Teaching
in China
Do It Yourself: The
Steps to Finding a Job As a Foreign Teacher
By Daniel Walfish
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If you want
to join the growing number of Westerners teaching English in mainland China,
all you really need is a college degree and native fluency in English.
Training in ESL is useful and you might feel at a loss without it, but
a certificate is not necessary to convince a Chinese university to hire
you as a teacher of English.
So how do you
find a job? If you're not eligible for a university exchange program and
you're unwilling to pay the fee for an independent sending organization,
you can go on your own. But apply early: While some positions are still
open as late as July or August, try to make contact by March. (Occasionally,
positions are open for the second semester, too, which begins in February.)
Here's what
to do:
1. Learn
as much as you can about China and the experience of teaching English in
China. Indispensable for these purposes is Living in China by Rebecca Weiner,
Margaret Murphy, and Albert Li. You can order it for $19.95 by calling
the publisher, China Books & Periodicals, at 415-282-2994. The book
not only provides incredibly useful advice on many aspects of living and
teaching in China, it also contains a virtually complete directory of Chinese
schools of higher education.
2. Once
you know something about China and what to expect from the teaching experience,
decide on a list of universities to apply to. Use the directory in Living
in China or the sidebar to this article (located on the Transitions Abroad
web site [www.TransitionsAbroad.com]).
You can try using the Internet as well; however, Chinese universities'
web sites are not always helpful.
3. Contact
one of the people at the school responsible for hiring foreign teachers.
No other |
 
This article
first appeared in the January/February 2000 Vol. XXIII, No. 4 issue of
Transitions Abroad. A fine magazine that has been around since 1977.
Subcriptions are a bargain. Visit the TA website for more details:
http://transitionsabroad.com
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B O
O K S
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The
World on a String: How to Become a Freelance Foreign Correspondent
- If you are smart enough to teach English overseas, you are smart enough
to write stringers. |
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individual, no
matter how important or friendly they seem, is likely to have the authority
to hire. So who is the right person? Individual academic departments--usually
foreign languages or English--hire their own foreign teachers, so the right
person is usually the chair or vice-chair of that department. The foreign
affairs office is often useless for getting job offers. However, larger
universities might have other departments (e.g., 'Public English') which
need teachers, and you won't find out about them unless you ask someone.
One way to
get in touch with the right person is to be in China while you're looking.
Bring application materials with you. But keep in mind that if you do line
up a job as a student or tourist you will probably have to leave the country
or go to Hong Kong to get your visa changed.
International
dialing from the U.S. can now be quite cheap. For example, from a residential
phone you can use the company PT-1 [www.pt-1.com]
by dialing 1016868 and the phone number. The current cost for China is
39 cents per minute. Your phone bill might get quite large, but it's still
cheaper than paying thousands of dollars to a sending organization.
Most of the
people you reach on the phone will know English. If the right person isn't
in, say you're calling from abroad and you need the right person's home
number. But don't call after 9:30 p.m. China time (12 hours ahead of Eastern
Standard Time).
4. Sooner
or later you will need to send a resume. Be sure to highlight any teaching
or tutoring experience. You may also want to include references and a letter
of explanation. Keep in mind that anyone reading these materials is likely
to have very good English reading ability but may not understand Western
resume jargon.
5. If
you are ultimately offered a position you like, you may want to try a little
negotiating. But you're unlikely to be successful if the school has a standard
contract. In public universities, compensation for inexperienced foreign
teachers is never very much. Expect to get housing, anywhere from RMB1,400
to RMB2,200 ($169-$266) a month, and sometimes a one-way ticket home as
well.
Chinese universities
rarely require foreigners to teach more than 14 or 15 hours of oral English
classes each week. If the department wants you to do more, insist on no
more than 14 or 15 hours and ask if some of the lessons can be converted
to optional office hours. Also, if you're teaching any writing or 'content'
courses, you should have significantly fewer classroom hours.
6. When
you consider a job offer, you should ask for the names of foreigners who
are currently teaching or have recently taught at that school so you can
get the real scoop on the university and its treatment of foreigners.
Other Teaching
Jobs
A master's
degree or a doctorate may qualify you to work as a 'Foreign Expert' in
a university and to teach more advanced courses for much more pay than
a 'Foreign Teacher' receives.
Private language
schools and companies also recruit foreigners. These organizations pay
better but are not really service experiences. One possibility is the New
Bridge language school in Beijing [www.chinatefl.com/beijing/teach/bridge.html].
Dave's ESL Café [www.eslcafe.com]
is a great starting point for an Internet search for private school openings.
China's State
Bureau of Foreign Experts (Friendship Hotel, 3 Bai Shi Qiao Road, Beijing
100873; 011-86-10-6849-9753; [sbfe@chinaonline.com.cn.net]
has been known to match applicants with jobs in universities and state-owned
companies.
D.W.
Copyright
© 2001 Transitions Abroad Publishing, Amherst, MA USA
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