Teaching English in China

[ambreaux405]

Hey all!

Well 6 months post break up I am finally checking out some of the other boards on this fantastic site!

Now that I am single I was thinking maybe I should go off on an adventure. I have been a high school teacher for almost ten years now and recently started looking into programs for teachers wishing to teach English in China. I have always wanted to visit Asia, and moving there for a year while continuing to work in my field seems like a phenomenal opportunity for me.

I only know of a couple people who have gone to China to teach...one is a friend of mine from university who went and taught English for three years after getting her degree. She had an amazing adventure. The other is an older lady who I used to work with who decided to resign and move to China to teach. I've kept in touch with her and she seems to enjoy it as well. I know there are horror stories out there, as there are with anything, but I am wondering if anyone here has any experience teaching English in China, or anywhere abroad for that matter.

It's something I am getting excited about and definitely going to research further!

[rp12345]

I'm currently doing that in Latin America, from what I've been told Asian kids are very respectful of their teachers (not so much here) and you'll be paid enough to travel around with the other foreign teachers and enjoy yourself, also depending on the program the school may even pay for your flight over and accommodation.

 

All in all, an excellent thing for you to do, go ahead!

[melancholy123]

I know a woman from the US who taught in Korea for several years and she really enjoyed it, then she went to England and taught there for a year or two. If I was you, I'd go! It'd be a great adventure and you'd learn and grow as a person too.

[Snny]

The only concern about teaching overseas is handling culture shock. Some people can handle it, some can't. I have known/met people who have taught in Asia (Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and China), the Middle East, and Latin America and had very mixed experiences. Some absolutely loved it, some were incredibly depressed/homesick and broke out of their contracts to come back home.

 

It really depends on your level of tolerance of living in isolation and assimilating with the culture. Not everyone is mentally capable of doing so.

 

I have heard that it is slightly easier to get around in China if your native language is English. Plus it is 10x cheaper to live and work there as a teacher compared to other Asian countries. However it has drawbacks:

1. High levels of pollution has been researched and proven to be a danger to your health

2. There are three different Chinese dialects to learn as opposed to learning one language

3. Ultra conservative culture (don't go there if you are LGBT)

4. Government system/censorship

 

Do some research. Here are some good article to read:

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[londonbridge]

Right after college I taught English in the countryside of Japan at public schools and later, I taught English in the Tokyo area. I worked abroad for a total of five years. It was an amazing experience and I'm glad I did this in my early twenties. Now that I'm in my thirties, I'm not as eager to do something like living abroad again, so I'm glad I got that out of the way as far as life experience.

 

Yes, of course there will be culture shock and loneliness. I participated in the JET program though, so there was plenty of support from JET colleagues and local help hotlines with fellow JETs if you're lonely or having other emotional issues or cultural assimilation issues.

 

I had friends who participated in non-JET programs and those were pretty crappy. Definitely not as good or high caliber of support and community as the JET work program.

 

When I lived in the countryside, it was more difficult to find and develop friendships or find dates, and the only way I endured was through traveling often and also meeting up with other JET members every now and then on weekends. I also was very passionate and dedicated to my students, so that really helped me enjoy my time in the countryside, but, my social life suffered. Once I moved to Tokyo, my social life came back to life, friendships and dates came fast and furious and I had a blast.

 

It takes one year to adjust to culture shock and finally by the 2nd to 3rd year, you're fully assimilated, I feel like Japan is my second home. Most people usually decide within the year if they want to stay or leave. I loved Japan too much to leave, but by my 5th year, I had had my fill and I knew it was time to return.

 

Definitely get skype or some kind of long distance communication tool. It would be 10x worst as far as being lonely, without modern technology/communication systems.

 

 

The teacher salary in Japan is equivalent to American teacher's salary I would say. Around 30k-40k a year, although with the current weak yen, not sure how that calculates out nowadays.

 

I traveled all over Asia during my time working in Japan -such a good opportunity to do so. You'll meet people from all walks of life, not only Japanese/Chinese, but Europeans, Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans etc etc. Traveling and living abroad exposes you to much higher opportunity to meet people from around the world. The friendships you make there can last a life time. I'm still very close to my international friends that I've met during my time abroad.

 

Being back in the States, I don't remember the culture shock or occasional bad times, I remember only all the amazing/unique moments while abroad. The best time of my life, and the most life changing and mind expanding. Let me know if you have more specific questions. My advice is to just go. The worst that can happen is that you decide you don't like living in China -then you can just come back and live the same life you've been living all these years.

 

Regarding Chinese language, there are probably 50 or more different minorities that make up the "Chinese" population. So although Mandarin is the national official language, you ARE DEFINITELY, especially in the countryside, going to run into many minority people who don't speak Mandarin at all.

 

Before living in Asia, I thought China was homogenous Han-Chinese(Mandarin speaking conquerers) but nope, it's full of multiple types of Asian people/languages.

 

Think of it this way, Europe is made up of many different countries, France, Germany, Italy etc. They all have different customs/languages -that's exactly what it's like in China, except obviously these minority nations don't have the power or recognition as being their own country/culture due to the Chinese conquering them many centuries ago. For example, they conquered Tibet only a few years ago, so now Tibet is "China", although no one in Tibet speaks Mandarin.

 

It would be impossible to pick up all the many different languages in China, so depending on what region you go to, that'll be the language to focus on. Mandarin is obviously the most important to learn considering it's the official national language.