Click Here to Subsribe to the 'Finding a Job in China' Feed I almost accepted the first teaching job that I was offered in China. A contract was sent to me for my consideration from an ESL recruiter in Dalian, a city in China’s Northern North Eastern Liaoning province. All I had to see were the words “there is a beautiful beach nearby” and I was ready to sign my name to the paper. Thankfully, I did a little more research and discovered that Liaoning is a very cold place in the winter; I do not cope well with extremely cold weather. Living near the ocean would be nice but I wanted to find a place where I could enjoy hot to mild temperatures all year around. In the end, the first contract that I signed did not put me anywhere near the sea. Instead, I chose a historically and culturally rich city that sat near the banks of a beautiful river. Maybe I could not go surfing or take long walks on a sandy beach, but looking back, it was the right city for me to start my ESL teaching career.
One of the great aspects of going to teach English in China is that there are so many diverse locations to choose from. From oceans to deserts, mountains to grasslands, ancient to modern, and frostbite to sunburn, China has it all. While finding a good ESL school is important, it is equally important to find a climate and environment that suits you. Do not settle for the first contract that is thrown your way. Do some research first and then focus on a few cities that catch your attention. With the power of the Internet, it is very easy to find out everything that you need to know about that particular location in China. You can read what other students are saying and discover all the advantages and disadvantages of teaching there.
Of course, no Chinese city will probably have everything that you want. But do not worry. Hopefully, if you found a reputable ESL school to work in, you will have a chance to do some traveling on your holidays. Some schools even offer a travel allowance for each semester worked. Relatively speaking, traveling in China is quite cheap and if you are comfortable with riding on the train, you can go almost anywhere you want.
People always want to know where I recommend they spend their first year in China. Usually, I cannot answer such a question. It completely depends on you! Click here for more information about finding ESL jobs in China.
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If you have a look at a map you will see that Harbin is pretty far from the ocean. Russia and North Korea are in the way.
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@Simon,
Thanks so much for catching that. I doublechecked the story through an email archive and discovered that my first contract was offered to me by a school in Dalian, not Harbin. I was hesitant to post your comment (considering that it’s a little embarassing for me) but we do publish EVERY comment on TeachAbroadChina.com.
Thanks again!
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Is it true that looking for teaching job in Zhejiang province is hard especially for NNS for racism is still commonly practice? How about in Changchun, Jilin, should it be avoided or what, for most schools don’t follow the contract as what my friends have epxerienced when teaching in that province?
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Hi. I live in Australia, am a New Zealander with dual citizenship. I have a Cambridge University Certificate for Teaching English as a Foreign Language, also a BA in German, French, Japanese, am a mature-aged student half-way through an external Diploma of Education (for teaching state high school languages) and am an experienced librarian/records manager (I have a Master of Library & Information Studies). I have experience teaching in France & Japan as an assistant teacher, have also taught high school as a teacher in NZ for a year. My ‘end goal’ is to work as a teacher librarian in Australia, although I have had other ideas recently……. I saw a full-time librarian job advertised in Changchun, Jilin Province, but it looks like it could be a difficult city to live in. My ‘problem’ (well, my joy, of course) is that I have a 5 year old son. Working full-time in China (with him there) would not be a good idea. Part-time work is the only option, or school hours at least. I am wondering if you can advise me? Would work in China be possible for me with a 5 year old (with whom I need to spend time. His Nanna would visit from time to time also)? I would need to live in a healthy and safe place (for his sake), I’d also need to earn enough to live on well enough (& pay for his school fees – I guess I’d need access to a bilingual school), and I’d need a job with either school hours or part-time, either an ESL or a librarian job (or combination). I would be very keen for us both to learn Mandarin. If you or anyone have any ideas, please reply?
Linda
Thank you
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@Linda,
There are plenty of ESL jobs out there that would probably fit your time needs but the financial aspect of living in China could be difficult. I assume that you would be sending your son to an international private school, correct? Someone please correct me if I am wrong but I believe that those are pretty expensive even in China. I don’t think that you will be able to find a part time job (or a job teaching ESL) that is going to allow you to send him to such a school and live comfortably at the same time.
While I appreciate your desire to live in a ‘healthy and safe’ place I have to warn you that such cities are hard to come by these days in China. I am not sure what you mean when you say that Changchun may be a ‘diffiult’ city to live in. I think that Changchun is probably just as difficult or easy to live in as many other cities in China. Changchun is an industrial city so you would definitely have to put up with the bad environment but that is a common story throughout Chinese cities.
I don’t want to discourage you from coming because living here IS a great experience. However, you have to be aware that since China is still a developing country, there are plenty of negative aspects that you will have to deal with here. You can read about quite a few of them on this website. However, I will tell you that I do know families (one family I know has 4 children) who have made it here and learned to adapt.
I hope that someone else out here can add more…especially if they have experience with children here…
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Shelley Reply:
October 21st, 2009 at 5:15 pm
Could you let me know some more information in regard to the family with 4 children, who has one parent teaching English in China? I know someone with children who is interested in teaching English in China, and it would be helpful to give them an idea of how to go about setting themselves up there.
Thank you.
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Robert Vance Reply:
October 21st, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Shelley,
Please ask you friend to go to:
http://www.teachabroadchina.com/teach-abroad-china-alliance-group/
and sign up for a free membership on the Teach Abroad China Alliance.
Someone should be able to help there…
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Linda Reply:
November 5th, 2009 at 10:25 am
Thanks, Robert, for your reply. Very belated reply from me…I was disorganised & have only discovered your reply now (!). Sorry. I really appreciate it & also *still* find it useful. I have still had thoughts of going to China….was still considering it. I have tended to sway in the direction of staying in Australia for now, though, until I have a permanent job to exchange in the future, for example. My studies are practically complete, so I am ready to apply for jobs right now. My thoughts still play with the idea of China, though, but your practical advice has helped. For the next year or so I can find other ways of learning Mandarin & teaching my child languages. Thanks so much again,
Linda
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CrazyChinaTL Reply:
February 9th, 2010 at 7:12 pm
Hi Linda – I am Australian, currently working as a Teacher-Librarian at an international school in China. I have a 4 year old daughter, so share your concerns.
I started here last October. The role is full-time and my daughter attends kindergarten full-time at the same school where I teach. As part of my contract (and this is fairly typical of international schools) her tuition is free. I pay for everything else: ie: her visa, her flights, her school meals, uniform etc
Accommodation is also included in the contract as are visa costs for myself, school meals and one return flight per year.
I am currently in the difficult position of deciding whether we can continue to July to finish my contract. This is my first full-time role since having my daughter, my first librarian role (and I am still studying so have that burden as well). Unfortunately the school have also underestimated the extent of the library role – I am also part-time teaching in a class for which I am not qualified.
My daughter has also settled in less quickly/completely than I had anticipated. I started back after Christmas with these concerns regarding her, and with regards to my workload, however the Principal had assured me that I would be relieved of my classroom duties from the start of the Feb term. Unfortunately in a meeting last week he changed his mind, although he did concede that I could work 0.8fte “if I had to” (ie: for my daughter).
Which is why I am now considering whether it is worse to stay when it is probably not great for either my daughter or myself, or to break my contract (and the impact this will have on future jobs etc).
It is virtually impossible to get a part-time role (I tried really hard for this) as schools pay a lot to get teachers from abroad and accommodate them. Librarian roles seem to come up more often than such jobs do in Australia (in fact the job situation back home is what has made me hesitate to leave here – I am actually looking more at NZ than Australia as this is where I was contemplating a move before China came up. I think part-time work in NZ, which is still ‘overseas’ but easier than China & closer for visits to family in Oz is a better plan)
Long story, sorry! But our situations seemed similar and thought it might help you in your decision making. I’d say wait til your child is old enough for loooooong days at school (830 til 430!) & be prepared to live in a fishbowl – for eg: some probs I had with my daughter’s teacher had to be “put up with” as there are no other options for classes/schools.
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Linda Reply:
February 17th, 2010 at 9:17 am
Dear “CrazyChinaTL”,
Thanks so much for taking the time to reply! I really appreciate it!
I have only replied now as I was flat out finally finishing my studies. What a relief – a very long haul. Misery at the time in some ways but worth it in the end.
I understand what you mean about ‘fish bowl’. I have lived in a few overseas places and I have experienced such a thing. Cultural differences can be difficult to negotiate.
Thank you for filling me in on certain aspects of “reality”. It’s helpful & useful to know details – eg having visas etc paid for seem a good deal.
Finally, but most importantly, I sympathise with you…. So sorry…. it is actually common for employers to underestimate the workload of a librarian, in Western countries too. The idea that librarians “only stamp books” seems to persist, and I do believe that some Western employers would have their librarians work in the classroom too if they could. Libraries tend to be understaffed, librarians overworked (& underpaid!).
It breaks a parent’s heart, of course, to see one’s pre-schooler suffer from long hours away from their parent. My heart goes out to you. I don’t know what to say….I know most westerners would not judge you for breaking your contract. It is difficult dealing with different cultural attitudes and priorities i.e I have experienced an Asian attitude of “Fight/Endure!” in the face of enormous difficulties, which is to be hugely admired, however if the competing priority is to protect the emotional wellbeing of a 4 year old, a typically modern Australian attitude might be to chose to flag the job and take the 4 year old in one’s arms and run!
Whatever you choose, I certainly do not judge you. I think if you wrote a short explanation on your CV about why your contract was short-lived, any reasonable potential employer would understand. On the other hand, if you decide to see the contract through, I’m impressed (I’d be impressed either way – how brave you have been and it’s just totally impressive what you are doing). As always, each child is an individual, and perhaps your little girl does have the resilience to get through all this OK. July is not all that far away. Perhaps you could accept the 0.8 that your employer spoke of?
I am originally a New Zealander. I don’t think librarians get paid much in NZ? Or am I wrong? School librarians especially don’t get paid as well as in Australia, I think. At least TLs in Oz get paid the same rate as teachers.