intro to teaching in china - qualifications required

[vun_lm]

Hi

I'm thinking about teaching English in China. Just wondering what I need to do this or perhaps what organizations I should go through. I'm from Australia and have a Bachelors of Commerce and have been working for the past few years. No teaching experience. Is it necessary to get teaching qualifications as a few of my friends have gone to Japan and taught English with no teaching experience however this may be different for China. Any answers will be much appreciated.

Thanks.

[Joey]

Since you hold a Bachelor's degree, you really don't need any teaching qualifications to land yourself a teaching job in China. Obviously having a TESL certificate or something would help, but it's not mandatory. Probably something you can consider later.

China is one of the easiest places to get a teaching job!

[vun_lm]

Hi Joey

Thanks for your quick reply. Do you know of any particular organisations I should go through?

Amy

[gogo]

You can try going to member search at http://www.aacircle.com.au/forums/me....php?do=search and searching for members located in China. Will then bring up a list where you can easily see which members are Employers and which are just general members.

Then you can contact them direct.

[quanxie]

I think location is the of key importantance.. You can get a job almost anywhere here.. So, do some research on the location that meets your personal preferences, weather, size, local accent (if you desire to learn chinese), etc... The next decision would be public vs. private school... any particular questions feel free to ask...

[Sammy]

I agree with quanxie.

You have 2 extremities:

1. You can teach for the best school in the worst location, and hate your life.
2. You can teach for the worst school in the best location and still hate your life.

So which option would you choose if you had to choose from the above list? I would go for option 2. Hence you need to find the location first. Because with any location, there will always be good schools in that area that you can then move to.

So much harder moving if you are stuck in a bad location with all your luggage, furniture and everything else you have accummulated.

[worldtour]

I agree with the previous posts. I ended up taking a slightly different path as a result of spending many nights online. I first thought of location and was thinking in terms of natural surroundings. However, when I was offered a job at Beida, (Beijing University) I knew I could get a job almost anywhere in China after that contract was completed. Because everything in the Chinese educational system is rated, the better schools will carry some weight when you decide to move on.

So you may want to consider finding the best school for your first teaching which will enable you to teach in a location that you may desire. After you have some experience.

As far as "hating your life", I feel the biggest factor in having a good experience is, leave your cultural judgements at home and enjoy the differences.

Always try to get some emails of the current teachers and get the real deal from them. There many forums, you may also want to check some of the blacklists for schools that have not abided by their contracts or worse. Some of the worse offenders are "organizations".

One of the best ways to become a top earner is to check the schools in your country that have branches or programs in China. These are the highest paying jobs. You certainly will receive preferential treatment from your countrymen, especially with a good degree.

Somebody stop me! Hey, for a feel of the job, please check out my blog on teaching and living in China, it in my sig file below.

worldtour