What's it like teaching English and living in China?

This evening I received this email:

Hi Sammy

Interesting blog about the online TEFL course. I have a question about working in China though. I have been reading different blogs and am still confused. I saw an offer via TEFL Express to teach English in China. The offer looked pretty good and the pay is as well. I have never been to China and do not speak Chinese. How difficult is it to settle there? Also, if I rent a flat what is the average price one might pay? How are the students, are they eager to learn? I love working with younger children and although I am not a teacher by profession I can teach and have experience working with younger children. I love travelling but am not too confident about China, it just seems way out of my league. I am sure once I get there I will love it. I am just a little uncertain right now about the move. It is soooo far away from where I live. Sorry about all the questions. Hope to hear from you soon. Just so you know I am pretty boring too!


Thank you Much!
Gees

I answer publicly, because I imagine Gees isn't alone in asking these questions and I hope my answer will help many people in the same situation.

Dear Gees,

Thanks for your email, I'm glad someone is actually reading through this gibberish I write.

Settling in China really depends on the situation you find yourself in when you arrive. In most cases you will be at the mercy of the private training school sponsoring your visa. Expect poor organisation and planning. Expect no or few arrangements to be made for you prior to your arrival and expect your school to consider settling you as a big hassle which is probably too much bother. If you come to teach at a university or state school things will probably be a little better with accommodation provided and people on hand to help you settle.

Coco Wang, teacher at my school Xuelite delivering a speech to university students

If however you work for a private school or company, you'll probably be given an allowance for hosing, in this case, expect to be ripped off by landlords and expect little help from your school who just want to house to ASAP rather than find a really good deal for you. If you want your school to help you, be firm with them and set them some demands when you begin house-hunting, if you are patient and clear about what you want with your school they will bend over backwards for you. I learned this the hard way and ended up paying through the nose for an oversized shoebox.

Rents in my city, Zhengzhou are pretty low, but cities will vary in price. If you want a two bedroom apartment of reasonable size here, expect to pay 1000 - 1500 RMB for an older property or 1500 - 2500 RMB for a new property depending on furnishing ect. Zhengzhou is a lower second tier city, Wuhan, a higher second tier city would be a little more while first tier cities like Shenzhen or Beijing would be considerably higher. I wouldn’t recommend living in a first tier city if you want a true Chinese experience as there are so many foreigners in these places, it's easy to get caught up in the ex-pat bubble and miss out on wht China has to offer.

The boring Zhengzhou skyline, looking south from Nongye Road

As for settling, the language can be pretty overwhelming, not something you can pick up with little effort. (One of my colleagues came to China three years ago, got married to a Chinese woman who speaks no English, lives with his parents in law, who speak no English and has a half Chinese baby, yet despite the immersion and clear need to learn, speaks only a handful of words due to sheer laziness) Lots of people will want to practice English with you, try to find real Chinese friends, there are some amazing people in China, you just need to find them.

The first few weeks will be tough, you'll get no training from your school and teaching will initially take a lot of planning and you might have few friends. This is the time to explore as much as you can and get people to talk to you. You'll make lots of new friends by sitting alone in street food restaurants, just stick out those first few weeks and you'll be fine.

I didn't sleep the first few nights I came to China, thinking I'd made the stupidest mistake of my life but after a few weeks I made friends and settled well. I almost gave up and came home only for my passport to get stuck in an office causing me to miss my flight. I'm glad I did though as in the next two years I became a university lecturer, started a business empire (fingers crossed) and got married. My advice to you is come to China and persist. Amazing things can happen here.

Henan Superstar Coco Wang at Zhengzhou Manhattan. That's right, there is a place in Zhengzhou China called Manhattan.

Students are great fun and the young ones are very eager to learn. Loads of kids love learning English and love their lessons, especially if you make them fun like I try to do. As they get older, China's energy draining education system kicks in and the kids get so bogged down in homework, their drive to learn is sapped. They are still well behaved but by middle school and high school, much of the passion is gone and only the special ones still have drive. By university, they are just beginning to rediscover the fun and creativity that high school pounded out of them and university students can sometimes be keen, but the best and brightest students are the under 12s.

If you can, work at a state school or university as private training institutions will work you like a horse. If you want to travel, you can forget it if you work for a private company unless you pull an extended sickie (as I did on three occasions). Travelling by train is simple enough but you may need help buying a ticket, get a Chinese friend to buy a ticket with you or write down instructions on a piece of paper. Hotels are pretty easy to book with the help of Baidu Translate which to self respecting receptionist will be without.

If you have an ounce of common sense you'll be fine travelling in China, it's very safe and the majority of people will be happy to help you.

Come to China, it's certainly an experience.

I hope you dont mind me publishing my reply as a blog post.

All the best,

Sammy

TEFL Express: Have they gotten any better?

TEFL Essentials course. The 150 hour video based TEFL Express course.

Where's my email? It said they were going to send me a verification email! Where the bloody hell is it?

I'd just finished registering at TEFL Express when everything went wrong. My hotmail account, always suspicious of my VPN had blocked me from my email account once again. Logging on to the hotmail website, I once again had to tell Microsoft of my ghostly online identity, essential to getting over the Chinese firewall and onto the real web. I fished out my TEFL Express confirmation out of the junk and was on my way. 

The look on your face when you find TEFL Express' welcome email in the junk

I had done a TEFL Express course back in the groupon days in order to get a job at a Chinese University and wrote a review. Now I was back to see how it had changed.

The first thing I saw as I logged on to the TEFL Express virtual campus page was a great big timer, ticking down from two hours at the top of the screen. It filled me with fear. I thought I had 150 hours. It's the 150 hour essential course isn't it? I've only got two hours left? How can I stop the ticking time bomb?

As much as the time bomb at the top of the page concerned me (I later found out it was a security feature designed to keep your info secure on public computers), I decided to nose as much as I could around the site. I noticed a button saying live chat. Having always been responsible, just like if I had been in a lift or a plane cockpit, I decided to push it.

Being in China, I always use my VPN when using the internet. And although the TEFL Express website works without one, for those living in China and planning to take the course, a VPN is recommended.

After experimenting with the live chat and faffing around with some tabs, I began to explore the site in earnest.

The Course Itself:

First module, classroom management. I clicked on the link, a popup emerged with a snazzy loader, a spinning orange circle counting its way to 100% (after a minute or two stuck on 99%).

It's clear from the outset that the course is extensive and rich in content. I was greeted by a very serious looking Northern Irish lady who seems to be my video teacher. The course starts off very simply but gradually becomes more and more difficult and I was soon swimming through theory. I've got two years of teaching experience but I had to listen very closely in order to pass the timed exam. 

A serious looking teacher looking serious but fun.

The theory is no doubt useful for anyone wanting to teach without any experience in a foreign country and would no doubt help anyone pass a CELTA exam. It's also worth mentioning that all TEFL Express courses are fully accredited by ACCREDITAT, and they also offer CELTA training in London, Moscow, Hanoi & Beijing if you want to take the course offline and into the real world.

One of my concerns last time I used TEFL express was that the course I chose had no practical side. I would learn all the theory but I wouldn’t see it applied in a classroom setting. To be fair, as an online only course this would be difficult to achieve logistically, but this time, the 150hr TEFL Essentials Course comes complete with real teachers notes about problems in the classroom, how they pop up and how to resolve them as well as testimonials from students about how they feel during class and how teachers affect their studies. 

What the TEFL Express 150hr Essentials course actually looks like

The course also includes a video series of a TEFL teacher teaching a group of adult students from various countries, showing the theory that has just been learned applied in practice. This is helpful for anyone worried about how to use what they learn in a real classroom setting, although classroom hours are essential to progressing as a teacher. I also like how the teacher makes quite a few basic mistakes, eliciting TEFL Express students to shout at the screen, I found myself shouting a few times which is testament to how much I had just learned from the theory.

Would I buy the TEFL Express course again?

It's certainly a lot better than it was a few years ago, it's detailed, more difficult, richer when it comes to content and offers practical help. The certificate is also enough to get you a job here in China, so if I was a newbie, preparing to travel the world by teaching English as a second language, yes, I would choose TEFL Express again.