Teaching in China

If this is your first time looking for teaching work in China, it might be useful to have a quick rundown of the different types of teaching job available. We’ll do that after the break so that you can take a look at your options and (hopefully) choose the job for you.

The earliest foreign teachers in China would have been employed by state universities to teach oral English to students majoring in the language. Over time the possible roles have expanded, with foreigners now given jobs teaching other skills, and to non-English major students - English is, after all, compulsory for all undergraduates now.

State university teaching jobs tend to offer lower salaries than the private sector, but make up for this with fewer teaching hours per week, longer (although probably unpaid) holidays, and in some cases smart and motivated students. Administration might not be the most efficient, but you’re not too likely to find you’ve been rented out to a higher-paying school on the other side of town, and generally speaking as long as the students aren’t complaining, nobody will bother you too much.

Teaching at private institutions in China tends to be a bit more . . . challenging. These are profit-orientated schools, and that means they need to make the most of their resources - namely, you. Expect a higher workload, an administration eager to squeeze as many students into the classrooms as possible, and customers who can be very vocal if they don’t think they’re getting what they paid for.

On the plus side, you should be getting more money for your time, and if you’re lucky enough to end up teaching adults you could have students with a lot more life experience than a bunch of undergrads who moved right from home into a university dorm.

Another option is freelancing. You’ll need to sort out your own visa for this, but if you can get past that obstacle you may find you’re able to pick and choose where and when you teach, and have the flexibility of dropping any jobs you find to be more hassle than they’re worth. Teaching jobs could be a few hours a week at a private school which doesn’t have the staff to cover all classed in-house, dropping into a company on Wednesday afternoons to teach business English to sales staff, afternoon or evening tutoring with elementary or high school students, and private classes with real live grown-ups in a nice cafe.

Do however bear in mind that unless you’ve found some loophole we haven’t thought of, freelancing isn’t going to be legal - so don’t go placing any TV ads for your services, and we’d recommend you avoid taking on any teaching work in actual schools, as you’re more likely to come to the attention of the authorities there.