What’s ESL jobs market like in China?

A large number of ESL teachers are needed everythere in China, no matter in big cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen or small cities. Those small cities are not as famous as the big ones, but they have their own appealling points. For example, they have better and cleaner air quality and less/no pollution like big cities. It’s more relaxing and enjoyable to live in small cities. Actually, small cities are better choice for life. Therefore, many foreign teachers who want to do English teaching jobs in China will say at first that they preferably teach in small cities with good air quality. As for salary, big cities defnitely offer higher salary, but the life is past paced there. You are always busy doing things and the jobs are more challenging. But there will be more chances. The advantages of working in small cities is that the working environment is relatively relaxing. There is no much work to do. You will have more time for yourself to travel and explore the city. You can meet many friends, have parties and learn about Chinese culture and history. You can also have time to learn some Chineses so that you can have a better life in China. So many ESL teachers now have changed their mind. They original thought that big cities are more fun and there are more foreigners there. But after one year experience of teaching English in China, they found they want to get English teaching jobs in China like this. They don’t want the big cities any more because there is much pressure and it’s much too busy. They want to make their life in China enjoyable and pleasant rather than crazy busy.

Honestly, ESL jobs in big cities are not easy at all. On one hand, almost schools in big cities only need native teachers. The teachers must have good qualifications and much teaching experience. On the other hand, there are many foreign teachers seeking for ESL jobs in big cities. The competition there is very fierce. You need to be good enough to beat your opponents and get a good job. So for those who don’t have a degree or teaching experience and those from non-native speaking countries, I suggest you to avoid such big cities while looking for ESL jobs in China. For those teachers, you can look at ESL jobs in north part of China like Liaoning Province, Jilin Province and Heilongjiang Province. The competition there is less and many schools welcome non-native speaker, so it’s much easier to find a suitable job there. Small cities in southern China is also possible, but the visa requirements there can be more strict than north part of China.

Different schools have different age group of students. So you need to figure out what kind of school you need to work in while looking for English teaching jobs in China. If you want to teach in kindergartens in China, the first thing is that you must love children. If you are a new English teacher with little teaching experience, you will find it a hard task to teach in kindergartens.Kids are very lovely, but sometimes, they are naughty and keep talking. Here are some tips for you. The atmosphere of the class is very important to kids. If you are excited about the lessons, they will feel excited as well. Try to be active, cheerful and sometimes even “foolish”. Use a lot of gestures and exaggerate your facial expressions. This will attract their attention and imaginations. Think like the way they are thinking and talk like the kids do. You can’t talk with them in the way in you teach adults learners.For English teaching jobs in kindergartens, teaching aids are very necessary. You will definitely use them in your lessons. Most of kids are too young to write or read.Writing on blackboard doesn’t work with them well. Therefore, you will have to use props. They can faciliate the lessons and make children involved in your class. You can use flashcards, pictures, puppets, costumes,etc. Try to use bright colors and make your classroom colorful. Children like bright colors. It makes them feel happy. They can easily remember the pictures. There are always office hours in kindergartens. You need to stay and play with the kids all the time. You also need to talk with the parents of the students’ behavior at the schools. So working in kindergartens is not easy. But if you are young, active and humorous, the job will be much easier for you. Kids love this kind of teachers and they can also bring a lot of fun to you. If you are not willing to work in such environment, then it would be better to work in training centers. Some teachers think that students are all kids in training centers. Actually, it’s not. There are also training centers whose students are younger adults and businessmen. Also the class size in training centers are much smaller. It’s easier to control the whole class.