Ask Headmaster Ken

As an English- (and French-) speaking white Canadian with some professional experience but no teaching experience, what opportunities are available to teach English short-term in China over the summer from May to August?

I have a computer science degree and will be graduating with a BA in History & Economics this spring. I know there are lots of openings for full-time, all-year round English teachers, but these schools would likely be closed in the summer, right? What else is available and how should I go about finding a job and applying ahead of time?


Thanks in advance!

The summer work available will be advertised as "Summer Camps"; usually about four weeks in length throughout the summer.

You will see ads appearing on job boards around May usually.

Many schools won't hire from abroad since the pay will hardly reimburse your airfare. You'll need to state up front you'll cover your own travel costs if you want serious consideration.

Understand, there are many volunteer programs that will cover airfare and pay a stipend if you are only looking for China teaching experience.

If you are looking for earning and saving money over the holidays, then this probably will not suit your needs.

First of all, thanks for the reply!

I'm in a situation where I can fly to China (Beijing or Hong Kong) almost for free, so the price of a flight is not an issue.

Ideally I'm hoping for a 3- to 4-month contract, probably at a private institution where I could earn maybe 500 to 1000 USD net per month. Spending the time in China and earning enough money to cover my costs plus some tourism is the priority, not earning money to save.

Would these kind of volunteer programs you're talking about fit the bill? How could I go about finding them?

If you do a Google search for volunteer teach in China you should find no shortage of opportunities.

We recently had a poster on this forum who was going to teach with English Village in China, which sounds similar to what you are looking for.