The most common questions I get asked in regards to teaching in China
1) How does the whole visa thing work?
Many people think that their agency or recruiter is in charge of their visa, but actually it is entirely the university’s responsibility. The school you are going to be teaching at needs to go through their local government in China and get permission to invite you to teach at their school. After they have the paperwork done, the school will send it to you through express mail (it should take about a week to get from China to the U.S. or your home country.) Once you get the paperwork, you will need to send this, along with your passport, in the mail, to a company such as Visarite (this is the company I use and recommend). They will process the info for you and then send you back your passport with a “single entry visa” stamped into it. You will use this to get into China. After you enter China, you will get a health check, and after you pass, they will convert your visa into a year-long residence permit which allows you to freely enter and exit China. (Note: You do NOT need to get a physical in your home country before you leave for China. This won’t be accepted. You must go to an official international health center after entering China.) All this must be done within the first 30 days upon your arrival. Your school should be in charge of paying for all the expenses associated with this process.
This is basically how the whole “visa thing” works. Visarite costs about $200-300 depending on how fast you want your visa completed (3-10 days). Your only other option is to go to a Chinese embassy and handle it yourself (that would save you about $50 bucks), otherwise you must hire a company to do it for you.
Are websites like Facebook really blocked in China?
Yes, absolutely. Many of the most popular American websites such as You Tube, Twitter, Facebook, Google Apps, ect, are, for political reasons, blocked in China. The only way to get around this is by using what is called a VPN or a proxy. I use and recommend Express VPN. It cost $12.95 per month.
When should I buy my flight to China?
It is probably safe to buy your flight to China as soon as you receive the visa paperwork from your university or teaching company. All the legwork has been done at this point, so you should be all clear to get your visa.
How do I develop my teaching curriculum?
It is pretty easy to come up with activities for your classroom. One thing to point out is that there is no need to plan a curriculum before you come to China. I have known many people to do this, only to end up throwing it all out because the classes were at a different level than previously thought. On the first day of class, a good idea is to introduce yourself and field questions students may have. What I do is give a powerpoint presentation filled with pictures of my hometown and American culture, and then have each student ask me a question about anything. Subsequent classes you can plan as you go along, and as you see fit. You will probably be given a textbook by your school that you can use to supplement your own teaching activities. If you are teaching at an adult English center, you will probably have a strict curriculum you need to follow, where as at a university, you will generally be expected to come up with your own lesson plans.
What should I bring with me to China?
You can buy most things in China but here are a few things you should bring.
- Deodorant (deodorant in China is very rare)
- English magazines, books, and DVDs
- Clothes, and plenty of them (appropriate clothing sizes and styles can be difficult to find in China and it is best to bring them from home.)
- A few hundred RMB just to get you started. You won’t want to exchange a lot of money because the exchange rates at the airport are not very competitive. Find out where to get no-fee ATM withdrawals in China here.You actually will not be paid until after your first month of teaching, so eventually you will need to withdraw money. If you have a Bank of America account, you can get no-fee, competitive exchange rate withdrawals at China Construction Bank ATMs. Whatever you do, do not exchange a lot of money at the airport. You will get ripped off.
How much does it cost to live in China?
Here is a comprehensive listing of prices in China.
Will my cell phone work in China?
All non-Verizon phones should work in China. You will just need to get a SIM card with a new phone number and you will be up and running. iPhone’s contracted with AT&T will, of course, need to be unlocked for you to use them. In China, you do not sign up for a monthly contract for cell phone service. It is pay as you go. You can add money at any China Mobile kiosk or store which are ubiquitous in every city and town.
Will I have trouble communicating if I don’t speak Mandarin?
Yes, of course. Very few people speak English in China. Your students will speak a little English, but you will communicate with them in an entirely different way than you do with your friends and family back home. At the very least, you should learn some basic street Mandarin so you can order food and hire a taxi.
Where do you recommend finding a position teaching in China?
eChinacities is a good place to look for teaching jobs in China. While I paid a recruiter fee my first, I do not recommend this. Recruiters in China will gladly find you a position for free (they receive a commission from the university). Many of them post the jobs in eChinacities.
How much money will I make teaching in China?
A comprehensive post on all things related to salary and benefits while teaching in China.
Who teaches in China?
It really varies quite a bit, I have seen people of all ages and at various stages in their life. Though, I would say a slight majority of the teachers are recent college graduates.
Is teaching in China hard?
Yes and no. The actual work demands are not very hard. You will have part time hours (if you work at a university), and you will be teaching conversational English; hence, you won’t be analyzing Shakespeare’s plays. That said, many of the students are required to take your class and are unmotivated. You’re patience will be tested. You will also likely find cultural differences at your school to be frustrating.
Will teaching in China help my career in education?
Depending on where you teach and what subject, teaching in China may not be the best thing to help develop your teaching career. In fact, you would probably be better off in your home country if you are serious about becoming a university professor. With the exception of a few key national universities, university education standards are rather low. The best reason to come to China is because you want to explore another culture, learn a new language, or travel (while being willing to teach English). Teaching in China can afford you an exciting cultural experience, and you will get paid while doing it.
Will teaching in China look good on my resume?
Don’t teach in China to put it on your resume; don’t do anything just because it will “look good” on your resume. Teaching English in China won’t develop hard analytical skills for your business career; but, it will help develop soft skills such as communication, patience, and organization. Not to mention, it will expose you to a vastly different culture and make you a more well-rounded international citizen. The most important thing to look at when deciding to teach in China is whether or not it is the right fit for you.
A few other pointers:
- Actually read your contract before signing it. Make sure you agree with all the terms; and know your contract so you can defend yourself if your host party breaches it.
- It’s a good idea to, before you sign and agree to the contract, contact someone who has already taught at the university you will be working at. You can ask them what life is like and how they were treated as a foreign teacher there. You can ask the school for a contact.
- I recommend teaching at a university since the hours are part time and you have much more flexibility with your curriculum. I consider a good contract to be one that is 16 teaching hours per week and 4300-6000 RMB per month– the range depending on how much you will be reimbursed for your flight. It is always a good idea to try to find a contract that will completely reimburse you so you won’t have to worry about rising flight costs. I recommend teaching 16 hours per week.
You can leave a comment if you have any other questions.
I have read several of these type of articles, and as an ESL teacher abroad, always feel the need to add that people strongly consider their reasons for coming overseas to teach (to any country). Are you doing it because it’s easy, or because you really want to teach? I’ve worked with a few too many people who don’t even like children/teaching, yet are here doing that. It doesn’t benefit anyone – not the students, other teachers, or that teacher him/herself. If you wouldn’t want to teach/coach/mentor in your home country, then maybe teaching ESL isn’t right for you.
You shouldn’t come to China if you despise the idea of teaching, that is for sure. But if you think you are coming to develop your teaching career, you may be in for a rude awakening. Many schools hire foreign teachers merely for face purposes and to attract numbers to their school. While some schools value their foreign teachers, others disregard them. Some university standards in China are pathetically low and do not require rigorous pedagogy, which is probably why many schools will hire foreign teachers with without a college degree. At the same time, you should also be realistic about what you are getting into. If you don’t like teaching little kids, don’t apply for those types of jobs. Most schools know they are not hiring people that are going to be teaching for the rest of their life; and that is fine, it doesn’t mean the teachers aren’t taking it seriously and the students aren’t gaining a lot by interacting with someone of a different culture.
I am aware that some people who come aren’t trained teachers and don’t intend to teach for the rest of their lives, and yet many of them do a good, or even great, job in the classroom. I can’t speak for university or state-run school standards, since I’m at an oral English school that is jointly owned by Canadians and Chinese. I do know that many state-run schools hire foreigners simply to present white faces. That is a issue at the school level though.
What I am talking about is the unfortunate reality that some people come here who don’t like children, don’t like teaching, and really don’t care at all about what they are doing, mainly because they’ve come to China with other intentions and end up taking a teaching job because they need to work and it’s so easy to get hired here if you are simply a foreigner. I’ve had the displeasure of working with some, and it takes a toll on everyone who has contact with that person. Although ideally a large part of the responsibility should fall to the schools to hire motivated and qualified people, the reality right now is that they don’t. It would just be nice for those of us here for the long term if more prospective teachers would be realistic about whether or not they really WANT to teach.
Tom:
Do you suggest purchasing a VPN before traveling to China?
Or should one wait until arriving in China before purchasing a VPN?
Thanks!
Stephen, you should be fine waiting until China to get you VPN. That’s what I did. If you did buy it in America, though, just do it a few days before you leave because you will start getting charged even though you don’t really need it. Either way would be fine.
Hi Tom, aren’t you worried about the general level of English teachers coming over and their ability to get a job. The industry is growing too much and the demand for teachers is so high. How are schools, universities and institutions expected to properly screen teachers when the sites like http://www.teachergig.com has more than 20 new job posts per day from China alone?
It is up to the universities to appropriately screen all candidates; but they generally don’t do much to this effect. The general requirement is to send in a copy of your passport, degree, resume, and recent photo, and quick decisions are made based solely on that information. They could do video interviews but chose not to. The school I am teaching at next year is rare in that they had me come down for an onsite interview.
Dear Tom, Your Blog makes excellent reading – the only question I have really and I appreciate you may not know this one – why did my University, or the one I have applied to send me a Medical info sheet to complete at my own expense – I am a UK citizen and although we have “socialised” medicine they my Doctor will charge around 400 pounds (600 bucks) for full x-ray, AIDs test, Blood Test for other stuff, ECG!? etc…Perhaps it’s because I am English or because I am 53 years old – any ideas?
They did the same thing with me but they never used it (because they will only accept a Chinese health check). The school will pay for your physical with all that necessary info (full x-ray, blood test, ect) when you get there. I think they might request you check your health before you enter China, because if there is a problem with your physical condition, they will send you back, and you won’t be able to teach in China (i.e. if you had AIDS they would send you back immediately). So I guess by not verifying your physical health before you leave, you are risking this could happen. But if you know you are in good physical shape, you should be all set.
Thanks for the post! I just stumbled across your blog. I’m looking to get a job teaching English in China in the next couple of weeks! When you got your first job, did you find it on a job board? I’m worried about accepting a job without knowing if the employer is misleading me about working there. Any tips on what to look for/where to look?
Thanks for a great resource!
You shouldn’t have to worry too much about fraud or anything like that. I haven’t heard too many problems with that, though I understand the worry about that. I would really just recommend you look on echinacities.com job board for the city you are interested in and then start applying for jobs. You shouldn’t have a problem finding one.
This blog is so incredibly helpful! I am still confused about a few things, though. I have seen schools mention getting a resident permit and a foreign experts certificate in addition to the Visa. Are both of these things necessary, and what do they do?
Also, do you need a Chinese bank to get paid? If you don’t need one, would you recommend getting one anyway so it is easier to make purchases- or is living off of cash from ATMs just as easy?
Thanks :)
Ian
The resident permit and the visa are almost like one and the same thing. You’ll get a single entry visa in your home country and then once you get into China, your school will transfer it into a residence permit. The foreign experts permit is nothing more than a superficial token that the school will give you after you get your residence permit. In any event, the school will take care of all this, or at least they are supposed to. Make sure they do, or do not accept a job offer.
If you are working at a university or somewhere where they pay you in direct deposit, they will set you up with a bank account. Some places like training schools pay in cash so technically you wouldn’t need a bank account. While China is still largely a cash economy, all big department stores and supermarkets will accept debit, and I think it is very convenient to be able to pay with debit.
Hey Tom,
WOW! What a great resource! Thanks so much. I was offered a teaching position at a high school in Xiamen, but they would not give me a working visa before I arrived in China. They wanted me to come over as a tourist and then travel to Hong Kong to get the working visa. Does that sound right?
No that is not something you want to do. Find a school that will give you the normal visa so you don’t need to go to Hong Kong every month. You should have no problem finding a school that will.
Firstly I want to thank you for your wonderful blog! I have always been very interested in the culture and life of China. I am at a point in my life where I only have one major tie here. I am a 37 year old male w/no teaching experience. I do have some training experience and traditionally have always held positions in technology dealing with the public. I do have an interest in teaching but primarily middle school age to adult. All the training that I have done has been to adults and is largely undocumented on my resume as it was part of some other position. Will I be able to find a real position teaching in China? As an addendum. I ONLY speak English. I am very willing to learn Mandarin or Cantonese. Which should I learn and how well do I need to be able to speak it before attempting to find a position in China?
Yes, you will be able to find a teaching position in China. There are little to no standards for teaching in China. Younger people tend to need a bachelors degree but someone your age could do it without any degree. You do not need to know any Chinese to teach here. Mandarin is the lingua franca in both China and Taiwan. Cantonese is spoken in some parts of Guangzhou and in Hong Kong. It makes more practical sense to learn Mandarin since the number of speakers are far greater than Cantonese.
Thank you so much for your quick reply. I think it wise to at least have a basic knowledge of the language before moving to a place and certainly before instructing it’s native speakers. I had decided I want to live in China for a while prior to seeing that English teachers are so sought after. I have since been researching quite a lot. I have seen a lot of positive comments about these opportunities. I am not concerned about getting rich off of this. I mainly want to experience the people and culture and be able to share a bit of ours. I am concerned about health care and the ability to get the prescriptions I need. I have not been able to find any information or help on the subject. Are you able to point me in the right direction? Also when does the school year start so that I know when the best time to start searching is. I am trying to plan an initial time frame and figure out how long I have to learn the language and characters as well as obtain a passport.
Many warm regards.
Some of the common prescriptions you could probably get in China. But you’ll need to be prepared in case you can’t. You may need a relative who can ship them for you. Sometimes you can get a couple months advance from your pharmacy but it does involve some paperwork. You could also check with your pharmacy to see if they could make arrangements to ship it themselves.
The school year starts at the end of August or early September. Universities start recruiting right about now for next year’s teachers.
Thanks again. I would assume that without a degree an university position is out of the question. As for the perscriptions I thought that the import export guidelines for China are super strict. Unfortunately one of my two ‘scripts is considered a controlled substance (I have A.D.D). I function just fine with the meds but not so much with out them. To top it off the perscription is a name brand and very expensive without insurance. That is why I was curious about the healt care and insurance. The more I research and ponder my decision the more certain I am that this is something I want to do, but this one thing is what concerns me most. Everything else seems to be a non-issue or something that can be worked around. Any input or anywhere you could point me to in order to find out about mental health care and perscription insurance in china and to whether the school/employer would offer it or not would be extremely useful!
There are people who teach university in China without degrees all the time.
Each school is different in what kind of health insurance they provide, if any. You would need to direct your questions to the school’s give you an offer to teach at their university.
You are a fountain of knowledge, for which I am very grateful. I am thinking about teaching in China for the 2012-2013 school year. I have a billion questions, and it looks like your site has most of the answers. Therefore, I will ask only one, and it’s something something I need to know before I make a final decision.
I have a dog. He is the light of my life, my whole world, and I don’t think either of us could tolerate a 10 month separation. Do you know of any ESL teachers that have taken their dog with them? Do you have any information about how universities feel about teachers bringing their dogs? Am I going to HAVE to leave my dog here?
Okay, I guess that’s three questions. Sorry. But if you have any info at all I’d greatly appreciate it.
Also, want to mention that I found your site through International Teaching Advantage. Their site makes their service seem pretty good, if a bit expensive. I appreciated you talking about how you used a service the first time but that there are few scams and that a service is not necessary. I was worried about scams, worried about getting stuck there, worried about getting myself in a bad situation. I read on the US– Embassy? State Department? one of those two– site about how some teachers have bad experiences and what we should be careful about in terms of accepting a position. Anyway, you calmed some of my fears. I appreciate your honesty and openness. You are very helpful.
Thanks again, and thanks in advance for any info you can give me about my dog situation.
Thanks for the feedback on my blog! I did know someone who tried to bring her dogs. It ended up complicating things– and she didn’t end up going. But I think it would vary greatly by the school. Technically I think it is possible but it does provide some extra hassle when you have to clear the dog at immigration (I am not sure what other formalities would be involved in the process of bringing a pet). But, doing things like this in China can be very hard. I would recommend talking directly to the university where you are going to work.