Employment & Professional Development

Firstly, I hope this post belongs in the correct forum and subheading. If not, my apologies. Secondly, I thank the authors of this website for their careful and extensive research on living, surviving and experiencing China while teaching English.

Before I post any questions or comments, I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Omar, I am a 21 year old Canadian university student. I have completed 3/4 of my honors bachelors degree in law and am taking a year off to come to China. I am on internship via an organization called AIESEC. Initially, my 1 year internship was categorized as a "Management Traineeship" (MT). Upon arrival, I have been told that I will be doing some oral teaching to students.

Now the type of oral teaching I will be doing is aimed at preparing these student for the IELTS exam. Being born in Canada and as a native English speaker, I actually know very little about the IELTS since it doesn't apply to me at all. Additionally, having little knowledge of this teaching/managing position prior to coming here, I didn't really do any personal research on being an teacher.

Since I am 21 years old and the students I will be teaching are 18-19, I feel a little uneasy. However, please don't get me wrong. I committed myself to an internship in China because I know that this will be beneficial for me in the long run, not only professionally but in a personal developing way as well.

To give the reader a bit more information, I am focusing on the speaking section of the IELTS. My boss told me that my sessions with the students will be to simply talk about any subject and have them discuss it. As simple as that sounds, I have no teaching qualification. I feel that simply because I am a Canadian born-native-English speaker, that the company has deemed me suitable for the job. Maybe that's true though. I certainly have no problem with that because I know this experience will be incredible and rewarding.

So basically, I am asking for advice or any type of guidance. I am going to look through the chapters about teaching English as well. If all the necessary information is in the Guide, then please let me know.

I appreciate any comments, long or short.

Thank you for your time.

Best regards,

Omar

I don’t really understand why you are being asked to facilitate the practice of oral English as part of an internship in management but much stranger things have happened in China. I can tell you that someone will be making a nice profit off the fruits of your labor, that’s for sure.

Don’t worry about not having any knowledge of IELTS or teaching: You’re in good company. Whether one is employed by Tsinghua University or some fourth-rate vocational college in a third-tier city, foreign “English teachers” are not hired to teach English per se but to charm and entertain Chinese students towards the goal of getting them to open their mouths and utter English-sounding words, assuming you can first get them to come to class.

Most foreign teachers in China have neither a (real) degree nor any prior teaching experience. Their teaching credentials are limited to having ancestors of European descent, the good fortune of having been born in an English-speaking country, and—in a limited number of cases—four weeks of training in a teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) program.

Our Guide will tell you everything you need to know about the social, psychological, and vocational aspects to living and working in China as a foreign English teacher. With a few minor exceptions, we don’t delve into the nuts and bolts of teaching EFL or IELTS preparation.

Conduct a Google search on IELTS and pay attention to the speaking part of the exam. This will tell you all you need to know. These IELTS preparation classes generally cheat Chinese students by assuring them that these expensive prep courses can adequately train them to earn high scores with virtually no English language skills to start with. This is the worst case scenario. If you are lucky, you will be working with Chinese students who have a real chance at earning enough of a score to attend university abroad and you might actually enjoy doing that as you will feel that you are doing something of value.

I appreciate your prompt and helpful reply.

The middle-man organization who got me to come to Chongqing is AIESEC. When they told me about this "Management Internship" I was told I'd be working in the central business district and I'd be working in one of the most grand buildings of Chongqing. All that is true.

However, the teaching of oral English for 2 semesters was slightly left out as the job description stated: facilitate some English interviews and practice with a few students before they go for visa interviews.

Now to me, that does not indicate full blown teaching. Furthermore, I am a student myself and have no teaching experience like I mentioned. Thankfully, confidence and public speaking are no issue. But I feel that you are absolutely correct with your statement in regards to this company making some serious coin off of my "twisted" job.

You're also right about the fact that a company may 'scam' the parents to thinking their children are getting top quality English teaching. Am I top quality? Not a chance! I actually feel bad that I'm in this situation. Sure I will enjoy the commodities this job gives and for my personal benefit of having an internship on my CV is great. But I suppose it's my personal and private values which slightly conflict with this entire situation.

I am taking over for a German intern who was here for a year. I feel like she summed it up perfectly; the company wants a 'white' individual to be in front of the class and delivering whatever material they choose to discuss.

Anyway, I'll follow your tips and do some research online in regards to this oral component of the exam. I've already started downloading some PDFs and guides on how to teach in China. I feel slightly helpless because it was a real blindside.

Again, thank you for your input and help. I am sure to stick around these forums from now on!