My partner & I want to teach English in China. Do you have any advice where to start? ?

We would really like to stay together. I have a degree and a teaching diploma but my partner doesn't have either. Will it be easy enough for us to find work?My partner %26amp; I want to teach English in China. Do you have any advice where to start? ?
Well there are 2 ways, legal and illegal, stupid answer right there.





The legal way to teach in China is that you have a contract from an official approval school/university or whatever. This way grants you a residence visa. To be able to obtain one you will have to have at least a degree in some subject no matter what, English, maths, computer, or even French etc.If the company is kosher they will get a foreign expects certificate for you which you will need along with state approval contract by your employing company to be able to get the residence visa. Note: you enter on a z visa and then have 30 days to upgrade this.





The illegal method is that you enter on a multi-entry business visa and teach under the system like many people do. Then when your visa come to an end you hop out of the country to HK, Korea or any other city with a Chinese consult (sp) to renew there business visa. It is most likely the only method your partner can do unless they can get a ESL teaching certificate. If you go this way be careful a lot of fly by operations go this way and will try and cheat you.





As for finding a job you can search the ad section of expats forums, thebeijinger and the shanghai list are 2 good ones and www.eslcafe.comMy partner %26amp; I want to teach English in China. Do you have any advice where to start? ?
go for English First Hefei. I studied in Hefei for 5 years(I'm CHinese), and met a few teachers from English First, some of them told me that they just took a 1 month (or 2?) TESOL course in Prague before coming to China to teach English, and they were paid for 5000 RMB per month. Usually only the top chinese employees can get paid as much in Hefei. So teaching English while having fun in China is not hard at all. Some of the foreign English teachers here in China were actually loosers back in their own countries, though most of them are not. After doing an easy job and getting high-paid for a year, you will become less competitive when you are back in your country. Some of my foreign friends have had this problem. Like they were excited to be here at first because everything is different, but after a few months they started homesick because everything is different here. And when they go home, they find it hard to find a job that can satisfy them in their own country, cuz though they get paid as much, but things are way more expensive there. And some of them had to come back to China to teach english and to be rich again though they don't really like the job, which is not challenging at all and made them more lost from themselves. So, the point is, as long as you figure out a way to keep improving yourself whil you are doing the easiest job(teaching your own language) in China, you won't feel worthless when you are back home. I don't say this because you are not welcome. Indeed, China really needs foreign teachers, and you can live a rich life here, but you should prepare for the consequence. Don't lose yourself while enjoying somewhere you don't belong to.
';Legally'; you need a BA degree.But....work can be found without one. But it will pay less.And then there's the risk of getting caught and being deported. The problem here is visas.If you have a BA degree, you can qualify for a work visa.No degree and I believe you can't.You wanting to stay with your partner can also create more problems.Working under the table is risky.And I don't know how long you can do it on a tourist visa.Don't listen to people who tell you ';so and so did it for 2 years and didn't get caught.';You can google 'teaching English in China' to get a list of schools.


I'm sure most Chinese people are nice. But I haven't heard anything nice about their government.
I am currently working as a teacher in China. It's been great so far!





You will have no problem getting a job. As for your partner, each province in China has different rules about what is required. Your partner should get a TOEFL or CELTA certificate. I did mine online, but the preferred way is to take the month long course in the country you want to get a job in (but I already had a degree). With that the odds are better of finding a job. China is looking for many English speakers right now,and many positions go unfilled.
My partner and I both teach at the same school. we only have TEFL certification. we obtained a residence permit (allowing work) through the school.


we contacted the school ourselves through dave's esl cafe ... i think the address is daveseslcafe.com... otherwise just google it.


contact schools through there, make it clear that you two want to be at the same school. i would recommend working privately for one school as opposed to working through a company or for an english training institute as the conditions are better. i've had bad experiences working for a company here...egh!


i have to go to class now, but if you have any questions, feel free to email me.


take care.
It should be reasonably easy to find work, but one word of advice: don't work for the same school if you can help it.





If the school turns out to be really bad then both of you could be stuck their or out of work. Get jobs in different schools to be on the safe side.