Finding and ESL Teaching Job in China

If you are reading this, you most likely have a highly sought-after marketable skill; the kind of skill that demands upper-middle class pay. The kind of skill that could bring you new job offers on a daily basis. Almost everyone in America possesses this skill. That skill is the ability to speak English. In many countries around the world people want to learn English. If you can speak English you will most likely make more money than others who don’t.

The ability to speak English is pretty ho-hum in the U.S. but in China, it is an ability that nearly everyone seeks to acquire, but few have completely mastered. Over 400 million people in China are currently studying English. That means there are more people trying to learn English in this one little country than there are native English speakers in the world. Therefore, the need for teachers with native fluency is immense, and there aren’t near enough candidates to fill all of the positions available.

Don’t assume that you need to speak Chinese in order to find a job teaching English in China. They have plenty of people there who know how to speak Chinese. As a foreign English teacher, you will mostly have students who have been studying for several years, and want to perfect their conversation skills.

However, it is best if you have a college degree. Most placement agencies require that you have one, and the official line of the Chinese government is that foreign teachers are required to produce evidence that they are qualified to teach English by submitting a bachelor’s degree (in any field), and a passport from an English speaking country. People from non-English speaking countries can also seek employment if they have a university degree from an English-speaking institution. If you don’t have a college degree, you may still be able to get a job, but it may be more difficult (and may involve going about things under the table.)

In the People’s Republic of China, I would recommend doing everything completely open and legally-both with the Chinese government and the U.S. embassy (they’re there for your protection)-and to go through an established agency that will handle your immigration paperwork and place you in a job. This may not be the way to make the most money (and therefore you might want to go about this differently if seeking employment in Taiwan, Japan, or South Korea), but China is under totalitarian rule, and it is best not to get into any trouble over what you might see as a minor infraction of the law (just to give you an idea-drug dealing is punishable by execution in China). I was placed in a school by Council Exchanges China. They also helped arrange my flight, offered a week-long orientation in Shanghai, and offer support throughout your stay in China should problems arise.

The money you can earn there will appear to be pathetic by American standards. I was making about $550 USD a month, plus the use of a campus apartment. However, this was about four and a half times the average workers pay in the city in which I lived. I was making being paid more than the average local physician, and pretty much living accordingly. I ate nearly all of my meals in restaurants (casual restaurants would cost me $1 or less for a meal-more elegant meals at my favorite restaurant usually cost me about $4. I rode around in taxi cabs, had my clothes custom made, hired people to do pretty much anything I wanted to, and traveled extensively throughout the country. This is not the best place to work if you are trying to save money (or have debts back in America), but you can enjoy a very comfortable standard of living.