subject: Teach English In China, Expect These Benefits And Challenges [print this page] With over 300 hundred international schools and growing, China is the largest market for English language teachers. Chinese students are highly enthusiastic about learning to understand, speak and write English for many reasons. Foremost of these reasons is that fluency in the English language is a desirable personal attribute among job applicants both on the mainland and in the administrative regions.
In short, you will find that teaching the English language in China has its benefits from the financial aspect to the fun part. Realistic expectations, however, must be set early on lest you find yourself being disappointed. Keep in mind that just as there are benefits to working as an English teacher in China, there are also challenges that add spice to the experience.
Expect These Benefits:
Lets start with the benefits because these outweigh the challenges. Besides, starting your experience on a good note is always the best way to conquer the challenges later on.
You will be teaching mostly middle school students as well as adults, which means an age range from 15 to 35 years inside the classroom. Private tutoring may also be requested for your present students as well as with other clients outside of the classroom. You will then be exposed to many personalities and you can be sure that the Chinese people are very interesting, indeed.
You will be provided with a full curriculum complete with the textbooks, digital teaching aids and quizzes. Your main job is to study the lesson plans and to teach the lessons for your students. Your students will gain confidence in their English communication skills from their pronunciation and vocabulary to their delivery - truly, a reward unto itself.
Salary for the job is one of the main benefits when you teach English in China. Local salaries start at RMB12,000 (equivalent to 1180GBP) per month in addition to the housing allowance of RMB1,000 minimum (equivalent to 98GBP). You also have the benefits of 5 days paid vacation and paid national holidays as well as medical insurance.
Lest you start thinking that RMB12,000 is a low salary, think again. China has a low cost of living in comparison with Western countries. As such, the above mentioned salary is more than sufficient to live a comfortable middle-class life while in the country.
Besides, the opportunities to explore Chinese landmarks, enjoy Chinese culture and meet the Chinese people are priceless. Reading books about the land and its people are fine but nothing can compare to actually being in the country and being paid for it, to boot. You can even choose the city you want to be in from Beijing, Chengdu and Chongqing to Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Xiamen.
Triumph Over These Challenges:
As previously mentioned, you will face challenges when you teach English in China. The good news is that you can easily triumph over these challenges with the right attitude. Your foremost challenge is the language barrier. Well, Chinese language classes are provided for by employers so you can communicate with students using their own language.
You may also experience culture shock. Fortunately, you can always research on Chinese culture, manners and etiquette before entering the country as well as befriend a local to become your mentor in the ways of the people. Plus, China also knows of Western values, which means you can skip on lengthy explanations of your own seemingly eccentric behaviour.
So, as you can see, the benefits outweigh the challenges when you want to teach English in China.
