Teaching in China

There are a lot of English teaching opportunities all over China. The types of jobs range from great to horrible, so you’d better do your research before jumping into a contract. I believe for most people looking for some kind of adventure the decision to come teach in China should be a great one. Don’t make the mistake of going to a place you don’t like, teaching more hours than you want and for less pay. I’ve been in China for 4 years and I have traveled all over the country. I’ve seen all the scams that are out there and I’ll try my best to include all of information that can help you make the best possible decision. If you are even considering Coming to China to teach I strongly recommend you take the time to read through all of this. If you don’t have time now then just bookmark this page for the future. It is hard to find any sites that have good comprehensive info about teaching and living in China, which is what motivated me to write this. If you like the info, please pass it along to your friends as well so that we all have better teaching experiences. We will also have free podcasts coming out soon to give you more specifics on teaching here.

First decide what your main reasons for teaching in China.

1. Money

Education is highly valued in China and the chance to learn English from a native speaker is in huge demand. It’s been reported that Children’s education is the largest expense after housing. It constitutes one third of their income. It is even more amazing when you consider that they only have one child! I’ve read a lot about China being a difficult place to earn money teaching English. The truth is it totally depends on the job. My first job was in Xian and I taught a university and made 4500 RMB per month, received free airfare, lived in a new furnished apartment and taught about 16 hours per week. It is a fairly reasonable deal although not too great for that situation. That kind of job is for someone who wants to travel around China or Asia, learn the language and just have a fun experience. It is not too serious. Now I live in Shanghai do all private tutoring. I get paid about 300 RMB per hour or more (although now I tutor math). If I choose to work a lot I can make a lot of money. That wage is higher than average and it takes a while to build up good clients who are willing to pay that. It is easy to earn 150-180 RMB per hour in Shanghai, which is probably the best city to get money because the people here have the most money. Those jobs can be found at www.asiaexpat.com It is a good starting place to look for jobs. Beijing, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou are the next best cities to make money. The east coast generally has higher salaries, although the costs of living are much higher there. A fulltime English teaching job in Shanghai pays an average of about 12000 RMB per month. It’s possible to get much more at international schools, although usually there you will need to have a proper teaching degree. You often don’t get an apartment or return airfare from jobs in Shanghai or Beijing either. A one bedroom apartment in the downtown of those cities is about 2000-3500 for a decent one. A friend of mine found a deal where his room in a 3 bedroom apartment is only 1000 RMB per month. It is certainly livable. Other friends of mine live in newer ones and pay about 6000 RMB for a 100 square meter apartment with great brand new facilities such as flat panel TV’s. The smaller cities that are offering contracts often include apartment. Don’t think of that as a big bonus because in those cities it is possible to get a decent apartment for 800 RMB per month. Sometimes even less. Getting a paid apartment, airfare, low hour contract with a school is not a bad idea. Then you can use your free time to pick up some private tutoring hours. Be sure to talk to someone in the city you want to go to, so you can find the private tutoring rates.

2. New experience, travel, culture

If you are teaching for the money and more for the experience, then I would recommend that you go to a place with a low cost of living and get as good of a contract as you can teaching about 12-16 hours per week. If you are reasonable with your money that should be more than enough to live on and you should get a couple of nice holidays. At least 3 weeks in the winter and at least 6 in the summer, especially if you teach at a university or college. Those jobs aren’t too demanding either and can give you a lot of time to explore the city, read, meet people, and do whatever you want.

Signing contracts

Even though you might feel safer signing a contract before you come to China, I recommend just coming here first and then looking for a job. It’s not nearly as hard as it sounds. In fact, it is easier to get “a” teaching job here than it is to get a job at McDonald’s at home, no exaggeration. You just need to find some other expats in the city and ask them for their advice. Most of the good jobs are scooped up by people already living here. Many job ads that I see on international job forums offer low salaries. They need to advertise abroad because no one living in the city would want to take such a bad job. They know better than that. I’d be wary of jobs that brag about the beautiful city and talk about how you make much more than the local teachers. Everyone makes much more than the local teachers. It’s almost certain that as soon as you go to the city you’ll meet people that have much better jobs than the one you signed on the net.

Also keep in mind that this “contract” is hard to make the school really hold up to. It’s not like you can take them to court. They know that once you are at the school in a far away land your bargaining power is much less than it was before you left. Don’t get too scared, however, just be careful. In my experience it won’t be a total scam. You just might find that the city isn’t as interesting as the ad said, the accommodation not as nice, working more hours than you thought, or you are participating in more annoying mandatory activities like judging speech competitions or the dreaded English corners where students bombard you with questions like “how do you spend your Christmas day in your country?” It can get tiresome. Always ask the school if there are any other foreign teachers there and if there are make sure you can talk to them. They will give you the real deal. If there aren’t any, be a little wary of that. I have heard of schools not paying salaries but I have no first hand experience with that. One other thing to consider is that some schools advertise that they are in or near the downtown of a city, where in reality it is over an hour bus ride away from the downtown. This one fact can make your lifestyle a lot different for that year so be careful.

Required Education

This depends on the job of course. For many jobs in China you need nothing other than to be a native speaker of English. Sometimes not even that. My friend from Sweden got the same job that I did the first time, although his English is great. That being said, with no experience, no education required, and the fact that the school is willing to sign with you before even meeting face-to-face should give you some signal that the job is, well let’s just say, not going to be the best in the country. Many schools in China are private and the way that they attract students is by having foreign teachers. The students won’t know about your limited experience, but just being a native speaker draws a lot of appeal from Chinese people. In many places, not including the major cities, many people have never seen a foreigner. My pretty face was plastered on a big billboard in the downtown of Xian advertising the school I was teaching at. I think that alone was probably the most value I added to the school. Some schools say they require a bachelor’s degree, TESOL, and or experience. The schools are not really able to actually check your background. I am not advocating lying to them but a black and white photocopy of your degrees is enough for proof. I took the TESOL course before I came to China. Before I came here I had absolutely no idea about the world of English teaching so the course was helpful for me in the sense that it opened me up to the world of teaching and I could talk to people who had experience teaching all over the world. It helped me make my choice to come to China and give me a feel for what life is actually like in different countries. As far as learning to teach, I’m not sure it was worth the money I paid. It’s worth checking into though. Sometimes those courses have discounted prices and it may be a good idea to check it out.

Location

If you are at all a reasonable person, you can choose to teach basically anywhere in China. Again, don’t just check the job boards and think that those represent even close to all the jobs. If you want to go to a particular place, such as Hainan Island in the south for its tropical weather and great beaches, then you can just show up there and get a job. It just might take you a little while but it should be easy to meet westerners already living who can point you in the right direction. Of course if you haven’t been to China, then you probably have little idea where you want to be. If it is the language and culture you are looking for then it is a good idea to stay away from the major cities on the East coast. For the most part those places are becoming more and more westernized by the day and it isn’t really necessary to know more than how to get around in a taxi and how to order food. Shanghai is the financial center of China and the type of westerner here is generally different than the ones in other places. In my opinion, many of them are here for the financial opportunities that the city has to offer. It is by far the most fast paced city in China and is a bit snobby too. Although don’t let that scare you too much because there really are all kinds of people here. There are about 70 000 Expats living in Shanghai alone so its quite easy to find yourself dealing with only westerners and living a lifestyle similar to what you would have at home, at least relatively similar. A positive about living in these major cities is that there are many more opportunities outside of teaching that you may stumble upon. I personally like Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan province, which is the major city of Western China. I liked Xian as well when I was there. The less westernized the city the more you will stand out and be a bit of a pseudo-celebrity. You will get stared at and fawned over a lot for almost anything you do. Cities in the west are older, the people are friendlier, the pace of life is slower, and it is more relaxing. The money that you will make there is slightly less but so is the cost of living. Choosing where to go in China is a huge decision and will affect your experience a lot. I hope that on the forum some teachers from each city will share their own personal experiences to help you make a well-informed decision.

Visa

All foreigners need a visa to be in China. You need a work visa to teach here. I recommend getting a 3 month tourist visa first and then coming here to look for a job. You can extend the visa for one month very easily once you are here. All you have to do is search “Chinese embassy” and then the name of your home country, and contact them for details. You need to apply in advance but it is no big deal. They usually have express delivery and it costs about 75 USD for the visa. In Shanghai and Beijing, there are several places to go to get a “business visa”. I have one so that I can do my tutoring. I keep getting it for 6 months. It costs about 1500 RMB each time. If you come to Shanghai, email me and I can help you out. I am not sure exactly how it works in the other cities. The school that you teach at should take care of your visa situation for you. If they are good, you shouldn’t have to do anything other than sign your name. Make sure you have a multiple entry if you plan to take the nice winter holiday to Thailand. I almost missed out on that opportunity my second year teaching until we threw a big fit at the last minute.

Cost of living

8 RMB is about 1 USD

This is one of the major perks about being in China. It is incredibly cheap, if you do it smartly. There is no sales tax and no tipping either. If you need to stick to a Western diet and lifestyle totally than it won’t be nearly as cheap. You can buy imported things for more than they cost back home or buy local things, which are shockingly cheap. I’ll give you a list of things in Shanghai that I buy to give you an idea of what things cost. Other cities are cheaper if anything. There is also a big luxury market in Shanghai and there are several ways to blow money very quickly. I’ll give you an idea of that later.

Food

Fresh tomatoes - for 5 RMB/KG

Chicken breasts - 2 RMB each.

Beer - sold everywhere and is about 3 RMB for a 650 ml bottle.

Beef - noodles on the street stalls for 3 RMB.

White rice – in restaurant 1 RMB per bowl

Vegetable dishes - 5-10 RMB (in local restaurant)

Meat dishes - 8-18 RMB (in local restaurant)

Bottle of Gordon’s Gin - 70 RMB 750 ml.

Living costs

Cell phone rates - 0.2 RMB per minute (local)

Land line rates – about the same as cell phone.

High speed internet - at home 150 RMB per month

Electricity – I pay about 250 RMB per month

Apartment - rent about 3000 RMB per month (furnished) for 100 Square meters 2 bedrooms. Can be much cheaper in other cities

Miscellaneous

Massage - 20-30 RMB per hour for foot. (GREAT!)

Full body massage - 30-40 RMB per hour (GREAT!)

Maid service - 10 RMB per hour

Internet café - 2 RMB per hour

Pirated DVD’s - 7 RMB each

Transportation

Bus - 1-2 RMB

Subway - 2-5 RMB

Taxi - 11 RMB start and about 2.6 RMB per km. (most expensive in China, but still cheap)

Mountain bike - (reasonable quality 450 RMB)

Travel

Domestic flights - prices vary according to season.

Trains - An economical way to travel the country (get a sleeper for overnight)

Hotels - 20 RMB per night for a cheap dorm bed up to luxury

Long distance bus – Similar price to train and sometimes a little faster.

Entertainment (night life not cheap in Shanghai!)

Pubs - 20-40 RMB per pint of Carlsberg

Clubs - 0-100 RMB cover charge. 30-80 RMB per drink

Gym membership in a reasonable club - 2200 RMB per year. Including sauna and towels

-learn the language

-get a feel for the culture

-cost of living, widely varied

-lifestyle, bars, gyms, massage, restaurants

-advantages and disadvantages of living in a big city

-amazon.com book recommendations

-travel

-visa’s

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