Teaching English, Part 2(and working in China in General):

This seems to be an extremely popular section, so I’ll give it more press.

I have taught English/ESL part time for nearly 10 years, and my experience is more than enlightening. If you want to teach English or otherwise in China, here are the general advices:

1. What do you want?

I can not stress this one enough.

Look, a lot of people came here with the reasons I have posted in section 1, and I really can’t say I approve it. The reason is very simple, working in another country is a VERY BIG commitment. China doubles that equation by 5 or more. Most westerners are JUST NOT prepare for the experience. This is in no way patronizing on my part because it is true. The amount of people, time, man hour, money and life wasted away here by westerners is probably enough to take the current USA out of recession. China didn’t build their current economy. Foreign investments, technology transfers and eager beavers who tried to cash in did. They lost trillions. I want to prevent you from doing the same.

If you want adventure, romance, sex, excitement, and a big pay check.., go to law school or take a MBA program. The best way for you to get that glamorous movie expat life is get hired by a large International Conglomerate and get stationed here. You make foreign currency, and all your living needs are already paid for by your company. Life on the ground is not like that. This is no place to escape a mediocre life. You need to know what you really want before setting foot here.

2. Take a tour.

Come here first. Take a look around. Spend 1- 3 month to travel the country a bit. Backpacking if you must. Talk to some expats around the town you are interested in staying. You need to get a general feel about the place before you decide to settle down here. If you can’t stay that long, 2-3 weeks is probably minimal.

3. Do your homework.

Talk to a career counselor and a financial adviser before coming. This is important. Working in a foreign country is like immigration, except that you are going to a (most likely 3rd world country). You need to have a realistic expectation on how much you are going to spend, and how long you can go without a job. If you loose/quit that first job(extremely common) you get hired for in China, you need to know if you can survive. China isn’t a cheap place to live anymore.

4. Have a realistic expectation.

This is the typical salary range for an foreign English teacher in China (exchange rate may vary) :

3000 – 6000 RMB/Month = 400 – 800 USD/Month.

But what about your living expenses? China is cheaper, right? Let’s use Beijing as an example:

Within 4 ring road:

1000 – 5000 RMB/ 1 bedroom, 1 bath/10+ square meters/Month = 150 – 700 USD/Month

2000 – 8000 RMB/ 2 bedrooms, 1 or 2 bath/20-25+ square meters/Month = 280 – 1100 USD/Month

3500 – 20000 RMB/ 3 bedrooms, 2 or 3 bath/35-40 + square meters/Month = 500- 2800 USD/Month

That’s not so bad, right? As long as you stay within the lower range, and you take on a few private tutor jobs, you should be fine, right?

Wrong. Most Chinese buildings are built to Chinese living standards according to the year they are built. Most of the buildings that are semi-suitable to what you used to as western standard of living are built after 2001 or later. I won’t go too deep into housing here, but expect what you deem acceptable to be in the high range.

What about living expenses?

2000 – 5000 RMB a month for food, public transport, a few nights out, 2 dinners a week is very common.

What about the visit home?

5000 – 6000 RMB for a round trip ticket from Beijing to Vancouver.

What about those jobs with contracts that includes room, food and an airplane ticket?

You get a room in a dorm. You will (most likely) share the bathroom with the entire floor. You WILL have a curfew. You will eat free in the school cafeteria that serves …, anyway. And expect things NOT to work. Your roof might leak, and most of the appliance are probably 5-10 years old. Expect to catch some kind of skin disease.

5. A Personal story.

A friend of mine makes almost 25,000 – 30,000 RMB/Month = 3500 – 4200 USD/Month in Beijing teaching. That’s REALLY GOOD, right? Guess how much he keeps at the end of the year? ZERO. He’s been here for 4 years, got a wife and kid, and takes 2 vacation outside China(mostly going home to Vancouver) every year. Very typical and normal for a western family right? Except that he doesn’t get to save any money. Why? He still hasn’t paid off his student loan, nor his credit card debt that he incurred when he first arrived and he has child support from the first marriage. That is also extremely common for typical western families. Making RMB to pay CAD debts is down right insane and not really workable.

But you will say, it is possible to make that much teaching, right? LOL.

The reason he even makes that much is because he has build up his reputation for teaching excellence after 4 grueling years here. And he doesn’t really teach in schools at all. He teaches for multinationals and big companies.

6. Consider the human cost factor.

I can’t stress this enough. Life is tough here. I am not just talking the pollution, the cost of living, and/or any of the other crap I have mentioned. Working in China can be very tiring psychologically and emotionally. The rudeness, the behind the back talk, the staring, the people asking for free lessons, the constant questioning, the sneaky picture taking and the complete absolute lack of privacy. There are a lot of wonderful things about the Chinese people, but you have to wade through a lot of things to get there sometimes. Think about it.

To be continued. I’ll also answer my board mate TK’s question in the next post. I’ll update this post later.