Ask Headmaster Ken

Hello Headmaster Ken,

This is my second year teaching English and my self-esteem is very low. After two years of getting treated like a complete idiot by Chinese teachers, I would like to know if teaching Spanish instead of English would put me up one wrung on the academic scale here?

Preferably, I can teach English and Spanish at the university level. I have a degree, teaching experience, and certificates from the U.S.A.

In my experience, teaching a language other than English will not elevate you in the eyes of your coworkers or superiors.

Nor will teaching at the university level add any laurels.

MKL has several articles that describe the issues surrounding being respected as a professional in Chinese teaching institutions. You might want to read further on the site, especially on teaching at universities.

From the vantage point of your Chinese colleagues, unless you are teaching with a minimum of a master’s degree in your field of study, you are not a legitimate colleague. Most foreign teachers employed at the university level in China are regarded in the same way we would think of friendly but unqualified teaching assistants back home.

In addition, as many Chinese academicians are hoping to live and work abroad one day, they don’t understand why foreigners—especially those from the US and the UK—would move to their developing communist country to work for no more than 12,000 yuan ($1875) per month at a public university with no real benefits to speak of. If the foreign teacher was any good, he wouldn’t be teaching in China year after year. It is the expression of this ubiquitous and institutionalized bias that is affecting your self-esteem. Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do about it except start making plans to return home.

You don’t specifically mention what field your degree is in or which teaching certificates you have. If you want to teach English in a country that actually values and uses the English language, then you need to earn a master’s degree in either linguistics or TESOL. If your degree is in a non-related field and you are a certified teacher at the state level, you should be teaching in an international school where, generally speaking, you will be respected by your headmaster and colleagues.