5 Things You Should Know if you Want to Teach English in China

Teaching ESL in China

This is a guest post from Terence Stamp over at Teach English Overseas. He teaches English in Beijing and I really appreciate him taking the time to give us this useful information since teaching in China is truly something that I know very little about. Thanks Terence and without further ado, here are the top 5 things you need to know about teaching ESL in China:

Pollution in China

You likely heard stories about the air quality already before you have even come to China. Everything you have heard is true...and worse. It's not uncommon to see people with surgical masks walking around. Some people have weather apps on their phone to know what the tem is going to be like, or whether if it will rain that day. In China, people commonly have apps that tell them the air pollution index for any given day.

I wish I could stop there. You see, China still uses coal for most of its energy needs. China doesn't have an EPA the way the United States does. So many large industries don't care about the environment the way the west does. Nor do they have the experience and technology to regulate it. The other day we had a serious sandstorm in Beijing, and we don't even have deserts nearby. Combine that with the fact that Beijing is surrounded by mountains that trap the pollution and smog for days at a time.

You should never drink the tap water here. Doing so is an open invitation to become ill. Many residences and businesses here use water machines with the large upside down water containers on them. I'm not trying to scare you from coming here, but you should know that it can be alarming for a newcomer.

Finding ESL Work  in China

Now for some great news. Need a job in China? Well, it doesn't take long before you'll be put to work. The simple fact of the matter is that there are more jobs available than there are teachers to work those jobs. Two of my favorite sites to look are on Craigslist (look in the jobs>education category) and ESL Cafe (click jobs at the top and click on China jobs board).

The most common types of work consist of three choices. The first is the language mill which consists of night and weekend work. No apartment or insurance will typically be provided, but the pay is nice enough to offset those issues. The next option is working in a government school, such as a university or even public or high school. You will get housing and insurance here, but it's offset by low pay and a large amount of students per class. The last option, my own favorite by a country mile, is working in a kindergarten. You only work weekdays, with no nights and weekends. The pay is pretty good, the amount of students is low, and you spend all day with a single class. Unlike the first two options, you will have many classes, and so it makes it hard to get to know all your students. With a kindergarten it's not like that, but perhaps working with young children is a negative for you.
 
English Teaching Visas for China

Ahh visas. That perennial issue and thorn in the side. I was under the completely mistaken assumption that work visas were not necessary or required to teach here. But let me clarify. Yes, technically, you are required to have a visa to be legally employed as an English teacher in China. However, many teachers are in China teaching in any case. If all the teachers who were here illegally were to leave, you would notice a significant population decrease for sure.

So what's it take to get a work visa? Well, you need an offer of employment from a school that is set up with the government to offer them. Also, when I first got here 4 years ago, an FBI police report was not a requirement. Now it is. An FBI police report is gotten by supplying your fingerprints and waiting a month or more to get the results back. Also, you are required to have a university diploma, BA or higher, just like most everywhere else in Asia.

Holidays for ESL Teachers

I love this aspect of teaching in China. There are so many holidays, and the best part is that they are all paid. A complete list can be found at http://www.travelchinaguide.com/essential/holidays/calendar.htm but the big two are Spring Festival (also known as the Chinese New Year) which typically happens in the first month or two of a year and lasts 1 week. The other is National Day which is always October 1-7. April, May and June also have holidays, but they are shorter.

Depending on where you decide to teach, you may end up getting up to a month or more off for Spring Festival as well as the summer months when no school is in session. Some schools will even pay you a bonus for the month to travel with. And speaking of travel, there is a lot to see and do in China. The history is amazing, and many of the sights are extremely beautiful. There is the Great Wall, Tiananmen, and the Forbidden City in Beijing. Xi'an has the terracotta warriors and not too distant is the famed Shaolin Temple near Dengfeng. You will not be lacking for places to see.

Finances for ESL Teachers in China

More specifically, I want to talk about something you will hardly see discussed anywhere else online. You see, China has imposed money transfer limits on foreigners. This is not a good thing. Years ago, I was able to send effectively any amount. Then one day I went to the bank and suddenly learned that the new limit was now $500. Then even more recently, I tried to send a Western Union, and was declined. Thankfully, my Chinese wife has no such limits (they can send up to about $50,000 per year) and so she helped me.

But if you have student loans you are paying every month, then these transfer limits can pose a significant burden to your economics. Even if all you are doing is sending the occasional savings home for when you return, then you will be met with obstacles. Also, never forget that as a US citizen, you are compelled to file a tax return every year, even if you do not reside in the US. However, the Foerign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE) allows you to earn just over $100,000 every year tax free. So as an English teacher, you will never have to worry about hitting that limit.

I have tried to my best to discuss important topics with you if you are considering coming to the middle kingdom to teach. I think it can be rewarding to spend time in China, and doing so will never hurt your resume. Especially if you take the time to learn Chinese, which I do not consider exceptionally difficult to do if you apply yourself. You will want to order VPN service as well, since the "great firewall" will block access to everyone's favorite Facebook and YouTube. I am open to any questions that you might have, so feel free to contact me. 

About Terence Stamp

 I grew up in Iowa and spent most of my life there. I got the travel bug in 2008 and by 2011 I was ready to live overseas full time. Since I am not independently wealthy and still needed to work, I decided to begin teaching English. Little did I know how the industry would suck me in. Now 4 years later, I am still teaching and interested in helping others to learn how to teach. Because of this I started Teach English Overseas where I provide information for those interested in becoming English teachers abroad. You may contact me at terence@liveteachenglishoverseas.com.

Reader Question: is the Delta Worth it?

Is the Delta Worth it?

"I came across your article on doing the Delta on Profs Abroad when doing a Google search for TESOL jobs in Europe with a DELTA. I've been thinking of what to do post Korea, and the DELTA seems to be the best move. Was your DELTA experience successful in improving your teaching skill and providing more job opportunities?"

My answer:

Take my advice for what it is because I've only taught ESL in Korea and can't really answer the question as to whether or not the DELTA will help you get a job in Europe. But, I can say that the CELTA and DELTA are far more recognizable just about anywhere in the world than they are in East Asia (Korea, Taiwan, China and Japan), so the DELTA could potentially open up a few doors for you. It has not helped me get a job in Korea so far, but I have not "shopped it around" yet (and likely never will since I'm moving back to Canada in about a year).

As for the teaching skill thing: yes, the DELTA did help me improve my teaching skills significantly, especially Module 1. It was the first time in my entire teaching and learning career where I actually had to put the time in to get an extremely firm grasp on English grammar since there was a quite difficult test I had to write. The CELTA did cover a bit of grammar but there was never a test so I didn't have a lot of motivation to really truly know it.

I find when teaching that I'm a lot more confident in explaining difficult concepts to my students and am able to answer questions much more effectively. Like even though my students are third and fourth year English majors, I can answer pretty much any grammar question they have, usually off the top of my head. Before the DELTA, this wasn't so much the case and I'd often have to say, "I'll tell you next class!" I'm also able to do things like give more effective feedback to students when evaluating their writing because I have a big-picture framework in my head.

Where to teach English: China

Teaching ESL in China

We continue on with the series on ESL teaching destinations around the world. I've previously talked about plenty of other places, but to name just a few:

Teaching English as a foreign language in Peru
Teaching ESL in Hong Kong
Teaching English as a Second Language in Malaysia

Today, it's all about teaching English in China- what follows is an excerpt from the book, The Wealthy English Teacher: Teach, Travel, and Secure Your Financial Future, where I rank China as an "okay" destination because while it does have plenty of good things going for it, there are some significant negatives as well.

China is very similar to Vietnam in that it is an up and coming country with a growing economy and rising salaries for ESL teachers but has a very low cost of living, especially outside Beijing and Shanghai. It also has the huge advantage of having an in-demand language that could benefit you greatly in your future career if you use your time there to become fluent. China is not in the top-rated group for a few reasons including: while salaries for the private institute jobs are reasonably high (but you will have to work hard for it--around 30 teaching hours/week), they are very low for university jobs, and it is quite difficult to find a quality job in China simply because it is such a big place and there is not that much information.

Perhaps the biggest drawbacks and the main reasons why I would not go there are the pollution and lack of safety standards for things like food, manufactured items and infrastructure, police unwillingness to get involved in any disputes involving a foreigner, difficulty in getting money out of the country, a very poor quality of health care as well as lack of freedom as it relates to the Internet. I depend on things like Facebook to keep me connected with my friends and family around the world and do not want to have to deal with trying to get around this with proxy servers and other such annoying things.

   

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Where to Teach ESL: Hong Kong

Teaching ESL in Hong Kong

Today we're continuing on with a series about where in the world you could possibly teach ESL. Check out some of my previous posts in cased you missed them:

Teaching ESL in Vietnam
Teaching English as a Foreign Language in Peru (Guest post from TEFL-Tips)
Where to Teach ESL: South Korea
Teaching English in Malaysia
The Best TEFL Jobs in the World (guest post from TEFL-Tips)

Teaching English in Hong Kong

This is an excerpt from the book, The Wealthy English Teacher: Teach, Travel, and Secure Your Financial Future:

Jobs are not that easy to find in Hong Kong, and seem to be filled mostly by PhD holders, or people certified to teach in public schools in their home country. The jobs available to those with only bachelor's degrees seem to be generally limited to kindergartens which can involve long hours. However, if you are lucky enough to get a job in Hong Kong, you will likely enjoy it because the salaries are high and teachers are treated like professionals. There is plenty of Western influence in Hong Kong and thousands of Western expats so that you can buy anything you want, do any activity that you can think of, or get service in English almost everywhere.

Resources for Teaching ESL in Hong Kong

The Best TEFL Jobs in Hong Kong. All the best job choices, including university jobs.

Hong Kong's Net Scheme. Teach in a public school in Hong Kong. Not easy to get this job, but it's a prime one.

Teach Away-Teach in Hong Kong. This is a recruiter's website, but they have some excellent basic information about teaching English in Hong Kong.

Go Overseas-Hong Kong. This site has lots of job listings for Hong Kong

Korea vs. Taiwan vs. Japan vs. Hong Kong vs. China

Teaching ESL in Asia

There are an outrageous amount of choices when it comes to choosing a country to teach ESL in.  And they all have their advantages and disadvantages.  Take my advice for what's it worth, since I've only ever taught in Korea BUT I have traveled to all of the above countries for as least a few days.

Things I like about Korea:

1. The free airfare (in general if you work at a hagwon or public school).

2. The free housing.  This is the case for almost all jobs.

3.  Money saving potential.  Tax and health care expenses are very low.  You can save 80% of your salary here if you are thrifty.  And starting salaries are not so shabby.  If you like to eat, drink and travel around, it's cheap and you can do that every night and every weekend and still save 50% of your salary. 

4. The ease of getting a job.  For a hagwon, just a phone interview will usually suffice.  Of course, you have to jump through all the hoops for immigration, including criminal background checks and interviews and stuff.  But there are more jobs than applicants usually. 


Things I don't like:

1. The stares.  You are like a zoo animal/celebrity here, unless of course you look Asian.  People always staring, always wanting to talk to you on the subway and say hello.  It's fun at first but old after a while.  Seoul is not so bad as the countryside, to be fair.

2. How weird of a place it is.  And actually I kind of like it.  Korean culture is way, way, way, way different from anything in the West and some foreigners just can't adapt to it.  I can and have, which is maybe why I've been here for 5 years.  And it seems that those can adapt reap the rewards with jobs (such as mine!) that are amazingly sweet. 

3. The difficulty in making Korean friends.  I've only had 2 sincere, good friends here in my 5 years.  Maybe I have some sort of defect, but to be fair, this often seems to be the case with foreigners.  I think Koreans have a very hard time thinking outside their Korean box and outside of their own Confucian circle of family/coworkers/classmates and just don't know how to interact with foreigners.  Maybe it's me who doesn't know how to interact with Koreans.  Whatever. 

4. You are tied to your school for one year by way of your visa.  It's like indentured servitude if your school is crap.  Everyone gets ripped off here at some point.  And the government has a kind of toothless labor board to "help you."  I can tell you from experience that's basically worthless.  Buyer (or  foreign worker) beware. 

Anyway, other countries all have their good and bad.

Japan: you own your visa, which means you can switch jobs easily.  The bad is how expensive it is, and how much you have to watch your money.  Also, it's not so easy to get a job there but check out this guide to teaching in Japan for some tips.

Taiwan: is a very chilled out place.  No stares or weirdness in dealing with foreigners.  The bad: no free rent or airfare.  And the hourly pay is only okay.  Check out this Teaching Adventure in Taiwan.

Hong Kong: I loved it.  For sure the most Westernized place in all of Northeast Asia.  Amazing.  But again, not so easy to get a job there.   If I was a certified teacher though, I'd be all over their NET program.  Check out Culture Shock Hong Kong to learn the do's (and don'ts) before you go.

China: More of the wacky, "There's a foreigner" kind of thing.  And the pay for now is not comparable to the other places listed.  And the air.   It really is polluted, as least in Beijing.  And coming back to Korea was like a breath of fresh air, which says a lot. But hey, you want culture, it's all there.  In abundance.  And learning Chinese actually has the potential to be a valuable life and career skill for you.

For my thoughts on the best places to teach ESL in the world, financially speaking, check out: The Wealthy English Teacher: Teach, Travel, and Secure Your Financial Future.