance learning course where you complete all the written assignments by email and then get an assesor to come and watch your lessons in the country you teach in
takes 9 months, but that's a pretty skill way to earn your teacher certificate (IH are world renowned)
takes 9 months, but that's a pretty skill way to earn your teacher certificate (IH are world renowned)
purves grundy said:Nice one. If that's your plan, choose your PGCE course carefully - there's not that much call for someone who's taught business and economics and citizenship, as I found out
Right... I'm hoping to do Primary, although I've heard that Primary can be hard to get onto. But with all my experience teaching Primary, and especially considering my current job is at an International school so should have more 'punch' on my CV when applying, I should have a decent chance of getting onto it.
Am actually considering doing the Train While You Teach scheme.
Ninje - is that the DELTA? I did my CELTA with IH...
purves grundy
ambient clown remix
That does sound like the Distance DELTA to me - takes nine months, bods come out to observe you... did he say anything about written work - you do eight written assignments for the DELTA I think, then a final exam. Orientation course etcNinjaboy said:
Primary would stand you in good stead for an overseas job, RD. It is harder to get on a PGCE than secondary, but with your experience you should make it with not too much difficulty.
purves grundy
ambient clown remix
Way way higher... DOS / senior teacher positions usually require a DELTA. It'll get you a two point rise if you join the British Council. Serious stuff is the DELTA, be prepared for your 'average posts per day' count to collapse.Ninjaboy said:
IH do the Distance DELTA in conjunction with the British Council, or you can do it as a 10 week intensive course in places like Barcelona (with the famous Scott Thornbury). CELTAs are just four weeks.
The DELTA won't count for much re yer average teaching job, but if you're after summink a bit more serious or thinking about really making a career out of EFL, go for it.
I even found the CELTA surprisingly gruelling. I did it part time, over 3 months whilst doing my normal job, and I couldn't believe how hard it was. Consdiering it's portrayed as a mickey mouse certificate, it really was a lot of work, probably more stressful than my final year of Uni, all in all.
purves grundy
ambient clown remix
Plenty of people take the piss out of the CELTA. Some of their observations are well-founded, some misguided. Definitely not an easy course, though.Mini said:
dessiato
4 years and I still cry sometimes
Can't be arsed to read the thread 
so this might have been posted before:
http://www.eslcafe.com/
has a lot of general info about Pacific Rim countries and teaching. It seems to be predominantly American posters though.
so this might have been posted before:http://www.eslcafe.com/
has a lot of general info about Pacific Rim countries and teaching. It seems to be predominantly American posters though.
Mini said:
Well I have heard claims that it is. I agree with you though, it is the hardest thing I have done - for me it was more stressful than my final term at Uni.
extra dry said:just got offered a job in Shenyang, american school of english. Will find out about town, anyone here know what the american schools are like, pay is 5000 rmb a month. plus 100 rmb an hour for extra classes. seams quite a good deal.
5000 RMB is pretty standard. Mind you, I take it that that is a private school? In which case they may offer less holiday time, which is a bit crap. Ask about holidays. In my experience, places paying around the 4-5000 mark should give 3 months holiday or so a year. Usually the places with less holiday are nearer to 8000 or so, to make up for it. Hmm.
What else do they offer - I presume an apartment is provided, what about bills, etc... Shenyang will be very cold, so I hope they pay your heating bills.
AnnO'Neemus
Is so vanilla
I'd say delete the info about teaching citizenship from your CV and big up the business and economics teaching. You'd be more likely to get a place for one of the private language schools offering English lessons to companies and working adults.purves grundy said:Nice one. If that's your plan, choose your PGCE course carefully - there's not that much call for someone who's taught business and economics and citizenship, as I found out
The reference to "citizenship" stuff I reckon will scare the shit out of them. They won't necessarily know what it means but i reckon it would prompt thoughts of:
(a) who is a foreigner to teach them how to be good citizens? The Chinese are the oldest civilisation blah blah blah so they won't be told how to do it by some foreigner
and/or
(b) citizenship? isn't that something about democracy? fuck! we don't want a subversive stirring things up and getting us into trouble with the authorities.
AnnO'Neemus
Is so vanilla
I dunno about that.Kanda said:
Just to be controversial and put in my tuppence worth (if you'll excuse the pun)...
I don't know about women, but Chinese men being generally smaller than Western men is true.
An ex of mine is a news reporter and he went to a condom factory while reporting a story about HIV/Aids and when he came back he told us that the Chinese condoms are smaller than Western ones.
He's Chinese so would have no reason to lie about such a thing.
Having said that, I'd just have to take his word for it, as I don't have a large sample to draw my opinion from, but suffice to say I didn't have any complaints about him.
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