Hi fellow members
I thought I’d offer this quick guide for procuring a job teaching English in China, for all those interested. Hopefully, this will also clear up some misconceptions as this is a hotly debated & confusing topic!
When applying for a teaching post in China, you should be a native English speaker and have a 3 or 4 year university degree in any subject. This will guarantee you the pick of the most sought after positions, being those at public institutions (universities, colleges and high schools). Public middle schools and primary schools are an option too, provided you don’t mind the generally inherent disciplinary problems!
Sadly, being white is a huge advantage too, as the Chinese generally associate white people with being competent native English speakers (where they get this idea from, I have no idea!). However, there are provinces such as Guangzhou where race is not a problem at all.
The public education semesters start at the end of February (second semester) and the end of September (first semester) respectively each year, so it is strongly advisable to begin searching for a public position at least 2 months ahead of time. Remember that thousands of others are applying for these prime positions too, and each public educational institution usually employs only between 1 and 5 teachers each semester.
If you do not have a university degree but only a high school diploma and/or some tertiary education, please don’t let anyone convince you that you can’t get a decent job teaching English in China! Most people are not aware of this but, there is an error in the legal text covering Chinese government policy for employing foreign English teachers! The document uses the Chinese word for ‘should’ instead of ‘must’, when specifying whether a prospective teacher requires a university degree to teach English in China.
The above loophole allowed me to secure my post at a branch of the biggest university in China, without having a fully completed university degree. However, I would not have secured my position had I not completed an online TEFL course through ITTT, plus provided a fully up to date resume with 3 references regarding private English language tuition!
So, if you’re like me and don’t have a university degree but are a native English speaker with maybe some tertiary education of some sort, you will definitely need to do a TEFL course to have any chance of being considered for a public position. Please don’t let anyone tell you that you cannot secure a decent post with an online TEFL qualification! I secured my university job with an online TEFL qualification through ITTT (also known as TITC/TEFL International), the best and most inexpensive in the business. Complete their 100 hour online TEFL course by visiting any of their websites:
www.teflcorp.com ,
www.teflcourse.net ,
www.tesolcourse.com ,
www.tesolonline.com or
www.teflonline.net. Please note that I have no affiliation to ITTT at all!
Now, as you’re at a slight disadvantage not having a university degree and only a high school diploma and TEFL certificate, you need to make sure you have an excellent, up to date resume (ITTT will show you exactly how to put one together once you’ve completed their course), plus a few decent English teaching references to maximise your chances. To get these references, join a website like
www.livemocha.com or
www.efl-tutor.cn and help students (preferably Asian ones) with their English. They will then happily provide you with references if you do a decent job after a few lessons.
Of course, if you’re lucky enough to have a university degree then you don’t need anything else (no TEFL certificate required!). But, you will need a half decent resume and a few good references wouldn’t hurt either, especially if you’re after the best job possible.
Bizarrely enough, whatever your educational position, having a nice looking, recent photo will do wonders for your application if you’re white. Strange but very sadly true. Please note that this is not because the Chinese are racist – it is just that, as they have on the whole never encountered a black person, let alone a white one in some cases, they don’t realise that the colour of one’s skin has nothing to do with English proficiency!
If, for whatever reason, you find it impossible to secure a public position, your next (and last!) option is a private language school. There are some great ones and some appallingly bad ones so you’ll need to tread very carefully here. Like with everything in life, knowledge is power, so conduct your internet research thoroughly by looking over blacklisted schools and ones which are generally recommended, to avoid having your worst nightmare come true!
Securing a public or private position can be done online either through myriad recruiters or via direct contact with the educational institution itself. Some official government recruiters online will find suitable jobs for you and then allow you to contact the institution directly to finalise things. By far the best thing to do is try approach educational institutions you’re keen to work for directly, to avoid signing up for a job that may not even exist!
It is often said that private schools in China are a good option as they generally pay more than public ones. However, if you factor in the working hours per week (sometimes up to 40 hours per week at a private school with very little paid leave!), as opposed to as little as 14 hours per week at a public institution and loads of paid leave, the public ones actually pay better! Also, most public institutions will pay for your return airfare from your home country if you work there for 2 semesters, whereas many private ones will not. In addition, starting at a private school with terms that do not coincide with government ones is a huge risk, as you may want to take a public position later on but will not be available to teach at the right time!
Another 2 very important factors to bear in mind are that private schools usually don’t provide paid accommodation, and you need to arrive on a normal tourist (L) visa first and have that converted to a working (Z visa). With public institutions, they provide generally good to excellent free accommodation on campus and organise your working visa before you arrive. Crucially, most (if not all) public educational institutions in China are authorised by the SAFEA to legally employ foreign English teachers, whereas many private English schools do not have this right and yet will tell you that they have!
The problem with private language schools in China is that most are franchised and vary wildly in quality from 1 branch to the next! For instance, EF (English First) - one of the biggest - has some excellent branches and some not so great ones! One great school I visited in person is Birmy International English in Changsha, just across the road from Changsha Love Bridge Agency. I may be doing myself out of a job here but try going there in person if you’re in town and need a decent job.
Privately owned colleges and universities are another interesting option, usually the domain of rich expat or government official broods! These institutions usually offer excellent pay and living conditions but their application requirements are more stringent so you would possibly need at least a degree, TEFL certificate and some teaching experience here. On the downside though, many of these students are spoilt rotten and behaviour in class is basically non-existent, so research the institution in question very carefully first to see what previous teachers had to say.
In general, you can secure a teaching position in China up till age 65. Public institutions often prefer men over 25, women or couples, as many of their students are young women and they are concerned about young, single, male teachers on the lookout for a college girlfriend! So, if you’re with your loved one, many public institutions are more than happy to accommodate you both and in a bigger apartment too. That said, I’m a single, just turned 40 year old, but maybe they’re turning a blind eye to me because they think I’m over the hill already and of no interest to any of their female students!
In summary, before accepting ANY English teaching position in China, make sure that you have researched the educational institution and recruiter (if applicable) thoroughly; that they can provide you with proof of their SAFEA certification to employ foreign English teachers (foreign experts); that the contract they provide you with is an official SAFEA contract or equivalent; that they can provide you with at least one recent picture of the place you’ll be teaching and of your accommodation and that they are willing to give you the email address of a current teacher (not essential but if you can get it, all the better!). Most important of all, they should organise your Z working visa for you before you arrive in China. If not, try make certain the school is SAFEA authorised and can guarantee they can convert your tourist visa on arrival. Remember though that arriving on anything less than a working Z visa to take up employment in China is a massive risk.
Now, onto the most contentious part of this topic – where to look for a job online! Well, if you type ‘TEFL jobs in China’ into your search engine, you’ll more than likely be too old to accept any position by the time you’ve waded through it all! So, my advice is to check out a few websites first. Firstly, the most comprehensive and by far the best website dedicated to teaching English in China can be found at
www.middlekingdomlife.com. Next, check out
www.anesl.com which offers a fantastic selection of public positions. Be sure to visit
www.esl-job-china.com where I secured my position, and also their sister website
www.efl-tutor.cn where you can tutor to gain experience and earn extra cash! Other excellent sites are
www.teflfarm.com and
www.eslcafe.com. Be warned however that many of the jobs on offer on these and other TEFL websites are not what they seem, and you’ll need to be vigilant at all times to weed out the good from the just plain ugly!
When applying for a position online, always include a brief and to the point covering letter as the text of your email; attach a recent, colour, passport style photo (a smart one, if possible!); your resume; a scan of your TEFL certificate (if you have one) and a scan of your degree (if you have one). In the header/title of your email put ‘Application for English teaching position from (your name)’. It’s a very good idea (in fact, essential) to apply for multiple positions at a time, to increase your chances of securing the right one. To do this, once you’ve trawled the web and saved the web pages of each suitable position (save each page as a web page HTML only file to save on space and cost), group them into cities/provinces.
When sending your applications out, send several applications all with one email by putting the list of email addresses for jobs in a particular province or city - separated by commas - in your BCC (blind cc) sender address box, putting your email address in the CC sender address box and not forgetting to put ‘Application for English teaching position from (your name)’ in the title box. Also, don’t forget to include your attachments! Sending applications this way, you can send to multiple jobs without anyone knowing!
Here is an example of a covering letter you can include as the text of your job application email:
Dear Director of Studies/Recruitment,
I wish to make application for an English teaching position with your educational institution in China, as recently advertised online.
I am a (your age) old, male/female, native English speaker from (your country) with a university degree (if you have one) in (major/s) and TEFL certificate from (your TEFL course provider).
My experience teaching English as a foreign/second language includes (your list of experience).
Please find attached my recent colour photo; resume; degree certificate (if you have one) and TEFL certificate (if you have one).
Thank you for considering my application and I look forward to your reply.
Sincerely,
(Your name)
(Your email address)
After sending off this email, you should receive many offers in reply! They will most likely ask for a copy of your passport cover (photo) page to move things along. That’s fine, but remember to black out your passport number and any other details that could be used fraudulently on the web, just in case!
Lastly, before searching for a position, make sure to Wikipedia search the Chinese provinces and towns, selecting those that appeal most to you and are preferably close to your lady. After all, that’s the real reason you’re doing this (like me), right?
If you're desperate to be with your loved one in her city, the last resort option is to approach private and public educational facilities whilst in town about a possible position. This is risky but at least you'll see their operation first hand and will be able to judge for yourself. As a westerner, you’ll be approached about teaching English constantly and will have to decide who’s for real and who’s not. Not for the faint of heart!
Well, putting this together seriously wrecked my brain but I think I’ve managed to cover most of the bases. If this has helped at least 1 person then I guess my work is done. If not, my apologies in advance!
All the best,
Peter
P.S. Please excuse any typos – rapidly written after an exhausting day!
P.S.S. There are other posts on this issue here so please make sure to consult them all so you're armed to the teeth!
