Employment & Professional Development

I looking to work in China, and wonder if you have any advice on teaching EFL at a university in China in terms of getting that first job?

Experience/qualifications wise - I have a BA and MA in geography plus a UK PGCE teaching certificate. I am currently studying to obtain my CELTA certificate. For the last 5 years I have been teaching at a UK university where we have a large intake of Chinese students. Most of my teaching time is spent teaching (BA + MSc) classes that entirely consist of Chinese students studying for English degrees. Additionally, I help to organise and teach an English summer program for students to improve their IELTS score to a high enough standard.

However, I don't have that much experience of teaching EFL. I will soon have my CELTA, and I have been offered temporary work in the UK teaching EAP.

Will that be enough to get a job teaching English at a university in China? Does anyone have any advice on where to look for jobs?

Thanks,

Simon

If you are a certified teacher with teaching experience in the U.K., you should only be considering positions at Western-approved and certified international schools. You will want to avoid EFL positions at Chinese public and private universities.

Conduct a Google search for "international schools China" and start from there.

I am also British, and I emigrated from the UK in 2008.I understand fully what life is like at home. I completely empathize with you wanting to get the hell out of there but remember that the perception of China abroad (which is carefully managed and romanticized) is not the reality of day to day life living here.

Read this Guide thoroughly, and at some point in the next two weeks I will be publishing my own personal story. I am not as qualified as you but I was certainly of the same feeling regarding life in the UK when I left the UK. I am going to try and paint a picture of the kind of person who fits in well here, as it is challenging to say the least.