Here are a couple of random lessons that I have learned while teaching in China. I have learned most of them the hard way:
– Don’t let the school get away with being vague in your contract – A few years back, I signed a contract which stipulated that the school would pay me extra for working over time. The exact amount,however, was not specified and I found out too late that the overtime rate was way to low. Just remember, if the school has any leeway in your contract, they will generally use it to your disadvantage. Make sure that everything in your contract is crystal clear.
– If you want to get something done, do it yourself – Unfortunately, I’ve discovered that the people schools assign to assist the foreign teachers are often clueless. They enjoy practicing English with you but they really have no idea how to help you. If you want something done (get your bathroom door fixed, have internet installed, get a tour of the campus, etc), you have to make your own way. Ask a student or another teacher to help you or learn a little Chinese and see how far you can get.
– Email is NOT the best way to communicate with your supervisor – China may have the most internet users in the world but most people here only check their email a few times a month if that. Face-to-face conversations are still the way to go here especially if you have something important to communicate.
– Papers and exams stay with the school NOT the students – I learned this lesson the hard way when my university recently asked me about the location of 180 essay papers from two years ago. When I told them that I had returned them to my students, the school insisted that I contact ALL of my students and retrieve them. My supervisor explained that in China the school hangs on to these items.
– NEVER give out out cell phone number in class - Unless you want to receive hundreds of well wishes on holidays, of course! I usually give my phone number to the monitors (or head teachers) and make them swear to keep my number secret. Otherwise, every time your student has a question or problem, you’ll hear from them. And you’ll hear from them even after you leave the school. I generally set up a ‘disposable’ email address that my students can use to contact me if they really feel the need.
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I taught in China a few years ago and I loved it so much. The whole experience was great, albeit a bit daunting. I was just out of uni and so this was the longest time spent away from home in a foreign country. Before I went to China, I was pretty ill-prepared. I just treated it like it was a holiday to Europe. I wasn’t prepared for the massive culture shock that awaited me, and in a way that forced me to learn as much as I could as quickly as I could. I left after 13 months only because I missed my family and friends, I had to get a “proper job”, and I missed seeing signs written in English, proper internet, proper cows milk, proper chocolate, etc. I got to travel a lot around China too and experience so much more of it.
I agree with the Five Lessons in the original article, although I have a few comments and things to add of my own.
Don’t let the school get away with being vague in your contract; I also learnt this, but luckily I was able to use tricks against the school to as negotiation tools. Like I went through a program to get the teaching job in China, and I managed to get the help of the coordinator on a few tricky issues related to pay. Another example is that I would get involved with loads of extracurricular activities, like playing soccer with other teachers and students, basketball, volleyball, badminton, table tennis, computer games, sharing my knowledge of computers and computer software with other teachers (I had just graduated with a degree in Computer Science), accepting dinner invitations from student’s parents, doing paid English tuition outside school hours. And so all of those helped me build up a wide-reaching support network and helped me integrate well, so if the school did try to screw me over, many others would know, so the school would lose face. Losing face in China is so important. It’s seen as bad, so as long as foreigners remember that fact, then they can turn any sneaky school tricks against the school.
I found that students were also much more willing to help than other teachers, like help you travel about, book tickets for you, buy things for you, tell you bits of local information not in books, get you food, get you clothes, introduce to others.
Learning Chinese and attempting to immerse yourself in Chinese culture really helped too I think. I learnt a lot about how to act and what to do and what not to do. I taught in China a few years ago and I loved it so much. The whole experience was great, albeit a bit daunting. I was just out of uni and so this was the longest time spent away from home in a foreign country. Before I went to China, I was pretty ill-prepared. I just treated it like it was a holiday to Europe. I wasn’t prepared for the massive culture shock that awaited me, and in a way that forced me to learn as much as I could as quickly as I could. I left after 13 months only because I missed my family and friends, I had to get a “proper job”, and I missed seeing signs written in English, proper internet, proper cows milk, proper chocolate, etc. I got to travel a lot around China too and experience so much more of it.
I agree with the Five Lessons in the original article, although I have a few comments and things to add of my own.
Don’t let the school get away with being vague in your contract; I also learnt this, but luckily I was able to use tricks against the school to as negotiation tools. Like I went through a program to get the teaching job in China, and I managed to get the help of the coordinator on a few tricky issues related to pay. Another example is that I would get involved with loads of extracurricular activities, like playing soccer with other teachers and students, basketball, volleyball, badminton, table tennis, computer games, sharing my knowledge of computers and computer software with other teachers (I had just graduated with a degree in Computer Science), doing paid English tuition outside school hours. And so all of those helped me build up a wide-reaching support network and helped me integrate well, so if the school did try to screw me over, many others would know, so the school would lose face. Losing face in China is so important. It’s seen as bad, so as long as foreigners remember that fact, then they can turn any sneaky school tricks against the school.
I found that students were also much more willing to help than other teachers, like help you travel about, book tickets for you, buy things for you, tell you bits of local information not in books, get you food, get you clothes, introduce to others.
Learning Chinese and attempting to immerse yourself in Chinese culture really helped too I think. I learnt a lot about how to act and what to do and what not to do. Smiling, showing hardly any bad emotions, being friendly, helpful and enthusiastic, and joining in most things was a good way to act.
I realised that I was a pretty shitty teacher in the end and I was disobedient to the leaders of the school (like I would stray seriously away from the lesson plans), but the school let was quite lenient and forgiving and basically treated me quite well.
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Could you write an article about how you deal with the shame and humiliation of being an English teacher in China?
I am an English teacher in Shenzhen and here the western expats who are not English teachers go out every Saturday night looking for “stupid English teachers” to beat up on just for sport. It’s gotten to the point where I won’t tell anyone the truth about what I am doing in China. I am really worried about this. One English teacher was beaten up so badly, he had to go to the hospital. I was told that he was beaten up because he was an English teacher but maybe there is more to the story than that (I don’t think so because I’ve heard this before from a friend in Shenyang about German guys at BMW).
I noticed that you don’t list where you are working and there is no photo of you on this site. I am wondering, is Robert Vance your real name or is this a pen name only? Are you hiding your real identity because you are ashamed of what you are doing for a living? I have to admit that getting paid to speak native English to Chinese students in this shit hole of a country is pretty fucking lame but it is the best I can do in today’s economy. Still, I am not proud of this.
Does your family know what you are doing in China and how are they dealing with it? Have you been disowned? My family refuses to communicate with me until I “come home and get a real job”. I have a BA degree in Communications. What the fuck am I supposed to do with that other than speak English in China for 8,000 RMB a month?? When I ask my parents what they expect me to do they don’t answer me. Even my kid sister has stopped talking to me.
Do you think you will ever be able to return back to America one day and do you think that anyone but a poor Chinese girl raised in abject poverty would have anything to do with an English teacher? Middle-class Chinese girls don’t seem to have any interest in anyone who doesn’t have an apartment and a car nowadays.
These are burning questions that many FTs are asking themselves. Would really like to know your take on this.
Thanks,
Bob
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JDL Reply:
March 30th, 2012 at 9:33 pm
That is one of the best satirical comments I’ve ever read. Well written, Sir! Hahahaha.
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Robert Vance Reply:
March 31st, 2012 at 2:31 am
I’m not sure how this comment got past us but since it did, I guess it merits a response.
If it’s meant to be satirical – well forgive me – I don’t see the satire.
It sounds like you have severe self-esteem issues. Or maybe you just hang out with the wrong crowd?
I don’t believe for one second your story about English teachers getting beat up on for sport.
If you can’t take some pride in your work here, then I feel sorry for you. But it has nothing to do with being a foreign teacher here. It has to do with your own emotional instability.
I’m not ashamed of what I’m doing here. I love it…but I’m going home this year. It’s time to do something else.
This site receives thouands of visitors per day. There are lots of weirdos who come through here and I have made some enemies because of positions I have taken on the political situation here. That’s why I don’t use my real name…
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Don’t trust anything that is promised and don’t expect that the school will abide by it’s contract. After almost 4 years teaching in China, I have learned that Chinese bosses will try cheat you at almost every opportunity and your ability to “legally” hold them to their agreements is almost impossible.
Do not work for schools without a proper Visa. Schools will lie to you and often tell you that they have a “special relationship” with the Govt. This is BullS!@t. Schools are often insured against fines but you are not. You will not only be fined but can be deported.
Do not give schools original copies of your qualifications and passport. Getting them back can be difficult.
Lastly, if you have any choice in the matter, DO NOT TEACH IN CHINA. Teach in Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Japan, Hong Kong or Taiwan. Training schools in China are ruthless, corrupt and unethical.
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Robert Vance Reply:
January 12th, 2012 at 10:58 am
Hi Sean — thanks for the tips. Your advice about the visa is especially important.
I’m not sure about your last point, though. I think you can find decent places to teach in China. You just have to be careful…
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Keep all copies of your lesson plans and any materials you use if you go ‘off-book’, In my last college, they didn’t really care about what the FTs taught. Here, they want to see everything!
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I think this is a great list of things people need to keep in mind. Great job putting it all together. Now I am finishing my first year of teaching/training/consulting in China and will say that I have experienced every item on your list…except the paper problem. Although, I have been asked to request permission before printing. It is a learning curve for sure!
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