In this interview, we’re speaking with Ted who is a full-time contributor here at Goats On The Road. He’s been a professional ESL teacher for almost 20 years now and is currently teaching English in Guangzhou, China.
In this article, you’ll learn first-hand what it’s like to teach English in Guangzhou, how to find jobs, the pros and cons, the salary, and much more.
¡Aquí vamos!
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Thanks for chatting with us, Ted! Por favor cuentenos un poco de usted.
What made you decide to become an English teacher? Did you have any prior experience?
You’re currently teaching English in Guangzhou, China. What’s it like living there?
What types of jobs are available for teaching English in Guangzhou?
How did you find a job teaching English in Guangzhou?
Can you tell us a bit about the company that you work for?
Did you need to have any qualifications to get a job teaching English in Guangzhou?
What does a day in the life of an English teacher in Guangzhou look like?
How much can an English teacher earn in Guangzhou?
What are the pros and cons of teaching English in Guangzhou?
Any final advice for an aspiring English teacher?
Thanks for chatting with us, Ted! Por favor cuentenos un poco de usted.
I’ve been an English teacher for almost 20 years. I’m originally from the United States, and I haven’t lived there in all that time. I’ve been able to travel to many places in the world, sometimes for extended periods of time.
I’m also a writer, and along with here at Goats on the road and other places online, you can read my stories on my blog No Hay Bronca. much of my writing is about Mexico, where I lived for 10 years.
What made you decide to become an English teacher? Did you have any prior experience?
I became an English teacher for two basic reasons: I didn’t know what I wanted to do after university, and I wanted to explore the world. At the time, I never imagined that it would end up becoming my career.
A long time ago, about six months before I graduated from university, I answered a classified ad for an English teaching job in South Korea.
I had no previous experience as a teacher. I learned on the job, and I got a great deal of help and good advice from a more experienced teacher who was brought on as headteacher a few months after I arrived.
Until he came, I had no idea what I was doing. After that, I continued teaching in different kinds of schools, eventually working my way up to teaching in universities.
You’re currently teaching English in Guangzhou, China. What’s it like living there?
Guangzhou is a fantastic place to live.
It’s extremely modern and also has a lot of history. It has a unique culture within China – Cantonese culture, which includes the food and language – and also has an international vibe with neighborhoods like Xiaobei, where a large community of African immigrants live.
Guangzhou is also known as Canton, or more precisely Canton City.
Guangzhou has been an important city for thousands of years. right in the center of the city is the Nanyue Kingdom palace museum, which contains an excavation of the old city palace from 1800 years ago.
You can see remnants of the various ancient city walls from different periods under glass below the pedestrian street Beijing Road, which runs in front of the museum.
What types of jobs are available for teaching English in Guangzhou?
A common type of teaching job is at a small English academy where people study English in their spare time. In China, they’re called training schools or training centers. Some are only for kids, and some are geared toward adults or teenagers.
This is the type of school I worked at in South Korea. They’re the best option for people with no experience. The hours are long, up to 40 hours a week, either teaching or office hours, but the pay is good.
The highest-paying jobs are at international grade schools, which are often boarding schools that go from elementary through high school. like university jobs, these require experience, usually at least two years.
I prefer to work at a university because the low hours give me plenty of time for writing, translating, and copyediting work on the side. Also, the students are more mature and more interested in learning English than young children.
How did you find a job teaching English in Guangzhou?
I found the job online. I can’t recall the specific website—there are many good resources for teaching jobs in Guangzhou, and sometimes you can find hiring information directly on university websites.
I believe that I searched for “teaching English in Guangzhou,” “university jobs in Guangzhou,” andAsí que, y luego compilé una lista de direcciones de correo electrónico y envié un mensaje corto y mi CV. No recibí una respuesta la mayor parte del tiempo.
Para los que volvieron a escribir, le pregunté a la persona los detalles sobre el trabajo, como las horas de trabajo y el pago. Luego tuve algunas entrevistas en línea, utilizando aplicaciones de comunicación de video chino como la reunión de Tencent o DingTalk.
También es común que las personas usen reclutadores para obtener trabajos de enseñanza en inglés en China. Esta es una buena opción si no tiene experiencia en enseñanza y desea trabajar en un centro de capacitación.
Como siempre, revise su contrato con cuidado. En algunos casos, estará empleado por la agencia de reclutamiento, no la escuela en la que estará trabajando y, por lo tanto, estará sujeto a sus condiciones.
Uno de los primeros trabajos que encontré en China era así. Entre otras cláusulas sombrías, el contrato declaró que si las cosas no funcionaban en la escuela donde estaba enseñando, podría ser trasladado a cualquier otra escuela con la que trabajara la agencia de reclutamiento.
Esto significaba efectivamente que podía ser sacado de la universidad y poner en una escuela de jardín de infantes o calificaciones, algo que definitivamente no quería pasar.
Dos buenos lugares para salir a encontrar trabajos de enseñanza en Guangzhou son Hirtirychina.com y Echinacities.com.
¿Puedes contarnos un poco sobre la compañía para la que trabajas?
Como mencioné, es una gran universidad pública. Trabajo en el departamento de estudios extranjeros, y los estudiantes principales en inglés, francés o japonés. Eligen un énfasis más tarde, que puede ser la enseñanza, la traducción o el negocio.
Las clases
Las clases se miden en “Horas de enseñanza”, que en las universidades en todas partes de China son típicamente de 40 o 45 minutos. Dos de estas “horas” conforman una clase, por lo que una clase de dos horas es en realidad solo una hora y media.
Mi contrato es por 16 horas de enseñanza a la semana, lo que significa ocho clases diferentes. Cada grupo se reúne solo una vez a la semana. Entre las 12 y las 16 horas de enseñanza parece ser el estándar para las universidades chinas.
Vivienda en Guangzhou
Muchas universidades tienen viviendas en el campus para maestros, y en mi contrato se incluye un apartamento amueblado.
No es un requisito para vivir en él, y si viviera en algún lugar fuera del campus, recibiría un poco más de dinero en cada cheque de pago para compensarlo. Pero ese dinero no es suficiente para cubrir el costo de un apartamento en una ciudad importante como Guangzhou.
Mi apartamento en el campus es agradable, aunque he escuchado algunas historias de terror sobre lugares extremadamente pequeños, lugares deteriorados o lugares sin un inodoro de estilo occidental. (Los aseos en cuclillas son la norma en China).
Cualquier persona que planee vivir en un apartamento en el campus debe solicitar a ver las fotos primero, o mejor aún, verla en persona.
Eventos escolares y comunidad
Antes de que decidiera enseñar inglés en Guangzhou, enseñé en una universidad en una parte diferente de China.
Esa universidad estaba realmente interesada en fomentar una comunidad, con muchos eventos que a mi esposa y yo nos alentamos a participar, como un día deportivo, una gran actuación para el nuevo año, y una fiesta al final del semestre.
No hay nada de eso donde estoy ahora. Me he dejado completamente solo, lo que de muchas maneras es algo bueno, aunque hay ciertos beneficios para sentir que usted es parte de una comunidad.
¿Necesitas tener alguna calificación para obtener un trabajo enseñando inglés en Guangzhou?
Estos son los requisitos para obtener un trabajo de enseñanza en China.
Calificaciones
Cada escuela tiene sus propios requisitos, que pueden incluir experiencia previa, licenciatura y un certificado TEFL / TESL.
Los trabajos universitarios requieren al menos dos años de experiencia, y algunos de ellos requieren una maestría, un doctorado o incluso una cartera de artículos publicados de revistas revisadas por pares.
Requisitos para una visa de residencia en China.
Luego, existen los requisitos para la visa de residencia china y el permiso de trabajo. Obtener estos implica un proceso complicado.
A continuación describiré los requisitos para los maestros universitarios. Creo que son lo mismo para los maestros en otros tipos de escuelas, y sospecho que son iguales o similares a los requisitos para otros tipos de empleos en China.
Cualquier persona que busque trabajar en China necesitará ayuda en este proceso de la compañía que quiera contratarlos.
Antes de firmar un contrato, una persona del Departamento de Recursos Humanos de la Compañía debe enviar una lista de requisitos y ofrecerle ayuda con las cosas como encontrar traductores. Si no lo hacen, o si la comunicación con la empresa es difícil, espere algunos dolores de cabeza serios.
Algunas compañías lo reembolsarán por los gastos significativos de este proceso, y otros no lo harán. Si la compañía pagará, debería ser claramente estadística.ed in the contract.
Documents for a residence Visa in China
You’ll need originals of your highest degree (at least a bachelor’s degree for teaching, and many universities require a master’s degree) and a criminal background check.
These two documents must then be certified three times. The first two times are by government agencies in your home country, and the final certification is by a Chinese embassy. Next, they’ll need to be translated into Chinese.
You’ll also need a medical checkup, which includes x-rays and blood tests, and the doctor must fill out a specific form that’s in English and Chinese.
Once you arrive in China, you’ll probably have to get another at a specific hospital for these types of checkups.
If your job requires previous experience, such as university jobs like mine, then you’ll need an official-looking letter from your previous boss.
It’s like a recommendation letter, but with the exact dates of your employment, an official letterhead (in color if possible), and clear contact information.
This must also be translated, so keep it short.
Translations to Chinese are expensive, and some translators charge by the word. Also, make sure your boss signs it with a blue pen. My original one was rejected because the whole letter was in black and white.
If you want to move to China with your spouse or children, you’ll need your marriage certificate and the child’s birth certificate translated, and they’ll need to get a medical checkup too.
It’s a confusing, frustrating, and expensive process. That’s why it’s crucial to have someone helping you from the company you work for.
What does a day in the life of an English teacher in Guangzhou look like?
Between teaching, exploring Guangzhou and completing my other online work, here’s what a day/week might look like.
Teaching at University
As a university teacher, I only teach classes three days a week, but I end up working basically every day. Besides teaching, I spend a lot of time planning lessons. The university gave me a book to use, but nothing else.
This is typical for universities in China—you can teach whatever you want, more or less. Classrooms have a projector, and every teacher I know uses a PowerPoint presentation every day.
At nearly all training schools, on the other hand, teachers must follow set lesson plans that are prepared in advance. Deviating from this plan can mean big trouble for the teacher.
I prefer making my own lesson plans. It may take quite a bit of time, but you can reuse (and improve) them if you teach the same classes in a later semester.
I teach reading and writing classes, so I also spend a lot of time checking homework. A tip for potential English teachers—keep those writing assignments short, only a page or two, or the time you spend checking papers adds up fast.
My other online Work
Aside from teaching, I also do freelance writing, copywriting, and translating work. The writing and copywriting is pretty steady, so I usually know how many hours a week I need to dedicate to those.
I also know myself and how I work—always in the morning, and the earlier, the better. I won’t get any quality writing done in the evening after a long day of walking around in the sun, teaching classes, or squeezing into crowded buses.
Translating, however, can be totally random.
For instance, a few weeks ago I was contacted to translate a long journal article by an academic in Mexico who writes to me a few times a year. When that happens, it’s like, well there goes my weekend. I prefer to do my freelance work on Saturdays and Sundays.
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